The art of sound pictures (1930)

RHYTHM I2I shriek and exclaim and chatter as swiftly as may be; will he talk faster? Not he! Or will he gesticulate madly? Far from it! The contrast becomes maddening, then funny. Let us study a few of the more elemental aspects of dialogue pattern. Here is a highly artificial specimen of language rhythm. We deliberately simplify its pattern in order to make its structure as clear as possible. To get the psychic effect of the swing, you must read it aloud; or, better yet, have somebody else read it to you. Mother and daughter are discussing the problems of a Fifth AVenue business which the daughter has just started. Each woman wants to run things, but the younger one is afraid that the money will give out before success will follow. Mother. What a wonderful show window we have! It cost eight hundred dollars to fix it up, but it will repay us. Daughter. People do stop and admire it. But — ^will they come in and buy? I wish I could be sure of that. Mother. Of course they’ll come in. Not at first, to be sure. But after a few days. They always shy away from new shops, until they feel they belong. Daughter. But can we wait? Think how much this shop is costing us every twenty-four hours. How much cash have we? Mother. Quite enough to keep things going smoothly for two more weeks, even if we don’t make a single sale. Don’t worry, dear. Daughter. I read in a book that it takes months and months for a business like this to establish itself. Suppose we take that long? Here you have an evenly patterned speech rhythm, with no intervening silences and no shift of internal tempo in the individual speeches. It would be hard to devise a