Born Gaetano Antonio Gaudio in Cosenza, Italy in 1883 to a famous photographic family.[1] The son of one of Italy’s foremost photographic artists, the boy was quite literally brought up in the studio, where he learned at an early age to use the still camera and to develop negatives in the darkroom.[2] His father also gave him a liberal education in lenses, cameras, composition and the manipulation of lights so that when the time came to take up motion photography, the young Tony had a head full of useful information to start with.[2]
At two months old, Tony’s family moved from Cosenza to Rome for a short period in order for Tony to attend art school.[3] He is indebted to his art training for his later interest in the camera as a medium of art, as opposed to a mere recording instrument.[3] Tony was hardly nine years old when he began to play with photographic papers, making his own enlargements.[4] After attending art school in Rome, he became an assistant to his father and older brother, Rafael (Ralph) Gaudio, a prominent portrait photographer in Italy who later became president of the Society of Photography in Europe, and was nominated as Knight of the Crown in Italy for photographic achievement.[4]
Then it became necessary to take time out from the photographic side of his education to go to military school.[4] It was 1900 when he bade good-bye to the army and returned home, where he worked as an apprentice alongside his younger brother Eugenio (Eugene)Gaudio[5] in the family photography studio owned by Rafael, "Foto Gaudio",[4] in the historic center of the Calabrian city.
Career
Italy
Eventually he segued into cinema, starting with several years with the famous Ambrosio Films in Torino[4]- a film company popular in Italy in the early days of cinema. In 1903, 19-year-old Tony filmed “Napoleon Crossing the Alps”. Years later in a New York Times interview, Tony remembered that his only lighting problem in this film was the sun, which kept ducking behind the clouds. “It was quite bad,” Mr. Gaudio recalled.[1] A young Gaudio shot hundreds of short subjects for Italian film companies, two or three features a week,[3] before emigrating to America in 1906 at the age of 22[5] together with his brother Eugene, who would follow him to the United States.[6]
New York
In 1906 a young Gaudio arrived in the United States, moving to New York City. Tony was employed by Al Simpson to produce "song slides" that could be shown in theaters so patrons could sing along with the music.[7] Twelve hand-colored slides were made for each new popular or near popular song.[4] After quitting Simpson in 1908, Tony worked in Vitagraph’s film development laboratories in New York.[8] It was in 1908 that Tony acted as the cinematographer for his first film in the United States, Madame Nicotine.[1] In 1909 the photographer moved to Flatbush — which is now as for many years it has been a part of Brooklyn — where he took full charge of the Vitagraph laboratory.[4]
Frame from the previously lost 1911 film Pictureland
Then he moved across the Brooklyn Bridge to Carl Laemmle’s Independent Moving Picture CO., supervising the construction of IMP’s New York laboratories.[2] He had complete charge of both positive and negative departments until perfectly organized when he was promoted to be a studio manager.[2] From 1910-1912 he became the Chief of Cinematography at IMP, shooting one picture a week and fifty a year.[3] The leading players in the Eleventh Avenue studio at that time were Mary Pickford, King Baggot, Joe Smiley, and Owen Moore, among others.[4] There, he shot Mary Pickford’s films for director Thomas H. Ince. In addition to being her cameraman, Gaudio also wrote For the Queen’s Honor (1911), using his writing skills from the many films he wrote and directed in Italy before then.[3] With IMP in 1910, Tony pioneered filming underwater, shooting the first submarine picture, titled “Submarine”.[3] He went down in a submarine at Newport News in Virginia, taking pictures inside a submersible vessel.[1]
He then left IMP to work for Biograph, a studio established in Brooklyn Heights, where he was engaged with the specials the company was making for Klaw and Erlanger, stage producers in New York. Among these specials were Strongheart, and Classmates, with Blanche Sweet and Marshall Nielan.[2] Together, the stage and screen men were adapting plays, one of the earliest instances in which a staged play was converted to the screen. Gaudio remained here until 1915.[4] Gaudio found a home at Metro Pictures by 1916, where his brother Eugene now worked as a director.[7]
