GEORGE GROVES & BURBANK STUDIOS (1972-76)
Creation of the Burbank Studios, retirement from Warners, the Samuel L.Warner Memorial Award and George Groves' death
I virtually spent a lifetime with the company so it was a source of great pride to me to be awarded this medal - [George Groves]
The scoring
console with stage and orchestra set up in
front of a projection screen
within the Groves-Rice music complex at the
Burbank Studios in 1972
George
Groves retired from
Warners on August 31st 1972, after a career
with the company which lasted a remarkable 46
years. A farewell party was thrown for him in
which he was presented with a gold watch and a
combination hi-fi. In a letter to his sister
Hilda dated November 14th 1972, George
expressed some disolutionment with the changes
that were taking place at the studio. He felt
that under new owners Kinney National, the
company run by Ted
Ashley and now known
as Warner
Communications, had become
"a
huge factory".
The Burbank Studios were created as a rental operation, available for any production company to hire. Even Warners and Columbia had to rent the facilities and George's sound department was split into two. One department was responsible for sound production and another for post-production. George's assistant and chief engineer, Al Green, became head of the latter.
The complex was named after George Groves and Charles Rice who had been the head of Columbia's sound department, although Rice played no part in its design. A plaque on the wall credits Groves for supervising the designing, engineering and construction of the facility.
George also ensured that quadraphonic facilities were incorporated. This was as a result of Stanley Kubrick originally wanting his film A Clockwork Orange to be exhibited with quadraphonic sound. In 1971 George wrote to Kubrick in England to inform him that studios weren't equipped to perform quadraphonic dubbing and theatres did not possess quad playback facilities. The idea was dropped but as a result of Kubrick's request, quadraphonic recording was made possible within the new complex.
...for outstanding contributions in the design and development of new and improved methods and / or apparatus for sound-on-film motion pictures.
It came as a wonderfully pleasant surprise to me when I was notified by the secretary of the SMPTE that I was to be the 1972 recipient. It was particularly wonderful because I had worked with Sam Warner in the early days and, of course, worked for 46 years with his brother Jack. I virtually spent a lifetime with the company so it was a source of great pride to me to be awarded this medal.
However, on September 4th, 1976 he suffered a severe heart attack and passed away. His funeral was held at the Forest Lawn cemetary in Hollywood Hills with his coffin appropriately draped with both the British Union flag and the American Stars and Stripes.
During his tenure as Head of Sound he won for his department two Oscars for Best Sound for the 1957 film Sayonara and for his work on My Fair Lady in 1964. He was also part of the team that won the Academy Award for Best Sound in 1943 for the musical Yankee Doodle Dandy starring James Cagney.
George’s Oscar wins and nominations plus the prestigious Samuel L. Warner memorial award demonstrated that his peers in the United States had recognised his achievements, but in the land of his birth he was largely unknown. Although local newspapers in England had occasionally reported his achievements and some reported his passing, his contribution to the development and employment of sound recording in films had essentially been overlooked.
However his proud sister Hilda Barrow in Liverpool, England was determined to put that right!
NEXT PAGE - Hilda's
Campaign For Official Recognition
For Her Brother
George
