This website has not been updated during 2009, as I’ve been so pre-occupied with my local history site, Sutton Beauty & Heritage, as well as preparing a new site devoted to 1930s Hollywood legend, Herbert Mundin. The latter won’t be online until late January 2010, but do look out for some wonderful pictures of the character actor, who like George Groves was born in St.Helens, England. However, I do have some new Groves photographs which will be appearing here very soon.

A major disappointment at the beginning of 2009, was the realisation that the BFI Cinema 100 plaque that was dedicated to George and Stanley Watkins’ achievements, had been lost. It had been ceremonially unveiled in November 1996 at Warners’ flagship West End cinema in London, four months after a separate plaque had been unveiled in St.Helens. The loss was first discovered by George’s step-daughter Susie, who was brought up by in California by the English movie sound pioneer, always calling him ‘Pappy’.

Susie and her son Marlon, flew to the UK during October 2008 in order to attend ‘The Quiet Little Englishman’, Esther Wilson’s marvellous play on the life of George Groves. After staying in Liverpool for a few days, the pair visited the Warners’ cinema in London, so they could see for themselves the commemorative plaque. They discovered that it was nowhere to be seen, and as it was unveiled by the Association of Motion Picture Sound in association with the British Film Institute, I asked AMPS to investigate.

Hilda and Molly Watkins unveil the plaque in London's West End watched by Peter Dobson

Brian Hickin of AMPS contacted Warners who undertook a thorough investigation. They reported that they’d sold their cinema chain, including their flagship Leicester Square cinema, to SBC International Cinemas in 2003, who’d re-branded them all as Vue. A re-development had taken place at the West End theatre, the plaque had been removed and it was never returned. No one knows where it is now, as Warners’ spokesman commented:

“Unfortunately, we are unable to come up with any clues as to its whereabouts. Even searching in the out of the way nooks and crannies of the cinema has not yielded results.”

As George Groves’ sister Hilda Barrow and Bob Allen of AMPS, who were both instrumental in organising the plaque unveiling, are no longer with us, the family have taken the decision not to consider a replacement.

When the St.Helens plaque was unveiled in June 1996, Hilda told me that the commemoration of her brother’s work was the highlight of her life. That plaque was sensibly installed by St.Helens Film Society high up on a wall of the former barbershop, at the corner of Duke Street and Hamer Street. So far, it’s evaded any efforts by vandals and thieves to damage or remove it. As long as the St.Helens plaque remains on the house of George’s birthplace as a physical reminder of George’s achievements, the family will be satisfied. Plus they have their memories of the London event, which can never be erased.

In saying that, if anyone knows anything about the whereabouts of the missing plaque, please do contact this website.

So what else happened in 2009? Well the year began with a nice email from Claus Wiedemann:

“What a wonderful website, what a myriad of information! I had worked at the WB Sound Dept. from 1987 to 2001 and had heard some of the stories but none as authentic as they are presented on your site. Thank you!!!”

Nice to be validated by some one who’d worked in the sound department at Warners!Also I was contacted in January by Jay Glennie who for the last three years has been researching and gathering content for a new online resource chronicling British Oscar recipients. His project has received backing from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and the UK Government via the UK Film Council. Of course, George had to be included, so images and audio history recordings were despatched to Jay.

In April, The Jolson Journal, the twice-yearly publication of the International Al Jolson Society, published a four page article on George, with four pictures of him posing with Jolie. All the content was supplied by this website, of course, and the Society kindly sent complementary copies of the journal to the Groves family and myself. What a marvellous publication it is, with 68 glossy, A4 pages which contain some fabulous photographs and articles! Well worth joining the Society alone for.

In August the Australian Centre for the Moving Image requested a high resolution copy of the photograph of George with his friend Al Jolson, posing together with the Mammy playback turntables. This is being used in an exhibition entitled Screen Worlds: the story of film, television and digital culture. The exhibition is free and will last ten years. So if you find yourself in Melbourne over the next decade, drop it and see it!

Also in August the International Sound and Cinetechnicans Local 695 requested images for their quarterly publication. Again complementary copies were despatched by the organisation of sound technicians in Hollywood and the cover looks really great!

