JUSTIN HERMAN SHORT SUBJECTSV
Last year wehada look at three of Oscar-nominated filmmaker, Justin Herman's Florida-centric shorts in his "Paramount Pacemaker" series. Let's extend our stay in the "Sunshine State" as Mr. Hermansheds light on a local reporter, extreme weather and the perils of deep-sea sponge diving.
I COVER THE EVERGLADES (1951 - A Paramount Pacemaker)Writ. & Dir.: Justin Herman.Narr.: Edwin Cooper.
Mike Chance, "a guy with a dream job in a small town on the Gulf of Mexico" who takes pleasure in prowling for news, is thenewly minted publisher-editor ofThe Collier County News.We follow Mike as he hits up the pretty marina girl in Naples for tips on in-and-outgoing sea craft, scares up advertising at local businesses, hears the concerns of the Seminole community, encounters opera starLawrence Tibbettbuilding a new house and checks out a new improved swamp buggy that floats.Then on his off hours we find Mike working on a novel-"Tales of the Gulf and 'Glades" - in which his neighbors become fodder for his fantastic scenarios.
HURRICANE HUNTERS (1953 -A Paramount Pacemaker)Prod. & Dir.: Justin Herman. Narr.: Ward Wilson. "This is a picture about the weather and the wind...." and sowe're given a crash course on what the weather bureau terms "a gentle breeze" all the way up to hurricanes and typhoons.We're then shown how we learned about approaching hurricanes in the years before satellites:Navy and AirForceflyerswould fly"right into the heart of the turbulence" where "the bigger the plane, the better the chance of returning okay" since theweatherwould"pitch 'em about like a kite"making this kind of mission"tougher than combat." (!!!!)We see how the weather bureau takes the incominginfo from these "hurricane hunters" andanalyzes and collates it along with radar readingsand a myriad of teletypereports to make their "ultimate predictions". An impressive montage of a destructive hurricane pummeling the Florida coast issummed up on an optimistic note that modern day procedures and precautions havebroughtdisasters wrought by such weather events to a minimum. What a difference 60 years makes!
WALK IN THE DEEP (1955- A Paramount Pacemaker)Prod. & Dir.: Justin Herman. Narr.: Edwin Cooper. Tarpon Springs: "once the center of a three million dollar annual sponge-fishing industry", brought low by the 'red tide' that killed off much sponge life and the advent of the synthetic sponge. We meet the Greek fishermenwhofor decades have drawn theirlivelihood from the ocean depths. Their chosenoccupation is adangerous one,usingaged diving equipmentwith somelosing their lives each yeartoaccidents.But many of the ruggeddivers alsolive with thecrippling effects of 'the bends'- yet they continue to go out and dive for sponges, often under the watchful eyes of tourists. (Luckily,sponge lifewas on the risejust a few years after this short was made and brought a renewal to the industry that continues to this day.)(Bruce Lawton)