A Look Back At Western Electric’s Sound On Film Technology with "Finding His Voice" (1929) And "The Family Album" (1931)

There were many wonderful animated cartoons that were made during Hollywood's golden age.  Hundreds of animated films were cranked out by the major cartoon studios and/or distributors to entertain theater patrons around the country.  While the majority of cartoons produced during this time were entertainment pieces, there were also a large number of industrial and educational animated cartoons.  Two industrial cartoons that I consider important to the topic of film history are "Finding His Voice” (1929) and “The Family Album” (1931).  Both films were made for Western Electric and are early sound era cartoons that showcase sound on film motion picture production and exhibition.  They both feature realistic technical drawings of the equipment utilized as well as a movie theater similar to those found in many American towns and cities during that era.

Western Electric, a division of A.T. & T., was one of the many companies producing sound equipment for motion picture production and exhibition.

“Finding His Voice”, probably my favorite of the two, was produced in 1929 by the Fleischer brothers.  The Fleischer's were well known names in the 1920’s and 1930’s as they made a number of wonderful theatrical cartoons for the Bray Studios and then Paramount Pictures.  Their cartoons starred notable and popular characters such as KoKo the Clown, Betty Boop, and Popeye the Sailor.  “Finding His Voice” is one of the Fleischer's few (known) industrial sound cartoons.  
The cartoon revolves around two rolls of film, Talkie and Mutie, going on a tour with a gentleman, Dr. Western, who demonstrates to them how sound on film motion pictures are produced at a studio and then exhibited at a theater.  As demonstrated, the sound is first captured by a “glorified telephone transmitter" or microphone and wired to a sound proof booth housing a sound mixer where it is adjusted by an engineer.  The motion picture camera is also housed behind glass in another sound proof booth.  During filming the audio is wired to a machine, located in another building, that amplifies the noise.  The amplified audio is then wired to another machine that captures the sound track on film.  This machine records/captures the sound on another reel of film via a light bulb; the film is run at the same frame rate as the motion picture camera.   The picture and audio are on two separate negatives and are combined together when the film is printed as a positive.  (This whole process is quite fascinating, however the thought of a sound recorder light bulb burning out, or one of the many wires suddenly malfunctioning and sending a buzzing hum to sound recorder honestly makes me cringe.) 

Scenes in the film that demonstrate how talking pictures are made.  The realistic technical drawings are a true delight for any film history buff!

After being shown the, as Dr. Western states, "simple" recording process, the cartoon transitions to a movie theater where Talkie and Mutie learn about sound motion picture exhibiton.  As a die hard theater buff these are probably my favorite scenes in the film.  This portion of the tour starts off in a projection booth where Dr. Western demonstrates how sound is reproduced, utilizing a realistic drawing of a Simplex projector.  It should be stated that only one projector is shown for the demonstration, unlike the standard two which was required to exhibit nitrate film.  (My guess is that the second projector is located beyond where the fireproof booth cuts off.)  After learning about the projector the three then travel through the wires, installed in an ornate auditorium, to the speakers on stage.  Dr. Western now demonstrates how the speakers or "horns" reproduce sound; thus ending the tour.   The cartoon then leads into Mutie and Talkie performing on screen.

Theater scenes in "Finding His Voice"

The other cartoon, “The Family Album”, is another Western Electric industrial cartoon that focused on demonstrating audio technology.  The cartoon was made by a cartoon studio named Terry & Moser Cartoons for a studio named Audio-Cinema Incorporated.  Paul Terry, like Max Fleischer, was another known name in the field of animated cartoons; overtime his cartoons or “Terry~ Toons” ended up becoming 2Oth Century Fox’s unofficial cartoon series during the late 1930's through the 1950's.  Audio-Cinema I believe (still looking for some evidence to back this up with) was run by Western Electric.  (In the later 1930’s there was another company called Audio Productions that was operated by Western Electric.  Trade ads for Audio Productions appeared shortly after the Audio-Cinema name vanished).  

The focus of the Family Album is slightly different from "Finding His Vocie".  Instead of documenting  how a motion picture was given a voice, “The Family Album” gives a look at how sound on film motion pictures and other non-film related audio devices "inherit" characteristics from the Telephone.  The story concept of this cartoon consists of a candlestick style telephone, Mr. Phone, introducing members, or "children", of his family to three newspaper reporters.  These family members include the "Radio Twins” Mike and Loudspeaker, Mr. Public Address System, Stethe the Electric Stethoscope, and Talkie the motion picture film.  Talkie is introduced to the reporters as the youngest and most active member of the family; emphasizing the popularity of talking pictures. 

(1&2) The Radio Twins, (3) Mr. Public Address System, (4) Stethe, (5) Talkie 

It should be stated that Paul Terry's cartoon Studio aka TerryToons Inc. (in the film copyrights there is not a space between Terry and Toon) is often considered by many cartoon buffs and historians to be the bottom of the major Hollywood cartoon studios.  The “The Family Album”, is better animated than many of Paul Terry’s theatrical cartoons of the early 30's, but it does suffer from some sloppiness present in the animation.  With it’s flaws aside though, “The Family Album” is still a wonderful time piece and a fun look at late 1920’s and early 1930’s audio technology. 

