George Barnhill with Gloria ans Whit Trecartin
Forty years & counting
Forty years & counting
By Whitman Trecartin
Montreal July 9, 1963 : I walk through the doors of the National Film Board on C�te de Liesse Road for the first time as an employee. l'm there to meet my new boss, George N. (for Neville) Barnhill. He's way round the back on the second floor, turn right before the lab and stop before the double fire doors. I find him with a skeptical look and a sergeant major attitude. A World War II, overseas Vet and British Film Industry trained, he isn't about to mollycoddle any 18 year old green horn wannabe.
It turns out "Barney," (as he is known) honchos the M&E, Library (M&E for Music & sound Effects) for department head Ken Heeley hyphen Ray, (as he was known). After introductions to his admin staff, Ross Buskard and Ron Birch, Barney takes me on a tour of his empire populated by characters like Fred Anders, guitar builder, librarian and transfer man. In cutting rooms closer to the cafeteria were the sound and music editors and composers like Soapy Douglas, Vic Merrill, Big Sid Pearson, Margo Payette, and Margo's soon to be husband, Oscar winning composer Eldon Rathburn, Kay Shannon, Norm Bigras, Bob Fleming, John Knight, Karl Duplessie and Bernie Bordeleau. We encountered most of these slaving over hot movieolas.
On my first day, Barney assigns me to Don "The Duke" Wellington. Don, a former concert French horn player, creates post sync sound effects using techniques he developed long before the specialty became known as "Folly" sound, named after some jumped up Yank. In Theater 2 Don is busily changing shoes to simulate a variety of on-screen footsteps, splashing a canoe paddle in the sunken water tank to provide audio verisimilitude as aging explorers paddle up far away rivers, and using a feather duster to give audio life to a flock of crows. Sounds good to me!
Alas, this was merely the frosting. The cake was the sync rushes cage where Bill Graziadei and apprentice Pierre Bernier held sway. Before becoming a sound editor, I would first have to work the sync rushes cage. Following the British Crown Film Unit apprentice system, George would make sure I was properly trained and disciplined. For me it was the beginning of a 40+ year career and friendship with Barney.
Years later Barney and I would share location adventures in Bermuda and the wilds of Atlantic Canada. Barney dusting off his initial film industry training as location manager to insure that I, the neophyte director, didn't come a cropper.
Barney's personal life took a dramatic turn when he underwent surgery to relieve pressure on his pituitary gland. The most observable result was the liberation of a long pent up libido. As I said, it was dramatic. The surgery was experimental, the extent of possible sexual re-energization unknown, therefore Barney became something of a medical celebrity. His first hand experiences, opinions and conclusions were enthusiastically solicited by tiers of doctors in medical amphitheaters as far away as California. Barney was quite happy to regale his attentive audiences with tales of his post surgical sexual adventures.
Liverpool December 31, 2005: I roll up the driveway to a snug renovated farm house just outside Liverpool Nova Scotia. Before I can knock on the door it opens and there's Barney. He told me on the phone that he's having lung problems and I know he's had a couple of heart attacks so I dont know what to expect. What I find is an intact Barney you couldn't miss at a mile.
At 87 with an enviable full head of hair, Barney reaches out for a shake and a warm hug. Beaming behind him is Greta his wife of the last 18 years. Greta has the place full of smiles and home cooking. Yeah, George is short of breath but not of humour and spark. While we reminisce, Greta turns-to in the galley, that's kitchen to landlubbers. She's one of Newfie's best, and they have a plethora of good ones on The Rock.
Along with other news, George tells me he lost his daughter Gillian to breast cancer. Like George, Gillian was an only child. She had five children. Surely this is one of life's cruelest blows, yet Barney's learned to move on. Alter all he's from strong stock. He grew up in Fort Lawrence on a ridge dividing both the Tantramar marsh and Nova Scotia from New Brunswick such that each province gets a share of this hayfield cold, wet and windy; windmill heaven. Over a lunch of coffee, pat�, cheeses and sweets, we talk about the house, the monster shed he built out back and the joys of living in one of Canada's most historically significant communities. A center of early ship building and the later rum trade, Liverpool it is where premier Canadian author Thomas Raddall chose to live.
I left them for the evening but returned for a brief "so long" on New Year's Day alter seeing in the New Year at the Privateers Inn in Liverpool. As I rolled away from the south shore headed for Halifax and home, I continued to be warmed by George and Greta's sincere admonitions to come back soon to stay with them in one of their guest bedrooms, perhaps play golf at the nearby course or to just hang out in this peaceful location.
Although he doesn't have email, Barney can be reached through Walter and Pat Wyatt, (across the road neighbours and daily visitors) at
Once, over a bottle of smooth southern rum, I asked Barney why his first response to any request was an emphatic "No," or words to that effect. He told me that at heart he was a softie so he'd developed a lobster like exterior for self protection. It's taken me many years and lots of encounters with predators to understand.
