James G. Stewart
Encyclopedia
James Graham Stewart 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.
. 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 soundtrack
s. 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.
Stewart left RKO Studios in 1945, when he was hired by David O. Selznick
. He was eventually appointed Head of Technical Operations for Selznick International Pictures
and oversaw every aspect of production and post-production for such films as King Vidor
’s controversial Duel in the Sun (1946), Alfred Hitchcock
’s The Paradine Case
(1947) and William Dieterle
’s Portrait of Jennie
(1948).
In an era when network television was beginning to challenge the film industry for audiences, Stewart worked for Glen Glenn Sound
, where he stayed for the next 25 years. Early television post-production emphasized speed and efficiency over artistic innovation, and Stewart’s daily routine involved mixing two half-hour shows a day, five or six times the pace he had previously kept during the making of A-level films. Among the dozens of programs he worked on were I Love Lucy
, The Jack Benny Show
, The Real McCoys
and The Andy Griffith Show
.
By the mid-1970s, Stewart had changed employer once more, this time to The Burbank Studios (owned by Warner Bros.
), where he spent the last five years of his working life. During this time he worked on such films as Martin Ritt
’s The Front
(1976) and Paul Schrader
’s Blue Collar
(1978). In 1980, after a career of more than five decades in film and television, Stewart retired.
Little Women
(1933),
The Gay Divorcee
(1934),
The Lost Patrol
(1934),
Of Human Bondage (1934),
The Last Days of Pompeii
(1935),
Swing Time (1936),
Bringing Up Baby
(1938),
Room Service
(1938),
Gunga Din
(1939),
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
(1939),
Abe Lincoln in Illinois
(1940),
Swiss Family Robinson
(1940),
The Curse of the Cat People
(1944),
Murder, My Sweet
(1944),
Spellbound
(1945),
Duel in the Sun (1946),
Portrait of Jennie (1948) and
Johnny Got His Gun
(1971).
Academy Award Winner (Special Effects category):
feature film, Becky Sharp (1935), made by RKO affiliate Pioneer Pictures
. During his tenure at RKO, he also helped design the studio's first mixing console specifically built for film re-recording and to introduce electronic compression
into film post-production. For the film Portrait of Jennie in the late 1940s, Stewart devised an early incarnation of multichannel 'surround sound
' technology. Working primarily in television after 1950, Stewart helped usher in such technical advances as reversal ("rock and roll") re-recording.
Re-recording
Re-recording may refer to:* Re-recording , the process with which the audio track of a film or video production is created* Re-recording , the act of using a save state while recording a tool-assisted speedrun...
. 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.
Career
In 1928, James G. Stewart was one of the first employees of the newly established company RCA PhotophoneRCA Photophone
RCA Photophone was the trade name given to one of four major competing technologies that emerged in the American film industry in the late 1920s for synchronizing electrically recorded audio to a motion picture image. RCA Photophone was a sound-on-film, "variable-area" film exposure system, in...
. 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
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...
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
RKO Pictures
RKO Pictures is an American film production and distribution company. As RKO Radio Pictures Inc., it was one of the Big Five studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chains and Joseph P...
(then owned by RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
), working in their research and development department on a noise reduction
Noise reduction
Noise reduction is the process of removing noise from a signal.All recording devices, both analogue or digital, have traits which make them susceptible to noise...
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
A Bill of Divorcement
A Bill of Divorcement is a 1932 American drama film, directed by George Cukor and starring John Barrymore and Katharine Hepburn in her movie debut. It is based on the British play of the same name, written by Clemence Dane as a reaction to a law passed in Britain in the early 1920s that allowed...
(1932) and The Lost Patrol
The Lost Patrol (1934 film)
The Lost Patrol is a 1934 war film made by RKO. It was directed and produced by John Ford, with Merian C. Cooper as executive producer and Cliff Reid as associate producer. The screenplay was by Dudley Nichols, adapted by Garrett Fort from the novel Patrol by Philip MacDonald. The music score was...
(1934).
