Sending Talkies by Radio

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 27, 16 January 1931, Page 28

Sending Talkies by Radio

For Home Entertainment

Con SIDERABLE interest has been taken in the possibilities of showing sound films in the home with the aid of radio (writes J. Peers in "Wireless Magazine"). A scheme that has been suggested is to supply films for use on the type of projector now becoming quite popular for home use, which would be run in conjunction with a play broadcast in the usual way that the radio drama is "put on the ether." The receiver would be operated in the usual manner and at the beginning of the broadcast the projector would be started, the result being a home version of the talkies. The sound, however, would be received through the loudspeaker and not from reproduced sound records on wax or film, as is, of course, the usual principle of operation. Due precautions would have to be taken to ensure synchronisation be tween the actors before the microphone and the listener working his home projector, preferably by some sort of automatic control vear. The idea, however, is by no means new, In August, 1925, ore of the larger American motion-picture corporations, in co-operation with the broadeast station of one of the Los Angeles newspapers, but over practieally an identical stunt. The two movie stars, who had previously been filmed in the usual way, broadcast the sound accompaniment. Simultaneously, in fifteen picture theatres, crowds sat back in astonishment as they heard through the loudspeakers practically perfectly synchronised words to the lip’movements of the two stars they saw on the silver screen before them. The success of the synchronising, on which, of course, the whole scheme de- . pended; was due to the use of a sixteenth projector in the broadcast studio itself, by means of which the actors

could observe their own actions as be‘ing portrayed at the instant in the fiitteen picture theatres, and time their speech accordingly. This projector (which was enclosed in a glass-sided soundproof cabinet to prevent the noise of the machine itself being broadcast), also threw the cues for the actors on the screen. This machine was motor-driven and set the pace for the other projectors in the various theatres which were handoperated. Each operator wore headphones through which he received the time-setting cues for the film and for his metronome, by means of which he kept the speed steady and in step with the master machine in the studio. The results as regards synchronism, taking into consideration the human element in the form of the operators turning the driving handles, were surprisingly good, except in one theatre, where the operator, through nervousness probably or an anxiety to get, the job over quickly, wound at ani excessive speed. The result was that’ the voices from the broadcasting artists via the loudspeakers kept on some time after the film had finished, to the delight of the sceptics in the audience. No attempt was made to stage an elaborate play, the cast consisting of two persons only, who talked, danced to the gramophone, and carried on similar actions. Nevertheless, it afforded a practical example of the propable impression created by the sound and film entertainment we know now by the word "talkies" which had been in the laboratory stage and tentatively tried out with unsatisfactory resulfsfor many years .before. rd