CARGOES OF SOUND

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 150, 21 December 1929, Page 22

CARGOES OF SOUND

STORED IN HOLLYWOOD

READY FOR FUTURE FILMS

. One of the wonders of Hollywood is tho traffic in sound that has sprung up •in the wake of tho talking pictures (says a writer in tho "Now York: Times"). Sound is no longer merely a disturbance of tho ether in rhythmic waves—it is a commodity. ' With tho Movietone process of sound on film, j sound finds itself a staple with a standard of measurement and an entity all" its own. It is no longer something ephemeral, lost as soon as recorded on* the ear. Locked in a vault in Hollywood in Movietone City, it can be brought out and be jmt to work in a picture. It would take a philosopher* such as Henri Bergson, a scientist such ■as' Albert Einstein, or a poet such as Masefield to do justice to tho now rolti played by' sound. Masefield is mentioned, for his poem "Cargoes " happily reminds one of the traffic in sound. Sound now comes ... in cargoes, not a week passing that does not see its cargo of sounds arriving from Ophir and Nineveh, Clyde and Palestine. The cargoes referred to are of two general kinds: film with its accompanying, sound truck made from actual audible photography, and devices for the reproduction of sound, such as bells, whistles, and traffic horns peculiar to one locality. : The former classification may be again sub-divided. There are- sound tracks accompanying tho Fox Movietone news reels, and there arc those which are made- by special camera crews not attached to the news reel division. More than fifty sound trucks aie at the moment gathering news forthe Fox organisation, while one roving carmera,: crew, under, .the supervision of: George Schneiderman, is Te-creating the voices of every capital on the Continent. : Schueidorman spent weeks -in the French capital photographing all quarters ofthe city- with his- Movietone cameras. The hubbub of the taxis wheeling around the Afc de Triomphe, the measured tread 6f the thousands visiting the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the .Shatter of tho tourists iji Versailles, tho"jests and quips- in the-side-walk cafes, the rumble of the trains, the cries of scurrying porters in the Gare' Saint Lazare, , the whirr of aeroplane'motors at Le' Bburget field— all these Schneider-man .has -faithfully transcribed on film. Sixty-one reels of movietone. film were, made in Paris alone! These will be utilised, in part,during the next few years whenever a filia with a Parisian locale demands certain sounds which would emanate from their respective locales. . .. . : Mr. Schneiderman, wEo lias since passedr-thrbugh-and" recorded, the inter-" esting sounds of Nice, Monaco, and the Riviera, is now "listening in" on Italy. A few months ago he was catching the rumble of the surf and the cries of the beach boys-at Tahiti! "When : —sound films arrive in Hollywood, Carl Effinger, in charge of the- film library, classifies them and places them in a huge concrete and steel vault, where they remain cloistered and silent until one of the directors.sees the-need for an authentic sound-and-sight background for. his particular production. But all foreign scenes do not have imported sounds. They may have imported devices to make these sounds, which involves what has come to be known as tho "sound-prop" department. . ■ . ... "- ■-„... ... ,

When a "certain "sound effect is needed, they create it. Spmetimes the original sound Tegisters-badly'on tao inicroiphone. It.is up to "sound-props" to find some substitute which will give the desired effect. For example:— It's a simple little device which gives an .excellent substitute for. the sound, which is made by leather boots crunching over snow. Joe Delfino, head of the department, invented it. It's a bag made of . soft deer leather and filled with.corn-starch. Close your eyes and grind your fist into the leather ana _ cold 'shivers will run down your back-. Mr. Delfino, a'modest sort of inventor who creates miracles of sound imitation, admits that this one, simple as it was, stuck him for nearly a week. He tried a dozen different gadgets-be-fore he hit upon it. ' .In the '^sound-prop" department -thero are sorrie 1500 different mechanicaL sound devices. These, in various combinations, willyield many more d&:. tinct effects .upon, the ear. And yet : ;they are adding to the equipment everyday.' There'are fifteen different sets of telephone bells alone. And that is be-" cause different countries have different telephone equipment. There are two huge packing cases filled with an assortment of French traffic horns. There are chimes of every sort from diningroom ones to the -. immense cathedral chimes. ....■__,. _'.'_•_:.„:_ ■:':__ '■'■ Another problem the "sound-prop'1 department must frequently work out is in preventing any sound anachronism. In the filming of John Blystone's air

picture, "The Sky Hawk," it was necessary to have a siren whiot.sounded just like the police sirens used in " London by the police during the war as . an air raid ■warning. A typical police siren was tried out. The technical ex- , perts said it wasn't exactly like the ones in' use teit years ago. Their ■ opinions proved correct; it was learned that the wartime sirens had been given up by the London-police and another substituted. Accordingly, "sound-props" had a dig around until one was found which.gave the exact noise- of the London siren of a decade ago. Some thirty manufacturers had submitted their product before the desired one was secured. But despite difficulties, sound locations and sound locating only make the ' game more fascinating, and the final achievement conductive of even great-, er satisfaction than was to be had be?, ' fore the sereen'founditsivoice. And i£ may be added that since the infant's ' vocal chords have been tested out, all the mischief-maker does is, to cry for more sound-nutrition.