Boxoffice (Apr-Jun 1937)

A New [Era Confronts y the Sound Motion Picture By Thomas F. Joyce* A transcript of the author's address before the recent MPTOA Convention at Miami, Florida, abridged somewhat in detail to accommodate the limits of space. His allusions to new recording technique and the impending invasion of television are most timely and interesting.— Editor OUND in motion pictures had definitely grown up since the days when the talkies used to be called the squawkies. It came at a time when boxoffice receipts were beginning to show signs of falling off and popular interest in the motion picture was lagging. But sound breathed new life into the industry so that receipts again soared to new high levels. It has made a more complete medium out of the motion picture, bringing new realism, more genuine emotion and finer drama to the screen. We don’t have to think very far back to remember the reigning favorites of the screen, in 1927-28, who dropped by the wayside with the advent of sound, because it called for a more complete dramatic technique than had ever been required before. I wonder how many of these lustrous stars could have been spared their complete eclipse if the sound technique of the day had been more adequate to the demands that were so suddenly made upon it. I wonder too if many of the stars of today could shine so brightly, or at all, if sound motion picture technique had not attained its present advanced stage of development. We have only to consider for a moment all of the outstanding boxoffice picture attractions in the last two years to realize how much depends on sound — good sound. Chain of New Developments Recently, a complete chain of important technical developments has come out of the RCA Photophone laboratories that will have such a far-reaching and revolutionary effect on the improvement of motion picture sound that its full implications are not yet generally understood. These new technical developments begin with recording and extend in an unbroken line to the laboratory processing of the sound track negative, the equipment in the projection booth and behind the screen and to the audience in the theatre. Improved Recording Methods At least two of these radically new advances have recently been adopted by the major recording studios in Hollywood and the East; but they are still little more than provocative names to all but a few. These are the “Ultra-Violet Light” and the “Push-Pull” or double sound track record ing methods. Briefly, and without going into technical detail, Ultra-Violet light recording makes it possible to photograph sound on film with remarkable accuracy, and consequently with vastly greater fidelity to the original sound. Push-Pull recording makes it possible to completely eliminate all background noises and certain distortions so that the sound in its final form is measurably improved. Both of these great improvements may be combined on a single recording, or used separately to marked advantage. Some of the implications of this new sound technique may be seen when we remind you that within recent months many of the major motion picture companies have entered into agreements with RCA Photophone to record their film productions by these improved methods and, incidentally, also to become eligible to use any other similar developments that may come out of the same laboratories in the future. These companies include Columbia Pictures, Pathe News, Twentieth Century-Fox, Republic Pictures, RKO Radio Pictures, Warner Brothers, and even Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck and the other lovable characters created by Walt Disney Productions. The new recording equipment is either being, or already has been, installed in all of these important studios and the improvements and benefits from its use will soon be felt throughout the industry. Improved Laboratory Methods But it is not enough to improve the recording end of sound. There are other important links before it is finally heard by an appreciable public. Our engineers next turned their attention to the processing laboratories. There they found that existing facilities and methods of sound track negative processing would be inadequate. To bring out all of the new definitions of the newly recorded sound requires more critical adjustments, more rigid standards and a new type of equipment. With this need determined, they set to work and developed the principles of (Continued on page 45) PROJECTION GETS BOOST IN BUFFALO HOUSE * Advertising Manager, RCA Manufacturing Company. A close-up of the projection plant of the Kensingrton Theatre, Buffalo^ N. Y. Recent mechanical improvements include latest type projection lamps and other aids to better presentation, installed by the United Projection and Film Corp., of Buffalo. The Kensington, operated by the Shea ComI)any, seats 1,366. (Photographs courtesy Brenkert Light Projection Co., of Detroit.) 42 The MODERN THEATRE SECTION