FLOYD CROSBY

"Oklahoma!" [1954]

Born: 12 December 1899, New York City, as Floyd Delafield Crosby, son of Fredrick Van Schoonhoven Crosby [1860-1920] and Julia Floyd Delafield [1874-1952].

Died: 30 September 1985, Ojai, Calif., USA.

Education: New York Institute of Photography, NY, NY.

Career: Worked at the New York Stock Exchange, Wall Street, New York. A meeting with anthropologist William Beebe led to a job as ph [stills & movies] on the Beebe Haitian Expedition [1927]. For 2 decades he specialized in doc's. He filmed the Matto Grosso Expedition, the Pratt Honduras Expedition, the LaVarre Brazilian-Guiana Expedition and an Indian Expedition. During WWII he worked as a ph in the Air Transport Command [superv by Pare Lorentz] making reference films for pilots. Left the Air Force as a major in 1946. Retired in 1972. Was member of the ASC. Appeared in Dec 1930 'Hearst Metrotone News'-item [Vol. 2, No. 225].

With his son David

One of his two sons, David Van Cortland Crosby [1940-], is a well-known rock musician ['The Byrds' & 'Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young'].

Awards: 'Oscar' AA [1930/1] for 'Tabu'; Golden Globe Award [1953; b&w] for 'High Noon'.

'Tabu' [1929]: 'I was working with Flaherty in Arizona in 1929 when Murnau came down for a visit and made arrangements with Flaherty to make a picture in Tahiti and one in Hawaii. Unfortunately, I had already made arrangements to go to Mount Athos in Greece and shoot some material there with a friend. When I returned two months later, I sent a wire to Tahiti and got an answer saying 'Come immediately'. When I arrived they had just shot one sequence. Flaherty was having a lot of trouble with his camera and was happy to have me take over the photography. In fact, I was cameraman, operator, assistant and ran the projector at night. I used my own camera, a model-L Debrie. Two years before, MGM had made a picture in Tahiti and sold their developing equipment to a local man. Murnau rented this equipment which consisted of a small printer, a developing tank and drying drums. We broke in a native boy to develop the negative and another boy to make the prints. Neither one had ever seen film before or been in a laboratory. [...] We shot intermittently for ten months, with stops for weather and work on the story. Murnau did every bit of the direction himself. The photography I would say was 50% Murnau and 50% me - in other words, he was specific on some set-ups and let me choose others. [...] The relationship between Murnau and Flaherty was a strange one. Murnau liked Flaherty, but Flaherty hated Murnau, partly because Murnau was a bit Prussian in manner and very selfish, and partly because of jealousy, as Murnau knew ten times as much about direction as Flaherty. [...] Murnau edited the picture in Tahiti and had a negative cutter come down from Hollywood. Soon after 'Tabu' was finished, I went to Brazil on a picture and was there ten months.' [Floyd Crosby in 'Film Dope', No. 8, 1975.]

