Sound motion pictures : from the laboratory to their presentation (1929)

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FOREWORD vii the lay public. Readers of non-professional curiosity will therefore find much here to absorb a healthy inquisitiveness concerning this freshest miracle of science and industry. And it goes without saying that I have been at infinite pains to make every division of my text, and every last sentence, clear and self-explanatory. The last chapter contains a discussion of the future. Much of this, naturally, expresses my own conclusions; for I offer it rather as a forerunner of many extensive discussions than as a body of definite findings. When the day comes for a retrospective book on sound, I pray that I may be at hand to say my little say. What the world needs now is a trail-blazer, and I know that my readers will understand this. On the other hand, I have spared no effort at fullness or accuracy according to the strictest standards that obtain. Should the book, therefore, provide some of my fellows with a good start in the right direction, I shall not feel my modest labours misplaced or wasted! The industry owes a debt of gratitude to William Fox and Warner Brothers for the pioneering they have done in their experiments with the application of sound. Because of their faith and vision, they have added a second chapter of prosperity to the motion picture industry, and have helped to bring about a renascence of the business. It is a pleasant duty to acknowledge my thanks to the film trade press, the engineers of the Bell Telephone Laboratories, the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, and the technical departments of the Fox West Coast Theatres, for many of the facts contained in this book. It is hoped that as a treatise the volume will be helpful to those interested in the progress of the new art. Los Angeles, 1929 H. B. F.