Moving Picture World (Jul-Sep 1911)

THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 873 Working the Sound Effects. By Clyde Martin. It is not very long ago that it would take hours of arguing to convince an exhibitor that a drummer would be a valuable addition to the picture theater. To-day the question is not "Shall I use a drummer," but, "Where can I find one that is capable of doing picture work?" It is just the same with the drummers of the country as it is with the piano players; a piano player may be a concert artist and still not be able for pictures; a drummer may be capable of holding down a job with the largest bands in America and then make a complete failure of picture work. To my notion, a drummer should never be used through an entire picture, as their work would only become dull and wearisome; on the other hand, if the drummers will limit themselves to bringing cut the climaxes and high-lights of a picture, their work will be appreciated and it will improve the picture a hundred per cent. During the showing of the average dramatic picture there is very little use for drums except in the strong scenes where a strong roll will swell the music to the desired pitch. In these advanced times a practical and serviceable line of traps is a necessity as well as a source of satisfaction, and a drummer using effective traps is invariably brought more noticeably before the public and his employer. The question has often arisen as to whether a drummer should invest his own money in traps and sound effects or whether his employer should buy them. It is true that many drummers are working on such small salaries that it would hardly look right for them to invest all of their earnings to boost another's game; on the other hand, if they will just consider that when they have completed their outfit they can demand more money and if they are proficient they will never be out of work. Sensation is ever a desire of the American public. They delight in being surprised, startled and amused. The drummer of to-day who can go before an audience and perform in such a manner as to attract attention to the features of a picture with some particular trap or imitation will soon prove his value. There are a great many sound effects that would be out of the question for anyone other than the exhibitor to furnish, such as wind, water, thunder sheets, etc., as this line is large and bulky and give much more satisfaction if built permanently in the theater, either in front of the screen or in the back. Possibly eighty per cent, of the picture houses of this country are built with the screen to the back and not allowing room for sound effects back of the curtain, in this case they can be worked down by the piano, but the effect is much better if there is space back of the screen. Some of the best known exhibitors in the business will argue that sound effects are not necessary, and they cannot understand why this extra expense should be added. On the other hand, let us take the Lyman Howe show for example. Lyman Howe shows several pictures on his programs that the public has seen in five cent theaters. Howe projection is fine, but there are many picture houses over the country that are putting on just as good pictures. Mr. Howe does not use a symphony orchestra and still his admission prices range from twenty-five cents to a dollar. There's a reason. In the Lyman Howe show they never lose a chance to work an appropriate sound effect, and he can come into your city and show pictures that you have shown a year ago and people will pay a dollar to see them and wish he would come back, which he does, and the same people pass your place up and pay him another dollar. I have put up this argument to many exhibitors in my travels and they all say, "It's his reputation." I agree that it is his reputation, but how did he make it? Good pictures with sound effects. I recently had the pleasure of playing the Palace Theater in Burlington, Iowa, for three nights. The first night there was a comedy picture on the program that had a five minute scene at Coney Island. Up to the front of the picture was a big merry-go-round. Wheji I handed Manager Blank my prop list he thought I was crazy when I asked for an organ similar to one used on a merry-go-round. However, Mr. Blank looked the town over and finally returned in a wagon with the real article. That night when the Coney Island scene came on the audience heard the music from the merry-go-round, the noise of the roller coaster, the toy balloons, etc. To put it mildly, the audience did not want to see any other pictures on the program; they wanted them to run that comedy over again. The next day telephone calls came in wanting to know if that same picture would be shown, but the program was changed. The picture could have been run another day. Never run a good thing in the ground. If you have a feature or something they like, don't tire them of it. I am not writing this little incident in the spirit of boastfulness, but am merely using it as an example of what sound effects will do. There is hardly a picture produced that does not offer an opening for some good effect and if you have doubts as to whether your audience will like it or not, just try it once. It is not expensive to work the average effects as most of them are very simple, and you will find that little details count. Not long ago while playing a two-night engagement at the Crown Theater in Ft. Madison, Iowa, they were showing the Kalem picture, "The Railroad Raiders of '62," and in one scene it shows the Confederates tearing up the track ahead of the Yankee's engine. For this scene we secured a number of short rails and placed them behind the screen and the ushers were there with sledges. When the scene came on the audience could hear the sledges hitting the rails and this one little scene, that possibly would have gone by unnoticed, got a hearty round of applause. By catching such cues, it does not mean that if there is a blast in a quarry you must touch off a stick of dynamite, the little effects are the ones that count. There is one thing that should be avoided in working sound effects, and that is, too much noise. We will say that there is a battle scene_on, and the bullets are flying fast, it is just as effective to imitate shots on a leather cushion as it is to shoot a number of revolvers. Too much noise gives your work the appearance of horse-play and it is far from pleasing to the ladies in the audience. There can be just as much refinement shown in working effects as there is used in your mu6ic and if some scene calls for a loud noise it is better to omit the effect. Where you have a picture in which just one shot is given, it is sometimes advisable to use a revolver back of the screen, but never in front of the curtain. We will take, for example, such a picture as the Reliance production of "The Gray of the Dawn," or the Rex picture "Fate." In both of these pictures the shot is a strong feature and the pictures are produced in such a way that the use of a revolver would give, the desired effect in the ghastly scenes portrayed. In a forthcoming I will suggest a few sound effects for some of the more recent releases. Those Sound Effects. I am heartily in favor of everyone "writing to the paper." There was never such a relief to overcharged feelings as to sit down and tell the editor, or some other correspondent, or the public generally, just what you think of him, or it. Don't be afraid to speak right out — in fact, just let her rip! By the time you have hammered out three or four pages on the typewriter, or rendered unfit for further practical use a dozen or so sheets of ruled paper, you will find the temperature under your collar reduced many degrees. I always do so. Then I carefully read over what I have written, and am so pleased with the uppercuts and short arm jolts which I have delivered that I puff out my chest, take a turn or two about the room, return to my desk, and carefully tear up the letter. Almost always. Sometimes I go so far as to to put it in the mailbox, and am afterwards sorry, because the stuff is either so flat, stale and unprofitable that I am ashamed of it, or it is so good that it hurts the feelings of a lot of 'folks. Moreover, there is always the danger of starting something, as I seem to have done with a few remarks on sound effects. One gentleman was made pessimistic— he said so himself — and he was a perfectly innocent bystander, a musician who does not use effects. In consideration of the latter fact, it was not obvious how he got hurt, for I had no intention of disparaging real music with the pictures. Being personally unable to play even a Jew's harp, I have the highest regard for those who cause the air to vibrate with harmony and all that sort of thing. Moreover, if that gentleman plays as well as he writes, his theater patrons are to be congratulated. I thought I distinguished between music and noises, even though the latter comes from a piano, as have some of the worst I ever heard. Then came "Ohio," and reproved me severely as a "somebody"— though my name was signed — and unkindly intimated that I failed to use common sense in my self-imposed duty as critic, as he endeavored to do in his business of making accompanying noises. He also said that he is a drummer who "was engaged for that kind of work principally." I am afraid "Ohio" is a prejudiced witness. I do not believe that the public cares for sound effects, and, apparently, the majority of managers share my belief. However, it would not be difficult, and I should think it would be decidedly profitable, for managers to put this and other questions to their patrons. The most reliable method would