International photographer (Jan-Dec 1934)

March, 1934 The INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER Nineteen that the two machines starting simultaneously and running all the time at the same speed exactly gave us perfect synchronization at all time points. "We are glad to have this opportunity of giving the French Photographic Society, which has always appreciated our efforts, the first indications of the way in which we have solved the prohlem of synchronization." From the L' Industrie du Film Parlant, published in 1929, we have Gaumont's description of his early system: "The wax cylinder, cumbersome and fragile, gave way to the disc which you all know. The rotating disc system, which created the rotative distributor and its multiple cable, were replaced by the following arrangement : "Two small electric motors similar to (A and B) of the same power are branched on the sector, their inductors allowing the same number of sections, each reunited, as usual to the successive blades of the collector placed at the end of the shaft, that holds two brushes bringing the current on the collector. "But to assure the synchronized pace of the two motors, 3 derivations of equal distance were taken to the inductor, that is to say, separated by 120 degrees, and joined to rings mounted on the other extremity of the shaft extended for this purpose. Each one of the three rings on each motor is joined to the corresponding ring of the other motor. "When in action, if one of the motors tends to run faster, it sends in the inductor of the other one a current which increases the pace of the latter and the synchronization is thus automatically maintained. "We learned afterwards that Elihu Thomson used a similar arrangement for synchronized control of the spindles of the weaving machines. "In 1906, the registration of sounds, obtained up to that time by the imprint left in the wax by the point of a stylet mounted in the center of a mica disc, was replaced by an electrical registration due to the use of a microphone and a graving style in steel placed in a powerful magnetic space and displacing itself under the action of the induction bobbins run over by the wave current of this microphone ; above, laterial inscriptions ; below inscriptions; in depth "Hill and dale" recording.) "The necessity of reproducing scenes of some duration lead us to use two-tray disc carriers, which were alternately and automatically started by means of electric contacts, in such a way that from the time that the disc placed on one of the trays was finished, the other began. The initial start of the apparatus, instead of being made on a sound signal, was unhooked by the passing of a needle on a metallic contact in the groove of the disc. "In order to obtain, for the auditions in big rooms, a sufficient intensity we have studied and realized sound amplifiers that used compressed air. "To guard against unwedging, a differential, controlled by a special motor, was intercalated between the synchronized motor and the apparatus." This was a notable presentation and served as one of the initial stimuli to achieve the sound films. It gave the European audiences a taste of what was to come. What Gaumont did in this connection in Europe, Edison did in this country. It had been Edison's dream from the first to make pictures talk. In fact by this time he had been listing in his catalogue "Talking Pictures Synchronized to Records" for a number of years. One catalogue on display at the Los Angeles Museum of March, 1900, lists several different subjects, "accurately synchronized to special records." That "accurately synchronized" to records, however, is only generally correct, because there were no correctly synchronized "talkies" then. In a recent booklet put out by the Etablissments Gaumont, Gaumont describes his method of synchronization. A photographic record was first made and then while it was playing a camera photographed the actor, who was Please mention The International Photogra The Gaumont Motion Picture "Beater Movement" Camera of 1902 doing his best to follow the song or words of the record. Gaumont says of this, according to a translation from the French by Roger Loutz : "The synchronization was fairly successful, but the solution of the problem was not complete and could not be entirely satisfactory." It was, however, the germ idea of the talkies and as the "Chronophone," it continued to be shown for a number of years. In 1903 it was shown at the Musee Grevan and a little later at the Theater du Gymnase as "Phonoscenes." And again it received impetus on December 27, 1910, when the talking picture of Professor d'Arsonval was presented at the Academie des Sciences. The Chronophone was brought to this country in 1913 and it was shown at the 39th Street Theater on June 5, 6 and 7. The "Film-Parlant" had been showing to about 4,000 spectators nightly at the Gaumont Palace in Paris. The sound films continued at the Gaumont Palace until the war. The Gaumont Palace, by the way, was originally the famous Hippodrome and was now made over to a magnificent cinema show-place. It pioneered in Europe the idea of presenting the films from a projector placed behind the screen such as was introduced a few years ago by the "Trans-Lux" theaters in this country. The Societe des Etablissments Gaumont was formed in 1906 at Belleville, near Paris, with a capitalization of 2,500,000 francs. That was the parent organization from which sprang agencies all over the world. By 1912, the capital had increased to 4,000,000 francs and there were 46 agencies in France and Europe. In 1896, Gaumont employed a dozen assistants and by 1912 the number increased to 1,500. That growth would be phenomenal even in the United States. The English Gaumont Company, known as Gaumont Limited, in London, was organized in 1908, under the direction of A. C. Bromhead. This branch, particularly during the war period, advanced and put out many fine pictures that certainly did not lessen the acclaim of the motion picture audiences to Leon Gaumont. This continued as the foremost of the Gaumont branches until 1921 when A. C. Bromhead and R. C. Bromhead bought up the stock and properties to acquire ownership. It has since been independent though a close commercial alliance still remains. Too, Gaumont is one of the ranking pioneers in color motion pictures. His first color pictures were of the hand stenciled color variety that both he and the Pathe Company brought to popularity about 1907-08. The color in these pictures, it will be recalled, was usually applied frame by frame in the sequences where it appeared, pher when corresponding with advertisers.