After working in the production phase of the filmmaking
Filmmaking
Filmmaking is the process of making a film, from an initial story, idea, or commission, through scriptwriting, casting, shooting, directing, editing, and screening the finished product before an audience that may result in a theatrical release or television program...
process for several years, Stewart switched to post-production
Post-production
Post-production is part of filmmaking and the video production process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, radio programs, advertising, audio recordings, photography, and digital art...
. From 1933 to 1945, Stewart was Chief Re-recording Mixer at RKO, personally mixing
Audio mixing (film and television)
Audio mixing for film and television is a process during the post-production stage of a moving image program by which a multitude of recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels...
hundreds of film soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
s. The most celebrated aspect of Stewart's work during this period is his collaboration with director Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
, also with a background in radio. He worked closely with Welles on Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film, directed by and starring Orson Welles. Many critics consider it the greatest American film of all time, especially for its innovative cinematography, music and narrative structure. Citizen Kane was Welles' first feature film...
(1941) and The Magnificent Ambersons
The Magnificent Ambersons (film)
The Magnificent Ambersons is a 1942 American drama film written and directed by Orson Welles. His second feature film, it is based on the 1918 novel of the same name by Booth Tarkington and stars Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt, Agnes Moorehead and Ray Collins...
(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.
Stewart left RKO Studios in 1945, when he was hired by David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick was an American film producer. He is best known for having produced Gone with the Wind and Rebecca , both of which earned him an Oscar for Best Picture.-Early years:...
. He was eventually appointed Head of Technical Operations for Selznick International Pictures
Selznick International Pictures
-Origin:It was founded in 1935 by producer David O. Selznick and investor John Hay "Jock" Whitney after Selznick left Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and leased a section of the RKO Pictures lot in Culver City, California...
and oversaw every aspect of production and post-production for such films as King Vidor
King Vidor
King Wallis Vidor was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter whose career spanned nearly seven decades...
’s controversial Duel in the Sun (1946), Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
’s The Paradine Case
The Paradine Case
The Paradine Case is a 1947 American courtroom drama film, set in England, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and produced by David O. Selznick. The screenplay was written by Selznick and an uncredited Ben Hecht, from an adaptation by Alma Reville and James Bridie of the novel by Robert Smythe Hichens...
(1947) and William Dieterle
William Dieterle
William Dieterle was a German actor and film director, who worked in Hollywood for much of his career. His best known films include The Devil and Daniel Webster, The Story of Louis Pasteur and The Hunchback of Notre Dame...
’s Portrait of Jennie
Portrait of Jennie
Portrait of Jennie is a 1948 fantasy film based on the novella by Robert Nathan. The film was directed by William Dieterle and produced by David O. Selznick. It stars Jennifer Jones and Joseph Cotten.-Plot:...
(1948).
In an era when network television was beginning to challenge the film industry for audiences, Stewart worked for Glen Glenn Sound
Glen Glenn Sound
Glen Glenn Sound was an audio post production company.The company was founded by Glen R. Glenn in 1936 and provided creative audio services to the television and film industry for five decades....
, where he stayed for the next 25 years. Early television post-production emphasized speed and efficiency over artistic innovation, and Stewart’s daily routine involved mixing two half-hour shows a day, five or six times the pace he had previously kept during the making of A-level films. Among the dozens of programs he worked on were I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...
, The Jack Benny Show
The Jack Benny Program
The Jack Benny Program, starring Jack Benny, is a radio-TV comedy series that ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th-century American comedy.-Cast:*Jack Benny - Himself...
, The Real McCoys
The Real McCoys
The Real McCoys is an American situation comedy co-produced by Danny Thomas' "Marterto Productions", in association with Walter Brennan and Irving Pincus's "Westgate" company...
and The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
.
By the mid-1970s, Stewart had changed employer once more, this time to The Burbank Studios (owned by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
), where he spent the last five years of his working life. During this time he worked on such films as Martin Ritt
Martin Ritt
Martin Ritt was an American director, actor, and playwright who worked in both film and theater. He was born in New York City.-Early career and influences:...
’s The Front
The Front
The Front is a 1976 film drama about the Hollywood blacklist during the age of live television. It is written by Walter Bernstein, directed by Martin Ritt and stars Woody Allen and Zero Mostel....
