10:00am Thursday 3rd April 2008
By Alan Whalley
JILTED by his glamorous showbiz girlfriend, George Groves felt that his world had suddenly collapsed.
But then he took a firm grip on life, moved over to Hollywood and became a Tinsel Town legend with a clutch of Oscars to his name.
His major awards recognised his exceptional technical wizardry. Back in the twenties he launched the first talkies. And he continued to work right up to the 1970s, rubbing shoulders with immortals such as Al Jolson, Lionel Barrymore, James Cagney, Rex Harrison, Dorothy Malone, Steve McQueen and the ravishing Claudia Cardinale.
And George's life, emotions and successes have become quite an obsession with Stephen Wainwright. Since 1995 he has been researching with a website. He has now come up with an amazing catalogue of pictures, details, oral history and an incredible 18 hours of material voiced over 10 weeks in 1973.
George, who began his working life as a lather boy at his father's barber's shop in St Helens, is arguably the most famous personality to have been raised in the town.
He died, aged 74, as recently as 1976, yet there is little evidence of this, except for a modest little plaque fixed to the family's old hairdressing shop down Duke Street. Surely, there's a reason to set up a permanent exhibition to this locally-born Hollywood legend?
George's life has also captivated local playwright Esther Wilson, who recently had a marvellous play broadcast on Radio Four, entitled The Heroic Pursuits of Darleen Fyles.
Her new play on George Groves, The Quiet Little Englishman, has been provisionally scheduled for its premiere in Liverpool in October as part of Capital of Culture celebrations.
And there's another amazing showbiz link. For George turns out to have been a relative of talented Hollywood actor, Herbert Mundin.
Herbert was born in Windleshaw Road, St Helens in 1898. He was the son of Jane (nee Groves) who was the widowed aunt of George's father.
Stephen Wainwright plans a large extensive site, devoted to Herbert, a leading character in Dickensian films, and in support parts such as Mutch the Miller's Son in Errol Flynn's celebrated Adventures of Robin Hood made in 1938. Herbert was nicknamed the scene-stealer' as he took the limelight from other, more illustrious acting talent.
What had originally proved difficult for Stephen, from Holbrook Close, was in acquiring photographs of George receiving his Oscars for his work on My Fair Lady and Sayonara. But then his ambitions were rewarded. "I received more than 50 new photographs from the family's archives, which included the Academy Award presentations."
Then the American Film Institute supplied copies of George's oral histiory. "The 18 hours were digitally transferred, from the original tapes, on to three tiny computer flash pen drives. It made me wonder", says Stephen, "what George would think of today's miniaturisation of technology."
For it was with mighty equipment that George recorded Fanny Brice in the 1928 musical, My Man. George went on to pick up Oscars for Yankee Doodle Dandy (arguably Cagney's finest hour), Sayonara (1957) and My Fair Lady (1964). His nominations were earned for A Street Car Named Desire (1951); Nun's Story (1950); Music Man (1962); The Great Race (1965); Camelot (1967); Finian's Rainbow and Bullitt (1970); plus the 1970 documentary, Woodstock.
Heartbroken George, when in his early twenties, initially had a special reason to move to America. He was deeply in love with Olga, one of the Tiller Girls, a famous dancing troop of that era. She had been in St Helens when the Tiller Girls were offered an engagement in New York.
With a new post secured, George sailed over on a Cunard liner in 1923, settled in New York and became engaged to Olga.
But it was doomed to failure. Olga became interested in a well-presented gent who haunted the stage door.
George's sister, Hilda Barrow, unfolded the story for me some years ago. "Olga fell in love with this son of the Sangster circus family. He was a far better catch than George, who was then just setting off on his career."
Olga returned the diamond cluster engagement ring to the heartbroken George. But George was later to happily marry Jane Blackman, a divorcee with two daughters.
Life took off for the former St Helens lather boy, and his wealth and success are legendary. His great technical and musical gifts came through to make him a Hollywood legend.
And in 1972 he received the highest accolade possible for his work, the Samuel Warner Memorial Award, a three-inch solid gold disc, a quarter of an inch thick, with Warner's profile on one side and George's name on the other. It was so valuable that a bronze replica was made for display purpose while the original was stored in bank vaults.
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