Demonstration of Phonofilm Assures Speaking Movies/Do It in Technicolor -- January 26, 2023

Washington Evening Star, 05-January-1924

Lee De Forest, a pioneer in vacuum tubes and radio, introduced his Phonofilm sound-on-film picture process in 1923.

Demonstration of Phonofilm

Assures Speaking Movies

By the Associated Press
CLEVELAND. Ohio. January 5. -- The phonofilm, a combination of radio and motion pictures, the invention of Dr. Lee De Forest, has been demonstrated successfully, according to those who have heard and seen the talking pictures. It is his object to produce motion pictures in which the characters speak. Dr. De Forest gives this explanation of the process:

"In the studio a motion picture is taken in the usual manner, but in addition to tbe camera lens, which registers action, a microphone registers every sound made by the actor. A wire from the microphone passes through an audion amplifier to a gas-filled tube, called the photion, located in the camera. The light from this tube fluctuates in exact accordance with the amplified telephonic currents which originates from the actor's lips.

Sound Waves Photographed.

"A very line slit is located near the negative film, through which these fluctuating light rays are registered on the sensitive emulsion of the negative as fine lines which are actual photographic sound waves and, being on the same film as the picture, insure perfect synchronism at all times.

"A positive print then is made in the usual manner. In reproducing, a small attachment is placed on the standard motion picture machine. This attachment contains a small incandescent lamp, which is placed in front of the photographed sound waves on the films. This light, passing through the sound record, falls upon a photo-electric cell, its brilliancy being governed by the density of the photographed sound waves. The photo-electric cell’s electrical resistance at any instant is determined by the amount of light falling upon it.

Synchronize Sound and Sight.

"The telephonic current from the cell then is passed through the audion amplifier, where it is built up hundreds of thousands of times. Thus, the actor's words are converted into telephonic currents, amplified, photographically registered on the film and eventually transformed back again into telephonic currents, which are made audible by the loud speaker.

"As the motion picture must be projected upon a screen to be viewed, it is likewise necessary to project the sound, in order that it may appear to come from the actor's lips. This is done simply by running a lamp cord from the machine to the screen, where a loudspeaker is attached."

Motion Picture News, 05-January-1924

The use of Technicolor as an extra in feature films was growing. In Cecil B DeMille's Ten Commandments, the Biblical prologue was shot in Technicolor. 

Motion Picture News, 05-January-1924

Paramount announced that its first color film would be an adaption of Zane Grey's novel Wanderer of the Wasteland. 

Film Daily, 10-January-1924

"Do it in Technicolor."

Phonaction, Actophone, Veritiphone, Prizma, Technicolor -- December 18, 2023

Motion Picture News, 29-December-1923

Polish-born Joseph Tykociner was a professor of engineering at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Tykociner developed and displayed the first successful sound-on-film system, which combined image and sound on a single strip of film. Despite Tykociner holding several patents for the process, a battle with the university over rights kept him from exploiting it commercially.

Motion Picture News, 29-December-1923

Interesting Details of Apparatus

Employed in Photographing Human Voice

THERE have been described in previous issues of the News various methods and devices used in registering photographically the human voice. These developments are of such an interesting nature that we feel warranted in publishing the following description which has been submitted on Professor J. T. Tykociner's apparatus, now in the process of being perfected.

 

The silver screen may be changed into a screen that gives forth the thousand varying emotions of the human voice, thanks to the invention perfected by a Polish scientist, Professor J. T. Tykociner, who is now conducting special research work at the University of Illinois. Silence the orchestra or disable the pipe organ and the present-day movie becomes a rather lifeless exhibition in which the performers do their best to portray the different emotions by means of pantomime. As a result tens of thousands of spectators merely guess at what the hero actually says when he laughs defiance at his adversaries, or else there is a break in the scene and the title is thrown on the screen. With this new invention, when the hero laughs with glee the audience hears the rollicking notes and responds immediately.

 

To solve this difficult problem in a practical way, many inventors have attempted to couple the motion picture machine with photograph records, but no such combination has met with wide adoption. It was more than twenty years ago that Professor Tykociner conceived the idea of photographing sound on the same film used for taking motion pictures. His purpose was to reproduce the speech or song of artists at the same time that their acting is shown on the screen.

 

After several years of experimenting he has perfected a working model of such apparatus. These models represent only a part of the invention developed during this period. The models that have been constructed show the following features:

 

The production of talking motion pictures is accomplished by a camera, which in addition to the ordinary devices used for taking pictures on a film, carries another photographic objective for the purpose of photographing on a narrow portion of the same film the image of a slit illuminated by a mercury arc light. The electric current that feeds the arc is made to vary by connecting the arc to wires leading from amplifiers to the stage, where a telephone transmitter is actuated by sounds and voices accompanying the play of the artists.