(1976) and Paul Schrader
Paul Schrader
Paul Joseph Schrader is an American screenwriter, film director, and former film critic. Apart from his credentials as a director, Schrader is most notably known for his screenplays for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and Raging Bull....
’s Blue Collar
Blue Collar (film)
Blue Collar is a 1978 film; the directorial debut of screenwriter Paul Schrader. This drama stars Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto.-Plot:...
(1978). In 1980, after a career of more than five decades in film and television, Stewart retired.
Partial filmography
Stewart worked on over 250 films during his fifty years as a re-recording mixer. Among these wereLittle Women
Little Women (1933 film)
Little Women is a 1933 American drama film directed by George Cukor. The screenplay by Sarah Y. Mason and Victor Heerman is based on the classic novel of the same name by Louisa May Alcott...
(1933),
The Gay Divorcee
The Gay Divorcee
The Gay Divorcee is a 1934 American film based on the musical play Gay Divorce written by Dwight Taylor, Kenneth S. Webb, Samuel Hoffenstein, with screenplay by George Marion Jr., Dorothy Yost and Edward Kaufman, from an unproduced play by J. Hartley Manners...
(1934),
The Lost Patrol
The Lost Patrol (1934 film)
The Lost Patrol is a 1934 war film made by RKO. It was directed and produced by John Ford, with Merian C. Cooper as executive producer and Cliff Reid as associate producer. The screenplay was by Dudley Nichols, adapted by Garrett Fort from the novel Patrol by Philip MacDonald. The music score was...
(1934),
Of Human Bondage (1934),
The Last Days of Pompeii
The Last Days of Pompeii (1935 film)
The Last Days of Pompeii is an RKO Radio Pictures film starring Preston Foster and directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack and Merian C. Cooper, creators of the original King Kong...
(1935),
Swing Time (1936),
Bringing Up Baby
Bringing up Baby
Bringing Up Baby is an American screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, and released by RKO Radio Pictures....
(1938),
Room Service
Room Service (1938 film)
Room Service is an RKO film comedy starring the Marx Brothers and based on the 1937 play of the same name by Allen Boretz and John Murray. It co-stars Lucille Ball, Ann Miller, Alexander Asro, and Frank Albertson.-Plot outline:...
(1938),
Gunga Din
Gunga Din (film)
Gunga Din is a 1939 RKO adventure film directed by George Stevens, loosely based on the poem of the same name by Rudyard Kipling, combined with elements of his novel Soldiers Three...
(1939),
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939 film)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1939 American monochrome film starring Charles Laughton as Quasimodo and Maureen O'Hara as Esmeralda. It was directed by William Dieterle and produced by Pandro S. Berman...
(1939),
Abe Lincoln in Illinois
Abe Lincoln in Illinois (film)
Abe Lincoln in Illinois is a 1940 biographical film which tells the story of the life of Abraham Lincoln from his departure from Kentucky until his election as President of the United States....
(1940),
Swiss Family Robinson
Swiss Family Robinson (1940 film)
Swiss Family Robinson is a 1940 film released by RKO Radio Pictures and directed by Edward Ludwig. It is based on the novel The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss and is the first feature-length film version of the story.-Plot:...
(1940),
The Curse of the Cat People
The Curse of the Cat People
The Curse of the Cat People is a 1944 film directed by Gunther von Fritsch and Robert Wise, and produced by Val Lewton. This film, which was then-film editor Robert Wise's first directing credit, is the sequel to Cat People and has many of the same characters...
(1944),
Murder, My Sweet
Murder, My Sweet
Murder, My Sweet is a 1944 American film noir directed by Edward Dmytryk, and starring Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, and Anne Shirley. The film was released in the United Kingdom under the title Farewell, My Lovely, which is the title of the 1940 Raymond Chandler novel it is based on, and also the...
(1944),
Spellbound
Spellbound (1945 film)
Spellbound is a psychological mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1945. It tells the story of the new head of a mental asylum who turns out not to be what he claims. The film stars Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov and Leo G. Carroll. It is an adaptation by Angus...
