'QUIET LITTLE ENGLISHMAN' SET FOR OCTOBER PREMIERE
The director is Paula Simms who reports that the production's premiere will be on October 16th, with a likely preview on the 15th. The venue is going to be an old cinema called the Park Palace which is located in Mill Street in the Dingle area of Liverpool.
It has quite a history, having been designed by architect J H Havelock-Sutton and built on the site of an old coach works at a cost of £5,000. It opened in December 1893 as a music hall called Park Palace of Varieties with a seating capacity of 1100 and in Kelly's 1894 directory was described as:
"...an
edifice of brick with an imposing front
panelled red bricks and terracotta. A large
sunlight hangs from the
ceiling.
The
building is supplied with ample entrances
and exits and is ventilated to the latest
principles."
The Park Palace (pictured left in 2004) finally closed its doors in March 1959 as its attendances were hit hard by the popularity of television.
Zho are turning the old building into a temporary venue for the event and the company are also making a documentary drama film about its history with contributions from the local community as Paula explains:
"Many of the people we have been interviewing remember it well and talk about the early days of cinema with great fondness. It's a great project to work on and a lot of people have told us that although it was a bit of a flea pit it was the preferred cinema because it had the best sound, so it seems right to do it there."
The
BBC have also been filming at the old
building and have approached this website
for photographs of George for a forthcoming
broadcast piece. Zho have just appointed a
marketing and press coordinator and with
a
recent article in the
St.Helens Star, it looks like
George Groves' achievements are about to be
given even more exposure. Watch this space
for more on this exciting project!
'VICTORY OF THE VITAPHONE' AND 'THE SOUNDMAN' DOWNLOADS, SAM WARNER MEDAL PIX & PLAY NEWS
George
Groves pictured at Bell Labs in National
Magazine's 1927 article on
Vitaphone
'Vitaphone' is one of my
eBay saved searches and it came up trumps
recently when the auction site listed a
fascinating, four page article in US
publication
National Magazine entitled
Victory of
the Vitaphone. This was
published in its January 1927 edition and I
was able to acquire it for just $10, which
included shipping to the UK! As well as
photographs of the four Warner brothers
and
Walter Rich, the rare
article also contains a picture of
George Groves at work in the
Bell Laboratories (above).
Although his name is spelt incorrectly and
it's a low quality image, this is the only
picture that I'm aware of that shows George
at work at Bell Labs. There is, of course,
a well-known close up image of George
inspecting a Vitaphone wax disc, but that
was taken at the Vitagraph Studios in
Brooklyn, not in Bell Labs. The gargantuan
size of the equipment used at Bell in those
days is the most striking feature of the
picture. George is quite dwarfed by it all!
I've added the whole article to the
Downloads
section of
this website for your enjoyment. I've
also added "The
Soundman", a paper
that George wrote for SMPE in March
1947. Its summary states that:
"This paper
outlines the tools and means that are at
the disposal of the motion picture
production mixer to enable him to fulfill
his prime responsibility of being the
director's assistant in all matters
pertaining to sound."
A fabulous historical document with no
mention anywhere of digital or computers!
Finally news that "The Quiet Little Englishman", the proposed play on George Groves and written by Esther Wilson, has been pencilled in for its premiere in October 2008. This will be part of the Liverpool '08 Capital of Culture celebrations. Esther had a marvellous play called The Heroic Pursuits of Darleen Fyles broadcast by BBC Radio 4 last week. She tells me that the producers of the George Groves project, Zho Visual Theatre, are looking for further funding after receiving an Arts Council grant recently. So if you've got a bob or two to spare, please do get in touch!
SITE REDESIGN INCORPORATING GEORGE GROVES' ORAL HISTORY FOR THE AFI PLUS MANY NEW PICTURES
George made two oral history recordings in which he detailed his remarkable 46-year film career as a sound man. The first was for UCLA Film & Television Archive in 1962 which lasted 2 hours, although we have only managed to obtain 20 minutes of this. The second was for the American Film Institute in 1973 and lasted over 17 hours and is deposited in the Louis B. Mayer Library in Los Angeles. This is included in their collection of forty interviews with pioneers of the motion picture industry.
The Groves family and this website would like to thank librarian Caroline Sisneros for her tremendous cooperation in sending us copies of George's oral history. As a result this website can now tell George's story in his own words. And what a story it is!
A number of improvements have been made to the site including a Downloads page and a commenting facility has been incorporated into this blog. I expect we'll be fine tuning and fixing glitches for the next few days. Please do let us know if you spot any!
