Dear Friends,
Before we pick back up on the history of Bukake Culkin, it is important to revisit the fellas at Noisy World, Inc. I know I’ve only spent a thousand words with them so far, but I found myself liking them and wanting to know more. Let’s see where this goes…
*****
Noisy World, Inc. part two
It was early in their conversation at Canter’s when the three men each realized that living together might be a hell of a lot of fun. Their combined love of figuring out how to make things the way they should sound, whether it was the sound of a street scene in some B roll, a great song, or just a bit of conversation, was enough to make it a good fit, but there was something more. Rafferty, Birnbaum, and Cuevas also wanted something more out of life.
As they talked about some of the jobs they had worked or the people who they were learning the ropes from in Hollywood, the founding fathers of Noisy World, Inc. began to form a bond. Birnbaum and Cuevas wanted to get their hands on Rafferty’s fancy portable recording device and Rafferty wanted to pick their brains about getting good gigs (Birnbaum had all the good juice) and mic placement (which was Cuevas’ thing). After a few stern looks from the staff at Canter’s, the trio decided to vacate the table they had been holding hostage for over two hours to hit Zardi’s in Hollywood to see the Shorty Rogers and His Giants.
Cuevas knew Jimmy Giuffre and Shelly Manne who recorded with Rogers and played on his 1953 eponymously named record as members of The Giants. Manne was also known to Rafferty from their work on The Wild One, so going to see the band play seemed like a logical next step. Rafferty had some muggles (marijuana), so the fellas shared a quickly rolled joint as they headed around to the back entrance of the club. They were looking for Giuffre who was known to warm up on his tenor sax out back before the show.
The details on the rest of the evening are hazy, but it was a pivotal night in the formation of Noisy World for one main reason. Birnbaum, sometimes around 11pm, started saying, “It’s a noisy world, baby, noisy!” to anyone who would listen. This could have been because the band was playing “The Pesky Serpent” which was a song Giuffre had written or because of the combination of weed and a few too many old-fashioned cocktails. Either way, it became a kind of mantra for the trio. By the time they moved into the house they found on North Stanley Avenue between Rosewood and Oakwood, they had decided to call their new home, you guessed it, Noisy World.
On October 1, 1955, the gentlemen moved into 444 N. Stanley. It was a two-story job with plenty of room for the fellas to spread out. There were four bedrooms and two bathrooms, plus a huge garage. It was determined pretty quickly that at least two of the bedrooms, the den, and the garage would all make great recording spaces, but which ones. Over the weeks they had been looking for a place, the conversations often turned to what each of them was dreaming about doing when they weren’t working on a film or record.
Birnbaum had a head for business in addition to being a gifted sound engineer. He had a knack for meeting the right people and setting up good deals for himself and his friends. Birnbaum posed a question to Rafferty one night when the guys were talking about whether or not they needed to borrow a truck from the studio lot to move their stuff.
“What do you think about doing some recording around town to make some money on the side,” asked Birnbaum?
“Like what?” replied Rafferty, his Pall Mall clenched tightly between his teeth.
“Well, you’ve got the gear to record just about anything. Let’s say some director needs the sound of a busy street at 3pm. We could set up on Fairfax or Beverly and just roll the tape.”
“I’m picking up what you’re laying down, Bernie. We could definitely do that.”
Birnbaum knew studios often used these kinds of recordings, even if were for just a few seconds here and there, to make sure they got a good, realistic sound for a street scene or a grocery story or anything from the “real” world. He also knew that these gigs could pay well, too. Between the three of them, if they worked on their off days, evenings, whatever, they could quickly amass a decent number of recordings.
Over the first few months of living together, it became apparent to the roommates that they needed to go into business together. For one thing, they each had a similar drive to be great at what they did, but each had been humbled enough by the existing sound engineer hierarchy in Hollywood to have learned how to keep their ego in check. For example, Cuevas has learned quickly how to massage the ego of his various and accomplished bosses by helping them feel like they were calling the shots in the studio. He would often talk to Rafferty and Birnbaum about how he managed this person or that person and got them onboard with going along with his suggestions. His reputation as a wizard in the studio was starting to grow, as were the job offers, and getting access to better and better equipment was good for everyone at the Noisy World house.
As the early months of 1956 came and went, Noisy World was beginning to take shape. With the money they were saving sharing living expenses and grabbing whatever side work they could grab, the three friends began adding to their array of equipment, as well. The access they had to equipment from the MGM lot was also very helpful and none of the guys were above borrowing something for awhile if they needed to use it. Most people on the lot had no idea what it did, anyway.
See you tomorrow.
LA. 1955. Stole this photo from the interwebs.
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