Modern Talkies Have a History

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 968, 10 May 1930, Page 28

Modern Talkies Have a History

j Crude. Early Shows Held Germ of Idea TELEVISION IN FUTURE? “Strangely enough, although talkies have only recently blossomed out as a world entertainment. in some form they are nearly as old as the silent picture itself.” t Thus Mr. Heurv Hayward, chairman of Hayward's Pictures, Ltd., aud vicechairman of the Fuller-Hayward Theatres Corporation, prefaces an interesting article on talkie development. "Nineteen years ago we presented the chrono-megaphone, with Harry Lauder as the principal attraction — singing and talking, by synchronisation of disc and film. It was not a bad show at all: anyway, Harry gathered quite a ‘pouchfu’ o’ bawbees,’ from it. "Then came the Cinephone. another device, in which the poor operator had to watch a changing sign in the corner of the screen and adjust l the running of a gramophone to it. I "After this, old i wizard Edison, who j is one of the five I fathers of the I mo v ing picture, concocted a com- | plicated talking . machine, with t threads running on wheels from the j piojection box to the back of the screen —which were supposed to synchronise a megaphone with the film running through the Biograph machine. “Then about five years ago Dc i Forrest blazed the trail of sound on ! film which was tried out at the larger j Fuller-Hayward houses. "This was the genesis of the real

talkie, but at that time difficult and erratic to reproduce, so it faded away, only to return, side by side, today with the American talkie. The talkie today is, in my opinion, the most wonderful show the world has ever known, and I fail to see how the legitimate theatre can ever return to its old prestige, or the corpse of vaudeville ever be dragged out of ‘ its grave. “My partner, Sir Benjamin Fuller, a year ago thought differently, and j with his Old Guard Vaudeville Revue. ] made the stand for ‘flesh and blood’ • against ‘canned entertainment.’ “Today, with trumpets and banners j flying, Sir Benjamin, as chairman of ! the reorganised Fuller - Hayward Theatres Corporation and controller of his other entertainment interests in both Australia and New Zealand, is one of the most enthusiastic believers in the future of talkies, and, as the largest individual shareholder in the Fuller-Hayward Company, I am con- ; tent to follow his lead. FUTURE DEVELOPMENT “But talkies are only in their childhood—in their latest development j only two years old. What will come ' in later years? “Within a year our largest New Zea- j land theatres will be equipped with newer and more wonderful ‘cine- | machinery,’ and our present screen i will be scrapped for more scientific material. Future picturegoers will look back at our present screens as ‘Punch and Judy’ presentation, for they will be superseded by the Grandeur film and screen—filling our stages to their utmost width, projecting with perfect realism. “Beyond the full stage film is promised some form of stereoscopic film — j not really stereoscopic, for that, in my ! opinion, is not possible, but some illu- ' sion of the real thing that will serve t its purpose. “The standard film will eventually ; be in colour —not in crude primary i colours, but quieter and more delicate i tints. TELEVISION TALKIES - “Beyond these nearer developments I foresee radical changes in presentation and distribution of cinema entertainments when television becomes practical. “The day will come when the whole of New Zealand's theatres will be simultaneously supplied with sight and sound from one central television station in Well- | ington—every theatre from the North Cape to the Bluff will have identical fare. “With Dominion-wide economical distribution, the prices of admission will fall, or perhaps our Government, having progressed to benevolent Socialism and taken over the television theatres, will declare them a necessity to happiness and provide them free. “I offer this suggestion to Mr. Holland as a popular plank in Labour’s platform at the next General Election; it will come sooner than “the socialisation of the means of production and exchange and prohibition.” ZOO SOUND FILM j Dr. Rat'mond L. Ditmars. curator j of reptiles at the New York Zoological I Gardens, is reported to be making a j sound film of various animals and reptiles. Dr. Ditmars, after experimenting with the recording with the ; noises made by several species, said j that the rattlesnake has the best ! sound for the screen. The lion, he 1 added, has the poorest voice for rej cording purposes.