The theatre of science; a volume of progress and achievement in the motion picture industry (1914)

of^cfence 351 ment began by opening a small photoplay house called "Fairyland," a name which reflected the possession of showmanship at the outset. In 1907 he became interested in "The Cameraphone," which was the first concrete effort to synchronize the motion picture and the phonograph. I recall a production of Planquette's "Chimes of Normandy" by the cameraphone that compared quite favorably with more recent efforts to evolve perfect talking pictures. But it would seem that the talking picture problem has not even to this day been solved. There have been at least a score of different brands of talking pictures, but of the earlier output, aside from the cameraphone (now extinct), but two have endured with the public (the Edison and the Gaumont brands) ; the latter has had considerable vogue abroad and has seemed to find a larger public response than the American brands. Yet it is fair to state that in theatrical history nothing to compare with the Edison talking pictures as a theatrical attraction during its first two weeks in the vaudeville theatres has ever been known. That the public was attracted by the name of Edison alone is hardly true. Close observers during these two first weeks of the Kinetophone were impressed with the idea that, given proper subjects and an effort to confine these to monologues, duos, trios and petite comedies and operettas without large "ensembles," the success would have been prolonged. As it is, the Kinetophone is yet a live proposition, with as many "companies" on tour now as at the outset, while improvement in the mechanism and in the subject matter is still going on. Mr. Edison is at work now on some vital problem dealing with the synchronism effect and has promised that the day is near when