In Old Kentucky (1919): (from left) cinematographer Henry Cronjager, assistant director Alfred E. Green, director Marshall Neilan, and cinematographer Tony Gaudio
Over 1,500,000 candle-power were employed to light up this set, the greater part of the light being supplied by the fifteen sunlight arcs.[9] Gaudio also used four generator sets on the scene.[9] Producer J.L. Frothingham was so pleased with Gaudio’s work on this film that he retained him for his next project, The Woman He Loved.[9] In total, Gaudio and Frothingham collaborated five times on The Ten Dollar Raise, The Other Woman, A Bride of the Gods, The Man Who Smiled and Pilgrim of Night.[10]
The American Cinematographer. 1923-01 Vol. III no. 10 cover
In 1924, Tony Gaudio was elected president of the American Society of Cinematographers, the highest honor at the disposal of the cinematographers.[10][16]A.S.C. is the professional body his brother had helped create to promote standardization in the industry of cinematography, serving as a body of information for cameramen.[7]
At the time of the election, A.S.C. cited Gaudio as one of the world’s foremost cinematographers and pioneers in the industry.[10] Gaudio held the position until 1925.
Director
In 1925, Tony Gaudio turned to directing for a brief period of time, directing a total of two films. In July of 1925 it was announced that Gaudio would be directing the Waldorf special feature production in collaboration with Columbia Pictures,[16] starring Alice Lake and Gaston Glass, with ASC’s Sam Landers as the cinematographer, titled The Price of Success.[16]
The Price of Success (1925) with film director Tony Gaudio, Florence Turner, and Alice Lake
Gaudio’s direction of the Waldorf production did not interfere with his relations with Joseph M. Schenck. He continued as Chief Cinematographer for Norma Talmadge, filming her next feature and their last together, Graustark.[16] All eyes were on Gaudio for his directorial debut, and Schenck was impressed, clearing the way for Gaudio to direct his second feature film with Waldorf, Sealed Lips, starring Dorothy Revier and Cullen Landis.[13] Schenck waived Gaudio’s contract in what he hoped to be a promising directorial career for the camera veteran.[13]
Gaudio hit his stride after signing with Warner Bros. in 1930, shooting Mervyn LeRoy’s gangster classic Little Caesar (1931), in a harsh style that fit the gritty subject matter.[8] Gaudio contributed to two seminal war films in 1930, acting as second camera to A.S.C.’s Arthur Edeson for All Quiet on the Western Front, and as cinematographer for Hell’s Angels (1930), handling the dialogue scenes with co-cinematographer Harry Perry as well as the aerial cinematography.[8]Hell’s Angels won Gaudio his first Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography, a picture that made records from the photographic side, as the film was exposed for two and a half years. By the time the picture was completed as a silent film, then came the revolution of sound.[4]
“I am convinced there never has been one of my brother cameramen who was so happy over winning this award as I have been. For me, it has been a deep as it will be an abiding satisfaction. And my gratitude, deeper than words can express, goes to the men and women of this great industry".[4]
The years of 1938 and 1939 are busy times for Gaudio, completing his 1000th picture.[3] Gaudio acted as Director of Photography on Edmund Goulding’s The Dawn Patrol, shooting aerial scenes as well as claustrophobic interiors.[8] As of June 1938, Tony was the oldest cinematographer on features in the world at 55 years old.[3] In an interview with The American Cinematographer in their June, 1938 issue,[3] Tony comments:
“Today’s cameramen are virtually a new race of artists. Sound, with its new requirements, brought a saner approach to motion picture photography. Camera work should be like that of the portrait artist, reality and character with only so much retouching as is necessary to smooth out the rougher spots. Realism and character must be preserved at all costs.”[3]
"Juarez" 1939 Title, from Trailer
At the end of the decade, Gaudio photographed two more Bette Davis pictures in which he de-glamorized the actress. This includes The Old Maid (1939) and Juarez (1939), for which he earned the Oscar nomination once again for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White. The picture was the first major subject in Hollywood to be photographed on the new Eastman Plus X Panchromatic film. Not an inch of any other brand was used in the production, declares Tony Gaudio in an interview with The American Cinematographer[18].