FILMS

1927	Beebe Haitian Expedition [William Beebe & Floyd Crosby] unfinished
1928	Acoma the Sky City [Robert Flaherty] 2nd cam; ph: Leon Shamroy; unfinished
1929	Tabu [, a Story of the South Seas] [Robert Flaherty & F.W. Murnau] b&w; cph: R. Flaherty; shot on the islands of Tahiti & Bora Bora; released as a silent film with music track (1931)
1931	Matto Grosso [John S. Clark Jr., David M. Newell & Floyd Crosby] b&w; doc/50m
1933	Pueblo [Seymour Stern] doc; unfinished
1934	Alaska Expedition [Charles E. Bedaux] unfinished; footage used in the doc 'The Champagne Safari' (1995); Charles Eugène Bedaux [1886-1944] announced his intention to cross northeastern British Columbia [BC], Canada, with Citroën half-track trucks on May 25, 1934 in New York City. The Canadian Sub-Arctic Expedition launched from Edmonton, Alberta on July 6, 1934 and contained a formidable array of talent and beauty, including Floyd Crosby, a Hollywood cinematographer, two land surveyors, Frank Swannell and Ernest Lamarque, mining engineer Jack Bocock, a Citroën mechanic, many cowboys, as well as Bedaux’s mistress, his wife and her maid. Due to a combination of weather, terrain and poor planning, the expedition failed and the Citroën vehicles were abandoned. Although Bedaux returned to northern BC in 1936 with plans to build a road, he did not follow through. Collaborationist activities with Nazi-occupied France led to his 1942 arrest in North Africa. Returned to the U.S., he committed suicide in a Florida prison in 1944.
1936	The River [Pare Lorentz] b&w; doc/31m; replaced the nature-film ph Stacy & Horace Woodard; cph: Willard Van Dyke; prod Farm Security Administration
1938	Doctor Rhythm/Dr. Rhythm [Frank Tuttle] b&w; cph: Charles Lang Jr.
1938	Ecce homo [Pare Lorentz] unfinished
1939	Name, Age, Occupation [Pare Lorentz] b&w; doc/?m; ed from footage 'Ecce homo'; released in 1942
1939	The Land [Robert Flaherty] b&w; doc/45m; ph 2 short seq; ph: Robert Flaherty, Irving Lerner, Douglas Baker & Charles Herbert; released in 1942; prod US Department of Agriculture
1939	The Fight for Life [Pare Lorentz] b&w; dram doc/69m; prod US Department of Health
1939	Power and the Land [Joris Ivens] b&w; doc/33m; cph: Arthur Ornitz; prod US Film Service for the Rural Electrification Administration; 2 more doc's were edited from this footage: 'Bip Goes to Town' & 'The Worst of Farm Disasters'
1940	New Frontiers [Joris Ivens] unfinished
1940	TVA/Tennessee Valley Authority [prod: Arch A. Mercy] b&w; doc/20m; cph: Carl Pryer; prod National Defense Commission
1941	Power for Defense [George Gercke & Guy Bolté] b&w; doc/10m; cph: Carl Pryer; prod National Defense Commission & Tennessee Valley Authority
1942	It's All True [Orson Welles] unfinished; cph (with Joe Noreigo) seq 'My Friend Bonito' (dir by Norman Foster); 'Carnaval' seq ph by Joseph Biroc, William Howard Greene & Harry J. Wild; 'Four Men on a Raft' seq ph by George Fanto; footage used in doc 'It's All True' (1993, Richard Wilson, Myron Meisel & Bill Krohn)
1946	My Father's House/Beit Avi [Herbert Kline] b&w; filmed in Palestine; prod Jewish National Fund
1946	Traffic with the Devil [Gunther von Fritsch] b&w; doc/19m; ep 'Theater of Life'-series
1947	International Ice Patrol [?] b&w; doc/?m
1947	The Rural Co-op [Pare Lorentz] b&w; doc/?m
1948	Going to Blazes! [Gunther von Fritsch] b&w; doc/21m; ep 'Theater of Life'-series
1948	Roseanna McCoy [Irving Reis & (uncred retakes) Nicholas Ray] b&w; uncred cph; ph: Lee Garmes (Gregg Toland was originally scheduled as doph, but he died before start of prod)
1949	Heart to Heart [Gunther von Fritsch] b&w; doc/21m; ep 'Theater of Life'-series
19??	A Letter from Teresa [George Travell] ?; a 'Community Chest' short/?m
1949	Of Men and Music [Irving Reis & (Dimitri Mitropoulos seg) Alexander Hammid] b&w; doc/85m; ph Artur Rubenstein seg (shot in September) & Jascha Heifetz seg (shot in December); other seg ph by Hal Mohr & William O. Steiner
1950	The Brave Bulls [Robert Rossen] b&w; started the film; ph: James Wong Howe
1951	High Noon [Fred Zinnemann] b&w; 'The cameraman, Floyd Crosby, had the courage to give it the style that we had agreed upon. Floyd and I thought that 'High Noon' should look like a newsreel would have looked, if they had had newsreels in those days; and we studied Matthew Brady's photographs of the Civil War as an aid. Crosby used flat lighting that gave the film a grainy quality. There was almost a religious ritual about the way that Westerns were made. There was always a lovely sky with pretty clouds in the background. Instead, Crosby gave the sky a white, cloudless, burnt-out look. From the first day the front office complained about the poor photography, but Floyd went ahead anyway. Subliminally the photography created the effect we wanted; it made the film look more real.' [Fred Zinnemann]
1951	[Jack London's] The Fighter/The First Time [Herbert Kline] b&w; cph: James Wong Howe
1952	Mystery Lake [Larry Lansburgh] c; 64m; wildlife ph: W.W. Goodpaster & Karl Maslowski
1952	Devil Take Us [Herbert Morgan] b&w; short/20m; ep 'Theater of Life'-series
1952	Man Crazy [Irving Lerner] b&w
1953	Man in the Dark/The Man Who Lived Twice [Lew Landers] 3-D/b&w/sepia; 68m
1953	The Steel Lady/The Treasure of Kalifa [E.A. Dupont] b&w
1953	From Here to Eternity [Fred Zinnemann] b&w; uncred cph; ph: Burnett Guffey
1953	Stormy, the Thoroughbred [with an Inferiority Complex] [Larry Lansburgh] c; short/46m; cph: Hal Ramser & L. Lansburgh; prod Walt Disney
1953	Monster from the Ocean Floor/It Stalked the Ocean Floor/Monster Maker [Wyott Ordung] b&w; 64m; shot in 6 days
1954	The Snow Creature [W. Lee Wilder] b&w
1954	The Fast and the Furious [Edward Sampson & John Ireland] b&w; shot in 9 days
1954	Oklahoma! [Fred Zinnemann] tao70 & cs/c; 2uc; ph: Robert Surtees; filmed July-September (location) and September-December (studio)
1954	Five Guns West [Roger Corman] c; shot in 9 days
1955	The Naked Street/The Brass Ring [Maxwell Shane] b&w
1955	Hell's Horizon [Tom Gries] b&w
1955	The Beast with a Million Eyes [David Kramarsky & (uncred) Roger Corman] b&w; int ph (with dir R. Corman); ph: Everett Baker
1955	Apache Woman [Roger Corman] c
1955	Shack Out on 101 [Edward Dein] b&w
1956	Alaska Lifeboat [Herbert Morgan] b&w; doc/21m; ep 'Theater of Life'-series
1956	The Old Man and the Sea [John Sturges (replaced Fred Zinnemann)] c; started ph in June 1956 with dir F. Zinnemann; ph: James Wong Howe (in 1957 with dir J. Sturges)
1956	She-Gods of Shark Reef/Shark Reef [Roger Corman] c; 63m
1956	Naked Paradise/Thunder Over Hawaii [Roger Corman] c; 68m
1956	Attack of the Crab Monsters [Roger Corman] b&w; 67m
1956	Rock All Night [Roger Corman] b&w; 62m; shot in 6 days
1957	Hell Canyon Outlaws/The Tall Trouble [Paul Landres] b&w
1957	Teenage Doll/The Young Rebels [Roger Corman] b&w
1957	Ride Out for Revenge [Bernard Girard] b&w
1957	Reform School Girl [Edward Bernds] b&w
1957	Carnival Rock [Roger Corman] b&w
1957	The Cry Baby Killer [Jus Addiss] b&w; 62m; feature film debut of actor Jack Nicholson
1957	Suicide Battalion [Edward L. Cahn] b&w
1957	War of the Satellites [Roger Corman] b&w; 66m; shot in 8 days
1958	Machine-Gun Kelly [Roger Corman] Superama/b&w
1958	The Screaming Skull [Alex Nicol] b&w; 68m; 2uc: Kenneth Peach
1958	Hot Rod Gang/Fury Unleashed [Lew Landers] b&w
1958	Teenage Cave Man/Out of the Darkness/Prehistoric World [Roger Corman] Superama/b&w; 66m
1958	[Jack London's] Wolf Larsen/The Far Wanderer [Harmon Jones] b&w
1958	Crime & Punishment, U.S.A. [Denis Sanders] b&w
1958	I, Mobster [... The Life of a Gangster]/The Mobster [Roger Corman] cs/b&w
1958	The Wonderful Country [Robert Parrish] c; cph: Alex Phillips
1959	The Miracle of the Hills [Paul Landres] cs/b&w
1959	Terror at Black Falls/Ordeal at Dry Red [Richard C. Sarafian] b&w
1959	Blood and Steel [Bernard L. Kowalski] RegalScope/b&w; 62m
1959	The Rookie [George O'Hanlon] cs/b&w
1960	Twelve Hours to Kill [Edward L. Cahn] cs/b&w
1960	House of Usher/The Fall of the House of Usher [Roger Corman] cs/c; pfx: Ray Mercer; shot in 15 days
1960	The High Powered Rifle/Duel in the City [Maury Dexter] b&w; 62m
1960	Walk Tall [Maury Dexter] cs/c; 60m
1960	Freckles [Andrew V. McLaglen] cs/c
1960	Operation Bottleneck [Edward L. Cahn] b&w
1960	The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come [Andrew V. McLaglen] cs/c
1960	The Gambler Wore a Gun [Edward L. Cahn] b&w
1961	A Cold Wind in August [Alexander Singer] b&w