 

The amplification of the sounds to be photographed is accomplished by audio frequency or radio frequency methods. When no sounds are produced on the stage, the light of the mercury arc is steady and therefore the place on the film designated for the photographic sound record and running along the pictures, shows, after the usual developing, a narrow band of uniform transparency. If, however, sound is accompanying the acting on the stage, the light of the arc is forced to fluctuate in accordance with the intensity of the sound coming from the telephone transmitter. Consequently, the image of the slit photographed on the moving picture film appears as a narrow band, shaded by lines more or less crowded and more or less transparent in agreement with the pitch and volume of the sound reproduced on the stage. This shaded band seen along the edge of the film is a true photographic record of the sound produced during the action on the stage. Every single photographed position of the actors has its fixed place on the film. Likewise, every sound produced has its fixed place on the edge of the same film near the corresponding picture. This part of the apparatus transforms the energy of sound waves into electric oscillations and produces changes of the amount of photographically active rays emitted by the mercury arc lamp so that the sensitized moving film is affected in accordance with the sound to be photographed.

 

The name "phonaction" has been chosen for this sound-recording apparatus, as this word expresses the manifold transformation of sound energy controlling actinic rays by means of a stream of ions.

 

The "phonaction" produces negatives which, after development, can be used for printing purposes. On the film can be seen a narrow band of shaded cross-lines which represent the photograph of the speech delivered at the time the picture was taken.

 

The question may well be asked, "How can the motion pictures and the sound be produced at the same time from such a film?" This is made possible through the use of another apparatus that Professor Tykociner has named an "actophone." In this model an ordinary motion picture projecting machine is used. To it are attached an additional light house and a second optical system. By means of the normal optical system, rays of light pass the part of the positive film occupied by the motion pictures, projecting them upon the screen. At the same time rays from the additional light house are directed upon that part of the positive film which carries the photographic sound record. The amount of light that passes through the shaded band varies according to the transparency of the particular places on the film, and illuminates the sensitive layer of the photo-electric tube placed behind the moving film. The photo-electric cell was developed and made by Professor Jacob Kunz of the University of Illinois. This tube has the property of releasing electric charges in quantities strictly in agreement with amount of light entering "the tube. In the actophone such a light, sensitive tube is connected with proper amplifiers, and as a result electric currents are excited, varying with the illumination. The currents thus obtained are strong enough to actuate a loudspeaking telephone located in a convenient place near the screen. While the motion pictures are projected on the screen, the loud-speaking telephone reproduces at the same time the voices and the sounds characteristic to the action occurring on the stage. In this way harmony of action and sound is achieved, creating a complete illusion for the ear as well as for the eye.

 

Many simple experiments have been made at the university to test this invention. For instance, the sounds are distinctly recorded when the demonstrator knocks on the door and is told, "Come in." The sounds made on opening and closing the door are distinctly heard, as is the greeting, "Good morning." If at the same time a typewriter should happen to click in an adjoining room or a clap of thunder should peal forth, the sounds would be duly recorded. A fox terrier in action makes a good subject. The machine reproduces accurately the sharp, excited barks that the dog emits while leaping in the air to catch a swinging ball. Other tests have included whistling, counting numbers, the ringing of a bell and other experiments, all of which have proved highly gratifying.
Professor Tykociner declares that his invention can readily be adapted to moving picture machines of the types now in common use. This means that the invention may come into wide commercial use. The inventor feels that his work has passed far beyond the experimental stage, and that the actual results obtained so far warrant him in making the assertion that the simultaneous reproduction of sound and action is now definitely assured.

Motion Picture News, 01-December-1923

While Professor Tykociner was working on sound-on-film, British inventor Claude Verity (great name) was creating and demonstrating a sound-on-disk system which relied on the operator to watch signal lights and adjust the speed of the projector or the phonograph to keep in sync. Verity called his system the "Veritiphone."

Film Daily, 23-September-1926

Film Daily, 06-December-1923

William Van Doren Kelley, inventor of the Prizma natural color process, opened a laboratory in New Jersey which would be dedicated to making natural color prints. The item mentions that Prizma was not producing movies at that time.

Motion Picture News, 29-December-1923

Famous Monsters of Filmland -- Mystery of the Wax Museum -- October 27, 2023

listal.com

Halloween is coming.

