Irvin Jay????

[Matt Yorston]

Here's a question worth asking (perhaps Sogturtle, with his vast animation knowledge, can help me).

Almost any WB connoissuer knows that Treg Brown was the head sound effects man/film editor from 1934 to the studio's closure in 1964 (he also worked alongside Lee Gunther on "Moby Duck" as well as 2 Pink Panther cartoons, "Dial P For Pink" and "Sink Pink"). However, in 1956, 2 Bob McKimson-directed cartoons ("Wideo Wabbit" and "The Honey-Mousers") credit an entirely different person as film editor.... Irvin Jay.

Who in Heaven's name is this man? Was he actually going to replace Treg Brown (God forbid) at one point and become the new sound editor? Was Treg Brown taking a brief hiatus for health reasons and Irvin was serving as a temporary fill-in (much like Eugene Poddany's filling-in for Carl Stalling while the latter was recovering from a head injury)? Or did Treg Brown actually work on "Wideo Wabbit" and "The Honey-Mousers", using the alias, Irvin Jay?

Whatever the reason, I hope it can soon be revealed. I'm surprised no other WB expert (Jerry Beck, Dave Mackey, etc.) has ever bothered to bring this up. Because Irvin Jay's being credited on those 2 cartoons is truly a mystery to me.

[DR. BELCH]

He must be a phantom. There's nothing at IMBb on him.
Maybe, like Stephen King writing several novels as "Richard Bachman", Brown adapted an alias...why I can't fathom.

[Matt Yorston]

Well, if it was an alias, it couldn't have been a very successful move because, like I said, Jay is only credited on those two cartoons. Just a thought, but I wonder if they're being directed by Robert McKimson had anything to do with it?

[Sogturtle]

Originally posted by Matt Yorston
Well, if it was an alias, it couldn't have been a very successful move because, like I said, Jay is only credited on those two cartoons. Just a thought, but I wonder if they're being directed by Robert McKimson had anything to do with it?

Matt Yorston~

Thank you greatly for the kind compliment in your earlier post (it is mucho appreciated)... And now the bad news, I've never known who in the blue blazes 'Irvin Jay' was either. My assumption has always been that he was just filling in for Treg (for reasons of health or overwork). And that he either worked elsewhere and was temporarily dragged in (possibly from a commercial house, hence no other credits), or was a subordinate of Treg...

Now since Warner's had the strict "NO PSEUDONYMS" policy then it has to be the guy's real name (and of course that rules out it being Treg). My THEORY (underline only a theory ) is that this "Irvin Jay" is the Irvin F. Jay who was born in 1908 in Pennsylvania, and died in 1981 in Burbank, California (a stone's throw from Warners). This is a pretty reasonable assumption... Now the tricky part... Why don't we find him with any other KNOWN screen credits???

The answer to that HAS to be one of two things...Either
1) He was actually employed making commercials or commissioned films i.e. completely or virtually anonymous work.

orrrrrr

2) He was working on films that he judged to be such "stinkeroos" that he chose to employ a pseudonym or alias on all of them... Possibly he changed pseudonyms also (nowadays various film technicians moonlighting in the porn industry routinely use aliases)

If #1 is the case then the story would end there (not very interestingly either ;)).

Iffffffff #2 is the case then we have to come up with a nominee from within the realm of sound effects/sound editors/music editors in Los Angeles in the 1950's (Treg's job was all of those). Human nature being what it is then such a man would almost certainly create a "screen name" that is a version of his REAL NAME. Okay now that's pretty reasonable right?? (Now to climb out a limb and wait for a woodpecker to finish sawing it off ;)). I would thus nominate someone LIKE Jerry Irvin... (filmography swiped from Imdb).

READ these titles!!

Jerry Irvin

Filmography as: Sound Department
Sound Department - filmography
(1960s) (1950s)

Sex Kittens Go to College (1960) (music editor)
... aka Beauty and the Robot, The (1960)
... aka Teacher Versus Sexpot (1960)

Bucket of Blood, A (1959) (music editor)
Quantrill's Raiders (1958) (music editor)
In the Money (1958) (music editor)
Girls in Prison (1956) (music editor)
Runaway Daughters (1956) (music editor)
It Conquered the World (1956) (music editor: main title credits)
... aka It Conquered the Earth (1956)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) (music editor)
... aka Sleep No More (1956)


Filmography as: Sound Department, Conductor
Conductor - filmography

Queen of Outer Space (1958) (conductor)
... aka Queen of the Universe (1958)

Filmography as: Sound Department, Composer
Composer - filmography

I Passed for White (1960)


Would ANY of us really want to paste our honest-to-goodness real name on ANY of these films??? EEEEEESH!!! (Okay, okay except for "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers") Notice also what year his feature career started... 1956!!!! This is just a theory , mind you, so there could really have been a separate Irvin Jay and "Jerry Irvin"... Curiously Jerry Irvin shows no further filmwork after 1960, and just as peculiarly shows as never having died yet in California... Hmmmmm but Irvin Jay did die there ... Maybe multiple aliases indeed!! :eek: