George Groves (sound engineer)
| George Groves | |
|---|---|
| Born |
George Robert Groves 13 December 1901 St Helens, Lancashire, England |
| Died | 4 September 1976 (aged 74) |
| Occupation | Sound engineer |
| Years active | 1926-1970 |
| Spouse(s) | Jane (?-?) |
George Robert Groves (13 December 1901 – 4 September 1976) was a film sound pioneer who played a significant role in developing the technology that brought sound to the silent screen. He is also credited as being Hollywood’s first ‘sound man’; he was the recording engineer on the seminal Al Jolson picture, The Jazz Singer (1927), as well as many other early talkies. In a career with Warner Brothers that spanned 46 years, he rose to become their Director of Sound and won two Academy Awards.
George was born on 13 December 1901 over a barber’s shop at 57 Duke Street, St Helens, Lancashire, England. His father, George Alfred Groves, was a master barber and talented musician who founded the first brass band in St Helens. His son George Jr. was proficient in a number of instruments and regularly played the cornet in the town’s Theatre Royal. He was also a lather boy in his father's two barber shops in Duke Street and Owen Street.
George was educated at Nutgrove Junior School and Cowley Grammar School in St.Helens. After gaining a scholarship to Liverpool University, he graduated in 1922 with an honours degree in Engineering and Telephony. He spent a year in Coventry working for GEC developing early wireless receivers and then applied for employment in the United States. On December 1, 1923, George sailed to New York on the SS Laconia for what he thought would be a two-year engagement.
He obtained a position with the research team at Bell Laboratories who were developing film sound technology using the sound-on-disc process. In 1925, Warner Brothers bought the Bell system and created the Vitaphone Corporation. In 1926, George Groves was assigned to Vitaphone and was charged with recording the soundtrack to the John Barrymore picture, Don Juan (1926). This was the first full-length film to have a synchronized soundtrack, provided by the New York Philharmonic. Groves devised an innovative, multi-microphone technique and performed a live mix of the 107-strong orchestra. In doing so he became the first music mixer in film history.
...
Wikipedia