Roy Tash Meets Captain Power, and the Soldiers of The Future

November, 2022 phone interview with James Crowe, Associate Member, CSC, who purchased legendary Canadian newsreel cameraman, Roy Tash’s Eyemo in 1974.

As the vintage Bell & Howell Eyemo motion picture camera swings into position, the crew readies itself for the take; blankets, and fire extinguishers at the ready. Sporting a full magazine of VISION3 Color Negative Film, the hefty Eyemo, serial number A1216, lurches forward.

Explosions are triggered in a closely choreographed sequence, the camera protected by its steel framed skin, moving smoothly through the smoke and noise filming the scene before it. The lens, a vintage Cooke Panchro, 1-inch lens, captures the action of the soldiers as they charge forward, firing weapons, creating a chaotic dance of light and smoke. Seconds later, the Director shouts, ‘CUT!’ which stops the camera, and the action around it.

Crouched safely behind another camera, 1^st assistant cameraman, James Crowe, urgently follows behind the crew to help extinguish the flammable white phosphorous, a special effect pyrotechnics, which landed on the blankets protecting the camera, “Get that off of there, it’s going to ruin the finish of the camera!”

Although used as a ‘crash-cam’ * (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyemo), Mr. Crowe’s concern for the camera was more personal. This Bell & Howell Eyemo model QM, serial number A1216, previously belonged to, and had been used by no other than, Canada’s longest-serving newsreel cameraman, Roy Tash, C.S.C.

---

Roy Tash csc (1898-1988) Archival Images

Graduating from the Film Program at York University in 1973, James Crowe would land his first job as a film news editor at CBLT-TV in Toronto, and would later meet veteran CBC editor, Roland Pirker. (Roland Pirker would go on to become an experienced cameraman and director, working at the Museum of Man, in Ottawa.)

Working together in the CBLT-TV Toronto newsroom, Mr. Pirker would introduce James to the CSC (Canadian Society Cinematographers). James Crowe would later recall Mr. Pirker telling him, “You should join you know. It’s a good way to meet people.” James would also recall, “He (Roland Pirker) got me interested in the CSC, and while I was there, I met Roy Tash.“

In the early days of his career, Mr. Crowe would remember receiving a phone call from fellow CSC member, Maurice Jackson-Samuels, who asked James, “Would you be interested in looking at Roy’s camera?”

At the time, James was hoping to further his career as a cameraman, and agreed to look at the camera. James would recall visiting Jackson-Samuel’s home (known fondly by his colleagues as ‘Sammy‘), who had the camera gear all set up in his rec room. Samuel told James, the camera is complete, along with five lenses; three ‘Cooke Panchro’; a one-inch; two-inch; and four-inch, along with two Bell & Howell lenses. ‘And it all works.‘

"At the time I paid just over a thousand dollars even, in 1974. But I thought it was worth it. I know Roy took good care of his gear. To be honest about it, I got it because I wanted to be a cameraman. I was a film editor at that time with the CBC with Roland Pirker, but I wanted to be a cameraman."

At that time, James had the idea to use the camera for the 1976 Olympics, mainly because of the fact that the camera, sporting an electric motor, could be used to shoot slow motion. A feature not available in video technology at that time.

James pitched the idea to CBC TV, who thought it was an interesting idea, but the CBC never followed through.

“So I slowly started drifting into camera work. I ended up being a news cameraman, doing documentaries, and soon I became a union camera assistant , and eventually a camera operator, and a DP (Director Photography).“

By 1975 James had quickly established himself as a free-lance cameraman, and recalls the only times he would use Roy Tash’s 35mm Eyemo commercially;

” ‘Round about the early 80’s, I got contracted to do a job for Renault. There was a huge auto plant in Brampton where Renault was assembling their new sub-compact model, the Alliance. However, Chrysler subsequently took over the whole factory, moving Renault out of the North American market. But, while it was being built, I used the Eyemo to shoot the construction of the automotive plant.

“The Renault/Chrysler documentary was completed by Tom Thomas Enterprises of Detroit, Michigan USA, and Attila Szaly, David Perkins and Trevor Hawes, were the camera assistants from Toronto on that shoot. I operated Roy’s camera on my own, employing it hand held to film steel welders and riveters working on the steel skeleton of the plant’s roof. A little dicey there, navigating the beams with harness etc.“

* * * * *

“Later on I used it on ‘Captain Power and The Soldiers of the Future’ as a crash camera. We put it in on a swing, where it could swing into the action while it was rolling.

“Captain Power was a ground breaking interactive concept by Mattel in the 80’s. Peter Benison was the Director of Photography on the series, and Maris Janson, (who I worked for), was the Director of Photography of the” DnD “unit which stood for Death and Destruction, 3rd Unit, which principally filmed the explosions, multiple camera setups for pyrotechniques of any sort, and gunfire. That is where Roy’s camera was used ” up close and personal”. That was where the grip blanket caught on fire.“

To read more about the ‘Controversy of Captain Power‘ please visit these links:

https://medium.com/everything-80s/the-history-controversy-of-captain-power-fc4ab2266485

The History and Controversy of Captain Power

* * * * *

Lastly, I used (Roy Tash’s camera) briefly on a Graham Greene film, where it was used for a POV (point of view) shot. I have some pictures of that shoot with the camera being employed in one scene. And that was it.”