“The Eastman company is responsible for many improvements in photography,” he said, “but I am convinced this stock is not only a distinct advance. It is the best thing Eastman has done for the motion picture industry as a whole.”[18]
In this work he retained the same balance between highlights, half tones and shadows as he had formerly with film that preceded Plus X.[18] This level of illumination was reduced by exactly 50 percent, which saved costs in lighting.
“It is smoother, finer in grain and in speed.” the cameraman said in conclusion. “Yes, I am using Plus X in “The Old Maid”, the picture I am now on, another Bette Davis subject, and I expect to be using it as long as I am in pictures. No, I don’t think there ever will be anything really better.”[18]
1940s
Gaudio began the decade of the 1940s while still in collaboration with Warner Bros. With William Keighley, Tony shot The Fighting 69th (1940), which was labeled a “truly brilliant example of screencraft” by The Film Daily.[19][20] Also in 1940, Gaudio photographed The Letter, a William Wyler picture that gave Tony his 4th Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White. This was another Bette Davis picture, one of her better remembered vehicles that is distinguished by Gaudio's moody cinematography, especially the memorable opening shot, a slow track through a Malaysian rubber plantation that sets the tone for the whole picture.[8] In 1941, Gaudio lit Raoul Walsh's crime masterwork High Sierra in an ultra realistic, documentary-like fashion that was a precursor of film noir.[8]
In 1939, Gaudio was nominated by King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy as a Knight of the Crown for his contributions to the art of motion picture photography. Gaudio declined to accept the honor and recognition for his work because it came from a foreign country, despite that country once being his homeland.[23] In an interview with The American Cinematographer in their April, 1939 Issue, Gaudio explained:
"It has nothing to with the present form of government in Italy. Nevertheless, I do not feel that it is right for me, now an American, to accept a foreign order."[23]
After the divorce from his first wife, Rosina Gaudio, which caused a scandal at the time, there was an estrangement with his children. After retiring from work in 1949, Gaudio moved to San Francisco with his second wife, Marie Gaudio.[6]
He died at his home on August 10, 1951 in Burlingame, California at the age of 66 of a heart attack.[1] and is interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California. His brother Eugene Gaudio, also a cinematographer, died in 1920 at the age of 34. Gaudio is survived by his wife, Marie, and two sons- Frank, also a cameraman, and Antonio, a San Francisco Lawyer.
Legacy
Gaudio circa 1919
Tony Gaudio has always been one of the most consistently progressive members of the camera profession. He has taken part in all of the ASC’s technical researches, such as those which smoothed the introduction of monochromatic film, Mazda lighting and modern make-up.[24]
Gaudio was a revolutionary cinematographer, instituting and influencing many techniques and technologies in the craft. He has pioneered the use of “Dinky Inkies” and “precision lighting”, using spotlights almost to the exclusion of flood-lighting units.[24] In addition, he pioneered the use of the Montage, invented the Mitchell Camera Viewfinder, worked on the first All-talkie and All-color film, as well as revolutionized photographing exterior night scenes during daylight. Gaudio's legacy lives on through his inventive and creative cinematographic mind that still impacts cinema today.