At the end of the month, a New Zealand organisation of 140 film enthusiasts who’d mainly worked in the film industry, got in touch requesting photographs. Warren Smyth wrote:

“I started as a film editor years ago and found your site on George Groves one of the most fascinating accounts I have read…may I thank you so much for the wonderful information you have provided to the world. We would like to share a small part of this with some elderly folk who are not computer literate and don't have access to the internet. Some of these are collectors who have early theatre equipment.”

In November, a new pub opened in St.Helens. Not an earth-shattering event, but of interest to this website because it came close to being named after George Groves. Pub chain JD Wetherspoon considered calling their new hostelry on Chalon Way West ‘The Jazz Singer’, before plumping for ‘The Running Horses’, after an 18th century coaching inn that stood near the site. The pub’s décor has a strong element of heritage, with photographs and information boards on the history and characters of St Helens. These include George Groves as well as Sir Thomas Beecham and 19th century murderer Frederick Deeming.

In his eighteen hours of oral history for the American Film Institute, George begins by talking about his home town of St.Helens and Sir Thomas Beecham, who was born in the town. I wonder what he'd make of being celebrated alongside the great conductor, as well as a serial killer!

Finally, by sheer accident whilst in the St.Helens Local History Archives in November, I came across an article in the St.Helens Reporter on George Groves’ first marriage to singer Clemence Apperson. In describing the wedding as a “spectacular affair”, the article said “many leading figures of filmland” were present and Warners Studios’ own orchestra played for the happy couple. Composer Sigmund Romberg arranged a special coach for their honeymoon.

Thanks to all have contacted me during 2009. Do feel free to get in touch if you require hi-res images for your media project or if you have any queries. Have a happy new year!

Stephen Wainwright
Site Owner

Zho Visual Theatre have announced that The Quiet Little Englishman - the theatrical production based on the life of George Groves - will open in Liverpool on October 15th with ten performances staged over two weeks. As previously reported in this blog, it's written by Esther Wilson and is her second European Capital of Culture commission. Her first, Ten Tiny Toes at the Liverpool Everyman in June explored the conflicts experienced by returning soldiers and received very favourable reviews. (see Independent, Guardian, Telegraph).

The historic and disused Park Palace music hall / cinema where the production is being staged, has required a considerable amount of refurbishment to make it fit for theatrical purpose once again, but director Paula Simms tells this website that "the venue is coming along nicely and is almost ready".

A dedicated Quiet Little Englishman page will be added to this site over the next few days but for the moment here are the dates and ticket info:

Dates:   Wednesday 15th - Sunday 19th October
                  Wednesday 22nd - Sunday 26th October
Showtime:    7.45pm      Tickets:    £10 (£7 concessions)
Venue:   The Park Palace (on the corner of Park Street & Mill Street), Liverpool, L8 6QN.
Booking Information:   Unity Theatre Box Office: 0151 709 4988
Websites:  Unity Theatre Website    Zho Visual Theatre Website

There was a three minute report on the Quiet Little Englishman production on the BBC earlier this year which can be viewed from one of these links:
High Quality Windows Media      Very High Quality QuickTime Media
Low Quality Windows Media for slower connections   
(Nb. This material is © BBC MMVIII)

The Quiet Little Englishman is a play by Esther Wilson about the life and achievements of George Groves and it's being produced by Zho Visual Theatre. It's one of the eleven 'Liverpool Commissions' which were made last year by the Liverpool Culture Company as part of the Liverpool '08 European Capital of Culture celebrations.

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."

In 1904 King Edward VII visited the theatre and the Royal coat of arms was subsequently installed above the proscenium. Like many other music halls it began to screen films as novelties in between acts. These proved to be so popular that by 1911 it had abandoned variety and was converted into a fully-fledged cinema. It had a seating capacity of 950 and in 1930 it was adapted to exhibit sound films.

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!

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!

I'm grateful to Roland Barrow, George's nephew, for taking photographs of the Samuel L. Warner Memorial Award which was presented to George Groves in 1972 by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. Larger versions of the photographs are now in our Photo-Album (1942-76).  The solid gold medal was considered to be so valuable that it was stored in a bank vault in LA.

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!

We're proud to present the new-look George Groves website! Three months work has gone into its redesign in which we've incorporated George's oral history as well as fifty newly acquired rare photographs and documents.

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!

