Sound Waves, Volume 1 Number 6

              International
Circulation
hsued
Semi­Monthly
It Heralding the E" ,;e in Pictt'
Vol. 1. No.6. HOLLYWOOD, C. - . £MBER 1, 1928
TALKER PRODUCERS AT MEKtY OF MUSIU
Producers Face
Talker Demand
By DALE HENSHA W*
TALKING pictures are here to
stay. This is not a prediction
-it is simply a statement of
fact. And if motion picture pro­ducers
of Hollywood would do less
talking and more listening, they
would realize that they are facing
the biggest problem that has con­fronted
the motion picture world
to date.
Hollywood has little idea of how
interested the great American
public is in talking pictures. On
my last trip across the continent,
covering every key city practical­ly,
the sole topic of conversation
on the part of every theatre and
exchangeman was "talkies." Lit­erally,
they have gone "talkie"
mad-but they don't know what
it is all about. The theatre pa­trons
even in the small towns are
clamoring for the "talkies." They
want to hear the great artists, the
inspiring symphonic orchestras­which
to date have been far be­yond
their reach. They care noth­ing
about minor synchronization
defects - they simply want to
HEAR WHAT THEY SEE.
Within Reach of All
Right here I want to say that
if the live exhibitors are on the
job and have their fingers on the
public pulse they will-everyone
-install a talking picture device
in their theatres and cash in on
this great demand of the public
for the talking pictures. No t hea­tre
is so small that it can afford
to be without a talking device.
And there are talking picture ma­chin
e ~ on the market that are
within the reach of every thea tre
-large or small. Radio amplifica­tion
is what has made talking
pictures possible. Synchronizing
sound with pictures is nothing
new-but doing it successfully is,
and this has been brought about
solely because of the rapid strides
that have been made in the radio
field.
The same rapid development is
going to be made in talking pic­tures-
especially since the radio
companies have jumped into the
picture field. These developments
are going to be startling, to say
the least.
Television Problem
And that brings us face to face
with .. problem such as the indus­try
haa never faced before. That
problem is television.
Lookln, far ahead, I ven ture to say
IlIat radio will revolutionize the motion
picture bu.lne .. ; and In the not distant
lulure the .man theatres will be show­la,
plctur •• on their screen and IIsten­la,
to pro,rams that are being broad­cut
from a central theatre or station.
la other words, with the perfectinr of
tel,vl.lon I look for the country to be
~ded Into four territories. These ler­rltorl..
to be selected according to a
t1a. element. One section will be that
which I. ,overned by Eastern Standard
TI.... Mother will be Central Standard
(Continued on Page 6)
IS MY VOICE ON THAT?
Fay Wray
Secret Explained
CAPTIVATOR! Not Fay Wray, in this instance, although she is
shown above. The strange apparatus in which she is interested is the
means whereby the human voice is captured and r ecorded on the
celluloid for talking pictures. This is perhaps the most delicate piece
of apparatus in the talker system. Secret of operation lies in the tiny
photo-electric cell, which changes electrical disturbances set up in
the microphone to lines of black and gray in the sound track on the
edge of the film. (Photo from Paramount West Coast Studios).
ENGLAND BECOMES
'TALKER-CONS CIOUS'
ENGLAND'S talker situation-inventions, corporations, produc­tions,
and problems in a perusal of the past few days' issues of
"The Daily Film Renter," considered the leading trade publica­tion
of the British Isles, is most interesting in view of present devel­opment
in America. A digest of E ditor Ernest W. Fredman's glean­ings
begin with his editorial, t itled, "A Joke Indeed!" which reads,
"Surely one of the most amazJ ·:-------- --------
Warners Clean Up
ing utterances ever heard at a Talkinr films, whatever their merits or
General Council meeting was that demerits, are so much a 'joke' that they
given expression to last Wednes- have placed Warner Brothers definitely
d h d" t th ffi upon the financial map. Warner s have ay, w en, accor Ing 0 e 0 - become so rich throurh talkinr films that
cial report, one of the members they have been able to buy one of the
said that, so far as he was con- birrest circuits of theatres in America;
cerned, talking films were a joke. and their shares made a tremendous leap
of one hundred dollars. Practically one
Apart from the astounding ignor- picture made a fortune for this company,
ance of facts which a remark of and has placed them in the IImellrht as
this kind imputes, we are left as- years of efforts with silent pictures never
toni shed that any man can de- did. This is the influence which a mem­ber
of the General Council rlibly de­scribe
an innovation like talking scribes as a 'joke'."
films as lightly as this. (Continued on Page 6)
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HIGH RATES
That the American Federation
of Musicians, through reason of
their rates for talking picture en­gagements
as well as demands on
houses where these pictures are
shown, are actually holding back
some producers from extensive
musical employment, has been
learned this week.
In the executive offices of
one well known producer,
who is making his first talk­er,
several sequences of his
maiden effort were dropped
or changed because of the
$30.00 minimum per man for
any single engagement of a
musician.
Cost Changes Production
In another studio, when') an or­chestra
was n eeded f or almost two
weeks use, phonograph records
(reproduced), a single quick ses­sion,
and numerous cuts were used
in order to cut down the terrific
cost of the contemplated orches­tra.
This cost can best be judged
by the union scale, which reads:
33 hours, 5 'h days, not more than
two (2) sessions per day, no ses­sion
longer than 3 hours, with in­termission
between sessions of no
less than one hour, per man .. . .
$200.00; Contractor, or leader
. .. . DOUBLE PAY. The balance
of the scale r eads : Single session,
3 hours or less, pel' man . . . .
$30.00. Two sessions same day,
perman .... $50.00. Overtime,
pel' half hour 01' fraction thereof,
per man (5 minutes leeway per­mitted)
.... $5.00.
Eventful Year Seen
If the leader, however, has any
sort of reputation, the double pay.
of course, is out, since more must
be added to this for his name. In
all sections of the country, the
unions are taking a firm stand
against r eduction of theatre or­chestras
where talkers are shown.
Locally, they are as firm in their
demands for the tremendous stu­dio
salaries. It is known that they
are raising a fund (reputed to be
$5,000,000) to "fight for their
rights" while on the other hand
it has been freely discussed in
musical circles that a singer's
union will come next, although
this is doubtless far-fetched.
The next year will see consid­erable
war going on because of
the union's demands and if the
idea, overhead recently, of using
non-union orchestra to record is
put on trial, it will be interesting,
to say the least, to see what the
unions will do in the houses where
such a picture might be released.