Carl Von Hoffman — Mutual’s Daring Camera Man (1914) 🇺🇸
The presentation to Mutual motion picture theatre patrons of actual scenes taken by Mutual camera men on the very firing line of Mexican battlefields has brought to light one of the most interesting personalities that has ever appeared outside of the covers of fiction. Known to the inner circle of the motion picture art as a “camera man” and respected as an expert of moving picture photography who has shown exceptional daring in obtaining rare subjects for screen exploitation, Carl Von Hoffman is a man who, if he had lived in a previous age, would have been classed with the romantic figures of history.
A review of his short but surprisingly eventful career reads like a chapter from one of Scott’s novels [Sir Walter Scott], with the hero taking full advantage of the marvelous inventions that make the life of the twentieth century adventurer so much more active than that of his predecessors.
As a lieutenant in the Imperial Horse Guard, Carl Von Hoffman first saw active service, fighting for Russia in the Russo-Japanese war. His experiences during the rapidly moving events of that struggle for Russia put him in the class of a grizzled veteran while he was still a mere stripling.
At the dawn of peace he found himself the proud possessor of the Cross of the Legion of Honor of St. George, third class, with which he had been decorated in appreciation of his service.
We next find him leading the exciting life of a New York newspaper man. Busy days spent in the photographic department of the New York Globe, in which he was given ample opportunity to satisfy his Love of excitement and adventure, were followed by achievements in the service of the New York World, which gave him the nickname of “the nerviest newspaper photographer in America.”
Life in a well-regulated American city soon lost its attractions for one who owned the restless spirit of Von Hoffman, and he found interest for a time in making a trip around the world in an automobile. The completion of his globe-circling feat made the automobile too familiar an object to longer hold his attention and he turned with a glad heart to the aeroplane as a promising plaything for a man of bis temperament.
He succeeded in making a satisfactory arrangement with a flying machine company whereby he was to exploit a Biplane, and eight months of activity followed that would delight the most restless spirit. But the inevitable happened, and after an accident that broke his shoulder he was satisfied to turn his back upon further flying for the time being.
Photography again commanded Von Hoffman’s attention, but this time moving picture photography offered the change that his restless nature demanded. No calling in the world allows a man to show the nerve and take the chances that the position of camera man offers him, and Von Hoffman was quick to see the wonderful possibilities open to a man of his ability and daring through the medium of the motion picture camera.
Being possessed of a thorough knowledge of the technique of photography it was not long before Von Hoffman had mastered the more complicated art of taking moving pictures. But the scope of ordinary work in a motion picture studio was far too limited for a man of his tastes. He looked for broader fields of conquest and soon succeeded in making moving pictures of interesting events in almost every corner of the inhabited globe.
In line with his usual desire to accomplish the extraordinary he soon changed his base of operations from the earth to the air and many valuable films taken from an aeroplane were the result.
By special permission of President Woodrow Wilson and the Secretary of the Navy, he was allowed to make a film of the manoeuvers of the navy which attracted world-wide attention. One of his pictures was presented to President Wilson, who made public comment on the young camera man’s worthy achievements.
Among other noteworthy experiences. Von Hoffman can tell an intensely interesting story of a trip which included the visiting and photographing of every fort in the United States. A journey to Cuba followed the completion of his round of the forts, where several months were spent with the United States fleet in Winter quarters and many valuable pictures obtained.
Life with Uncle Sam’s sailor boys was not exciting enough, however, to satisfy the adventurer, for while in Cuba he made a flight over Guantanamo Bay, during which more moving pictures were obtained and his name was again featured by the press of the civilized world.
In company with a small party of motion picture experts connected with the Mutual Film Corporation, he embarked with Colonel Roosevelt for South America, and before the steamer was well under way was in possession of hundreds of feet of valuable film showing the famous ex-President in his characteristically active life aboard ship.
The motion pictures of Colonel Roosevelt in South America have already been prepared for presentation by the Mutual Film Corporation and will soon be enjoyed by theatre patrons throughout the United States and Europe.
Carl Von Hoffman had scarcely set foot again upon North American soil before he saw a new opportunity for adventure in the novel arrangement made by President H. E. Aitken of the Mutual Film Corporation with General Villa, whereby Mutual Camera men were to accompany Villa’s army and secure scenes of strife on the firing line.
And foremost in the thick of the fight, where the bullets rain thickest, is seen that twentieth century soldier of fortune, Carl Von Hoffman, with his weapons discarded, and his steady hands guiding a moving picture camera instead of a rifle.
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Collection: Reel Life Magazine, March 1914