James M. Falkinburg (September 25, 1932 – June 18, 2014), known in the entertainment industry as James "Jim" Nelson, was an American sound editor, film producer and post-production supervisor.
As a sound editor, Nelson worked on many of the iconic films and television programs of the 1950s, '60s and '70s, including Rock Around the Clock, The Monkees, the beach party films, The Brady Bunch, Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces and The Exorcist. In total, he edited the sound effects for over 100 films and 38 television programs comprising more than 1,700 episodes, as well as several made-for-TV movies, documentaries and television specials.
Expanding into film production in the 1970s, Nelson helped George Lucas in launching Industrial Light & Magic and took part in the making of the first Star Wars. Nelson worked in a production capacity on 20 other films, including The China Syndrome, Ghostbusters and Big Trouble in Little China.
Contents
Personal life
James M. Falkinburg was born in California on September 25, 1932. He grew up in a show business family; his grandparents were stage actors and his father was Sam Nelson, a silent movie actor (The Circus Kid) who later became a film director (Mandrake the Magician; Sagebrush Law) and assistant director (The Lady from Shanghai; Some Like It Hot).
Nelson died in California on June 18, 2014, at the age of 81; no other details about his death were given. Among his survivors are his wife of 36 years, Barbara; his two daughters, Kimberley and Leslie; and his younger brother, The Black Hole director Gary Nelson.
Career
Sound editing
Falkinberg began working in the film industry at the age of 17, taking the name of James "Jim" Nelson. He became a sound effects editor in 1954, starting with the TV drama series Medic. His first feature films as sound editor were the 1956 release Rock Around the Clock—considered to be the first true rock and roll musical film—and its immediate follow-up, Don't Knock the Rock.
Over the next 10 years, Nelson served as supervising sound editor on such TV programs as The Donna Reed Show, Father Knows Best, Naked City, Dennis the Menace, Hazel, The Andy Griffith Show and Get Smart. Some of the films Nelson worked on during this period were The Girl Most Likely, Birdman of Alcatraz, Bye Bye Birdie and the first six of American International Pictures' (AIP) seven beach party films, from Beach Party (1963) to How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965). He also worked on related AIP productions such as Ski Party and Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine.
In 1965, Nelson co-founded Edit-Rite, considered to have been "the premier post-production facility of its time." Much of the sound editing he did between 1965 and 1972 was done at this facility.
Nelson served as supervising sound editor on several television shows which grew out of the counterculture movement of the '60s. His first such project was The Monkees, starring the pop/rock band of the same name. The other counterculture-related TV shows on which Nelson worked were Love, American Style, H.R. Pufnstuf and The Brady Bunch.
Nelson was also supervising sound editor on many of the iconic films of the "New Hollywood" or "American New Wave" movement in the late '60s and early '70s. Just as this "New Wave" was influenced by 1960s counterculture, so too was Nelson's involvement with "New Hollywood" a result of his counterculture-related projects. After The Monkees ended its run in 1968, series creators Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider brought in Nelson to work on The Monkees' first and only feature film, Head, which was directed by Rafelson. This led to Nelson being hired as supervising sound editor of the landmark counterculture film Easy Rider, on which Rafelson and Schneider served as producers. Nelson's collaboration with Rafelson extended to three other milestone "New Wave" films: Five Easy Pieces and The King of Marvin Gardens, both directed by Rafelson, and Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show.