oracle
05-15-2001, 02:26 PM
Lieutenant Reagan and me (http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/epaper/editions/today/accent_1.html)
By Douglas Kalajian, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 15, 2001
You know those real-life "World At War" movies of bombs fluttering out of B-24s and exploding one after another like a dozen volcanoes erupting?
Burt Levy is one of the guys who shot those films over Italy during World War II. He'd hang over a catwalk above the bomb bay until the first load dropped. "Then I'd run to the back of the plane and aim the camera through a tiny port to catch the bombs going off," he says. "That's the putt-putt-putt you'd see in those movies."
Levy logged plenty of flying time, dodging just enough antiaircraft fire to give him an equal measure of reasons to be thankful and stories to tell. None can match the thrill of what happened to Levy before he got to Europe.
The ladies-sportswear salesman and amateur photographer from Long Island was drafted into the Army Air Corps in June 1942. He wanted to be a crew chief on a bomber, a flying mechanic. But weak eyesight restricted him to ground duty. He was assigned to the corps' new First Motion Picture Unit in Culver City, Calif.
Some of the movie industry's biggest names were already there, in uniform, making training films for fliers and educational films for the public. Col. Jack L. Warner (as in Warner Bros.) topped the organizational chart. The acting company included Sgt. Alan Ladd, Sgt. George Montgomery and Capt. William Holden.
The star Levy remembers as the brightest was another combat hopeful grounded by poor vision, Lt. Ronald Reagan. "He was a lovely man," Levy says. "He acted like a friend, not like a big wheel."
But a big wheel he was: Reagan arrived as personnel officer, playing a key role in organizing the unit. By the time Levy arrived, Reagan had been promoted to adjutant, the chief administrative officer. (He was later promoted to captain and commanding officer.)
And it was a big operation, with more than 1,000 servicemen. The unit took over the Hal Roach film studio, comedy capital of Hollywood since the days of Laurel and Hardy. Production and personnel both expanded rapidly during 1942, America's first full year in the war.
...
Click here to read more (http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/epaper/editions/today/accent_1.html)
By Douglas Kalajian, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 15, 2001
You know those real-life "World At War" movies of bombs fluttering out of B-24s and exploding one after another like a dozen volcanoes erupting?
Burt Levy is one of the guys who shot those films over Italy during World War II. He'd hang over a catwalk above the bomb bay until the first load dropped. "Then I'd run to the back of the plane and aim the camera through a tiny port to catch the bombs going off," he says. "That's the putt-putt-putt you'd see in those movies."
Levy logged plenty of flying time, dodging just enough antiaircraft fire to give him an equal measure of reasons to be thankful and stories to tell. None can match the thrill of what happened to Levy before he got to Europe.
The ladies-sportswear salesman and amateur photographer from Long Island was drafted into the Army Air Corps in June 1942. He wanted to be a crew chief on a bomber, a flying mechanic. But weak eyesight restricted him to ground duty. He was assigned to the corps' new First Motion Picture Unit in Culver City, Calif.
Some of the movie industry's biggest names were already there, in uniform, making training films for fliers and educational films for the public. Col. Jack L. Warner (as in Warner Bros.) topped the organizational chart. The acting company included Sgt. Alan Ladd, Sgt. George Montgomery and Capt. William Holden.
The star Levy remembers as the brightest was another combat hopeful grounded by poor vision, Lt. Ronald Reagan. "He was a lovely man," Levy says. "He acted like a friend, not like a big wheel."
But a big wheel he was: Reagan arrived as personnel officer, playing a key role in organizing the unit. By the time Levy arrived, Reagan had been promoted to adjutant, the chief administrative officer. (He was later promoted to captain and commanding officer.)
And it was a big operation, with more than 1,000 servicemen. The unit took over the Hal Roach film studio, comedy capital of Hollywood since the days of Laurel and Hardy. Production and personnel both expanded rapidly during 1942, America's first full year in the war.
...
Click here to read more (http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/epaper/editions/today/accent_1.html)