{"id":267,"date":"2017-11-28T06:52:43","date_gmt":"2017-11-27T20:52:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pilens.com.au\/modris\/?page_id=267"},"modified":"2017-11-28T06:56:38","modified_gmt":"2017-11-27T20:56:38","slug":"front-row-of-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/pilens.com.au\/modris\/national-film-and-sound-archive\/front-row-of-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Front Row of History"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is an interview Series for the National Film and Sound Archive Aural History Programme.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

My name is John Fife (JF<\/strong>) and I have with me Morrie Pilens (MP<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 Were cameramen paid well?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Ummm, basically from beginning, yes.\u00a0 But later on, no.\u00a0 Basically if you were a film cameraman you were paid pretty well above any award rates.\u00a0 I had a good \u2013 I organised a pretty good return for me.\u00a0 And as I was hiring the cameramen who were coming in, they always got well above the award rates.\u00a0 And then something happened and everybody got in because the journalists all of a sudden got taken over, and the hiring somehow \u2013 I don\u2019t know what happened.\u00a0 Because I was never there!<\/p>\n

It was well paid, making good money, getting good penalties.\u00a0 But never get filthy rich.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 But no regrets.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Oh crumbs no.\u00a0 no regrets whatsoever.\u00a0 As far as I was concerned I was making good money.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 And as a career?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 As a career I wouldn\u2019t have anything else.\u00a0 I was lucky.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 In what way?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 That I got a job like that.\u00a0 That I could fit in.\u00a0 That I could do things the way I wanted to, create things that I felt like I was doing something.\u00a0 It\u2019s a challenge to get there first and on time, it\u2019s a challenge to get rid of your film, and it\u2019s gratifying to sit down and say \u2018Oh yeah, bloody good shot that.\u2019<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 And you\u2019re also in a privileged position, in that you\u2019re in the front row of history.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 From the beginning we were in a very privileged position.\u00a0 Members\u2019 dining rooms were opened for us, we always were invited to functions and tables are provided for a cameraman.\u00a0 And then they just got too big.\u00a0 Some of the guys who thought they were arty farty started to dress like hobos, so everybody else suffered from it.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 When I\u2019m thinking privileged, I mean there are times when you are right on the edge of seeing history being made.<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Yeah but you don\u2019t know that history is being made!\u00a0 You are just recording what\u2019s happening.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have any conception of \u2018Ohhh, this is going to set the world on fire!\u00a0 This is going to build a monument!\u2019\u00a0 You don\u2019t, until it\u2019s finished.<\/p>\n

And about a week later you say \u2018Oh, that was a big story.\u2019\u00a0 But while you\u2019re there, it\u2019s only what\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 I know there was one that affected you and brought changes about<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Yes<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 And that was the children\u2019s home burning down.<\/p>\n

*MP:\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 I was stringing for ABC.\u00a0 Eric Tyler (?) who was the news editor then, hired me for the day.\u00a0 And he said \u2018Alright, just drive around and see what\u2019s going on.\u2019<\/p>\n

I said \u2018Yeah, but look\u2026 \u2018<\/p>\n

He said \u2018Just drive around and see what you can find.\u00a0 Don\u2019t worry about it.\u00a0 We just need you.\u2019<\/p>\n

And there was couple of lives lost in the Dandenongs, and there was fire here and fire there, and I was driving around in my little van listening to the police radio, and something about shed fire, Templestowe.\u00a0 And I\u2019m just in Heidelberg, and I can see a little pile of smoke going up.<\/p>\n

So I think \u2018I\u2019ll just go and have a look.\u2019\u00a0 It was something.\u00a0 So I arrived there and there is a shed right on the corner of Foote St and Manningham Rd, and the shed\u2019s on fire.\u00a0 I roll off a couple of feet.\u00a0 So I go around the front and then there\u2019s oh, half a dozen baskets – with children in them.\u00a0 Every basket\u2019s got at least two children in it, you know.<\/p>\n

And I think \u2018Oh, this is funny.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 So I just BRRRRRRr roll that off.\u00a0 And there\u2019s a little kid comes up to me and says \u2018Hey, mister, are you from television?\u2019<\/p>\n

I say \u2018Yes.\u2019<\/p>\n

He says \u2018Oh, many babies died inside.\u00a0 We go help.\u2019\u00a0 Many babies died inside.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 in the shed?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 In the shed.\u00a0 The shed was a child minding centre, where people dropped their kids off in the cars, or they got picked up by a van in the city and brought down there, and kept there, and taken back to wherever.\u00a0 This was an unlicenced \u2013 well, there was no licenced minding centres then.<\/p>\n

So I got a couple of shots of the kids in the bassinets, the boy \u2013 he got whisked off very quickly.\u00a0 There was a bloke at the back that people were sitting on because he was just about screaming his head off, and I think I shot 200 feet of film.<\/p>\n

By this time it\u2019s starting to get around about 4 30 or 5 o\u2019clock.\u00a0 I have no communication with channel 2, because I haven\u2019t got a radio in my car.\u00a0 So I go across the road and knock at the door.\u00a0 I showed them a little piece of paper and said \u2018I\u2019m from the ABC, can I use your radio telephone?\u2019<\/p>\n

And the woman said \u2018Oh, yes yes.\u2019\u00a0 So I ring up the ABC.\u00a0 This time I didn\u2019t bloody worry about ringing radio \u2013 it was too big.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 \u2018Cos this is the days normally when radio had to know the story first?<\/p>\n

*MP:\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 I ring up the newsroom and Peter Brindisi? was the journalist on\u2026 (aggressive voice)\u00a0 \u2018I haven\u2019t got any bloody time to talk to you the whole place is burning down..\u2019<\/p>\n

I said \u2018Peter, just listen.\u00a0 Six kids have just been burnt to death at a child minding centre.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018What, what what?\u00a0 Go back, find out their names.\u2019<\/p>\n

I said \u2018Peter, you want their names you come and find their names.\u00a0 I\u2019m taking the film to be processed.\u2019\u00a0 And I hung up.\u00a0 And went straight to Cinevex.\u00a0 Of course they are waiting for me.\u00a0 Broomph.\u00a0 Petukiwww..\u00a0 The story that run for years.\u00a0 Legislation, the whole bit, you know.\u00a0 It happens.<\/p>\n

JF:\u00a0 You fluked it?<\/p>\n

MP:\u00a0 Yeah, fluked.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been having regular flukes, every five years.\u00a0 One way or another, every five years.\u00a0 Flukes.\u00a0 One and only Button charge of Victoria Police \u2013 with the wharfies.\u00a0 I have Foote St, I had Jews and Arabs having whacko into each other.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is an interview Series for the National Film and Sound Archive Aural History Programme.\u00a0 My name is John Fife (JF) and I have with me Morrie Pilens (MP). JF:\u00a0 Were cameramen paid well? MP:\u00a0 Ummm, basically from beginning, yes.\u00a0 But later on, no.\u00a0 Basically if you were a film cameraman you were paid pretty … <\/p>\n

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