The montage
Tony Gaudio was the first Hollywood photographer to use a montage. It was produced in a Douglas Fairbanks picture, “Mark of Zorro.”[1]
Mitchell Camera viewfinder
Tony was at the forefront of technical innovation in the craft of cinematography. A longtime fan and owner of the Mitchell camera, Gaudio was quoted in 1921 as stating that “The Mitchell does everything a camera ought to do and then a lot more”.[25]
In 1922, he invented a viewfinder for the new Mitchell Camera, as well as inventing the camera focusing microscope.[3] In the 1920s, the Hollywood motion picture industry was dominated by Bell and Howell cameras, but Mitchell established a foothold and broke through by the end of the decade,[7] propelled by cinematographers such as Gaudio who advocated for the Mitchell and its positive attributes. While the Bell and Howell produced a superior image due to its innovative pressure plate behind the lens, it was too noisy for sound work, which opened up the market to Mitchell.[7]
Mitchell Camera circ 1930s
Now, any time anyone looks through the focusing microscope of a Mitchell camera, Tony Gaudio invented it. In the 1920s, when you focused a professional camera, you viewed your image either on the film itself or on a removable ground-glass focusing screen.[24] In either event, if you had a good camera, you probably viewed this image through a simple, low-powered magnifying glass, which still gave you an image which was upside-down and turned around left or right.[24]
Gaudio believed that there was a better way of lining up a shot, and felt it would be easier if you could see your image right side up and laterally correct, and also rather highly magnified.[24] He worked in close collaboration with the Mitchell engineers and with the Bausch and Lomb opticians. Finally after many months of experimentation, a focusing optical system was perfected.[24] For the first time in the history of cinematography, you could look into a camera and see, magnified some 10 diameters, the actual image cast by his lens. By a turn of a small control, the vital center-area of the image could be scanned, with the magnification almost doubled.[24]
Device for photographing exterior night scenes in the daytime
Gaudio was among the first cinematographers to experiment successfully with the idea of photographing exterior night-scenes in the daytime, with filters. Faced with a unified chorus of “It can’t be done”, he succeeded.[24] In 1923, Gaetano Gaudio invented an epochal device in lighting sets for darkness, paving the way to save millions in film production a year by the elimination of night exterior filming, revolutionizing picture making at night time. While shooting Norma Talmadge’s Joseh M. Schenck drama The Song of Love, Gaudio used his process during three days, in which night scenes of an Algerian village street were taken during the day.[26] Gaudio was never satisfied by artificial night lighting, and looked forward to the entire industry adopting his invention, which inevitably occurred.[26] The invention was perfected after only five weeks of experiment, and can be applied to any camera, having few attachments. The working principle rests in the preparation of the raw film.[26] The new process gives a black sky, a light foreground, a clearly defined skyline, perfect silhouettes and stereoscopic relief with high visibility, to figures both in close-ups and even until their disappearance on the skyline.[26] The shadows of figures walking in moonlight are strongly outlined. Gaudio announced at the time of invention that he was willing to stake his cinematographic reputation on this invention.[26]
First all-talkie, all-color film
Gaudio photographed On With the Show!, the first “all-talkie” musical in color. In a person essay for The American Cinematographer, Lighting Color on a Black-and-White Schedule from December 1936, Gaetano explained:
"In those days, everything was a problem. Certain colors had to be avoided, since the process wouldn’t reproduce them, others had to be achieved by showing the camera an entirely different tone. But the biggest problem was lighting. The two-color technicolor of those old days demanded an unbelievable amount of light."[17]
Gaudio commented that color did not slow the process down significantly, and on some days they were able to make as many as 22 different set ups,[17] which for a major studio production was about as fast as a black-and-white picture.
"On With the Show" ad in The Film Daily, Jan-Jun 1929
In addition, Gaudio’s team pioneered something that had not yet been done in a Technicolor production, making projected background process shots. This can be seen in a sequence played in an airplane, flying over the lumber country of the Northwest, and finally landing.[17] Gaudio comments on the development of color in film-making:
"Picture making is picture making no matter what you’re shooting, and those of us who have spent years learning the fundamentals of the job ought to be competent to take a new development like color in our stride. Of course it means new tools to work with, new problems and new ways of expressing many new thoughts: but it is still the same basic job of putting entertainment on celluloid."[17]
Documentary
The Lost Legacy of Tony Gaudio is an upcoming 2024 documentary that is about to hit festival screens[6] that tells the story of Tony Gaudio from Calabria and Hollywood, exploring the mystery behind the disappearance of his prized statuette, the first Italian Oscar.[27] The story follows Tony Gaudio, little known until a few years ago, born from an initiative to rediscover this artist. The documentary was implemented by the Cineteca della Calabria, which aroused the interest of a group of young authors from Cosenza and their production company "Open Fields".
