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<\/p>\nPlease no one forget the gentle giant of the Camera Department, the wonderful Dave Mutton, and Crew 14: "Pennies from Heaven" and "Abigail’s Party" to name but two. <\/p>\n
I was on Crew 14 for a short time: Crew 14 was the crew for \u201cThe Idiot\u201d: and the Senior Cameraman was Dave Mutton. Yes, he was a great guy: I think it was Dave who did the crab down the PBU for the opening titles each week. At this time (1966) Crew 14 was a general purpose crew. I left in mid-1967 so things obviously developed after that! <\/p>\n
And of course Dave and Crew 14 did \u201cPortrait Of A Lady\u201d.<\/p>\n
Going back a bit, I think I remember Dave Mutton as being the mole swinger on Crew 3 in the days when we occupied TVT – B&Ws and Billy Cotton, not to forget "Crackerjack"! (1992-95?).<\/p>\n
I have some 8mm film of the Mole in full flight across the stage. <\/p>\n
I think \u201cAbigail’s Party\u201d is available on DVD – a rare TV milestone production. \u201cPennies from Heaven\u201d, also, I believe. I have the \u201cSinging Detective\u201d. I bought a B\/W copy of \u201cThe Year of the Sex Olympics\u201d on which I was Grams, from the BFI, cost \u00a390 – I gather from Charles Norton, the young BBC archivist, that there is a colour version stored, so I’m working on him!<\/p>\n
Dave didn’t need to ‘swing’ the Mole like mere mortals – more just chucked the bucket from hand to hand.<\/p>\n
I can vouch for that . I was on Dave Mutton’s Crew T and again on his Crew 14. I was always a tracker by preference and ability as regards the Mole, but one day on Crew T Dave decided to swap us around. <\/p>\n
I found myself swinging Dave – not an easy task even for a good swinger. After a while spent up front suffering in merciful silence at my ineptitude, he dismounted and swapped places with me. I was then moved through space effortlessly and at some speed as required. I looked back at one stage, and indeed, Dave was doing just what has been described – chucking the bucket about from hand to hand. Amazing!<\/p>\n
Another little quirk concerning Dave M which I recall was that we had to have an outrider on the front of the Heron to hold the driving wheel down on the corner opposite Dave’s seat if he was working with it at right angles to the body of the dolly – especially if there was any sort of dip in the studio floor – R1 and R2 come to mind.<\/p>\n
Crew 14 did a lot of other drama work as well as the aforementioned Portrait. \u201cLes Miserables\u201d, \u201cChampion House\u201d, \u201cHand Me My Sword Smith\u201d, \u201cThe Dispossessed\u201d, \u201cThe Resurrection\u201d, \u201cDetectives\u201d, and \u201c30 Minute Theatre\u201d were all grist to Crew 14’s mill. I enjoyed my time on Dave’s crews – a good atmos and good mates to work with bar none, and a great guy in charge.<\/p>\n
BBC Tech Ops: I wouldn’t have missed a second of it for the world!<\/p>\n
Another example of Dave\u2019s advantages over mere mortal cameramen was with a studio ped. <\/p>\n
If any of the rest of us had to crab a ped straight left or right, you\u2019d bias your body to the left or right of the ped, according to your preferred technique, and then push or pull it, utilising your body weight, and usually give it a shove with a foot as well. <\/p>\n
What did Dave do? <\/p>\n
Stand four-square behind the ped, left hand on his ram~rod straight pan bar, right hand on the ring~steer, and just move the bloody thing. Apparently effortlessly. <\/p>\n
It still annoys me. <\/p>\n
Does anyone remember the days before ring-steer?<\/p>\n
Preventing drift to left or right with no hands free meant nudging the tiller with one\u2019s knee! <\/p>\n
I got promoted to be Dave’s Deputy.<\/p>\n
What a gent. Totally supportive whenever I had problems with them upstairs.<\/p>\n
It was at the time when he had to go for overnight dialysis 3 times a week. It must have been tiring for him but you wouldn’t have known it. He was on top form.<\/p>\n
So it came as quite a shock when he was called in for a transplant and didn’t make it through the operation.<\/p>\n
He and the crew were down to do "Much Ado About Nothing" in the Shakespeare series. I was trusted to lead the crew on it. Thanks to amazing support from Dudley, John Morris and Bob Glaister we did a rather good job! We were nominated for a Bafta.<\/p>\n
So it was mixed emotions.<\/p>\n
Good memories of Dave. He showed me how to be a Proper Camera Supervisor!<\/p>\n
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Nick Rodger Please no one forget the gentle giant of the Camera Department, the wonderful Dave Mutton, and Crew 14: "Pennies from Heaven" and "Abigail’s Party" to name but two. Alec Bray I was on Crew 14 for a short … Continue reading