Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World (Oct-Dec 1928)

40 EXHIBITORS HERALD and MOVING PICTURE WORLD October 6, 1928 Otterson Sees Great Future for Sound Following is the text (in part) of the speech delivered by John E. Otterson, president of Electrical Research Products, Inc., at a luncheon of the NeUD York Electrical League, at the Hotel Astor, New York, last Wednesday. TO an audience of men and women of this organization, I need hardly say that in this electrical age we are witnessing over and over again new applications of electrical science to modern civilization. Your presence today indicates that you are interested in what I think is electricity's most recent contribution touching our modern life. For although its commercial development is less than three years old, the introduction of sound into motion pictures is changing the entertainment standards of millions of people and bids fair to revolutionize an industry. This new form of entertainment has been variously referred to as "Sound Pictures," "Synchronized Pictures," "Talking Pictures," "Talking Movies," "Talking Motion Pictures," and "Talkies." I have no doubt that in characteristic American fashion we shall end up by calling them "Talkies," just as I expect that in an equally characteristic way the English will designate this new art the "Audible Cinema." Whether we use the term "Talkies" or "Audible Cinema," we refer to the recording and reproduction of sound in synchronism with the action of motion pictures. As I entered the hotel today from Broadway I could not escape the feeling that one who sponsors a movement to add noise to that which is now silent can scarcely claim to be a benefactor of the human race. And yet how inadequate is any attempt to interpret in its true quality the life of New York without sound. Indeed I am sure that if all sounds were suppressed, those two million or more visitors who daily throng the city would find it so much like the pastoral scenes from which they come that they would return forthwith harboring resentment at having witnessed a poor show. Origin Dates Back 50 Years The origin of sound in motion pictures dates back some fifty years to the beginning of the telephone itself, for the methods and apparatus employed are those of the modern telephone system. It was about seven years ago that the engineers of the Bell Telephone Laboratories, the research organization of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, set out to apply what they had learned about the transmission of sound to the development of a special technique relating to talking pictures. The problem was not primarily one of synchronizing sound and moving pictures, as this is a mechanical feature readily accomplished. The real problem was to produce satisfactory quality of sound in adequate volume and the same principles which the engineers had successfully applied to transmit the human voice over great distances on the telephone clearly and without distortion were employed in bringing about its successful recording and amplification in conjunction with motion pictures. About three years ago the Bell Laboratories had progressed sufficiently in the developing of talking picture technique to justify public presentation. This development had been carried on along two lines; first, by the recording of sound on disc records operated in synchronism with the film and, second, by the recording of sound on the edge of the film itself by means of a photo-electric cell. In April, 1926, the Western Electric Company licensed Warner Brothers to produce talking pictures under its system and patents, and that company elected to use the disc method, which it called the "Vitaphone." The following August Warner Brothers presented in New York City the first full length motion picture with a synchronized accompaniment. It was John Barrymore in "Don Juan" and it was preceded by a prologue of special Vitaphone acts, including singing, instrumental and vaudeville numbers. Here was an excellent evening's entertainment presented entirely from the screen without the presence of orchestra or artists. It immediately aroused great interest. Case and Fox Collaborate Meanwhile Mr. Fox of the Fox Film Corporation had been working with Mr. Case This speech, delivered by John E. Otterson, president of Electrical Research Products, Inc., is an authentic record of Movietone and Vitaphone, and a visualization of the part sound pictures are destined to play in the future development of entertainment and education. The speech makes excellent material for use in your local newspaper. If you are showing sound pictures or intend to show them in the future, it will pay you to see that it is published in your newspaper, and due to the public's intense interest in sound pictures, this should be easily accomplished. of the Case Laboratories in the depelopment of a system which also employed the sound-on-film method. In April, 1927, the Fox-Case Company was also licensed by the Western Electric Company to record and reproduce sound pictures under its system, using the name "Movietone." Mr. Fox, in addition to studio work in connection with dramatic productions, turned his attention to the development of the talking news reel wherein the record of sound as well as action is made of current news events with portable talking news reel cameras specially designed for such work. This Movietone talking news reel proved to be of great popular interest and has been a distinct contribution to the development of talking pictures. In October, 1927, Warner Brothers presented the "Jazz Singer," with Al Jolson in the leading role. In this production Mr. Jolson sang a number of songs most effectively and in addition there was a small amount of spoken dialogue. The "Jazz Singer" proved a great popular attraction and likewise made a substantial contribution to the public acceptance and further development of the art. Early in 1928 additional licenses were granted by Electrical Research Products on behalf of the Western Electric Company to Paramount, Metro-Goldwyn, United Artists, First National, Universal, Christie Comedies, Hal Roach and the Victor Talking Machine Company. This meant the adoption of talking pictures by practically the whole of the industry. Progress since has been extremely rapid, both in the development of studios for the production of sound pictures and the installation of equipment in theatres for their reproduction. There arc now 60-odd recording equipments in use or under order and about 30 stages are in process of construction and equipment. In addition about 100 portable recording equipments for location and news reel work have been ordered. About 30 are now in operation here and abroad. Pictures accompanied by sound have broken all records for attendance and box office receipts and the theatres which have installed the equipment are highly successful. S ix hundred theatres now have reproducing equipment installed and at least 1,000 will be equipped by the end of the year. Our manufacturing program for next year calls for at least an additional 2,000, making 3,000 by the end of 1929. Foreign Countries Develop Sound Abroad it is the same story. This summer I visited England and France and talked with producers and exhibitors from England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany, Central Europe, Italy, Spain, South Africa, Australia and India, and the same interest exists throughout — the conclusion that talking pictures have come to stay and the development of plans to meet their own needs, differing from this country only as the activity in the foreign field differs from that in America. In the beginning we felt that the addition of sound to motion pictures was only an embellishment, an effect comparable with that of a new system of lighting or of coloring, but today we are confident that here is something more than effect. Here is born a new art that will be revolutionary in the field of entertainment not only in motion pictures but with an effect upon the legitimate stage as well. In this I am endeavoring to voice a conservative judgment slowly arrived at and tempered by the necessity of directing our own plans along conservative lines. To a considerable extent I am speaking after the fact, so that I am appraising that which has been accomplished rather than prophesying that which is to come. I recently scanned the production program of our licensee companies and I find that there are more than 200 major productions with musical accompaniment or dialogue or both on the schedule for the next year. Mistakes will be made that will result in indifferent production that will lead you to question the accuracy of my judgment and appraisal, but these mistakes have been and will be nothing more than is naturally inherent in the development of any new art. They are certainly likely to be no more serious than those that were attendant upon the introduction of the silent movies. Were I to enter the field of prophecy it would be to speak of the application of talking pictures to the fields of advertising, politics, education and religious teaching. Visualize Use of Sound Films I visualize the use of talking pictures to deliver the message of factory executives and sales managers to their employees, to their conventions, to prospective customers in sales and demonstration rooms throughout the world. Political campaigns in which the Governor Smiths and the Secretary Hoovers will speak in screen person to thousands of audiences throughout the country in place of submitting to the limitations of their physical endurance to withstand the hardships of speaking tours. Schoolrooms where children are privileged to listen to the lectures of great teachers and national leaders and to receive the inspiration of their speaking personalities. Small churches where the shrinking congregations may be replenished and awak(Continued on page 42)