Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/637797
57 Q1 2016 / CINEMONTAGE 57 Q1 2016 / CINEMONTAGE was supposed to know what went on behind the scenes." Indeed, in true Hollywood style, all the audience was supposed to notice were the stars on the screen and the story. When Universal Pictures split up as part of the studio restructuring of the 1950s, Foley's "disciples," as they were called, went to work at different studios. "Some of them started working together in pairs," says Clarke, "and because they liked Jack so much, when they finished a scene they would say, 'That's a wrap. Let's Foley it.' And that's how it got started." In the 1960s, Foley was officially recognized by Desilu, when the Hollywood studio named its sound stage "Foley's Stage." Adds Clarke, "The name took off but, aside from the guys who worked with Jack, nobody knew who or what 'Foley' was." The art remained in the shadows for many years. A function of history and tradition, Foley artists, as they came to be named, never received screen credit. Around the 1970s, sound editors were doing their own syncing (as it was called before becoming officially known as Foley), and realized they could hire outsiders to do this time- consuming and specialized work. "There's a certain kind of focus and a knack to doing this kind of work; you must be able to make nuances with your body. Many sound editors didn't like doing the work or found they weren't very good at it," says David Lee Fein, MPSE, a longtime Foley artist who worked at MGM, Paramount, Warner Bros. and Digital Sound and Picture from the 1970s through the 1990s. "For a while, there was a bartering system where there might be a trade between sound editors — one who liked to do Foley and one who didn't. Sound editors soon realized they could outsource this work." Some of the first people to be hired were dancers, as they had that combination of body control, rhythm and timing. One of the first professional Foley teams was Ross Taylor and Kitty Malone. Taylor was a sound editor while Malone was a dancer. Others were professional athletes. By the 1980s, more people were becoming Foley artists but it wasn't until the end of the decade that they began regularly receiving screen credit. The hidden art of Foley was now recognized — although by a specialized Hollywood term that few people outside of the entertainment industry knew. This changed in the early 1990s, when there were a few pivotal stories that sparked public interest in the craft. In 1992, The Washington Post ran a front-page feature on longtime Foley artists Ken Dufva, MPSE, and Fein, and not long after, The Los Angeles Times began running short "behind the scenes" films that played in theatres before feature films. "The LA Times did a short with Foley artists John Roesch and Hilda Hodges, and Foley mixer Mary Jo Lang," says Alyson Dee Moore, a Foley artist and Editors Guild Board member, who had partnered with Roesch for many years. "That was a big breakout," she says. "Once that short film came out, a lot more people were aware of what Foley was." And a lot more became professional Foley artists. It was by happenstance that Clarke ran into Fein and Dufva while visiting the Paramount lot in the early '90s. "We were chatting a bit and I said, 'I'm Jack Foley's granddaughter.' And that shocked the daylights out of them." Since then, Fein and Dufva have been instrumental in raising awareness about the craft of Foley and introducing a new generation of people to it. Also in that decade, the work of Foley artists was further recognized when the Emmys began giving statues to award winners instead of certificates. In 1997, Foley the man was honored posthumously with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Motion Picture Sound Editors, which also had made him an honorary member in 1962. Foley artists were admitted into the Editors Guild in 2006 Few industry professionals can claim that their name is a noun, a verb and an adjective all at once — let alone a post-production craft and an Editors Guild membership classification. Of the notoriety and recognition bestowed upon her grandfather, Clarke says, "I think he would have been embarrassed. He wasn't really a showbiz person. But underneath, I think he would have been pleased." Above all, Foley was doing work that he absolutely adored, she adds. "He put his heart and soul into it. He really loved it." f David Lee Fein. Photo by Gregory Schwartz