Carl von Hoffman ( – 8 July 1982) was a soldier, adventurer, author, and photographer of German ancestry. He was possibly a descendant of Melchior Hoffman; journalist Nicholas von Hoffman is his son.
In 1905 or 1906, von Hoffman—then a military cadet—disobeyed his mother's wishes and joined the Russian army during the Russo-Japanese War. For actions during the war he was awarded the Order of St. Anna. He participated in World War I, serving in the Russian army, and then under Admiral Kolchak on the White Russian side in the Russian Civil War. Von Hoffman claimed to have been on the Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition in 1913; however, Theodore Roosevelt does not mention him in his memoir of the expedition, but footage proving von Hoffman's presence can be found here.
Von Hoffman was an explorer who once led a safari from Cape Town, South Africa, to Cairo—a walk that took him three years and was the basis of his two books, Jungle Gods (New York, H. Holt and Company [c1929]) and Jerry on Safari: A 7,000 Mile Journey from Cairo to the Cape (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1936). Von Hoffman's photographs of the Mexican Revolution and of Theodore Roosevelt were celebrated; his photographs of Roosevelt and Pancho Villa were exhibited in 2002 at the Martin & Osa Johnson Safari Museum. He was the cinematographer for films including The Life of General Villa, (1914,), featuring Pancho Villa himself. The movie was produced by D. W. Griffith. Von Hoffman often said his knowledge of the use of machine guns was one of the things Griffiths offered Villa to gain his participation in the movie. (In 2003, the filming of the documentary about Villa was turned into a TV movie, And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself, directed by Bruce Beresford and written by Larry Gelbart with the minor role of von Hoffman played by Julian Sedgwick.) Von Hoffman was also cinematographer of The Marriage Bond (1916) directed by Lawrence Marston. He was a member of the Explorers Club. He was also an Honorary Life Member and past president (1962) of the Adventurers' Club of New York.The Adventurers' Golden Jubilee 1964, The Adventures' Club, Inc., 1965.
The following sections are based entirely on an interview with Capt. von Hoffman with no support from other documents.
Early life Von Hoffman was born in the Baltic port city of Riga on February 13, 1890, where his father was engaged as a botanist and forester of the then vast timber holdings of the Czar. Family position enabled young Carl to enter the Third Military Academy in St. Petersburg. It was also this family position and acquaintance with many of the ship's captains plying between this port and England with their cargoes of lumber that secured for Carl an invitation to sail to England which he eagerly accepted after securing leave from the academy and having reached the age of 17.
While aboard ship in Liverpool, he developed an interest and engaged in conversations about the great ships berthed nearby that were to sail to the United States. The captain offered to arrange a free passage to New York and this opportunity was also accepted by the adventurous Carl. Having no money, he was able to borrow $300 from the captain and set sail at once for America.
Arrival in New York Upon arrival in New York, he briefly explored the city and shortly decided not to return but to remain in the United States. It was fortunate that a German family who had once lived on their property and had immigrated earlier were now in New York, and there he stayed. All of this activity was not easily cast aside by his family who attempted to exert pressure on him to return by way of the then American Ambassador known to the family. Having no knowledge of the English language, he secured a correspondence course in an attempt to learn and which, though difficult, began his mastery of the language.
Being low in funds, he accepted work in what could now be referred to as a sweatshop where men's shirts were manufactured, and almost all of the workers spoke Russian. The work was to unroll material on near block-long benches and prepare it for the cutters. During all of this time, his family continued efforts to secure his return by contact with the Russian Ambassador—all to no avail. His decision had been made.
Photography apprenticeship As the result of his amateur knowledge and interest in photography, he was fortunate to be able to secure an apprenticeship with Brown Brothers, a photographic company. At this time in our history, it was common for newspapers to give photo assignments to an independent company to complete for them. After serving an apprenticeship with Brown Brothers, he learned that the New York Globe wanted to have their own staff photographer. As the Globe was aware of some of the outstanding work he had done with Brown Brothers, he was offered the job. The year was 1910. The job, press photographer. One of his early tasks while with The Globe, was to establish a darkroom, as the photographers of that era had to do all of their own lab work. He continued to secure outstanding news photographs but was still handicapped by the language barrier, as it was also required at that time that the photographer provide captions for their work, Fortunately a noted cartoonist named Walter Davenport became friendly with the young photographer and assisted him developing the titles.
