The talkies (1930)

22 THETALKIES This idea is worth mentioning because it was the subject of a determined attempt to produce a Talking Picture in 192 1, after the War which called a halt on so many promising lines of research, and hastened the development of others less worthy of attention. An American, Mr. Delmar Whitson, was the hero of this latest endeavour, and he was as unfortunate as the others, as we shall see; but through no fault of the system which he devised. Whitson was attracted by the success of Ruhmer's work in recording sound on film, and tried to do the same by using the light from a speaking arc, as it was called, the light from which he focused through a series of lenses and a narrow slit on to the passing film. Most of us have noticed how the arc-lamps, which were, until recently, used for street lighting, spluttered : Whitson was seriously bothered by this. The smallest amount of spluttering was, of course, fatal to his work, as it was immediately photographed on to the film. Whitson did not have the benefit of photoelectric cells, and he very soon found out that the selenium cells which he was able to procure or make suffered from the faults already mentioned, and, in addition, were themselves a source of troublesome noises, which he was not able to