The Film Daily (1930)

THE ■S&<^ DAILY Thursday, January 16, 19 **SEE AXD HEAR'' By ^S^^^vi The Development of Pictures from Silents to Sound and Dialogue ^ayiA Chapter V The Modern Talking Picture So far we have traced, however sketchily, the history of sound, Now we come to the great new volume in the history of motion pictures which is the record of the commercial development of talking pictures as we know them today. Here we enter into an entirely new phase of the motion pictures. Henceforth let no one make the mistake of regarding sound simply as an embellishment. Sound today is far more important than an eflFect. The talking picture is, in itself, a distinctive art-form. In order to understand fully how and why talking pictures developed as quickly as they did, it is necessary first to review the motion picture situation as it existed early in 1926, at a time when motion pictures had reached what appeared to be a peak in popularity. One hundred million of our people each week were patronizing the 20,000 motion picture theaters ; the studios in Hollywood, in an effective endeavor to meet the demands of the market for 800 feature pictures a year, were operating at their maximum capacity. Competition had never been keener. Every company was vying with every other company to attract the ablest writers, and the most efficient technicians. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were being spent on new effects, while an insatiable public demanded always something new. In the larger cities competition had become so keen that the theaters, forced to fill their seats, inaugurated a system of stage presentations which for a time threatened to relegate the picture to a position of secondary importance. One elaborate revue after another was cast as bait before the public. Overhead costs mounted as a consequence, while the margin of profit showed slight tendency to increase. A physician looking at the industry would have been forced to report that, while the patient was fundamentally sound and healthy, he was suffering from local disorders of a decidedly uncomfortable nature. It was into such a situation then, that sound was destined to project itself. Sound came at the opportune moment. The field was fallow. Early in 1926 engineers, who had been quietly and persistently studying the application of sound to moving pictures, began to hint that they had progressed far enough in their experiments to warrant the belief that commercially successful talking pictures could be produced and marketed. The producers themselves were the first to hear such reports; but the producers, with few exceptions, received the sound proposals, if not with indifference, at least with incredulity. They were not overcautious, but in the past they had been the victims of glittering reports of sound. They chose wisely to wait for developments. The engineers, however, were insistent. For five years — that is, since 1921 they had been studying the use of sound with pictures, hoping to devise ways and means of applying what they had learned about the transmission of sound via the telephone, the radio, and the phonograph to the development of a special technique relating to talking pictures. The problem was not primarily one of synchronizing sound and moving pictures. That was a mechanical problem which could readily be solved. Their real problem was to produce satisfactory qualities of sound in adequate volume. By applying the iden WILL H. HAYS tical prinicples which they had used in successfully transmitting the voice over great distances on the telephone, the engineers succeeded in recording and amplifying sound in conjunction with motion pictures. As so often happens, several groups of scientists, each working independently of the other, began their experiments at about the same time. One group consisted of the engineers of the Bell Telephone Laboratories; another group consisted of engineers of the General Electric Company. The findings of both groups reached the present perfection approximately at the same time, but since the devices emanating from the Bell Laboratories, jointly owned by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company and Western Electric, were given to the public first, it will serve our purpose here to consider that development initially. The Bell Laboratories development was carried forward on two major lines: firstly, the recording of sound on disc records operating in synchronism with the film; and, secondly, the recording of sound on the edge of the film itself by means of a photo-electric cell. TO-MORROW Another installment about the early days of the talkers — and the first speech ever recorded for the screen Kead it in This Serial EVERY DAY in THE FILM DAILY As I have indicated, when the nev of the new sound device reached tl industry, there was a definite ten. ency to leave sound alone. To oi man, however, sound with pictun made an instant appeal. That mt was Sam Warner, one of the foi Warner brothers who had been pr ducing pictures for a number . years. Sam Warner liked mechanic devices. He was an early radio ei thusiast, and it was not difficult t induce him to visit the Bell Labor; tories for a sight of the new talkin device. Mr. Warner saw and aopr(, elated the talking device. He wante it. He wanted it badly, and immec lately he planned to interest in tl; device his three brothers — Han Warner, Major Albert Warner, an Jack Warner. Harry Warner, pre' ident of the company, shook his heai He knew pathetic stories about me who had dabbled in sound. But 1: persistence Sam Warner succeeded i last in getting his brother's conse: to attend a demonstration. That demonstration was destine to make a revolutionary change in th motion picture Industry, for Han Warner, like his brother Sam, sa\ and was convinced. He was read to throw the entire resources of hi cornpany behind the untried talkin device, to stake everything, includ Ing his future, on one high throw The great success which has com to his company is attributable to tl courage which Harry Warner dis played on that occasion. The immediate result of the tw demonstrations — one for Sam War ner and one for Harry Warner — wa that, in April, 1926, the Westerv Electric Company licensed Warne' Brothers to produce talking picture, under its system and patents. Th Warners elected to use the disi. method and the name they, chose fo their device was the Vitaphone. Tb' first experiments were made in tlil old Vitagraph Studio in Flatbusl Brooklyn. At that time Warner Brother were completing the new John Bar rymore picture called Don Juan. Tht production represented a large in vestment. Convinced that the sue cess of the Vitaphone dependec largely on its proper introduction tc the public, the Warners decided tc make the Barrymore film their firsi Vitaphone picture, and to show it at the only theater in the world equipped for the Vitaphone — their own theater at Broadway and S2nd Street, New York City. The New York Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Henry Hadley, was engaged to make the synchronized musical accompaniment of the picture. I (Continued Tomorrow) ! Copyright, 1929, by Motion Picture Producers and Distributor! of America