Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1535880
M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S 49 other was, you guessed it, Bob Beemer. Here we go. I could almost smell the saltwater, feel the presence of Luke Halpin, and hear the distant call of Flipper. Joining Bob was the talented mixer, Gary Rizzo. Like many in sound post, he is a musician. Guitar players seemed to be everywhere. Some like me with a history of garage bands and unfulfilled dreams and others who are so good that they should probably just be players. Musical instruments propped in the corners of editing suites and mixing stages all over town. It's surprising that any work gets done. Child 44 is an underrated film, starring Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, and Joel Kinnaman. Screw Rotten Tomatoes. On Amazon Prime, it has almost 3,000 reviews with an average rating of 4½ stars out of five. I think that's pretty accurate. I am of course, biased, but I think it's very good. This film also had the distinction of having four people named Chris cutting sound. There were Chris Jargo and Chris Welch cutting ADR, Chris Hogan cutting dialogue and yours truly, Chris Assells cutting Sound FX. As a kid back in the '50s and '60s, it seemed like I was the only Chris. As an adult, I found them popping up everywhere. The Child 44 dolphin works as a pretty cool and clever legitimate sweetener. You remember how everyone was putting animal roars as guns and explosion sweeteners and growls as car sweeteners? This was in that vein. We put it in as part of a train brake squeal big and proud. This was one I wasn't nervous about. If you know it's a dolphin, then you know it's a dolphin and it's difficult to not hear it as a dolphin. Kind of like those animal voices in those Twister tornadoes, when you know, you know, and you hear them clear as a bell. The curse of being a sound editor. It, of course, sailed through without comment, as cleanly as that good old Red Fox sound FX always did. Was that the last bow for the dolphin? I honestly don't remember. Kinda anticlimactic. There might be more. I know that Beemer snuck one into Dreamgirls without me and into one of those movie franchises, featuring sexy young adults killed one after the other in increasingly imaginative ways. How dare he! Personally, I couldn't do the dolphin with anybody else. It would feel like cheating on him. Looking back, I realize that this might actually have been Bob's Wilhelm and I was just along for the ride, hanging on for dear life. So there you have it. Not many have noticed it and no one else has used it. Bob and I are retired now and the dolphin has been orphaned. It's swimming around in your FX library ignored and unused. There is nothing precious about it, Bob and I offer it to you, tax-free, duty-free and with no limitations … if you're brave enough to use it. Better yet find your own dolphin. A little secret sound editor joke between you, your family, and friends. Your Carol Burnett ear tug. Let Wilhelm stay on that ranch where he can be trotted out at appropriate times. I think ole Sheb would understand. That dangerous weirdo, the late great Timothy Carey, was once asked if he'd have done anything different in his TV and movie career. He answered, "I wouldn't conceal my farts." I don't know if that's a metaphor. Either way, Timothy is braver than I am. I think I'd do everything pretty much the same … and I think I'd still follow Bob Beemer wherever he wanted to go with that stupid dolphin tucked under my arm. And now just like Julia Phillips, I'll never eat lunch in this town again. Younger readers, google her. Right now, I've got some goddam kids to kick off my lawn... Bill Meadows and Chris Assells, Universal behind the Jurassic Park Ride.