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Warner Taught Screen to Sing
WHEN, 20 years ago, Warner Brothers produced the first picture that talked, it was freely predicted that the sound film's future lay in teaching the screen to sing. So, three years after that first successful experiment, Warners went on to a second and third first and produced the first all-talking musical, "The Desert Song," and, shortly after, the first all-talking Technicolor musical, "On With the Show."
Sitting in judgment on the latter picture, a Quigley Publications reviewer wrote : "It definitely forecasts a cycle of all-color film musicals for the coming year."
An Unending Cycle
That cycle has continued for more than 17 years and, for Warner Brothers, culminates in "Night and Day," the all-talking, all-color musical based on the life and music of Cole Porter, which the company has selected to serve as the touchstone of its Twentieth Anniversary of Sound celebration. It will be released August 6 with 250 premieres.
In 1929 the public was elated to discover that the screen could successfully recapture not only the fury but the sound of a Broadway musical. That discovery was made vvfhen Warners elected to produce the hugely-successful operetta, "The Desert Song." That picture was received by the Quigley reviewer as a "100 per cent piece of entertainment ... an achievement in the musicalsinging-talking film field."
"It demonstrates," wrote the reviewer, "the potentialities of sound pictures, opens to motion pictures the possibilities of producing successful operettas and shows that audiences can be made to forget they are viewing a picture and instead feel they are actually seeing and hearing the players on the stage."
As is proper for a musical, Warner Brothers will devote a large portion of the biggest single advertising schedule in the company's history to musically promoting the music in "Night and Day." More than 160 recordings of Cole Porter's music, either released or about to be released, will be utilized on all radio networks.
21 Publications as Media
In further promotional angles, 21 leading national publications, with an aggregate reader circulation of 150,495,560, will be used by Warners to advertise the picture. All co-sponsors with Warners in the celebration will be mentioned in the ads. These include A. T. & T., Western Electric, Bell Telephone, Eastman Kodak, RCA-Victor, Society of Motion Picture Engineers, and Thomas A. Edison, Inc.
RCA-Victor has promised one of the largest promotional campaigns in its history to help publicize the event.
Warner Brothers will give "Night and Day" 250 simultaneous premieres August 6 in celebration of the twentieth anniversary of sound. The picture, based on the lite and compositions of Cole Porter, stars Cory Granf, Mory Martin and Jane Wyman shown, left to right, above.
"The Desert Song," the first all-talking musical film, was given its premiere by Warners May 1, 1929. A screen version of the popular operetta it starred John Boles and Carlotta King and featured Myrna Loy, second from left.
"On With the Show" was released by Warners shortly after "Desert Song." If was the first all-falking Technicolor musical and in addition to such lavish sefs as that pictured above, it boasted a cast of 18 stage and screen favorites.
MOTION PICTURE HERALD. JUNE 8. 1946
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