(1945),
Duel in the Sun (1946),
Portrait of Jennie (1948) and
Johnny Got His Gun
Johnny Got His Gun
Johnny Got His Gun is an anti-war novel written in 1938 by American novelist and screenwriter Dalton Trumboand published by J. B. Lippincott company.-Plot:...
(1971).
Nominations and awards
Academy Award Nominations (Special Effects category):- 1942 The Navy Comes ThroughThe Navy Comes ThroughThe Navy Comes Through is a 1942 film directed by A. Edward Sutherland. It stars Pat O'Brien and George Murphy. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 1943.-Cast:*Pat O'Brien as Chief Michael 'Mike' Mallory*George Murphy as Lt. Thomas L. 'Tom' Sands...
[Photographic Effects by Vernon L. Walker; Sound Effects by James G. Stewart] - 1943 BombardierBombardier (film)Bombardier is a 1943 film war drama about the training program for bombardiers of the United States Army Air Forces. The film stars Pat O'Brien and Randolph Scott. Bombardier was nominated for an Academy Award in 1944 for the special effects used in the film...
[Photographic Effects by Vernon L. Walker; Sound Effects by James G. Stewart, Roy Granville] - 1944 Days of Glory [Photographic Effects by Vernon L. Walker; Sound Effects by James G. Stewart, Roy Granville]
Academy Award Winner (Special Effects category):
- 1948 Portrait of Jennie [Special Visual Effects by Paul Eagler, J. McMillan Johnson, Russell Shearman, Clarence Slifer; Special Audible Effects by Charles Freeman, James G. Stewart]
Innovations
As a teenager, Stewart was involved in early experiments in commercial AM broadcast radio. While at RKO Studios, he participated in the production of the first three-strip TechnicolorTechnicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
feature film, Becky Sharp (1935), made by RKO affiliate Pioneer Pictures
Pioneer Pictures
Pioneer Pictures, Inc. was a Hollywood motion picture company, most noted for its early commitment to making color films. Pioneer was initially affiliated with RKO Pictures, whose production facilities in Culver City, California were used by Pioneer, and who distributed Pioneer's films...
. During his tenure at RKO, he also helped design the studio's first mixing console specifically built for film re-recording and to introduce electronic compression
Audio level compression
Dynamic range compression, also called DRC or simply compression reduces the volume of loud sounds or amplifies quiet sounds by narrowing or "compressing" an audio signal's dynamic range...
into film post-production. For the film Portrait of Jennie in the late 1940s, Stewart devised an early incarnation of multichannel 'surround sound
Surround sound
Surround sound encompasses a range of techniques such as for enriching the sound reproduction quality of an audio source with audio channels reproduced via additional, discrete speakers. Surround sound is characterized by a listener location or sweet spot where the audio effects work best, and...
' technology. Working primarily in television after 1950, Stewart helped usher in such technical advances as reversal ("rock and roll") re-recording.
Technical and historical papers
- “Application of Non linear Volume Characteristics to Dialog Recording” (Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, September 1938) Written with John O. Aalberg.
- “The Rerecording Process” (Audio Engineering Society Reprints, May 1970)
- “Development of Sound Technique” (The American Film Institute, 1977)
- “The Evolution of Cinematic Sound: A Personal Report” (Contained in the book, Sound and the Cinema, Evan Cameron, ed., Redgrave, 1980)
Further reading and viewing
Stewart was interviewed numerous times about his methods and his working relationship with the film directors and composers with whom he collaborated. Stewart's comments and recollections are included in the following books and films:- The Making of Citizen Kane by Robert Carringer, (1985). University of California Press: Berkeley and Los Angeles, ISBN 0520058763
- A Heart at Fire's Center: The Life and Music of Bernard Herrmann by Steven C. Smith. Published by University of California Press, 2002, ISBN 0520229398
- The Medium and the Magician: Orson Welles, the Radio Years, 1934–1952 by Paul Heyer, Published by Rowman & Littlefield, 2005, ISBN 0742537978
- Hollywood The Golden Years: The RKO Story (1987), BBC Documentary Series. 1988 BAFTA Award Nomination for Best Factual Series
- Music for the Movies: Bernard Herrmann (1992) Directed by Joshua Waletzky. ASIN: B000TJ0SB8