The talkies (1930)

I38 THE TALKIES for the art. For there is no reason why the "Talking Picture" should not be an art in the fullest sense of the word. A well-known film magnate and erstwhile proprietor of a very large number of picture houses, who recently addressed a gathering of electrical and radio engineers, laid considerable stress on the fact that, while he and his associates were fully capable of producing films, they would not be successful until those whom he was addressing had produced efficient valves and loudspeakers. In other words, it was "up to them" to make Talkies a success. It was pointed out to him that, however good the films and loudspeakers were, a very great deal depended on the theatre in which they were being exhibited. His reply, that a hall which was good for a voice was good enough for a loudspeaker, indicated that at least one cinema proprietor had a good deal to learn; and that he was evidently quite unaware that the British Radio and Electrical industry had the production of the apparatus he required well in hand. A large number of picture houses, especially in the provinces, were not built primarily for sound. Many are long tunnels of buildings with curved roofs, crowded in a narrow space between