Westward with the Prince of WalesNewton, W. Douglas (Wilfrid Douglas)
History
Westward with the Prince of Wales
Newton, W. Douglas (Wilfrid Douglas)
Canada -- Description and travel; Windsor, Edward, Duke of, 1894-1972
At the bridge station were two open cars, and on to the raised platform
of one of these the Prince mounted, while "movie" men stormed the other
car, and a number of ordinary human beings joined them. This special
train was then passed slowly under the giant steel girders and over the
central span, which is longer than any span the Forth Bridge can boast.
As the train travelled forward the Prince showed his eagerness for
technical detail, and kept the engineers by his side busy with a stream
of questions.
The bridge is not only a superb example of the art of the engineer,
perhaps the greatest example the twentieth century can yet show, but it
is a monument to the courage and tenacity of man. Twice the great
central span was floated up-stream from the building yards, only to
collapse and sink into the St. Lawrence at the moment it was being
lifted into place. Though these failures caused loss of life, the
designers persisted, and the third attempt brought success.
There was, one supposes, a ceremonial idea connected with this
function. His Royal Highness certainly unveiled two tablets at either
end of the bridge by jerking cords that released the covering Union
Jack. But this ritual was second to the ceremonial of the "movies."
The "movies" went over the top in a grand attack. They put down a box
barrage close up against the Prince's platform, and at a distance of
two feet, not an inflection of his face, nor a movement of his head,
escaped the unwinking and merciless eye of the camera.
The "movie" men declare that the Prince is the best "fil-lm" actor
living, since he is absolutely unstudied in manner; but it would have
taken a Douglas Fairbanks of a super-breed to remain unembarrassed in
the face of that cold line of lenses thrust close up to his medal
ribbons. And in the film he shows his feelings in characteristic
movements of lips and hands.
The men who did not take movies, the men with plain cameras, the
"still" men, were also active. Not to be outdone by their comrades
with the machine-gun action, they sprang from the car at intervals, ran
along the footway, and snapped the party as the train drew level with
them.
It was a field day for cameras, but enthusiastic people also counted.
Men and women had clambered up the hard, stratified rock of the
cuttings that carry the line to the bridge, and they were also standing
under the bridge on the slopes, and on the flats by the river. They
were cheering, and--yes, they were busy with their cameras
also--cameras cannot be evaded in Canada, even in the wilds.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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