THE INSTITUTE OF TEXAN CULTURES
ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM
INTERVIEW WITH: Eugene O. Goldbeck
INTERVIEWER: Ingrid Kokinda
DATE: January 14, 1983
PLACE: Goldbeck living room, San Antonio, Texas
K: Mr. Goldbeck, I would like to know when you were born
and where.
G: I was born on Guenther (5150) Street in the old
Meerscheidt addition. As far as I know, I was told I was
born, I was there but I don't quite remewber. I vaguely
remember the doctor going out and telling my daddy that it
was a boy. Anyway, I was supposed to have been born on the
4th day of November , 1 892 . Actually, I can also prove I was
born in 1891. Probably the only person in San Antonio that
has 2 birth certificates.
K: How did that happen?
G: Well, World War I, I was trying to get a commission as
an officer and had to produce my birth certificate and they
couldn't find it. So I got my mother and the old doctor
that brought me into the world. They said I was born in
1891. Well, then they discovered the original birth
certificate saying I was born in 1892.
K: Were you the first child in your family?
GOLDBECK
G: No. An older brother, two years before I was born ; born
in 1890.
K: Did you have any sisters, also?
G: I had a sister that was born in 1894 and another one born
in 1900.
K: But you grew up in San Antonio. You lived on Guenther
Street.
G: Yes. I've spent about half my life roaming around the globe.
The rest of the time, I was right here in San Antonio.
K: Do you remembe r to which grammar school you went? In San
Antonio?
G: There was only one at the time. The old German-English
School which was converted into what they called Brackenridge
Grammar School.
K: On Alamo Street.
G: Yes. Right across from Beethoven Hall .
K: Do you remember any classmates that became famous in San
Antonio or that you recollect?
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G: Well, I remember quite a few. I'm the last one of the bunch.
I graduated from Main Avenue High School after grammar school,
Main Avenue High . that was the only high school we had in
San Antonio, Main Avenue H.S. And as far as I know right now
the only classmates, schoolmates, that's still alive is old
Walter McAllister.
K: Did you go to grammar school with him too, in the same,
class?
GOLDBECK 3
G: Not in the same class. He was ahead of me. Class ahead
of me. The rest of 'em are dead. I can mention names.
Huntress was Sheriff here; he has been dead for ten years;
many of 'em, all dead. I'm the last one. The only reason
I ' m still here , the old fellow downstairs doesn't want Hell
polluted any worse than it is . Says, "Keep him up there;
can't use him. 11
K: Mr. Goldbeck, we know that you have two initials. E.
and o. What do they stand for?
G: Eugene Omar. I was named after Omar the Tentmaker .
K: Really?
G: My father thought of that. . the old famous poem.
(ed : The Rubaiyat). Anyway they named me Omar.
K: And your family, Mr. Goldbeck your father was born
in San Antonio? Fritz Goldbeck?
G: My father was born, he was the first boy born in
Comfort , Texas.
K: From an immigrant family.
G: Yes. Was born in Comfort.
K: They came from . ?
K: They came from Germany.
K: The Goldbecks.
G: Yes. Came from Germany. Landed at • I think they
first came to Galveston and took a small boat from there to
Indianola. From Indianola they came over to New Braunfels
in ox carts. From there , they went to Comfort. My father's
father started a store there in Comfort .
GOLDBECK 4
G: His brother was an advocate.
K: Advocate is a lawyer. Do you recollect what kind of a
store it was?
G: It was just a general store. He finally sold it to
Faltin.
K: And it's still standing. That old Fachwerk-Haus was
built by your grandfather?
G: Yes. The Faltin store, yes.
K: That's a little, small store. Yeah, I remember that.
And then your father was Fritz Goldbeck.
G: My father was Benno T.
K: Benno.
G: Benno Theodore. B. T . Goldbeck.
K: And he came to San Antonio after he married or?
G: He came to San Antonio before he was married. As far as
I know my father and my mother were married in about 1888,
1889.
K: In San Antonio.