[Right] with actress Barbara Steele

"Pit and the Pendulum"

1961	Pit and the Pendulum [Roger Corman] p/c; pfx: Ray Mercer
1961	Night Tide [Curtis Harrington] b&w; addph; ph: Vilis Lapenieks
1961	The Purple Hills [Maury Dexter] cs/c
1961	The Explosive Generation [Buzz Kulik] b&w
1961	Seven Women from Hell [Robert D. Webb] cs/b&w
1961	The Two Little Bears [Randall Hood] cs/b&w
1961	Woman Hunt/Womanhunt [Maury Dexter] cs/b&w
1961	The Broken Land [John Bushelman] cs/c
1961	Hand of Death/Five Fingers of Death [Gene Nelson] cs/b&w
1962	Premature Burial/The Premature Burial [Roger Corman] p/c
1962	[Edgar Allan Poe's] Tales of Terror [Roger Corman] p/c; optical efx: Ray Mercer
1962	The Firebrand [Maury Dexter] cs/b&w; 63m
1962	The Young Racers [Roger Corman] c
1962	The Raven [Roger Corman] p/c
1963	Black Zoo [Robert Gordon] p/b&w-c
1963	The Yellow Canary [Buzz Kulik] cs/b&w
1963	X/X: The Man With the X-Ray Eyes] [Roger Corman] Spectarama/c
1963	[Edgar Allan Poe's] The Haunted Palace/The Haunted Village [Roger Corman] p/c

