SIR JOHN GIELGUD 1904-2000 DOYEN OF DICTION Charge Of The Light Brigade (1968) Sound mixers who had the privilege of working on movies with Sir John Gielgud will feel great sorrow about his final fade-out. Throughout his long career I doubt whether he ever spoke a word of dialogue that wasn’t clear and intelligible. I’m sure that no cinema goer, or for that matter theatregoer, ever had to utter the question every sound mixer dreads to hear, “What did he say?” I had the pleasure of recording him on three feature pictures. His voice level control, precise diction, neutral accent and the meaning given to lines while playing scenes were always a pleasure to hear in my headphones. His professionalism and cooperativeness were remarkable. There was not the slightest objection to having to be fitted with a personal mic. on the one occasion I had to use a radio. His stamina was amazing; he was in his eighties when I worked with him. Early calls, journeys to and from locations, tedious holdups, long working days - he stood up to them looking less tired and fraught than many very much his junior in years. Many stories about his social gaffes and acerbic wit are now coming out in various tributes. Two I like. It’s claimed that once he said to Elizabeth Taylor “I don’t know what became of Richard Burton. I think he married some terrible film star and had to live abroad.” The other story concerned his work in a Peter Brook theatrical production. During a rehearsal Peter broke off to put the cast through one of his ‘Method’-type exercises, which Sir John felt were a waste of time. Peter challenged the players each in turn to make an action or sound that would scare him. After individual horrific screams, jumps and gestures it came to Sir John’s turn. He simply walked up to the director and said quietly to him “We open in five days!” He will be missed, but fortunately he has left behind great performances in many classic movies, so it will be a long, long time before he is forgotten.  BOB ALLEN EDWARD BERNDS 1905-2000 PIONEER PRODUCTION MIXER  Ed lets Melvyn Douglas listen  Edward Bernds, pronounced ‘Burns’, trained as a radio operator in the early 1920s. He was brought from Chicago to Hollywood in 1928 by Howard Campbell, the chief engineer of United Artists’ brand new sound department. When he arrived The Iron Mask, starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr, was in production at UA Studios. Shot as a silent picture, UA realised that to meet the new trend set by Warner Bros’ Vitaphone Pictures, sound would have to be added. They decided that, in addition to a music score, they would have Fairbanks speak on-screen prologues to the first and second parts of the film; recording these was Ed Bernds’ first production mixing job. In his book Mr Bernds Goes To Hollywood, he graphically describes going on to The Iron Mask set. He was stunned by what he saw: a huge set of a Paris street, filled with people and lit with hundreds of sun arcs. ‘It was noisy and crowded; there seemed to be a dozen things happening at the same time. The stage was filled with the grinding noise of the arc motors and the high-pitched whine of the arc flames. I wondered how we sound people could fit into that turbulent world and what changes we would bring. For one thing, the sun arcs would have to go.’ Bernds later moved to Columbia Pictures where he became Frank Capra’s regular production mixer from 1930-1939, working on the now-classic pictures It Happened One Night (1934), Mr Deeds Goes To Town (1936) and Mr Smith Goes To Washington (1939). During this period he was also writing scripts for the Three Stooges’ 2-reelers, then in 1944 he took over directing them - about two dozen in all. He didn’t return to sound but became an uncrowned king of B pictures, directing the Blondie series, two Bowery Boys’ movies and such drive-in fodder as Reform School Girls (1957), Space Master X-7 (1958), Return Of The Fly (1959). He retired in 1965. His book Mr Bernds goes to Hollywood (ISBN 0-8108-3602-5) is a jolly good read if you can hold of a copy; Amazon UK have it, but listed at £45. BOB ALLEN