The Photo-Play Journal (Jul 1919-Feb 1921)

November, 1920 49 "MUSIC HATH CHARMS" By JEROME LACHENBRUCH LORD BYRON was more right than he knew. . . The twentieth century motion picture enthusiast may not realize it, but his is the savage breast against which the musical director aims his shafts of melody. Sometimes they carry the sting of poison ; and, fortifying and intensifying the impression that the listener absorbs through the visual sense, rouse his hatred against the villain on the screen. At other times, they soothe like the touch of velvet, and soften the observer's mood to an exalted appreciation of a tender passage between a suffering heroine and her sorely tried lover. In the early days of the motion picture, these results were left to the whim of a pianist. Often he was successful in accommodating his playing to the subject presented on the screen. But in a large sense, he failed ; for after all, he was paid only to "make music ;" and his employer did not know whether or not the music had any emotional correspondence with the picture. Early in the development of motion picture presentation, music was the accompaniment of the film; but an accompaniment was considered, adequate if it filled in a sounding bass, like some of the "Um-ta-ta, Um-ta-ta" backgrounds to arias that one hears in many of the older operas, and in innumerable so-called heart-songs. Today, however, music is part of the tout ensemble that has raised the motion picture from the position of a strange novelty in the field of entertainment to that of an art that has not quite found itself. Perhaps the motion picture never will be completely divorced from music. And my basis for this observation is the fact that audiences have become accustomed to exercising their ears as well as their eyes when in the theatre. And since the presentors of motion picture entertainment have begun to serve music with the films, they cannot very well go back to the comparatively barren entertainment which photoplays, ungarnished, provided. It may be argued by those who are tone deaf that all music is noise ; and, therefore, pictures without music are less annoying than pictures with music. (The tone deaf person usually is "annoyed" by the photodrama.) However, comparatively few people are tone deaf ; and most of us remember the days of musicless pictures. Even in this late day, I have watched truly silent pictures. But that was forty miles from nowhere in the heart of the Adirondacks. And I may add that the pictures were received by the natives, no less than by myself, with laughter. It appears, then, that motion picture audiences have been spoiled into expecting music to help the digestion of their cinema entertainment. Now they cannot be weaned away from the combination. In self-defense, the motion picture producer or the presenter has had to develop the quality of the music that was played to the accompaniment of the picture. When music first became associated with the motion picture, a titular suggestion of a composition with the action of the picture was all that was sought after. But this has gradually given place to standard, classified music that in its very harmonies, sugests the moods of the several scenes in a photoplay. No doubt, the fact that the pictures themselves have improved within the last few years, has made it necessary to prepare more elaborate musical settings for their presentation. And now we feel that producers go to the extent of employing professional musicians to see each production before it is distributed throughout the country and to suggest musical themes to accompany every scene. The motion picture producer is really adding another subtle lure to chain his future audiences' interest to his films. Let us see how he does it. In the projection room of one of the larger companies a picture is being shown to Max Winkler, who, perhaps, has suggested more musical themes for photoplays than any other musician. He sits, stop watch in hand, and times the opening of the picture. Suddenly his watch clicks and he tells his assistant, "2 :15 — Senti mental." Interpreted, this means that the opening theme is to be some sentimental ballad, played for two minutes and fifteen seconds. This may be the representative theme that is repeated at intervals all through the showing of the picture ; or it may be a minor theme that appears only during the opening scenes. However, every few minutes, or when the mood of the scene changes, a new theme is jotted down. When the work is finished, Mr. Winkler selects various compositions than can evoke the emotional response which the picture tries to elicit from the audience. Consequently, the man sitting in the dark orchestra chair is assailed not only through what he sees, but also, and in a more subtle way, by what he hears. The appeal of a picture is intensified ; and so an ordinary picture may impress an audience as good ; and a good photo-drama as an excellent one. The result of the music scorer's work is embodied in what is known as a cue sheet, which is sent to the theatres that show a particular picture. A different cue sheet is sent with every picture. The cue sheet consists of a list of compositions that should be played with a picture, as well as the length of time that the composition should be played. To illustrate, let us take the cut sheet for the Goldwyn production of "Madame X," in which Pauline Frederick is seen as the erring wife in the famous French drama by Alexandre Bisson. The musical theme for the photoplay is a composition by Borch, "Poeme Symphonique.' The first few printed instructions read as follows : Scene — At Screening, 50 sec. — Theme. Title — The Home of Louis Floriot, 3 min. 40 sec. — Thoughts at Twilight — Kendal (Dramatic). Title — Jacqueline Floriot's Wife, 2 min. 35 sec. — Gavatina — Bohm (Dramatic). Title — It Was Not False to You, 5 min. 35 sec. — Theme. In the course of the photoplay, the theme is played on seven different occasions, sometimes during a scene, sometimes when a title is flashed on the screen. Throughout the picture, it is played about thirty minutes in all, constituting about half the music of the photoplay. This theme suggests the emotional content of the more serious scenes ; and whenever it is played, prepares the audience for the main thread of the story. Some photoplay exhibitors do not limit themselves to the cue sheets sent out by the various producing companies. Samuel Rothapfel, of the Capitol Theatre in New York, who instituted the idea of presenting photoplays in an atmospheric setting, spends several hours each week in selecting the music which is to accompany the picture scheduled to be shown at his theatre the week following-. At ten o'clock every Thursday night, he retires to the miniature theatre attached to the Capitol ; and there, with stop watch and pencil, he views the coming attraction and suggests the names of the musical compositions which he believes most fittingly interpret in sound the emotions presented on the screen. Mr. Rothapfel has several original ideas concerning the use of classical music on the screen. He says : "The main musical theme in a photoplay entertainment should represent either the leading character or the general idea ofthe story. Consequently, whenever it is played, the audience unconsciously thinks of the character or the idea. Other musical themes may be inserted and identified with minor characters ; a humorous theme with a comical character, a scherzo with a hoydenish type, and so on. In this way, the music parallels the picture ; and the effect of the photoplay is subtly increased." Mr. Rothapfel's ideas have been proved sound in practice. In fact, they are so true in their psychology that the flashback of the early days of the films has been largely eliminated. We are no longer bored with long, tedious pictorial recitals of what has happened previous to the beginning of the story. We do not need these to interpret the (Continued on page 58)