The talkies (1930)

l86 THE TALKIES ters moving naturally while the sound is being recorded. In comedy we not only have to do that, but we have to move much faster and meanwhile do gags. The Director having to deliver his instructions by mute signals is a stumbling-block in the performance of the gags, which must be timed to the fraction of a second. The placing of the microphone is another problem. We will have to carry microphones concealed under our coats, or suspended on our backs with the wires hanging down our trouser legs. If we find out how to move freely with the concealed microphones, we can build a whole runway of wires and establish contact through steel plates on the soles of our shoes." Mack Sennet, producer of more short comedies than any other man in the world, had very decided views on the matter, as thus : "The first thing we learned about talking comedies was that it is bad to have them talk. When dialogue was a novelty we could listen to long-winded garrulous scenes without action, but now it's irritating, and we think : 'For Heaven's sake, why don't they do something.' I like to start a story with a bang and keep it moving. It is best to blend dialogue and sound-effects with action so as to give the audience everything that was done in