Page 6 - CinemaRecord #10R.pdf

Birth Of The Modern Talkie By Ken Tulloch

The year 1920 must have been a record one for electrical patents, inventions poured in. Electrical engineers all
over the world were driven to creation by the wonderful possibilities of the valve. Sound as a practical science
became remade. Dr. Lee De Forest in 1923 filed an important patent on talking pictures. He used a method
similar to Reis, but he made use of the great advantage of being able to magnify his sound to almost any
volume he desired by means of a valve amplifier. As a matter of fact the De Forest Phonofilm was installed in
a number of American theatres, but did not particularly attract the public. It was not so much the apparatus as
the film subjects which lacked popularity. Once again the iron was struck too early.

In the same year Theodore W Case filed a patent for recording sound on film, and this, taken in hand by
William Fox of film renown, was later to become the famous Movietone. Round about 1925 the electric method
of recording gramophone records was generally adopted. For the gramophone this was a great step, but few
realised its potentialities in connection with talking pictures. Meanwhile the Western Electric Coy, working with
Warner Bros' Vitaphone, gradually developed the disc improvements of the Bell Telephone Laboratories to
practical talking pictures. But present day talking pictures are not the result of the invention of one or two gifted
ones. They represent the combined efforts of hundreds of brains.

Motion picture producers, who had first smiled at the idea of a come-back on the part of the speaking screen,
began to take notice. Development now was not left to the meagre devices of a few lone inventors. Huge
commercial enterprises were striving for first place. Hollywood saw the dawn of a new era. Then, following
some remarkably successful shorts, came the first great features. The "Jazz Singer" and the "Singing Fool"
took America by storm. The stage was deserted, people clamoured to see AI Jolson, demanded to enjoy the
new entertainment. "It will pass; another seven days' wonder," said the critics. Producing companies also felt
the change too big a one to last. But the people wanted talkies, held their money out for them, and naturally got
them. In England, the same thing happened. When in September, 1928, the Piccadilly Theatre first exhibited
the "Jazz Singer", all London went to see it, praised it, and then went away saying the talking picture could not
last. But they went to the Regal, Marble Arch, for more, and found the "Singing Fool" even better. And so the
talkie came to its own.

Then Came The Boom: Daily newspapers published figures of record attendances at theatres newly equipped
with sound apparatus. In some instances the takings of a few weeks were so high that they completely wiped
off the debt of the expensive equipment. Proprietors of super cinemas all over Britain realised that even
supposing sound pictures were only a phase, they meant big money for the time being. And so orders for
installations began to pour into offices of the talking picture companies. To an American firm, the Western
Electric Co., goes the credit of the pioneer work of installation in this country. The Radio Corporation of America,
British Talking Pictures, and British Acoustic also were active. A new industry had arisen in a night, and the
engineering resources of the Old and New World were taxed to their utmost to keep pace with popular demand.
Installation work away from a base always needs careful organisation, even when there is time to spare. How
much more difficult then was the work of these companies who dealt with newly designed equipment and had
to find skilled staffs to carry out orders.

No one knew anything about the work; it was so entirely fresh. Electrical Engineers knew radio, but for the most
part were ignorant of cinema projection and theatre conditions generally. Rapidly, schools of instruction were
formed where all available knowledge of the new industry was crammed into a two weeks course. The Western
Electric Co, Ltd., who inaugurated this system are to be congratulated on their foresight. It is certain that
without adequate training of installation staff there would have been many bad mistakes, which might even
undermined the talking picture industry itself.

Cinemas throughout the length and breadth of the country called for installation at the earliest possible dates.
Equipment was frequently not available, and yet the big companies kept to their promises. The lot of the
installation engineer was hard in those days. There was work all day and many nights, but it was a different sort
of work. The humdrum routine of industry was forgotten. Somehow there had crept into this new field of
endeavour the romance of the silver screen. Men worked with a will, and theatre after theatre announced
"Talkies".

Stabilisation: Broadway Melody and Fox Movietone Follies ran round the country as worthy successors of the
"Singing Fool". Hollywood settled down to the task of ripping out the old technique and adopting the new one.
Fresh sound pictures came from America, some of them very poor. What else could have been expected?
They were scarcely to blame, people wanted talking pictures before Hollywood had found out how to make
them. By great efforts they gave the public what they wanted. To made the picture to talk was the main thing.
and plot, technique, or even good recording had to go to the four winds.