The First Talkies

"The dawn of a New Era in Amusement"  

~Fitzhugh Green

    Before the talkies, film was accompanied by a musical score played by an orchestra or an organist or pianist (dependent on the luxury and means of the cinema theatre).  Although sounds on films dates from 1927, the technology for putting it in place predates the 1920s by at least a decade if not more.  At that time there was no sense of urgency to go to the costly lengths of implementing a sounds system, since cinema was proving sufficiently profitable in its silent mode.

    France, Germany and the United States had been competing almost since the beginnings of the film industry to synchronize sound and image.  The first breakthrough occurred in 1911 when a man named Eugene Lauste, who worked for American Edison, demonstrated the first sound-on-film movie.  This particular system was greatly improved in 1918 by German technicians.

    There were many setback of the early sound cinema such as: long static takes, badly written dialogue, voices not quite in control, poor-quality recording, and a speaking style with slow cadence and emphasis on "enunciated" tones, which the microphone was supposed to favor.  But early sound cinema was also a time of experimentation and concerted efforts by studio technicians, directors, and sound engineers to make the new technology work. The ultimate goal for the sound industry was greater comprehension of dialogue.

The First Talkie - Page One

The Consequences of Sound - Page Two

New Technology - Page Three