This same employer, the Globe, late in 1910, provided additional opportunity for adventure when the editor advised him he was to be assigned overseas to cover a story in the then virtually unheard of city of Timbuktu. Carl, not being sure if this was a practical joke or not, went at once to his cartoonist friend Davenport and told him the good news. It was then he learned that Timbuktu was in the grips of the bubonic plague and no one else would accept the assignment. He set sail with a group of Catholic missionaries assigned to provide medical aid. The group sailed first to England and then to Africa's west coast. The final leg of the trip overland was completed by camel caravan.
The assignment was to record on film the work of the missionaries and the burning of the huts and possessions of those who had fallen victim to the plague. They attempted to minimize the possibility of becoming victims themselves by staying out of the huts and observing the best sanitary methods they could muster, there being no protection known at the time except the torch.
Upon his return to The Globe from the Timbuktu assignment, the paper moved to new quarters and Carl made contact with a company that was to provide him with the opportunity to learn the art of moviemaking. This opportunity provided the basics to launch him on a decades-long career as a pioneer in the art of making documentary films.
Mutual Film Company While employed by Mutual Film, Carl was chosen to accompany the Teddy Roosevelt ill-fated expedition on the River of Doubt in the Brazilian jungle. Upon arrival at the last deep forest jumping-off spot, it was learned that inadequate provision had been made to transport anyone but Colonel Roosevelt, Kermit Roosevelt, and an army general, along with their personal photographer, leaving Carl to return to the main base with the film taken up to that point. Later it was learned that as the expedition was returning down river, an overburdened canoe swamped and all the film taken was lost. The only photo record of the expedition was safely in Carl's camera.
From this activity, Carl received an assignment from D. W. Griffith to gather factual films of Pancho Villa for use in a film. For this, Poncho Villa was to be paid $25,000. This would permit Carl to travel with him to various camps and film their activity. The plans were for a one-year project, but this was cut short after about nine months when Carl became privy to the information that the go-between had pocketed $10,000 and misinformed Poncho as to the amount paid. It was learned that there was a plan afoot to have a rifleman stationed on a hillside shoot Carl while he was operating his camera, thereby eliminating the threat of his revealing this information to Poncho with whom Carl had developed a friendship and closeness. At this point in history, there were a number of persons who had the technical and mechanical knowledge of the equipment, but they were not photographers. The artistic approach was missing, such as the use of close-ups and varied camera angles. Having learned the basics, Carl applied to an independent firm for a job as a cameraman and after testing his work was given the assignment to cover the Wilson inauguration though he was still on the staff of The Globe. It was during this assignment, through friends in Washington, that he was able to photograph Mr. Taft on his last visit to church as the president was removing his hat. This had never been photographed before, as Taft expressly forbade such photos. The coverage of the inaugural parade was viewed at the ground level where he could photograph the crowd reactions, children on the curb, and vendors selling their wares, as well as the procession. This gave a human, artistic touch not heretofore found in news films---the first human interest introduced to these films.
Assignments in the East On the basis of the exceptional quality and technique displayed, he was given a full-time staff position by Universal. The first assignment from this company was to take the first motion pictures of the United States fleet on maneuvers.
A number of years later, while on a lecture tour of Japan, von Hoffman came upon the idea of visiting Taiwan, which was then called Formosa and under Japanese control, and had wild areas not heretofore explored or photographed. Entry was not encouraged by the government, and in fact no foreigners were permitted. This made it all the more appealing to him, and by trickery he secured a ticket for passage on a government boat, with professors en route there to service the small educational system the Japanese maintained on the island. His exploration of this region permitted him to record on film some of the rites of the tribes of headhunters still living in the remote mountain areas. This seven-month effort produced a remarkable film shown at the Explorers Club. The visit also permitted him to secure a collection of treasured artifacts relating to the lives of these people and produced a lecture series on the subject.
Earlier, with his technique improving, Carl decided to make an independent film which was an anthropological and ethnological documentary on Morocco entitled "Land of the Moors" which was later featured at the Strand Theater in New York. This effort was the beginning of his deep involvement as a pioneer of documentary and educational films of primitive people, their land, and customs. These films were produced by the Urban Institute, which Carl joined, headed by Sir Charles Urban, and it was this company that expanded the use of documentary films and later its own motion picture color process.
This visit produced a number of interesting encounters, among them being the guest of the Pasha for a dinner consisting of endless courses eaten with fingers instead of utensils. It. was after such a dinner, when the many wives of the host were gathered, that the Pasha revealed that one of the guests was originally from Russia and had a Georgian mother. This was, of course, particularly interesting to the gathering, as it was common at that time for them to buy their wives in Georgia and transport them home for the wedding ceremony on the backs of small desert donkeys, a long trip by any standard.