I Remember Laurier: Reflections by Retirees on Life at WLU

30. A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words—AV and Beyond

T o justify the title of this essay, it should really be composed of images—but perhaps around “a thousand words” might be permitted. How did I get together with good old WLU? More basically, how did I get to Canada from Vienna? After finishing high school in Vienna, I studied fine arts and photography at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. I worked in various jobs, especially learning the new technology of colour photography, but occasional assignments also allowed me to learn cinematography at film studios in Vienna as well as in Berlin. This led to doing location research and background photography in the shooting of the noir film The Third Man (1949), starring Joseph Cotten, Trevor Howard, Alida Valli, and Orson Welles, which won the Oscar for cinematography that year. Television started in Austria after a long period of experimentation in a lab that had operated clandestinely, since the Russian occupation forces would not permit television. In order to get a job at the state-owned television station,I had to take some courses in electronic engineering.I received a diploma from the Technological Trade Museum in Vienna and started eagerly to shoot 16mm films for television. During the ski championship at Schladming, Austria I met the not-yet-famous Eric Duerschmied, who was shooting for the CBC. He hired me to work on a documentary on Yugoslavia, then under Communist rule. The documentary, broadcast in Canada, resulted in an invitation to Ottawa to work for the CBC. Chapter 30  A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words—AV and Beyond wilhelm e. (“willi”) nassau 158 On November 15, 1959, I arrived in Ottawa with my own equipment, which included a new experimental transistorized audio system. One of my first assignments was an interview with Prime Minister John Diefenbaker , who allowed me quite some time and took some personal interest in my professional work. After some work for the CBC and assignments for the National Film Board, I met Ernest Bushnell, who with Stuart Griffiths started CJOH, the first private television station in Ottawa. Because of my special interest in technical innovations I left the CBC to work on a variety of projects.Videotape was gradually replacing film. However, for a while I kept working with film. I went to Cyprus during the political crisis to shoot with Larry Henderson for the new CTV network . I also had the opportunity to shoot a colour documentary in Cyprus. Taking on freelance assignments allowed for a variety of exciting opportunities and adventures. I was always trying something new and different. During Expo 67 I was working on assignment for the CBC at Montreal and had the opportunity to meet with visiting VIPs. One sunny day a group of people that included the president of the Lutheran Church in America and some professors were our guests. During a very pleasant lunch they talked about a small but ambitious institution named Waterloo Lutheran University. I knew nothing about Waterloo and even less about that university. Dr. Herman Overgaard mentioned some progressive ideas about teaching, and I was allowed to give my opinion about television and film not only as a subject for teaching but also as a medium in teaching. Soon after this I went to work for a TV station in Vermont, where I had the opportunity to work on various projects at the University of Vermont at Burlington and to see some practical application of just such possibilities. I observed the operation of a modern audio-visual department and formed some more of my own ideas. Quite a bit later, I received a phone call from another progressively minded faculty member from WLU, Dr. Flora Roy. As a result I had the opportunity to come to WLU on a blustery winter day and give a brief presentation in a small lecture hall, room 2c8, in the Arts Building. Some friendly conversation followed and soon my wife, Hermine, and I were driving to Waterloo to look for a place to live. With us, as wilhelm e. (“willi”) nassau 159 always, was our faithful Dachshund Maxi. For a night we were invited to occupy WLU’s rather lavish guest quarters. Maxi was probably the first (and last?) canine occupant of the guest suite. Things progressed fast and on June 15, 1969, I moved into my first office at the university. It was a small room in the basement of...