International projectionist (Jan-Dec 1947)

for sound recording purposes. They were built to exclude all outside noise and with the best acoustic treatment known at the time. Dr. Paul Sabine, acoustic engineer of the Riverbank Laboratories at Geneva. 111., acted as a consultant in this work. Sept. 1926: Fox and Smith negotiated with General Electric for rights to use vacuum-tube amplifiers commercially. The deal was nearly completed and G.E. equipment was brought from Schenectady to New York. At the final closing the parties did not agree, and G.E. withdrew their equipment. It is interesting to note here that if this arrangement had gone through, the whole setup of the future sound business would have been changed. W. E. would probably have concentrated more and more on disk, and the Fox-G.E. group would have led -in the development of sound-on-film* Oct. 25, 1926: The first test recording was made on the new Fox-Case stage. The next day a test recording was made of Harry Lauder. Typical of his Scotch character, he stopped singing during the * In connection with the early history of sound this work has purposely omitted patents relating to soundon-disk. Anyone interested can find these described in the Film Daily beginning February 24, 1929. LaVezzi Machine Work EST LAKE STREET CHICAGO .4 4, ill I NO IS CLAYTON BALL-BEARING EVEN TENSION TAKE-UPS For all projectors and sound equipments All take-ups wind film on 2, 4 and 5 inch hub reels. Silent Chain Drives THE CLAYTON REWINDER For perfect rewinding on 2000-foot reels. CLAYTON PRODUCTS CO. 31-45 Tibbett Avenue New York 63, N. Y. middle of the recording of the song ■■Roamin' in the Gloamin' " and said, ''This is a test" — to be sure it would not be used commercially. Nov. 4, 1926: Work was begun on making a number of one-reel short subjects with Racquel Meller, using regular motion picture production technique. Dec. 1926: Prior to this time negotiations were carried on with W.E. to give Fox rights to use their amplification patents and apparatus commercially. These culminated in an agreement or sublicense from the Vitaphone Corp.. in which Fox, among other things, agreed to pay a royalty of about 8% of his gross business in the sound field. Jan. 21, 1927: The first public showing of Fox-Case "Movietone" subjects was given at the Sam Harris Theater in connection with the premiere of "What Price Glory". The sound features were not advertised. The showing was made using a Case sound attachment with W.E. main amplifiers. No stampedes resulted, but neither was there an unfavorable audience reaction. Feb. 1927: Sponable developed a screen suitable for picture projection and still transparent to sound without causing distortion. This enabled the use of loudspeakers directly behind the screen and was a great help in improving the illusion. This was immediately accepted by the industry. Feb.-Mar. 1927: The first field recording unit was assembled. With it, outdoor recordings of a West Point review were made and the outfit was then sent to Italy for the purpose of making a record of the Pope and Mussolini. Mar. 11, 1927: The Roxy Theater, designed by S. L. Rothafel as the "last word" in motion picture palaces, opened in New York. Two weeks after its opening, Fox obtained control of the Roxy and laid plans to convert it for showing sound films. Fox-Erpi Deal Set Apr. 1927: Fox-Case made a new agreement with Electrical Research Products, Inc., superseding the Vitaphone sublicense. Erpi had been formed Jan. 1, 1927 as a subsidiary of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, for the purpose of handling the sound equipment business, instead of W.E. May 1927: A showing of a West Point review as a sound feature was given at the Roxy Theater. May 6, 1927: Fox-Case Field Outfit No. 1 recorded a speech by Mussolini and a number of Italian army subjects. This work was done by B. Miggins, cameraman, and E. Kaw and D. F. Whiting, soundmen. May 25, 1927: A program was opened at the Harris Theater containing Movietone subjects. This included a silent version of "Seventh Heaven" and several sound shorts. June 12, 1927: Fox-Case recorded the Lindbergh welcome at Washington. Charles Gilson operated the camera, (Continued foot of next page) 34 INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST • October 1947