* * * * *

Years later James would work at Niagara College as a Film Production professor, and would bring along the Tash camera, showcasing it to the students, showing off its various qualities that made the camera popular during WWII.

James would also come to learn over the years, that Roy Tash had the movie camera modified at, Camera Equipment Inc., a custom camera shop, located at 1600 Broadway in New York. 

One of the customization’s Roy had installed, was a modified piece of aluminum, that when mounted to the camera door, would allow Roy to mount a portable light.

Another unique feature to Roy Tash’s camera, was a camera modification that, when the door to the film compartment was removed, it allowed the camera to be used as a ‘director’s viewfinder’. After setting up the shot and replacing the camera door, it would allow Roy to mount the camera on a tripod, and while looking through the viewing eye-piece, shift it over, so that what you saw through the eye-piece is actually now in what was called, the ‘take’ position.

This unique modification was a work-around for one of the weaknesses of the B&H Eyemo; the shooting lens, (‘Take’ position), was offset by the ‘Viewfinder’ lens, creating what is known as the ‘Parallax’;

* * * * *

Operating Instructions for Eyemo Model PH-330 G

CAUTION: Since the drum or turret viewfinder is located 1½ inches to the side of the lens, it is necessary when filming objects at close distances, to make a corresponding allowance for the offset of the finder from the position of the lens.
The auxiliary viewfinder has a displacement of 3⅝ inches, or almost double that of the other two viewfinders. A greater correction, therefore, is required for compensation of parallax.

http://www.vintagecameras.fr/images/MonSite/BELL-HOWELL/Eyemo/_doc/Bell&Howell_Eyemo_Manual_en.pdf (see page 9)

* * * * *

These camera modification’s also enabled James to establish the provenance for the camera. Because the camera was sold to him by Jackson-Samuels on behalf of Roy Tash, it resulted in a receipt for the purchase being in Jackson-Samuel’s name, not Roy’s. But through a series of online searches, James was able to locate images and photos of Roy Tash using the modified Eyemo;

“One day, after I bought the camera in ’74, I was shooting the documentary on the Brampton automotive plant, and I had a problem with the camera. It was starting to ‘backlash’. One spindle was driving the film through the gate, but the bottom spindle was not taking it up, resulting in film jams.

“I didn’t know anything about the mechanics of the camera, so I had to go back to Roy. But he wasn’t aware that I was now the owner.”

“So, I phoned Roy and said, ‘Roy, I have a real problem and only you can help me. I have an Eyemo camera, and it’s jamming. And I need it for a job, so anything you can tell me would be helpful.“

“Arriving at his place, Roy answers and says, ‘Let’s see this camera.’ He opens up the box and says, ‘Now, here’s how you fix that; you get some Singer sewing machine oil and you put in these little holes, and then he’s starting to falter, and he’s holding the camera, he’s looking at it, and he says, ‘Hey wait, this is my camera!‘”

“I started laughing, because I had to keep a straight face while he was handling it. He’s starting to look at it and there’s this pause when he looked at the interior and he looked at the outside, with that modified piece of aluminum on the side, and he knew it was his camera.“

“We had a good afternoon chat. He told me all about his life as a cameraman.“

“It was a nice closure for me, that he now knew who was actually using the camera since he sold it.“

Ever since, James Crowe has kept the Eyemo in good working condition, but over the last few years, the camera has not come out of it’s case very much, and James thought it was time to find it another home. James understood the historical importance the camera held; having been used extensively by a prominent figure in Canada’s early Newsreel history. Such distinction elevates the camera as an integral part of Canadian Film History. Ideally, James aim is for the Tash camera to find a home at a Museum or Institution where it could be made freely available for exhibit.

Years later, Mr. Crowe would come across an article I had written about former retired Sgt. Norman Quick, a combat cameraman for the Canadian Army Film Unit. In the CSC article, I discussed the whereabouts of Norm’s 35mm WWII Bell & Howell movie camera. Norms’ brother Charles Quick would discover his brother’s CFPU Eyemo camera after the war in a downtown Toronto pawn shop.

Asked what would Roy Tash think about all this, James replied,

“I really think he would have been tickled pink about the camera being used for recording 35 film, although I probably would get a scolding from him for how I used it; taking a few chances to get a great shot. He really loved his gear and got the maximum out of it.

If only other pieces of machinery would last that long in the industry!“

© Dale Gervais 2023

---

NOTES

Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092329/

“Captain Power ran on American and Canadian syndicated television for one season from 1987 to 1988.”

Peter Benison, Best Cinematography in TV Drama
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097013/awards/?ref_=tt_awd

---

More about Roy Tash

Canadian Educational, Sponsored, and Industrial Film (CESIF) Project;

http://screenculture.org/cesif/directors-photography/roy-tash

Photographic Historical Society of Canada – Interview with Roy Tash; https://phsc.ca/camera/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/PC-Vol-14-5-Roy-Tash-1.pdf

Roy Tash – My first forty years behind a newsreel camera – Macleans Online Magazine – https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1959/12/5/my-first-forty-years-behind-a-newsreel-camera

Library & Archives Canada – Roy Tash Collection – https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/home/record?app=FonAndCol&IdNumber=190584

---