Carl Louis Gregory: Life through a lens

Abstract

O ne of the results of the continuing investigation of our cinema heritage is the re-evaluation of those individuals previously relegated to the shadows of the Motion Picture Industry. While the contributions of major players are well recorded by history, there is a group of remarkable people, many unknown to us, who have also had an impact on events and developments in the industry. Their names may have faded from memory, in much the same way as the images they once worked so hard to produce. However, much as we work to restore these images, we should also work to bring back to the forefront the contributions of these industry pioneers. One of the most versatile was Carl Louis Gregory. A pioneering cinematographer, inventor, consultant, colour expert, writer, and preservationist whose career spanned six decades, from his beginnings as a college photographer through his later years as motion picture engineer at the United States National Archives, Carl Gregory remained at the forefront of technical developments in the industry. His expertise was sought by such companies as Technicolor, Thanhouser, Edison, Disney, and Universal Studios. He was the first to successfully shoot motion pictures underwater as part of the Williamson Brothers expedition in 1914. He traveled to the Far East in the early 1920's and filmed in such locations as Manila, Hawaii, Shanghai, Bombay, and many other exotic locales. Gregory was responsible for training recruits in the US Signal Corps during WWI in the art of cinematography. As Dean of the New York Institute of Photography he helped offer aspiring cameramen and photographers a place to hone their craft. In the 1920's he developed the first of his many optical printers, and was often called on to provide printers and technical expertise to various film related concerns. During this period his book, Motion Picture Ph tography,' was reprinted in a second edition by the Falk Publishing Company. A comprehensive technical manual, it also provided insight into areas larg ly neglected in training. Chapters on Industrial and Educational filmmaking were included as well as advice on how to be prepared and work together with other cast and crew. As one of the pioneering members of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers he helped to devise standards used throughout the industry. Upon his employment with the US National Archives, Gregory was a driving force behind many of the policies and procedures developed during the 1930s and 1940s in the Archive's Motion Picture Division. Carl Louis Gregory was born in Walnut Kansas on 9 September 1882 to Jay and Mary Ida Gregory. He was the oldest of six children, with five sisters.2 During the last decade of the 19th century the Gregory family resettled in Geneva, Ohio where Jay Gregory found work as a contractor and builder. At the age of 11 Carl Gregory began his lifelong fascination with photography when he fashioned a camera out of a cigar box and a pair of spectacle lenses. He attended high school in Cleveland, and became quite proficient in the photographic field. In 1900 he enrolled at Ohio State University, helping to defray some of his tuition costs by earning money providing photographic services for the school yearbook, as well as photographing specimens for the medical and science labs.3 In 1902 he received his degree as a pharmacist, and in 1904 he received a BS in Chemistry.