<Begin Segment 17>

WH: Why do you think that government man let you have that camera?

DT: Well, first of all, he was a very nice fellow, Walter Honderick, and then also, he was a movie man himself, and he knew, being a movie man, that I would like to have some movie shots of my family. So that's how he got the camera for me, not to take secret shots of everything. So, in fact, he cautioned me, he said, "Dave, be careful. Don't take it near the fence where the guards are." But he was taking an awful chance, but he just felt that he wanted to help me out. I was lucky. Ordinarily it would never happen, because the average person would have said, well, it's against the law, he's a government official, I can't do anything for him. It's against the law. But he... and I showed, I showed him when he was dying in Oregon at his home, my movie. And he was dying of cancer, I think, and I was taking a trip up to Oregon and Washington, I stopped by and I showed him.

WH: What did he say?

DT: Well, it's hard to say what he said now, but he was deeply appreciative, surprised, and to think that he had helped me. It was against the law to help me, but he did. He was a wonderful man, Walter Hundrick. And his wife was the second wife in Oregon, and she was a wonderful person, a nurse, wonderful person. Oh, we met lots of wonderful people.

[Interruption]

WH: So you never moved up to a 16-mm?

DT: Never did, no.

WH: Show me how you would look through it.

DT: That's right here, very small. [Demonstrates looking through camera.] It's hard to see through now. Very compact, very solid. They did a good job of making this camera. Yeah, I was very, very fortunate to have this camera. Without it, you wouldn't have Topaz.

WH: Do you think you could still take movies with that camera today?

DT: Well, no more film. You don't have film like that anymore. The twenty-five foot spool and you turn it over, you can't get them today, it's obsolete. So this is obsolete. Great camera, though.

WH: Dave, thank you very much.

DT: I enjoyed it. I enjoy all these experiences, you know. To me, it's sharing a part of your life, something that happened, and I was fortunate enough to have gone through some of those experiences. Other people, many people didn't have experience like I did. And so I'm just glad to share it with them.

WH: We sure appreciate it.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2005 Densho and The Japanese American Film Preservation Project. All Rights Reserved.