Motion Picture Herald (May-Jun 1946)

Exhibition Harry C. Arthur, Jr., Fanc/ion and Marco general manager, sound pioneer. saw the future of 'talking pictures' in the motion picture world, is due much of the credit for the present perfection in this most universally accepted entertainment form. Nathan Yamins, New England exhibitor leader, has written to Warner Brothers that the company's anniversary "carried me back to the memorable night of August 6, 1926, when I had the privilege of seeing, as your guest, the first public showing of "Don Juan," a silent picture with a synchronized musical score. ... I was so thrilled by the performance and so impressed with the possibilities of sound that I immediately contracted for the installation of sound in the Bijou theatre, Fall River, which actually was the second sound theatre in New England. . . . "For having pioneered this great development (of sound film) you deserve the congratulations of everyone in and out of the industry. You contributed more to the development of the motion picture industry and more to the entertainment of the public than any other person or company since the inception of our industry. . . ." William J. McLaughlin still manages the Brooklyn Strand where, shortly after the first New York showing of sound film, he installed equipment for a showing of "Lights of New York" and "The Jazz Singer." Louis Hammond, the Strand's projectionist, operated the first sound machines there and is still on the job. It did not take him long, said Mr. Mc William J. McLaughlin, Brooklyn Strand manager, first Brooklyn theatre to install sound. Laughlin, to determine that talking pictures were no passing novelty but had come to stay. All he had to do, he explains, was watch the audience reactions at any show. For one thftng the audience was glued to its seats and it was difiicult to get any kind of a turnover. The mother scene in "The Jazz Singer,'' which contained a large portion of dialogue, brought the tears much quicker than had previous sentimental silent scenes. And nobody, Mr. Laughlin remembers, was likely to go to sleep. "The spoken word added the one impact that the screen needed to make it completely satisfying," he reports. "The picture is a very important thing, but the picture, plus the spoken word, carried three times as much emotional punch." Nathan Yamins installed sound in Fall River theatre after seeing "Don Juan". Sid Orauman, who presented the first sound pictures in Hollywood — at Egyptian. THAT "FIRST WORD" LEGEND Although only 20 years old, the talking picture is old enough to have nnany legends built around it. One of the most persistent of these insists that the miracle-working feature, "The Jazz Singer," the first picture with any talk at all in It, qualified as a "talkie" only because of a single line ad jibbed Into the stationary microphone during the seventh reel by Al Jolson; that being: "Come on. Ma, listen to this." Yet a few of the Warner old-timers, their memory sharpened by the bustle of anniversary preparation, have lately insisted that It wasn't so. To settle the dispute a private screening of the feature was decided on. Then, to their surprise, the company found it had no print of the picture In its possession. A hurried call was put to New York's Museum of Modern Art which obliged with a print from the archives. Now It can be unalterably recorded that the very first line of spoken dialogue In "The Jazz Singer" is In the second reel, where Jolson, after being applauded by the patrons in Coffee Dan's cafe for his rendition of "Dirty Hands, Dirty Face," utters a singularly prophetic line. Says Jolson: "Wait a minute, wait a minute. . . . You ain't heard nothing yet!" And that line, and several others that follow, Is neither accidental nor ad-libbed. MOTION PICTURE HERALD, JUNE 22, 1946 25