Hey Fellows,
I thought you might enjoy this. My longish email below is about my having some recent pleasure watching the great old western movies on cable TV. Hopalong Cassidy is now my favorite cowboy hero again and Tim Holt runs a close second. But when I stuck around to watch a lesser known film one day, I found a nugget.
I hope all you fellows are doing ok and drop me a line anytime.
Keith
from email dated February 2001
Recently while watching movies on the Westerns Channel, I was surprised to see the narrator and host of Operation Ivy starring as a handsome villian named Crawford. It was an 1870s western titled "The Half-Breed" starring Robert Young. I was at once fascinated and my attention was caught.
Many thoughts came to mind in a rush. I checked the date of the movie, 1952. You could see the movie was made in the spring or summer. The outdoor scenes were in an area that looked like the great southwest desert areas near the Nevada Test site. The cedar breaks in the film were similiar to the canyons around Cedar City or near Arches National Park, locations that were frequently used for westerns at that time. The Ivy narrator and host turned villian was listed in the credits as Reed Hadley.
An actor and radio personality at the time, Reed Hadley was secretly narrating the atomic testing films. Of the atomic films I've seen, his first was the narration of Operation Buster/Jangle made in 1951. I don't know if he was at those Nevada tests, his face is not shown at the test site. It may be that he read these other film scripts while the editing was in progress in Hollywood. His voice was deep and clear and easy to listen to. Hadley was enjoying some popularity in Hollywood in those days. He was the radio voice in a whole series of radio westerns and had starred in many movies.
I had became very familiar with his voice by having watched and listened to the atomic videos while recording them for the fellows on our website. His name was not listed and for a long time I wondered who he was. Only on the excellent Operation Ivy program was his face shown. In this film he is the handsome and excellent on camera host. He was onboard the USS Estes and Rendova at Ivy and interviewed the scientists and described the operation during the last hour before the detonation of the gigantic Mike device. His personality and voice provided an excellent middleman from the scientific and military insiders to the films viewers.
During the 1950's, Hollywood was hard at work creating new entertainment for the American public. Westerns were still popular and business was booming. Many folks were at work in the production of these films. But, there was a secret in Hollywood during the 50's. The government's Atomic Energy Commission needed filmmaking expertice for the growing Atomic Weapons Testing program. High speed scientific atomic test films were being produced by EG&G, but the AEC also wanted film editors, movie scriptwriters, and illustrators. You probably know by now about the secret movie production company that was started and called Lookout Mt. Laboratory. The new company's atomic weapons film products would be audio visual Commanders Reports, scientific reports and film reports for Congress. A few of these films were recently released to the public to show the history of American atomic weapons tests.
I checked my atomic shot list for detonation dates for the summer of 1952, while "The Half Breed" was being filmed. Operation Tumbler/Snapper was in progress. It was possible that during the production of The Half-Breed, the crew might have witnessed an early morning detonation of the 8 shots fired during April, May and June in Nevada. Because Hadley was involved in the Top Secret atomic test films being produced at this time, it is likely he knew about the tests during Tumbler/Snapper because his co-workers from Lookout Mt. Laboratory were being sent to the test site for filming.
In a bar-room scene in The Half-Breed, Hadley was in the midst of many old west charactors and I wondered what could have been in his mind. Here he was playing a mean charactor in a western, surrounded by cast and crew and next week he might be participating in movies about the newest and most awesome weapons to threaten mankind. He could not mention what he saw in the films or that he was even involved, as all the pictures and information were highly classified. He probably wondered what his friends would think if they knew what he was doing and what the government was up to with these awesome weapons.
Maybe unknown to Hadley was that soon after the completion of this western, he would be flown to Eniwetok to narrate, and host on camera, the Operation Ivy filming during October 1952. It shows in the film that he watched the Mike detonation.
I've read that Eisenhower released for public viewing a 20 minute version of Operation Ivy, to explain the progress of atomic and H-bomb weapons testing and research to the public. I wondered if Hadley was the narrator. It caused such an anti-bomb furor that it was quickly recalled and almost all of the rest of the atomic testing films were kept under lock and key until 1997.
Reed Hadley was born in 1911 and died in 1974. He did not get to enjoy the reunion and honors that went to the atomic filmmakers during the release of Peter Kuran's movie, "The Atomic Filmmakers" in 2000. His work was still classified when he died. During the Nevada atmospheric testing from 1950-1958 Hadley is the voice on most of the testing films. He had to have gained a remarkable knowledge of the atomic testing from reading these film scripts, and seeing the films, probably more than the politicians and much of the military brass at that time.
So after having all this fun. I posted a couple of photo pages for you fellows to see if you want -- Reed Hadley in this western, The Half Breed alongside snaps of him from the Operation Ivy film.
And for all the Ivy fellows whose faces are not known or whose voices are not recognized in the atomic testing movies, I think he made a fine representation for them all. Mr. Hadley, wherever you are, your greatest movie as far as I'm concerned is still Operation Ivy 1952.
Keith Whittle
February 1, 2001
Atomic Veterans History Project
http://www.aracnet.com/~pdxavets