They proposed the idea of a documentary, obtaining the contribution of the Calabria Film Commission and the support of its counterpart Piedmontese institution.[6] Broken Typewriter Productions from Los Angeles, CA is proud to announce their collaboration with Open Fields Productions from Cosenza, Italy for the feature documentary The Lost Legacy of Tony Gaudio. Open Fields’ Alessandro Nucci (director) and his brother Fabrizio Nucci (Producer) are in cooperation with The Margaret Herrick Academy archives and the American Society of Cinematographers.[27] The website, The Tony Gaudio Foundation for The Cinematic Arts, was set up in efforts to fundraise and spread awareness about the documentary. The foundation’s CEO is Gino Gaudio, great nephew of Tony Gaudio, with the CFO being Chester Hipple, Tony Gaudio’s grandson. In a message on the website, it reads:
"His name and contributions have been lost to the public. We would like the Gaudio name to live on and be remembered and celebrated from this day forward. “We trust The Lost Legacy of Tony Gaudio documentary will be a beautiful reminder for all film lovers of the important role of the cinematographer in films.”[27]
In April, in Gaetano Gaudio’s hometown, the first screening of the trailer of the documentary will be played.
"It is the story of the first Italian winner of an Oscar, but it is also the discovery of an innovator in the field of photography; it is, at the same time, the story of the birth of cinema, in Italy and the United States, the discovery of techniques and perspectives; it is the story of the emigration of Italians; and it is also an investigation - punctuated by a fictional part - in search of the statuette won almost 90 years ago and of which traces have been lost."[6]
The documentary will feature interviews - combined with images of the works - from some American teachers and scholars and entertainment industry professionals of Italy and the US. These include Patrick Keating and Jonathan Kuntz, or personalities of US cinema,[6] such as the Oscar winner Richard Edlund, special visual effects supervisor of films such as Star Wars, or M. David Mullen, director of photography of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.[6] In addition, there will be interviews from the president of the Cineteca della Calabria, Eugenio Attanasio, and from the Calabrian director of photography and Oscar winner for Avatar, Mauro Fiore. The film will also feature interviews from Gaudio’s relatives.[6]
“This documentary – explains the director – posed a series of problems from the beginning: very little repertoire, no private photos, perhaps due to a fire that would have destroyed all the albums, and less than 100 public photos. Involving the family was absolutely necessary."[6]
After Gaudio's death, all traces of the Oscar were lost, intersecting a line between the emotional story of the grandchildren and the artistic path of the pioneer cinematographer.
Shorts:Pictureland, The Dream, Maid or Man, At the Duke's Command, The Mirror, The Message in the Bottle, Her Darkest Hour, Artful Kate, A Manly Man, The Fisher-Maid, In Old Madrid, Sweet Memories, The Stampede, The Fair Dentist, For Her Brother's Sake, The Master and the Man, At a Quarter of Two, The Lighthouse Keeper, A Gasoline Engagement, Science, The Skating Bug, The Call of the Song, The Toss of a Coin, The Sentinel Asleep, The Better Way, His Dress Shirt, From the Bottom of the Sea
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Gallagher, John A. (2000). "Gaudio, Tony, International Dictionary of Film and Filmmakers". St. James Press. 4 (2000): 310–312.
1 2 3 4 Whitman, Philip H. "Pans and Tilts". The American Cinematographer. 1 (October, 1921).
1 2 3 4 5 "A.S.C. Elects New Officers". The American Cinematographer. 5 (May, 1924): 5.
↑ "In Camera Fornia". The American Cinematographer. 2 (December, 1921).
↑ "In Camera Fornia". The American Cinematographer. 5 (April, 1924): 26.