When I was young, I read Warren Publishing magazines like Famous Monsters of Filmland and Vampirella. I remember reading that The Mystery of the Wax Museum was a lost film. Then someone found it and I saw it on television, in two-color Technicolor. Fay Wray was the leading lady and Lionel Atwill was the bad guy. 

Photographed DIRECTLY in the TRUE Colors of Nature -- August 23, 2023

Falls City Journal, 28-August-1923

100 years ago this month, Toll of the Sea with Anna May Wong, was being shown in Falls City, Nebraska. This was the second Technicolor film produced and the first to be widely released. 

Film Daily, 31-August-1923

Meanwhile Dr Lee De Forest was looking for people to invest in his Phonofilm a sound-on-film process.

The Toll of the Sea -- February 24, 2023

Motion Picture News, 27-January-1923

The Toll of the Sea was the second feature film made by the Technicolor Corporation, the first to be released and the first using the subtractive, two-color Process 2. It was also the first film starring Anna May Wong. The film is still available.

Technicolor Process 1 was an additive two-color process and it required a special projector. Process 2 could be shown on a regular projector.

Color and Sound -- June 28, 2022

Film Daily, 07-June-1922

The movie being filmed under the working title The Legend of Troubled Seas was released as The Toll of the Sea. It was the second feature film made by the Technicolor Corporation, the first to be released and the first using the subtractive, two-color Process 2. It was also the first film starring Anna May Wong. The film is still available. 

Technicolor Process 1 was an additive two-color process and it required a special projector. Process 2 could be shown on a regular projector. 

Film Daily, 02-June-1922

I have not been able to find information about the Vocal-Educational Film Corporation and its sound process.

Film Daily, 08-June-1922

The Vocal-Educational Film Corporation used a device which could be attached to a standard projector. The device allowed the film to be synchronized with phonograph records. The speakers were behind the screen, which was an improvement over some sound-on-disk systems.  

Rhonda Fleming, RIP -- October 25, 2020

listal.com

Actress Rhonda Fleming has died. She was made for Technicolor.

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DVD: Treasures 6: From the New Zealand Film Archive #1 -- January 20, 2014

One of my Christmas presents was the sixth Lost and Found: American Treasures From the New Zealand Film Archive.  This edition was shorter than the others, consisting of a single DVD, but it contains some wonderful items. 

Almost every review of the set that I have read talks about "Lyman H Howe's Famous Ride on a Runaway Train," a single reel released by Educational in 1921.  He had made earlier versions in 1908 and 1914.  Most of the footage in this version was shot before the 1920s.  The print, found in New Zealand, matches with a sound track disk from the Library of Congress.  It starts with an animated title sequence.  A little boy oils a large locomotive.  A title says his dad in an engineer.  There is some nitrate deterioration over the title and a shot of an engineer starting a locomotive.  There are scenes of trains passing through nice scenery.  Then the trains go faster, some in undercranked shots.  The "runaways" include at least three inclines.  One I recognized as Southern California's Mount Lowe.  Another stretch may have been shot on the down track of Mauch Chunk Pennsylvania's Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway. The movie was fun and I need to spend more time trying to identify locations. 

The second movie was a Paul Terry Aesop's Fables, "Happy-Go-Luckies."  A dog and a cat ride on a freight train and arrive at a dog show.  They impersonate a unique dog and win the show.  It was fun. 

The trailer for Strong Boy, a John Ford film, is all that remains. 

Upstream was a John Ford feature set almost entirely in a theatrical boarding house.  I enjoyed the various types from vaudeville and the legitimate theater.  I liked the ending, where the ham villain got his comeuppance. 

"Birth of a Hat" was an industrial film from the Stetson Company.  It began with a short history of hats and then went through the process of making a hat, from the pelt through every step.  It was a very manual process and workplace safety was minimal. 

"The Love Charm" was a Tiffany-Stahl one reeler shot in two color Technicolor.  It was set in the South Seas.  I was surprised to see that Duncan Renaldo had written it.  Ann Christy, who had been Harold Lloyd's leading lady in Speedy, played the daughter of a trader.  On seeing the handsome captain of a yacht, she tells her father "He is white, just like me."  Hoo boy. 

I'll write about the second half tomorrow. 

On my other blog, The Pneumatic Rolling Sphere Carrier Delusion, I reviewed the fifth Treasures From the American Film Archives, The West:
Disc one: http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2012/01/treasures-5-west-1-january-11-2012.html
Disc two: http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2012/01/treasures-5-west-2-january-12-2012.html
Disc three: http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2012/01/treasures-5-west-3-january-19-2012.html