PICTURE NOISES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20762, 3 January 1931, Page 9 (Supplement)

PICTURE NOISES.

NEW SCREEN INDUSTRY. LIBRARY OF SOUNDS. ' f Talking pictures have brought into existence an interesting new industry, the business of supplying rcady-mndo noises. It may seem odd that companies should bo formed to sell noise, and that people should' be willing to buy noise j but such is the case. There is a firm in London, for instance, which guarantees to supply any kind of noise, from a smash of crockery to the trumpeting of an enraged elephant. 'I hey supply factory and machinery noises, animal and bird calls, ship and sea sounds, the clatter of a restaurant, the sounds of a railway station, explosions, collisions, motor smashes, storms, sneczqs, cyclones, a baby's cry, a lion's roar, a bee's buzz, or the confusion of a battle. Tho sounds nro recorded on discs 01 on lengths of film. These films, in tho courso of years, will gradually up a " library " of many thousands of noises. Film companies stock sounds on their own account. Among tho assets of tho Twickenham studios is a scream recorded by Dorothy Seacombo for the film Leave It to Me." This shriek has gone into stock with a guarantee that it is " free from blast." One Hollywood company has recorded thirty-six different kissing sounds, from tho light pressure of a daughter s lips on father':;, bald crown to tho agricultural, or orgiastic smack. Talking pictures have created a difficulty over the screen kiss. Tho mutual pressure of closed lips no longer meets tho case, as no sound Jesuits. Lips must bo parted to secure tho necessary realistic effect, and tho number of rehearsals required to produce thf right sound constitutes an ordeal to which few actors, and fewer actresses, aro prepared to submit. Some players totally fail to produce the right sound. In these cases tho studio library of specialised kisses come into use. The First National Company, which seems to have studied this problem on scientific lines, has recorded kisses which have been used over and over again. John F. Dillon, one of this company's directors, offers tho opinion that screen kissing is not what it used fo be in the days of May Irwin, Theda Bara, Louise Glaum, and Dorothy Dalton. The screen's greatest oscillatory expert, according to Mr. Dillon, is Jack Mulhall, whoso record of kisses during business hours totals 765. Ono of the stars whoso registered kiss is stated to be in demand is Marrilyn Miller, the extraordinarily dainty heioino of " Sally." She is said to have received £22,000 for her appearance in this production.