G: 1888, I think, in San Antonio. My father was connected
with his brother-in-law, George Koerner. George had a big
commission store here in San Antonio. Wholesale grocery
outfit. My father worked for him for a long time. And then
he finally ... well he was auditor for the city for a
while. They lived here in San Antonio fo r many years.
K: Mr . Goldbeck, I also know that you are a very famous
photographer.
G: Infamous.
GOLDBECK 5
K: We all have seen your photographs. When was the first time
that you ever took a camera into your hand? Will you please tell
that story?
G: I imagine, 1901. William McKinley, who was President of the
United States, came to San Antonio on a visit. If I remember
right it was the fourth of May, 1901. A one-day visit. They
lined all the school kids up at Travis Park all with little flags.
All the schools were given a holiday to greet the President. My
older brother had an old box camera and I borrowed this box camera
from him, and when William McKinley drove by in a carriage I
had to break ranks and went out into the street and take a picture.
That was the first picture I made in 1901.
K: The film--you didn't develop it; you took it to someplace.
Of course you took it to someplace else.
G: I think I developed it myself. I'd been fooling around
with . . at that time, you could buy what they called the M Q
tubes; M Q tubes. All you had to do was put a certain amount
of water with it and make your developer. And you had another
little package there that made your hypo. I used to mess around
myself.
K: Did the photographs come out nicely?
G: As far as I know; it's up at the University. They say they
can't find 'em. I think I photographed every President since,
either while they were President, or before they were President,
or after they were President. Everyone of 'em.
K: Do you have a photograph of Ronald Reagan?
GOLDBECK 6
G: Oh, yes. He was here and made a talk to the Junior J C
Convention here about six months ago .
K: What did you do then with this photograph of president
MCKinley? Did you keep it for yourself or did you .
sell it?
G: No. I just showed it around. I didn't have sense
enough to try to sell it. Of course , later on, I sold my
pictures to newspapers and magazines , anybody that would buy
them. But I didn't have enough sense to try to sell them.
K: You gave them away .
G: Well, I gave a few, probably . At that time, I also made
pictures of the kids in school , schools. Used to sell 'em
for a nickel apiece; nickel per print. And then I'd go
after the teachers after school sometimes. And I'd charge
them ten cents per picture .
K: And during high school, would you take pictures of your
fellow students?
G: I made quite a few. And I also made , after school, I
did other work, too. I graduated in 1910.
K: That was from Main High School, right?
G: Yeah. That was the only high school we had. Now
they've got about 25 of ' em.
K: What was your favorite subject in school?
G: I liked mathematics more than anything else , I think.
These children nowadays , they come out of school and they
know nothing about the world. They never heard of
Afghanistan; they couldn't tell you what continent it was
GOLDBECK 7
G: on even. They know nothing about history. They know
nothing about geography. I don't know what in the world
they learn. They can't add or subtract, or anything else.
They've got to have a little computer or something. So I
don't know; they don't learn very much.
K: After you graduated from high school, did you go on to
college or did you go into business?
G: I put in just about one year is all, in college.
K: In San Antonio?
G: NO. Mainly in New York City. Columbia University.
K: You didn't have a major, then; what you wanted to do?
G: No. I'm dumb. I haven't got near the education I'd
I ike to have. I may go back to school again one of these
days.
K: You can be a teacher.
G: Be the oldest pupil in school.
K: What would you like to take? What subject would you
like to. .?
G: Well, I'd like to brush up on my German; like to learn
Spanish; and I'd like to take some more mathematics. Higher
mathematics.
K: We have a lot of choice tOday in universities in San
Antonio. Mr. Goldbeck, what did you do then when you came
back from New York City? You came back to San Antonio?
G: Yes, I did.
K: And you went to work in San Antonio?
G: Well, most of the time I've always worked for myself. I
GOLDBECK 8
G: haven't done too much for other people. I worked for the
Fox Company years ago. Car l Newton started the Fox Company .
Carl Newton III is now President of Fox Company. It was his
grandfather who started the Fox Company. He bought out the old
Fox studio on Alamo Plaza.
K: And you went to work for him?
G: Yes, I worked for him for. . Before I did that, I used
to work for the Alamo Camera Company. It was also on Alamo
Plaza. That was about 1907 or 08, along in there.
