Nathan Levinson (sound engineer)

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Nathan Levinson (born July 15, 1888 in New York City , † October 18, 1952 in Toluca Lake , California ) was an American sound engineer and one of the pioneers of talkies .

Life

At the age of 14, Levinson was working as a wireless telegraph technician. He served in the Photographic Division of the US Army Signal Corps in World War I , where he rose to the rank of major . He then worked for the Western Electric Manufacturing Company, which was responsible for the American West Coast and sold radio equipment. From 1922 Levinson was in contact with Hollywood , having lent Universal a sound system for the crowd scenes in the bell ringer of Notre Dame that year .

Levinson was on friendly terms with Sam Warner , who in turn, with Levinson's help, had built the KFWB radio station in Los Angeles in March 1925, which was used to advertise Warner Bros. Levinson showed Sam Warner a Western Electric sound film recorder and playback device in April 1925 and showed him a short film that he and Western Electric had been working on:

“It was a very simple example of synchronous sound and image - someone dropped something on the table and a sound was heard so you could clearly see that the sound and image were in sync.

It was a very simple demonstration of synchronized sound and picture - somebody dropping something on a table and making a noise so that you could see distinctly that the sound and picture were synchronized. "

- George Groves

Both arranged a special performance for Harry Warner . The brothers were convinced of the possibilities of the sound film and so Warner Bros. subsequently worked as the first large production company on the realization of the commercial sound film. In April 1926, Warner founded the Vitaphone Corporation, which in April 1926 brought out Don Juan - The Great Lover, its first film with complete sound synchronization, and finally, a year later, brought out one of the first sound films, The Jazzsinger . Levinson was the conductor of the jazz singer . Beginning in 1928, Levinson served as Head of the Sound Department at Warner Bros. for more than 20 years.

From 1930 Levinson was the contact point between Hollywood and the Army Signal Corps. He was vice chairman of the Motion Picture Academy Research Council, which, among other things, created the Army Signal Corps program. To improve the Corps' film unit, one soldier was trained annually in Hollywood, with Levinson directing his training. From 1939, Richard Schlosberg and Levinson put together a corps unit of Hollywood filmmakers. It eventually led to the establishment of the Motion Picture Committee Cooperating for the National Defense (MPCC). Levinson received an honorary Oscar in 1941 for his services to Army training films.

Levinson died at the age of 64 and was buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Filmography (selection)

Awards

Levinson has been nominated over 20 times for an Oscar for sound recording and special effects. He received the Oscar four times, among others in special categories:

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michele Hilmes: Hollywood and Broadcasting: From Radio to Cable . University of Illinois Press, 1999, pp. 33-34.
  2. ^ Scott Eyman : The speed of sound: Hollywood and the talkie revolution . Simon and Schuster, 1997, p. 69.
  3. ^ Douglas Gomery: The Coming of Sound . Routledge, 2005, p. 36.
  4. ^ Raymond Fielding (Ed.): A technological history of motion pictures and television . University of California Press, 1979, p. 180.
  5. ^ David Welky: The moguls and the dictators: Hollywood and the coming of World War II . JHU Press, 2008, pp. 195-196.
  6. ↑ See entry and photos on findagrave.com
personal data
SURNAME Levinson, Nathan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American sound engineer
DATE OF BIRTH July 15, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City , United States
DATE OF DEATH October 18, 1952
Place of death Toluca Lake , California , United States