John Arnold(1889-1964)

After winning praise for shooting The Big Parade (1925), the newly formed studio's first smash hit, Arnold was chosen to head of MGM's camera department. From 1931-1956 Arnold was responsible for assigning cinematographers to match the demands of each production assignment; an enormous responsibility when one considers the 50+ feature release schedules along with dozens of short subjects produced on the lot annually. He was also responsible for keeping MGM's equipment up-to-date and operational (overseeing the studio's repair shop), along with selection of film stock and lenses.