Leon H. Caverly(1884-1966)
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Cinematographer
Leon Hollis Caverly is believed to be the first cinematographer sent overseas to film combat in France, Belgium and Germany during World War I.
Caverly was born in Dover, New Hampshire, to John W. and Elnora Mary Caverly. His father was a paper hanger. Young Caverly worked as a cameraman for motion pictures and later a newsreel photographer for Gaumont Film Company and Mutual Weekly.
In Hollywood he was a cameraman for Fox Film Corporation and Universal Studios. At Universal he assisted cinematographer Andre Barlatier in filming "Neptune's Daughter" (1914). At Mutual Weekly, he covered news events in South America.
On May 9, 1909, he married Mary E. Shaw in Boston, Massachusetts, at the People's Temple Methodist Episcopal Church. They had a daughter, but Mary died in 1918 during the flu pandemic while Caverly was overseas in France.
Short and stout - he only stood 5 feet, 4.5 inches tall - Caverly appeared to be an unlikely candidate for combat duty. Yet he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps on April 30, 1917. By the end of 1917, he was given the designation of "official photographer" for the AEF and left New York for France on June 14, 1918, to become the first cinematographer for the American Expeditionary Forces. He was attached to the Fifth Division of the Marines as a quartermaster sergeant. His early work in the trenches resulted in the documentary "America's Answer to the Huns." It is unknown whether a print survives. During this period, his personal assistant was killed and he witnessed other cameramen sustain serious wounds photographing the war.
Toward the end of the war he was promoted to second lieutenant. He continued working in Europe following the Armistice, shooting film of Russian POW camps and rioting in Berlin. During this period he was attached to the AEF headquarters in Paris with the Second Division. He left Europe in September 1919 with the Marines to shoot documentary films in Cuba and Haiti. He also served a stint with the Marine Corps' Recruiting Publicity Bureau in New York City.
In 1920 he was discharged from the Marine Corps and became a still photographer for E.M. Newman, who produced "Newman Traveltalks" and resulted in such books as "Seeing Paris" in 1931. The book contained more than 300 of Caverly's photographs.
On Sept. 20, 1925, he married Grace V. Kopp and nine years later the couple had one daughter, Lynn Gail Caverly. Following the stock market crash of 1929, Caverly suffered severe financial losses and took a job in New York City as a photostat operator for a printing company. He remained on the job until his retirement in 1956.
He died on Dec. 12, 1966, in Flushing, Queens, New York, and buried at the Long Island National Cemetery.
Caverly was born in Dover, New Hampshire, to John W. and Elnora Mary Caverly. His father was a paper hanger. Young Caverly worked as a cameraman for motion pictures and later a newsreel photographer for Gaumont Film Company and Mutual Weekly.
In Hollywood he was a cameraman for Fox Film Corporation and Universal Studios. At Universal he assisted cinematographer Andre Barlatier in filming "Neptune's Daughter" (1914). At Mutual Weekly, he covered news events in South America.
On May 9, 1909, he married Mary E. Shaw in Boston, Massachusetts, at the People's Temple Methodist Episcopal Church. They had a daughter, but Mary died in 1918 during the flu pandemic while Caverly was overseas in France.
Short and stout - he only stood 5 feet, 4.5 inches tall - Caverly appeared to be an unlikely candidate for combat duty. Yet he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps on April 30, 1917. By the end of 1917, he was given the designation of "official photographer" for the AEF and left New York for France on June 14, 1918, to become the first cinematographer for the American Expeditionary Forces. He was attached to the Fifth Division of the Marines as a quartermaster sergeant. His early work in the trenches resulted in the documentary "America's Answer to the Huns." It is unknown whether a print survives. During this period, his personal assistant was killed and he witnessed other cameramen sustain serious wounds photographing the war.
Toward the end of the war he was promoted to second lieutenant. He continued working in Europe following the Armistice, shooting film of Russian POW camps and rioting in Berlin. During this period he was attached to the AEF headquarters in Paris with the Second Division. He left Europe in September 1919 with the Marines to shoot documentary films in Cuba and Haiti. He also served a stint with the Marine Corps' Recruiting Publicity Bureau in New York City.
In 1920 he was discharged from the Marine Corps and became a still photographer for E.M. Newman, who produced "Newman Traveltalks" and resulted in such books as "Seeing Paris" in 1931. The book contained more than 300 of Caverly's photographs.
On Sept. 20, 1925, he married Grace V. Kopp and nine years later the couple had one daughter, Lynn Gail Caverly. Following the stock market crash of 1929, Caverly suffered severe financial losses and took a job in New York City as a photostat operator for a printing company. He remained on the job until his retirement in 1956.
He died on Dec. 12, 1966, in Flushing, Queens, New York, and buried at the Long Island National Cemetery.