1 2 3 "Way Cleared for Gaudio to Direct". The American Cinematographer. 5 (August, 1925).
↑ "In Camera Fornia". The American Cinematographer. 5 (May, 1924).
↑ "In Camera Fornia". The American Cinematographer. 5 (December, 1924).
1 2 3 4 "Tony Gaudio, A.S.C. Becomes Director". The American Cinematographer. 6 (July, 1925): 13.
1 2 3 4 5 Gaudio, Gaetano. "Lighting Color on a Black-and-White Schedule". The American Cinematographer. 17 (December, 1936).
1 2 3 4 "Juarez Declared Really Great Picture". The American Cinematographer. 20 (April, 1939) – via Media History Digital Library.
↑ "Ten Best Pictures of 1939 in the Film Daily's Annual Poll of Critics of America". The Film Daily. 1939 – via Media History Digital Library.
↑ "Tony Gaudio Photographed Two of the Best Pictures of 1939". The Film Daily. 1939 – via Media History Digital Library.
↑ "Honor Box, This Week REPUBLIC Wins With: I've Always Loved You (1946)". The Box Office Digest (May-Dec 1946). 1946 – via Media History Digital Library.
1 2 "Gaudio Declines". The American Cinematographer. 20 (April, 1939).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Blanchard, Walter. "Aces of the Camera XV: "Tony" Gaudio, A.S.C.". The American Cinematographer. 23 (March, 1942): 112–138 – via Media History Digital Library.
↑ "In Camera Fornia". The American Cinematographer. 1 (December, 1921) – via Media History Digital Library.
1 2 3 4 5 "Gaudio Inventor of Epoch-making Device". The American Cinematographer. 3 (November, 1923) – via Media History Digital Library.
1 2 3 "Documentary". The Tony Gaudio Foundation For The Cinematic Arts. 2023.
Further reading
VERHALEN, CHARLES J. American Cinematographer,: February, 1937 (Classic Reprint). FORGOTTEN BOOKS, 2022.
Tennoe, Mariam T., Surhone, Lambert M., Henssonow, Susan F. et al. Tony Gaudio. Mager and Quinn’s Bookselllers.
Langman, Larry. “Tony Gaudio.” Destination Hollywood, The Influence of Europeans on American Filmmaking, Jefferson, North Carolina, and London, 2000.
“Tony Gaudio, 66, Film Cameraman.” The New York Times, 11 Aug. 1951. Obituary, https://www.nytimes.com/1951/08/11/archives/tony-gaudio-66-film-cameraman-1937-academy-award-winner-for-anthony.html.
“AFI Catalog of Feature Films, Tony Gaudio.” American FIlm INstitute, catalog.afi.com/Person/148490-Tony-Gaudio?sid=6c79e45e-4a8e-4903-8668-8542deb492f3&sr=9.857439&cp=1&pos=0&isMiscCredit=false.
Blanchard, Walter. “Aces of the Camera XV: ‘Tony’ Gaudio, A.S.C.” The American Cinematographer, vol. 23, no. March, 1942, pp. 112–138, https://doi.org/Media History Digital Library.
Abenavoli, Di Paola. “From Cosenza to the American Dream: The Film About Tony Gaudio Arrives, On the Story of the First Italian to Win an Oscar (Exclusive).” The Hollywood Reporter Roma, 9 Mar. 2024, www.hollywoodreporter.it/film/festival-e-premi/tony-gaudio-la-storia-vera-del-primo-italiano-che-vinse-un-premio-oscar/93985/.
Gallagher, John A. "Gaudio, Tony." International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, edited by Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast, 4th ed., vol. 4: Writers and Production Artists, St. James Press, 2000, pp. 310-312. Gale eBooks, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3406802321/GVRL?u=usocal_main&sid=bookmark-GVRL&xid=ce370610.
American Cinematographer. ASC Holding Corp., Vol 1 (1920) to Vol. 32 (1951)
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