As you may have heard, Warner Home Video announced in July that October 16th 2007 will be the release date for the region 1 version of The Jazz Singer 80th Anniversary 3 Disc DVD box set. To quote from their trade release:

"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 & ½ Hours of Rare Vitaphone Shorts".

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:

• 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

And much, much more! To find out for yourself click HERE to view the .pdf.
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.

Every year since Athens in 1985, a city in Europe has been designated as the European City or Capital of Culture and next year will be Liverpool's turn. Since winning the prestigious title in 2003, the Liverpool Culture Company have been very active preparing for the 2008 celebrations and have just announced the 'Liverpool Commissions '. These are eleven brand new works of art which will be showcased throughout the year. One of the commissions is a theatre production called The Quiet Little Englishman which will be about our very own George Groves and his pioneering sound film work.

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.

Sparkhill Productions of Burbank are completing production of a documentary on The Jazz Singer and the advent of motion picture sound technology for Warner Brothers and TCM. Sparkhill are a top producer of DVD programming for major motion picture studios and distributors. As one would expect, George Groves' contribution as recording engineer on the seminal film is being featured in the programme and I've been pleased to supply Sparkhill with some hi-res stills of George for inclusion. I hope to get a release date soon.

Talking of DVDs, I've been informed that the first part of A Century of Sound is close to being released. (See blog item below) This is the UCLA / Rick Chace three part documentary DVD series on the history of sound in motion pictures which extensively features George. The documentary's Wrap Party  in Burbank is scheduled for July 19th to which I've been invited but am unable to fly over from St.Helens. Well I've got to think of my carbon footprint haven't I! Instead I've arranged for two of George's relatives who live in LA to attend. Hope it all goes well.

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.

The Rick Chace Foundation and the UCLA Film and Television Archive are producing a comprehensive three part documentary DVD series on the history of sound in motion pictures. The DVDs will be released in June 2007 and will be distributed free of charge to educational institutions and archives worldwide. The first part is entitled A Century of Sound – The History of Sound in Motion Pictures: The Beginning 1876-1932 and is based on a lecture prepared originally in 1992 by Robert Gitt, Chief Preservation Officer of the UCLA Film & Television Archive. It contains many unseen film clips and portions of many Vitaphone productions and will also feature 17 minutes of George Groves' oral history which he made in 1975, just a year before he died.

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.

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology will be including George Groves in an exhibition on the history of electroacoustics in the interwar period. The exhibition is organised by Faros, an exhibition group at the university in Trondheim and will be set up at the University museum from March to July 2007.

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.

This site is now back online after being down for the first five days of 2007. This was caused by an employee at my hosting company taking it on himself to reset the site to its default state. This means that all uploaded files were lost and a "Coming Soon " screen greeted visitors despite the site being online with this company for 12 months. Very, very annoying as there is increasing interest in the site with 100 unique visitors viewing it in the 24 hours before the plug was pulled. I'm informed that the employee is going to be disciplined for his actions. Apologies if you tried to access the site during this period.

So far this month I've counted (via the site stats) fifty inbound links to this web site. This means that during December, a large number of visitors to George Groves - The First Sound Man had clicked on links contained within other web pages and blogs that had directed them to us. (This excludes search engines like Google and Yahoo). It's interesting to track down where the links emanate, although for one reason or another it's not always fruitful. However, a couple of interesting sources that I've just identified are worth reporting.

The Gotham Gazette from Gotham Sound and Communications says:

" 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 !

Plus sync.sound.cinema says:

" 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.

I've performed a routine check on all the links in the Links page and was surprised to find that four were broken. After some investigation I've discovered that three sites had moved servers and so had changed their URLs. One had made its page a .pdf file and changed URL. All are now fixed. If any links don't work in the future please let us know. If you have any suggestions for more links to add to the list, again please get in touch. Thanks!

Hi-Fi News in the UK are printing an article on the development of film sound during the 1920s. We've supplied some photos to them for inclusion in the piece, including the 1930 Mammy photo of George with Al Jolson.

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.

Not directly related to George Groves but I have a new website Sutton Beauty which has just been launched. It's a photographic appreciation of the Sutton district of St Helens. George's Dad did live in Sutton for a while at 2 Cairne Street according to the electoral registers of 1899-1900. That's the only connection I can muster!