West Virginia’s history is brimming with men and women considered to be extremely resourceful; its deeply woven into our state’s history and culture.
We have the story of one of those types of West Virginians this morning; J. Roy Hunt.
While you may not know his name, but if you like classic movies or have interest in RV’s, you need to know about his work.
Hunt was a pioneering early Hollywood cinematographer, whose career spanned from the silent era through the 1950s.
He was born on this date on in Caperton in 1888, in a coal town nestled along the New River Gorge in Fayette County. Hunt never got past the third grade, but grew up around heavy machinery, industrial engineering and a culture of self-reliance.
Hunt was fascinated by race cars and motorcycles before he ever touched a movie camera. Hunt’s ability to build things followed him to Hollywood.
In the 1920s and 30s, movie equipment was heavy, rigid, and prone to breaking. Hunt didn’t wait for factory fixes; he routinely invented and built his own custom camera gear, custom dollies, and lighting rigs right on the set. If a director wanted a camera movement that standard equipment couldn’t achieve, Hunt would find a solution on the fly.
Directors loved Hunt’s uncanny ability to walk onto a set, instantly figure out the geometry of the lighting, place his cameras, and be ready to shoot while other cinematographers were still debating setups. His efficiency kept productions on schedule and under budget—the fastest way to a studio head’s heart.
Hunt was behind the camera in one of Bette Davis; very first films, ‘Way Back Home’ in 1931. At the time, Hollywood studio heads were notoriously critical of Davis’s unconventional looks, often claiming she wasn’t photogenic. It was Hunt that found a way to translate her intensity to the big screen; adjusting the studio lighting to capture her striking features.
Hunt was also keeping the stars in focus in the classic movie ‘Flying Down to Rio’ in 1933; the first film pairing Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Astaire was a notorious perfectionist and he had plenty of praise for Hunt’s massive, sweeping camera setups.
But while the stars appreciated Hunt’s camera work and lighting magic, what they really talked about was his legendary Hunt Housecar.
In the 1930s and 40s, Hunt would arrive on a remote movie set driving his custom-built, ultra-luxury streamlined “Housecar” — with its onboard running water, a working shower, a kitchen, a flush toilet, and a comfortable bed. It instantly became the envy of the entire cast.
Movie stars like Gary Cooper begged the West Virginia-born inventor to let them use his Housecar as a private dressing room to escape the heat. Hunt eventually stepped away from the camera to build a handful of his Housecars for some wealthy clients and Hollywood elite.
About 50 Hunt Housecars were custom-built between 1935 and 1945. Because they were incredibly rare and expensive, they were prized status symbols.
Today, one of the few surviving examples of his work; a stunning, 1937 Hunt Housecar built on a Ford chassis; —is on permanent display at the RV/MH Hall of Fame Museum in Elkhart, Indiana.
Hunt died in 1972 after a lifetime of making the early stars look great on camera and comfortable in his Housecars off of it. He was another example of a West Virginian with a real gift for self reliance and personal style.