As some of you might know, last week I had the great honor of attending a Chiat/Day mini-reunion lunch with Lee Clow and some of my ex-partners. I'm guessing that fired off some long forgotten brain synapses. Because yesterday, a name popped into my head that hadn't been there for a long time -- Ed Grover.
Chances are, you don't know that name.
There's also a good chance that you might have seen Ed, but still don't remember him, as he was a character actor in many films and TV shows.
Even if that's not the case, I'm betting the house you'd recognize Ed's familiar voice. Ed was a voiceover guy and did hundreds of commercials for Visa, Apple, Pepsi and Nissan.
I had the great opportunity to work with him on Nissan. Even though I was the one at the mixing board, with the red button in one hand and a fistful of stupid direction in the other, Ed had all the power. He literally taught me how to conduct a voiceover session.
He'd enter the booth, often with a briefcase in one hand. Slip on his reading glasses. Go through the copy. With a red pen in hand. He would fix all the punctuation mistakes. And suggest edits. A professional, through and through.
Ed also had a unique way of delivering a voiceover.
He'd put on the cans (headphones) and fold his arms over his chest before projecting into the microphone. I would learn he did this because it makes the voice eminate from the deepest part of his diaphragm. That could have been some crazy California eccentricity, but it worked for Ed, so it worked for me.
We rarely did more than 7-8 takes.
He was that good.
And that left us plenty of time to shoot the shit.
Ed could tell stories. He had traveled the world and seemed to have a tale for every continent. He was a student of the martial arts. He worked with the great stars of his day. Oh and he built furniture. If I heard the story of his imported teak credenza with the hand tooled rabbit joints, once, I heard it a thousand times.
Sometimes Ed could be a pain in the ass. But he was always a joy to listen to.
Because he lived wide. Wider than most.
I don't know if copywriters get to work with colorful characters like Ed Grover. You don't need a VO guy for banner ads or page takeovers or Instagram scavenger hunts. But I'm glad that I did.
I looked Ed up on Google and found out he passed away in 2016.
Rest in peace, Ed.
That's a wrap.
1 comment:
Rich - your normal great bombast isn't quite up to its usually accurate hyperbole on this one -Ed was much, much more than all that. First, beyond scribbling his own script notes, Grover would normally kick off his shoes and pull out a stopwatch which was invariably held at sort of an improbable 90-degrees angle, crooked over his head. Believe-you-me, his fucking timing was better that your fucking timing. Secondly, your experience to the contrary, he wasn't a mere 7-take charley. A spot he did for me involved roughly 75 attempts because he, far more than we Was. Not. Satisfied. Ed: "Not right." Us: "We're thinking if you combined the back half of take 35 with the front of 43, it would work". Ed: "Got it." And, damn it, he did it—to the point he got me both a CA Advertising Annual, a One Show pencil and a Radio Mercury award. Final correx: He was also, considering that Chiat/Day probably made him the next richest voiceover on the planet (Riney bought a CaribbRich - your normal great bombast isn't quite up to its usually accurate hyperbole on this one-Ed was much, much more than all that. First, beyond scribbling his own script notes, Grover would normally kick off his shoes and pull out a stopwatch which was invariably held at sort of an improbable 90-degrees angle, crooked over his head. Believe-you-me, his fucking timing was better that your fucking timing. Second, your experience to the contrary, he wasn't a mere 7-take charley. A spot he did for me involved roughly 75 attempts because he, far more than we Was. Not. Satisfied. Ed: "Not right." Us: "We're thinking if you combined the back half of take 35 with the front of 43, it would work". Ed: "Got it." And, damn it, he did it-to the point he got me a CA Advertising Annual, a One Show pencil and a Radio Mercury award. Final correx: He was also, considering that Chiat/Day probably made him the next richest voiceover on the planet (Riney bought a Caribbean island of his VO proceeds, fercrhrissakes) extraordinarily approachable. It really didn't matter to him: If he liked your spot and you were moderately professional, he would play ball. Oh yeah, one last thing: He worked for scale-an impossibility given the demand for his talents. Then again, all Ed wanted to do was do the work. And we are all richer for his having voiced it to perfection.ean island of his VO proceeds) extraordinarily approachable. It really didn't matter to him: If he liked your spot and you were moderately professional, he would play ball. Oh yeah, one last thing: He worked for scale-an impossibility given how popular he was. But, then again, all Ed wanted to do was do the work. And we are all richer for his having voiced it to perfection.
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