With actor Peter Lorre [right]

"The Comedy of Terrors"

1963	The Comedy of Terrors/The Graveside Story [Jacques Tourneur] p/c
1964	Sallah [Shabati] [Ephraim Kishon] b&w; cph: Nissim Leon; filmed in Israel
1964	Bikini Beach [William Asher] p/c
1964	Pajama Party/The Maid and the Martian [Don Weis] p/c
1964	Sex and the College Girl/The Fun Lovers [Joseph Adler] c
1964	Raiders from Beneath the Sea [Maury Dexter] b&w (F. Crosby denied having worked on this film)
1964	Indian Paint [Norman Foster] c
1965	Beach Blanket Bingo [William Asher] p/c
1965	How to Stuff a Wild Bikini [William Asher] p/c
1965	Sergeant Dead Head/Sergeant Deadhead [Norman Taurog] p/c
1965	Beach Ball [Lennie Weinrib] ts/c; 2uc: Gary Kurtz
1966	Fireball 500 [William Asher] p/c; process ph: Jacques Marquette
1966	The Cool Ones/Cool Baby, Cool! [Gene Nelson] p/c
1970	Sweet Kill/The Arousers/A Kiss from Eddie [Curtis Hanson] c; left prod after 5 days (uncred); cph: Daniel Lacambre
1995	The Champagne Safari [George Ungar] b&w-c; doc/100m about Charles Bedaux's 'Alaska Expedition' (1934; sponsored by André Citroën) with footage shot by F. Crosby; ph: Joan Hutton, Douglas Kiefer, Kirk Tougas, a.o.

TELEVISION

195?	Author's Playhouse [9 ep]
1953	The Ford Television Theatre/Ford Theatre/All Star Theater [ep #111 (59) 'For the Love of Kitty' dir by Ted Post] series/b&w, 1948-51 (52 ep/live) & 1952-57 (195 ep/film); 5th season, 1953-54
1954	Fireside Theatre/Jane Wyman Presents Fireside Theatre/Top Plays of the Year [ep #7.18 'The Indiscreet Mrs. Jarvis' dir by Alan Smithee = ?] 268-part series/b&w, 1949-58; 7th season, 1954-55
1955	TV Reader's Digest [26 ep dir by various, e.g. #30 'The Brainwashing of John Hayes' dir by Harry Horner] 65-part series/b&w, 1955-56 (2 seasons); 2nd season, 1955-56; other ph: Lester Shorr & Joseph Biroc
1957	The Court of Last Resort [12 ep dir by various] 26-part series/b&w, 1957-58; other ph: Harry Neumann
1958	Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse [ep #12 'Ballad for a Bad Man/Guns and Guitar' dir by Jerry Hopper] 43-part series/b&w, 1958-60; 1st season, 1958-59
1959	The Swamp Fox [ep #5 'Redcoat Strategy' & #6 'A Case of Treason' dir by Louis King] 8-part series, 1959-61; other ph: Gordon Avil (2 ep), Lucien Ballard (2 ep) & Philip Lathrop (2 ep); for ABC-tv series 'Walt Disney Presents'
1959	Maverick [ep #63 'Easy Mark' dir by Lew Landers & #65 'Trooper Maverick' dir by Richard L. Bare] 124-part series/b&w, 1957-62; 3rd Season, 1959-60; other ph: Ellis W. Carter, Bert Glennon, Ralph Woolsey, a.o.
1959	Law of the Plainsman/The Westerners [ep #26 'Stella' dir by Paul Landres] pilot + 30-part series/b&w, 1959-60
1960	Wanted: Dead or Alive [ep #66 'The Inheritance' dir by Arthur Hilton] pilot + 98-part series/b&w, 1958-61; 2nd season, 1959-60; other ph: Howard Schwartz, Stanley Cortez, Guy Roe, a.o.
1961	The New Breed [pilot 'No Fat Cops' dir by Walter Grauman] 36-part series/b&w, 1961-62; other ph: Meredith Nicholson
1961	Bus Stop [ep #20 'Put Your Dreams Away' dir by Ted Post & #22 'The Ordeal of Kevin Brooke' dir by James B. Clark] 26-part series/b&w, 1961-62; other ph: Robert Hauser & J. Peverell Marley (1 ep)
1962	Surfside 6 [ep #60 'A Piece of Tommy Minor' dir by Richard Benedict] 74-part series/b&w, 1960-62; 2nd season, 1961-62; other ph: Bert Glennon, a.o.