The Theater Scenes in the Film

One observation regarding both cartoons is that they literally feature the same theater auditorium.  It is realistic looking and bears similar architectural features found in auditoriums around the United States during the 1910's and 1920's.  It’s interesting that both should feature identical auditoriums as "Finding His Voice" and "The Family Album" were made by two completely different studios and featured differently designed characters.  Unfortunately information on this auditorium and why it may have been significant to Western Electric is currently scarce to me.    

Left: "Finding His Voice"                       Right: "The Family Album" 

1910's Blueprints for the (now burnt out and Condemned) Orpheum Theatre in Gardner MA.  Notice the horseshoe style balcony and opera boxes; similar characteristics featured in the two Cartoons' aditoriums.

It is currently not known if other technology cartoons were made for Western Electric.  Due to several reasons many industrial films from that era are unfortunately lost and, in the case of Audio-Cinema, information on the studios that made these films is unfortunately obscure.  Both “Finding His Voice” and “The Family Album” survive today because of private film collectors who cared enough to save these entertaining and historically significant films.  If there were other Western Electric technology cartoons, it would be interesting to know if they did feature the exact same theater auditorium.

Both cartoons are in the public Domain and have been made available legally by several different collectors.  “Finding His Voice” is available for both viewing and downloading from Rick Prelinger (the Prelinger Archives) on Archive.org.

http://archive.org/details/FindingH1929

Another Alternate print of “Finding His Voice”, which interestingly does not contain the Western Electric title card at the end, is also available along with “the Family Album” on Steve Stanchfield’s terrific DVD Cultoons Volume 2.

http://www.amazon.com/Cultoons-including-Fleischer-Harman-various/dp/B000P4X21K/ref=sr_1_2/102-2851527-9769744?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1178728999&sr=8-2

RELATED LINKS:

The Prelinger Archives on Archive.org

Thunderbean Animation DVD sales

More Information on Max Fleischer from the Bray Animation Project

"Of Mice and Magic"; a wonderful book by film historians Leonard Maltin and Jerry Beck on classic Hollywood cartoons

And, if you are interested in the Orpheum Theatre in Gardner...

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas everyone!

My Free Local History Presentation in Athol MA

Some of my audience

A week prior to Thanksgiving I had the privilege of doing a local History multi-media presentation at the public library in the town of Athol Massachusetts.  The topic I discussed was the history of Athol's two movie palaces the York Theatre and the Capitol Theatre, which existed from the 1930’s up through the 1950’s.  While I only anticipated a small ten to twenty people at my show I was instead greeted with the pleasant surprise of about fifty to sixty people from the Athol community present at my lecture; all of whom enjoyed my presentation and shared a number of great stories with me following the show.  

My interest in Athol Theaters began during my first year of middle school.  At this age I began researching old movie Theaters around Franklin County and Western Massachusetts.  My interest expanded to the town of Athol when my best friend in elementary school moved to Athol.  Whenever I went to visit him my parents would drive through downtown Athol.  Driving through the town, I was always fascinated by a beautiful, slightly beat up, triumphant building which at that time housed the town’s bowling alley.  The building with its giant arched window accompanied by some intriguing art-deco comedy & drama designs on its façade, grabbed my attention and my suspicions of this bowling alley once operating as a theater began.  After asking several elderly people at my church (who told me that they grew up in Athol) about the building I soon learned that this building was at one time the York Theatre, an extremely popular movie palace in the Athol area.   Though this intrigued me, I did not further look into researching the theater as I was at the time researching other theaters in Massachusetts that were closer to home.

The York Theatre Building Today. 

Jumping ahead about twelve or fourteen years, I was going through some microfilm and researching some theaters at a library, when a gentleman asked for my assistance on a microfilm machine he was using. I assisted the gentleman on the machine and he greatly appreciated my assistance.  He introduced himself as Richard Chaisson and stated he was a historian and author who resided in the town of Athol Massachusetts; one of his books, which featured a photo of him, was in the room where we were talking.   I shared my interest in local theaters with him and asked about Athol’s York Theatre.  By doing so, Mr. Chaisson told me that he had several photographs of the York and Athol’s other theater the Capitol.  A few weeks later I went over to Athol and had an amazing visit with Mr. Chaisson.  Not only was I shown some beautiful photographs of both the York and the Capitol but Mr. Chaisson shared with me a large number of fascinating stories regarding both theaters in the 1940’s and 1950’s.  Along with this I also learned about a popular 1940's era movie star who was born and raised in Athol  named Charles Starrett.  During the 1940’s Mr. Starrett starred as the “Durango Kid” in the popular B-Western “Durango Kid” kids movies made by Columbia Pictures.  Mr. Starrett came from the same family that owned the famous Starrett Tool Company in Athol.

The remaining portion of the Capitol Theatre: the lobby and part of the foyer areas.
The building operates today as a beauty parlor.
Love the remaining Light Fixtures!

            A few years later I decided to put my knowledge on Athol Theaters to use and produced a PowerPoint presentation (utilizing about 15 years of self-taught PowerPoint skills) discussing and showing the history of the York and Capitol Theatres.  The end results were spectacular as many attendies, including Mr. Chaisson raved about the show.  However one wonderful thing I did not expect was the applause and thank you I received from the audience for taking an interest in the history of their town and putting together an ornate and polished presentation.

Display consisting of a York Theatre Bill Poster, photographs of both theaters,
free York Peppermint Patties, and free Popcorn!

LINKS: 

Starrett Tools Website: http://www.starrett.com

Charles Starrett information: http://www.b-westerns.com/durango.htm

Athol's 250th Anniversary:  http://athol250.org