James G. Stewart
| James Graham Stewart | |
|---|---|
James G. Stewart (left) on the RKO Re-recording Stage (circa 1937)
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| Born |
May 21, 1907 Homewood, Pennsylvania |
| Died | March 22, 1997 (aged 89) Los Angeles, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Audio engineer |
| Known for | Pioneer in the field of sound recording and re-recording |
James Graham Stewart (May 21, 1907, Homewood, Pennsylvania – March 22, 1997, Los Angeles, California) was an American pioneer in the field of sound recording and re-recording. His career spanned more than five decades (1928–1980), during which he made substantial contributions to the evolution of the art and science of film and television sound.
In 1928, James G. Stewart was one of the first employees of the newly established company RCA Photophone. Initially, his job was to install and maintain film sound reproduction systems in movie theaters on the east coast of America, including Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Film sound recording and reproduction was a new medium at that time, and Stewart’s knowledge of radio made him a significant figure in the integration of sound into motion pictures. His employers sent him to the West Coast in 1929 to supervise theater installations.
In 1930, Stewart joined RKO Pictures (then owned by RCA), working in their research and development department on a noise reduction system for optical film sound. When corporate interest in the project waned, he was able to move to RKO’s production arm as a 'boom man', recording production sound (the "live sound" recorded at the same time as the picture). For the next several years, he participated in the making of some of Hollywood’s earliest sound film classics, including A Bill of Divorcement (1932) and The Lost Patrol (1934).
After working in the production phase of the filmmaking process for several years, Stewart switched to post-production. From 1933 to 1945, Stewart was Chief Re-recording Mixer at RKO, personally mixing hundreds of film soundtracks. The most celebrated aspect of Stewart's work during this period is his collaboration with director Orson Welles, also with a background in radio. He worked closely with Welles on Citizen Kane (1941) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). Both Welles and Stewart had tremendous insight into the creative use of narrative sound, and these films demonstrated the spectacular heights to which the cinematic arts can be taken.
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