THE JAZZ SINGER 80TH ANNIVERSARY THREE DISC DVD COLLECTORS EDITION BOXED SET (Region 1)
I've obtained a copy of the 5 page trade release .pdf which details the treasure trove of rare film that's set to accompany the restored version of The Jazz Singer. I'm particularly excited about Disc 2 entitled The Early Sound Era which is set to contain:Entertainment Legend Al Jolson Stars in the 1927 Black and White Classic, Newly Restored, With Collectible Memorabilia and Hours of Additional Content, including New Documentary “The Dawn of Sound” And over Three and 1/2 Hours of Rare Vitaphone Shorts.
- An all new feature-length documentary The Dawn of Sound: How Movies Learned to Talk (George Groves will be in this)
- Studio shorts celebrating the early sound era
- The Voice That Thrilled The World - Warner Bros. short about sound
- Okay for Sound - 1946 Warner Brothers short celebrating the twentieth anniversary of Vitaphone
- The Voice from the Screen - 1926 WB ‘demonstration’ film which explores the Vitaphone technology and making of a Vitaphone short
I've supplied some images of George Groves to the production company making the Dawn of Sound documentary and so am especially looking forward to getting my hands on the boxed set. It does seem, incidentally, that only a region 1 release has been scheduled so far.
Edit In the UK a two disc version is being released on November 12th, 2007 (Amazon link). Disc 3 of Vitaphone shorts called Astonishing Rarities has apparently been removed from the Region 2 release.
THE QUIET LITTLE ENGLISHMAN ON STAGE!
For the last two years playwright Esther Wilson and her colleagues at Zho Visual Theatre have been developing their proposal, researching George's story and applying for funding. They've won their commission from the LCC despite considerable competition and will subsequently share in £500,000 of funding. Esther writes that they still have some way to go as they plan to create a "huge multi-media event on a 'film lot' " which will incorporate a sound installation, live music, dance and theatre. Matching funding will be required from other bodies but they are confident that they'll succeed. The director will be Paula Simm whose currently directing a show in Portugal.
This is fantastic news and congratulations to Esther and all at Zho. I will, of course, be reporting any developments in this blog. You can read more about the Liverpool Commissions here and here.
JAZZ SINGER DOCUMENTARY FROM WARNERS
The DVD will feature seventeen minutes of George's oral history which he made c.1974 to Irene Kahn Atkins, daughter of legendary Hollywood songwriter Gus Kahn on behalf of the American Film Institute. I've discovered that a full two hour recording of George's recollections do exist stored at UCLA in LA. I'm currently trying to obtain a copy on behalf of the Groves family and, of course, this web site. The oral history was made just a couple of years before George died and is clearly an invaluable record from someone who was in at the very beginning of sound films and made important contributions in their development until his retirement in 1972.
I'll keep you posted on any news on this.
GEORGE GROVES IN UCLA DOCUMENTARY
I've been sent a copy of the introduction to the voice-over which refers to George's "illustrious career " and "significant contributions " to sound motion pictures. I've been delighted to supply the production team with many stills used in this web site and I look forward to viewing the DVD. It's great to see that George's pioneering work is continuing to gain recognition 31 years after his death.
GEORGE GROVES IN NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY EXHIBIT
We've supplied them with the Mammy photo from 1930 with George pictured with Al Jolson. This picture is currently in the January edition of the UK's Hi-Fi News in an interesting article by Britain's leading technology writer Barry Fox on how sound in the theatre shaped home cinema and disc-based hi-fi. I'm pleased that there are mentions of George's contributions.
SITE OFFLINE
LINKS TO THIS SITE
" For a lot more on the redoubtable George Groves, check out http://www.georgegroves.org.uk/, a fantastic online tribute with anecdotes, pictures, media clips, and more. "
I do like the Gotham Gazette's strap line All the noise that's fit to print !
" Listen up, sportsfans: Anyone interested in reading about one of the instrumental figures in creating synchronized movie sound would do well to check out A Tribute to George Groves-The First Sound Man."
The site is receiving many more favourable mentions but, more importantly, George Groves is starting to get the real recognition he deserves. The plaque unveiling at his place of birth in St. Helens, England ten years ago was great, but it was essentially a local tribute. However, using the World Wide Web his place in the history of the development and use of production and post-production film sound is slowly being cemented.
BROKEN LINKS FIXED
HI-FI NEWS
This is a very rare photo (right) and as far as we know has never been in print media before. It's believed to have been taken at Jolson's insistence so George could send it from his home in Hollywood back to his family in England, who by then were living in Liverpool. The article will be printed in the December edition of Hi-Fi News, on sale Dec 15th 2006. This website will get a mention.