K: This was while you were a high school student?
G: I worked after school and on Saturdays. And also Sundays
many times. I worked for Carl Newton twice. Once before World
War I and after the war was over. Came back to San Antonio and
worked for him again . Had charge of his finishing department one
time and had charge of his Kodak department the second time.
And I'm the oldest one. Everyone of the men that ever
worked in there at the time I was working for Newton, are all
dead. Everyone of 'em. Newton's brother is dead; old man
W 's dead; old man Welch; al l dead. All had charge of
different departments. They are all dead .
K: There must be a reason why you are still with us.
G: Yeah, I'm still here.
K: Mr. Goldbeck , you're famous for your panoramic photos. I
understand you have a patent on your camera.
G: I have severa l patents built into my camera, yes.
K: When did the thought come to you that you wanted to
GOLDBECK 9
K: perfect on a camera?
G: First, the regular circuit camera, take it up high.
First, if you've got a group of men in front of you, couple
of thousand men you want to photograph. You have to have a
high tripod or if you tilt the normal circuit camera down on
the opposite sid~build a high tower. You're shooting up at
the moon. With my cameras, I can turn 'em any given number
of degrees and maintain the same degree of declination for
an entire arc. That's one of my patents . Another patent
I have. I made a picture of Kurfuerstendamm Stras in Berlin ,
cars moving up and dm.,n street; no movement in the photo at
all. You couldn't make a picture like that with a regular
circuit camera. The fastest exposure you've got is 1/12th
of a second. Well, I shot that picture in 125th of a
second. That is another patent I have; very unusual. I
can do things with my cameras no other circuit cameras can
~y
do without~patents.
K: But you built up that mechanism yourself.
G: Yes.
K: And then you patented it here in San Antonio .
G: Patented in Washington. Patent Office. I had to get
patent lawyers. It took me a couple of years to get the
thing t hrough.
K: What year was that?
G: I don 't remember for sure. It's been a long time ago.
I'd say it was about 19 . . oh, just off-hand, I'd say
about 1921 or '2, somewhere a l ong there.
K: You were pretty much a free-lancer most of your life.
G: Oh, yes .
GOLDBECK
K: I know that you just returned from China. But before
China and the Great Wall , which was the high point of
your .•. what was the photograph that excited you the
most? That you were after the most?
10
G: I think the photograph of Machu picchu. Another I'd say
was getting all five pyramids and the Sphinx in one
picture.
K: It takes a lot of traveling to go to the points that
you've been, around the world. You've probably covered the
most interesting, or most famous places in the world. How
often do you travel? Do you go at least once a year?
G: I'd say at least once a year , yes.
After I came back from China, I took another trip.
Went from the Canadian Rockies . took quite a few
pictures up in the Canadian Rockies; made pictures of Banff
and the famous baronial-like castle hotel there; Lake
Louise; stopped off in Calgary and made pictures in Calgary
and Alberta. Also, made pictures in Denver. Before we came
back, went down to Seattle and made a picture there and made
a picture in Portland.
And since then, I've made another trip. East. with
Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York. made another picture
of New York. Made a picture of the new gambling deal there
in Atlantic City. So I never stay put for very long.
K: You went to China in May , didn't you?
G: I think it was April. Came back the latter part of
May .
GOLDBECK 11
K: And that was quite a trip, wasn't it?
G: Oh, yes. I was greatly surprised at the terrific change
that had taken place in China.
K: You were there the last time in .?
G: 45 ye ars ago, 1937.
K: You were in mainland China?
G: Yes.
K: Shanghai, peking?
G: I was allover at that time. Tsientsen, Peking,
Shanghai .
K: Did you take photographs then, too, to compare to tOday?
G: I made a lot of photographs, yes. The official
panoramic pictures I made then I made for the military.
They had the 15th Infantry, one whole regiment up at
Tsientsen. I went up there and made pictures of the 15th
Infantry. Back in those days, I used to go up there every
three years, '34 t o '37. I photographed for the military
for 30 years or more . I was the only unofficial
photographer, but they always invited me back.
