Listen To This (1978)

stand by to roll the final stage of production a filmmaker and sound engineer mix the tracks voice sound effects music to recreate an historic sequence in the development of sound Motion Pictures give me the tracks on 789 a b and c light me just lock up in lock we're ready to go standby to roll I'll give you a queue roll film you're also not interlock okay the is the jazz singer effects A and B music A and B and effects dirty head dirty face little devil that's what they say he's an angel of [Music] a whoopy I found my board Mr Watson come here I B to a development which is destined to create an entirely new [Music] art that's very interesting are we going to have uh music under main title uh there are no titles at the beginning we'll come straight up with the music and that's later roll film Arthur now we need to cue the narrator narrator coming up it revolutionized in Industry overnight it was said the public would never accept it it was hailed as the greatest invention of the 20th century it was the living voice of the Silver Screen it was sound talking pictures and The Jazz Singer Al jolon made the birth announcement when he said wait a minute wait a minute you ain't heard nothing [Music] yet Ro fil one of the first public demonstrations of a vitaphone film was shown at the Philadelphia World's Fair in 1926 in the film Alexander Graham Bell's assistant Thomas Watson recalled Bell's belief in the need for longdistance two-way voice communication this belief LED almost by chance to talking pictures during the months that we were experimenting on his Telegraph B often spoke to me of another invention that he was struggling with it was the telephone I remember my surprise when he first told me he expected soon to be able to talk by Telegraph Belle's Discovery was a wave converter a device that for the first time conveyed speech-like Sounds by electrical means B's idea was to force the re to follow the voice vibrations instead of merely swinging to and fro when we tried it I could hear the sound of Bell's voice and could almost understand some of his words Bell's early experiments with electrically transmitted sound laid the groundwork for everything that came after by the turn of the century Nickelodeons were giving way to the first theaters built exclusively for [Music] movies and Thomas Edison was experimenting on the synchronization of picture and [Music] sound but before films could be made to talk five essential items had to be developed amplif ification electrical recording and reproduction mechanisms microphones loud speakers and a method to synchronize sound to [Music] picture then in 1912 in a laboratory at 463 West Street in lower Manhattan a series of tests were initiated on Lee De Forest Aion a tube that was found to amplify electric current following major improvements in 1913 the Aon became the magic key that unlocked the door to a new scientific age the race to revolutionize Communications was on a World War was brewing and the importance of transcontinental Communications was attracting scientists to the new field of electroacoustics talking pictures were not much thought about but improved sound quality was therefore it was decided to cord sound for its use as a laboratory tool and to do this scientists would experiment with an old but non-commercial technique the recording of sound upon [Music] film Sue took father's shoe bench out she was waiting at my lawn I eat pea soup at 6:15 Sue took father's shoe bench out in 1916 came one of the foundation stones on which sound motion pictures was built the condenser microphone which gave uniform response at various pitches in the audible range and loudspeakers which were in reality loud-speaking telephones proved their worth on Armistice Day 1921 president Warren G Harding delivered an address at Arlington National Cemetery his words were carried over long-distance circuits to San Francisco and New York and were heard by more than 150,000 persons the largest audience ever to hear a single speaker by 1922 radio had developed its Lusty voice and the public liked what it heard that same year the first electrically recorded talking picture was shown non-commercially and although sound on film was eventually adopted discs were used first because the methods for producing them were well known also discs of popular film music could be sold commercially [Music] yet by late 1924 practically every major studio in Hollywood had rejected the idea of talking pictures the reasons were economic they had large inventories of expensively produced silent films ready for release High salaried stars with long-running contracts had been trained to pantomime not talk there were foreign markets for inexpensively retitled silence and Studios were not equipped to handle sound in any event exhibitors could not run sound films but the public primed by the sound of radio was curious and Warner Brothers whose losing battle with other major producers was driving them into bankruptcy gambled on that Curiosity and experiments with sound were initiated in the vitaphone studio in Brooklyn New York August 6th 1926 an anxious crowd jammed the Warner Theater on Broadway to see the first feature film made with a synchronous musical background from the opening credits to The Last frame of film music played from loud speakers rather than from a live Orchestra in the theater's pit as Barry Moore wooed beautiful Mary Aster the public was transported on hearing this latest technological Marvel [Music] when the flashing Blades of the Dawn and his villainous Borg rival played by monague love were actually heard in combat some viewers believed that live actors were fencing in synchronization hidden behind the screen in fact it was the first example of post dubbing in movie history [Music] [Music] [Music] but it was the fully synchronous short subject on the program that prompted a Columbia University Professor to State no closer approach to Resurrection has been made by science [Music] the heart pleas [Music] go the peace on him coming up and on the same bill [Music] ready to segue into the narrator right here we go zero it out here we go roll [Music] film for a public anxious to understand how the Silver Screen got its voice animator Max flasher in this 1929 film created three characters mey talki and Dr Western to explain the phenomenon hey mute what's the big idea of busting up my [Music] act the heart be now I'll explain inside this booth is a motion picture camera which is taking pictures through this window we use a soundproof booth when it's closed it keeps the camera noise away from the microphone the camera is operated by a motor which runs at exactly the same speed as the motor in the sound machine it's hot in this booth let's get out on the set again this microphone changes the sound waves into electrical vibrations which are Amplified here and sent along these wires to the mixer room the sounds from the stage microphones are mixed here so that the they sound natural for the action in the production talkie there goes your queue you're next on screen while mudy can go try on his new voice [Music] okay if there had been any doubt the year before there wasn't after the night of October 6th 1927 Al jolon made the jazz singer and history when he appeared in a film that had been conceived as a silent drama to be interspersed with songs but the abant Jolson ad lived the rallying cry that signaled an end to the silent era and the birth of talking wait a minute wait a minute you ain't heard nothing yet wait a minute I said you ain't heard nothing you want to hear all right hold on listen play three Horus you understand and the third chorus I Whistle now give it to him hard and heavy go right ahead goodbye don't cry the little choo choo train that takes me away from you you don't know just how sad it makes me just me and do it over again watch for the ma I never fail if you don't get a letter again you know I'm in jail hey hey don't cry don't [Music] cry goodby nice and full I love it that really changed the history of the movies didn't it look was the the changing Point by January 1928 only 150 of the almost 20,000 American movie houses could show talking pictures but within a few years 15,000 theaters were okay for sound it was indeed Toot Toot Tootsie goodbye to the silent past and hello to the Future goodbye goodbye good by don't cry train that me away from you you don't know just how it makes me kiss me Dam hey hey do it over again watch for the mail I'll never fail you don't get you in don't don't cry goodbye [Music]