I, Witness
Award winning photojournalist, Gene Barnes shares his life and times as a cameraman for NBC News during the radical 50's & 60's. His stories are ironic, iconic, historical and things we still talk about to this day. All copyrights to images and stories are owned by his daughter, Christina Barnes. Please ask permission for use and respecting copyright laws will be very much appreciated.
Frank McGee…
NBC Reporter
Frank McGee
Florida – Circa 1957
The native Oklahoman correspondent received national recognition during the Freedom March in Mississippi, seen here waiting for the Vanguard missile shot countdown in a news vehicle at Cape Canaveral. He later became host of THE TODAY SHOW.
Sukarno…
President of Indonesia 1945-1967
Achmed Sukarno
Burbank, California – 1961
Inspecting U.S. military turboprop aircraft at Lockheed during a tour.
Rebellious World War II Ace…
Pappy Boyington
Los Angeles – 1959
Boyington led the Flying Tiger Squadron Pacific Theater, authored Baa Baa Blacksheep- depicting stories of his squadron; tales of heroism surrounding a band of misfits and renegades. Seen here on a book tour.
Eisenhower…
Former President
Dwight D. Eisenhower
California – 1961
Seen here at a Pamona, California train stop en-route to Palm Springs and
retirement.
Margaret Mead…
Margaret Mead
Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel – 1961
The prominent U.S. Anthropologist, Psychologist & Author during promotional tour for a new book.
Atom Bomb…
The Atom Bomb Bursts
Frenchman Flats, Nevada – 1955
Shot during a test at Frenchman Flats, Nevada. First color footage to air the same day on network TV. (He won an award for this shot.)
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The End of the World, 2 Artists…
Renowned Artist
Niki de Saint Phalle
Westwood, California 1962
Renowned French sculptor and painter in front of one of her works on display at the Dawn Gallery. (Check out her website, http://www.nikidesaintphalle.com – She passed away in 2002 leaving behind incredible creations in public places, one taking 20 years to complete, worked on it until her death, a tarot card garden, very accomplished.)
Renowned Sculptor of Automation
Jean Tinguely
Nevada- 1962
Swiss born master of automation, seen with the horn’ of plenty, one of the components Tinguely gathered at the Flamingo Hotel then trucked out to a dry lake bed near Las Vegas. The assemblage was his interpretation of a spendthrift, all consuming, opulent society addicted to television, bent on a course of self-destruction. After mobilizing the massive work he detonates the explosives creating The End of The World for NBC’s David Brinkley’s Journal.
Jean and Niki eventually married. Here he is working on his End of the World in the desert.
Jean Tinguely with Niki de Saint Phalle at the dry lake walking through his collection of castoffs of humanity from junk yards and the city dump: TV set, easy chair, burgeoning refrigerator, baby buggy, shopping cart filled with beach balls, a dented water tank with a mangy tree trunk that moves obscenely in and out of the vent. Nevada – 1962
Jean Tinguely strategically places 50 sticks of dynamite and plastic explosives around his desert masterpiece. Nevada- 1962