K: When was the first year that you photographed any
military?
G: 19. . oh, I'd say, when they had the first trouble
down in Me xico. When Pancho Villa was raising Cain. I got
the whole National Guard right here at Ft. Sam Houston. I
used to go out there and photograph those fellows. That was
in 1913, I guess. '12 or '13.
K: Did you ever see Pancho Villa?
GOLDBECK
G: Yes.
K: Did you photograph him, also?
G: Yes.
K: You knew Zapata, too?
12
G: Yeah. All of the bandits, I got 'em in one picture.
There was Zapata, Pancho Villa, Orozco, and got some that
were not bandits. same picture. Francisco Madero who
l a ter became President he was in with these bandits.
And I got Carranza who later became President. They were
all in this group, down in Chihuahua.
K: In Mexico. They had quite a few foreign correspondents
there, too. Did you ever meet any of those? Foreign
correspondents from Europe? They were sending newspaper
people down there, too, in Chihuahua, photographers.
G: Casually. Never.
K: That was quite an excitement, wasn't it, with Pancho
Villa?
G: Well, I heard they were going to be together, I just
went down there. It wasn't very exciting to me.
K: One time you got the whole United States fleet in one
photo, didn't you?
G: Yes. They had maneuvers in Panama Bay. . . I think
that was in 1936 if I remember right. They had the Atlantic
fleet come through the Canal and join the Pacific fleet.
The Pacific fleet came down mainly from Hawaii and San
Diego. Had a rendezvous there in Panama Bay.
K: And you heard about that and went or did you happen to
GOLDBECK
K: be there?
G: As far as I know, there was no secret to it. Read
about that it was going to take place.
K: And you traveled down there .
G: I used to go to Panama every three years, stay down
there about three months every time . First time I went
there when they opened the Canal in 1914.
13
K: You were down there. Did you take photos then, too?
G: Yes. Didn't make a panoramic , though. Fact of the
matter is, I think what got me started on panoramic was one
of the fel lows down there made a picture of one of the big
British battleships going through the Canal. And he had a
16 by 20, I think. not 16 by 20, he had an 8 by 20
banquet camera. And he was telling me how many pictures he
sold. I thought, "My God. I'm going to hit this new stuff
right now."
K: And it's been good to you these years, haven't they?
G: Yeah. I think so.
K: Your name is carried on nOt., first your son and now your
grandson has it .
G: Well, he's got his own business. I don't want to
detract from him. He's built up a wonderful business of
his own.
K: Yeah, but if his grandfather hadn't been in photography,
he might now have done it.
G: My son took over for 35 years and he's got more sense
and he tells me, "You don't need the money, why don 0 t you quit it
GOLDBECK 14
G: altogether." He just takes things easy . He's going to
Nairobi the first of February .
K: Shooting with his camera , I bet .
G: Well, he ' ll take his camera. It's a p l easure trip for him.
K: What drives you , Mr . Goldbeck? Why don't you retire and
take it easy like your son?
G: Well, I ' ve retired about 8 times, but I don't have sense to
stay retired .
K: Do you have the urge to just go and you just need this one
perfect shot?
G: I think the old photo bug must have bitten me awfully bad or
awfully hard; it just got in my blood. I see things. I say ,
"My God, why didn't I make a picture of that?" What I want to
do now, I don't know whether it will transpire or not, I want to
go across Siberia. I want to take Marco Polo's o l d trail and
follow Marco Polo through Siberia .
I ' d like to go over to Canton , get on a train there,
Peking, and go right straight across to Moscow. Stop off at all
those main places in Siberia. I don't know whether it will work
out or not. It's a dream, anyhow .
K: Wonderful . But your camera equipment is quite cumbersome ,
isn't it?
G: Oh, yes. My 2 Camera Cases weigh 92 pounds. Two cases weigh
92 pounds.
K: When you go on a train trip like this, you keep the
GOLDBECK
K: camera equipment with you? Or do you put it on the
baggage. .?
15
G: Unfortunately, every time I've put it in baggage to my
sorrow. The camera itself, of course, one of these cases
has a tripod in it and all that sort of thing. The camera
itself, I don't risk it in the airplaneS anymore. Too many
times, I've had to tear the thing apart and work it allover
again.
The way they throw the luggage around, it was terrible.
You carry it on.
K: What kind of negatives do you use in your camera?
G: Well, now I generally use color film. Don't make many
black and whites anymore.
K: Is it only spool? How many shots do you ••. it must
be a large spool then, isn't it?
G: The spools are about 11 inches. The film itself is 10
inches. About 10 1/ 2 inch spool. The film is 10 inches
wide and it's about 7 feet long. They say it's 6 feet but
they generally give you an extra foot.
K: And do you have to special order your film?
G: Oh, yes. And you get one picture to a film.
K: To one spool.
G: And also it's 35.50aroll.You′vegottobuyabout100rollsortheywon′tevenmake′emupforyou.K:AretheyaspecialorderfromKodak?G:Yes.K:HasKodakbeenyoursupplieralltheseyearssinceyouGOLDBECKK:started?G:Well,almost.Agfaforawhile,butmainlyKodak.Idon′tbuy100rollsatatime.Mygrandson,he′sreallybusy.Hebuys′emandIbuyadozenrollsoffofhim.K:Thisisforthecolorfilm,right?G:Yes.K:Andblackandwhite?16G:Blackandwhiteislessexpensive.Itrunsabout22.00
a roll. $20.00, I think it is.
K: All these negatives that you have from all • the
military photos that you ever took, of the regiments that
you took. You were out at Kelly, weren't you and at Brooks.
Did you take. .?
G: Yes. Brooks. Anyplace.
K: Ft. Sam and so on?
G: Not only here but wherever we had any military. I used
to go to Puerto Rico every 3 years, Panama every 3 years,
Philippines every three years, China every 3 years, go to
Hawaii every 3 years. Go up to Alaska, Chilicoot Barracks.
We had troops at Chilicoot. Wherever we had any troops.
West Point, all of the various units in the United States.
K: And your specialty was to assemble the men in the design
of their insignia and did this only once in a while?
G: Just once in a while was what it was. That was a real
job. I worked it all out. Takes weeks to get one of those
pictures. Just to work it out mathematically. It's all
worked out mathematically, even to the spot on the ground.
GOLDBECK
G: For every man we put a physical spot , a little one inch
square, white marker and nailed it into the ground, at a
mathematically designated point.
17
There were 21,765 men
photo.
in the large Air Force insignia
K: How many?
G: 21 ,765. And there's not a face hidden in t he entire picture .
Every face showed.
K: And for this photo, you had to build the tower, didn't you?
How high was that?
G: The tower was 222 feet , I think.
K: And you climbed the tower, didn't you , with your camera?
You had to pos ition your camera up there.
G: I used to climb every wireless tower in this country. The
army posts all had wireless towers, that was before the days of
TV. They had radio towers . I used to get up and get a bird's
eye view of the whole Post. I used to think after I qot. up 40
feet it wouldn't hurt me any worse if I fell 400.
K: And nothing ever happened to you?
G: Well, I'm still here.
I climbed one tower in Panama one time. It was a Navy
wireless tower, 505 feet. Later, I got on top of the Tower of
the Americas to take a picture of San Antonio. Had to get up
on top of the roof.
K: You had to get special permission, didn't you?
G: Practically a special act of Congress. Had to get up on
the roof . I can swing my camera up there to 300 degrees
GOLDBECK
G: of an arc.
K: Did the City Council have to give you permission?
G: A~ot of red tape with the thing.
K: You actually took a picture in Paris one time. Was that
at the time of the World's Fair?
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G: It was the lOth anniversary of the signing of the Armistice.
The National Convention of the American Legion was invited over
there by the French government .
K: What year was that?
G: 1927.
K: And at that time, you got permission to build a tower on top
of the Grand Palais . How tall was that tower on the Grand Palais?
G: Oh , about 45 feet.
K: And the roof of the Grand Palais was .
G: Glass, and taking it down (the tower) part of it f