THE “SMELLIES”

Southland Times, Issue 21089, 22 May 1930, Page 12

THE “SMELLIES”

SEQUEL TO THE MOVIES AND THE TALKIES. AN AMUSING COMMENT. “Now set the teeth and stretch the nostrils wide, for the ‘smelfies’ are on the way.” They arc promised for April, and a great effort ought to be made to install the apparatus in time for the great national feast day with which that month opens, heralded a London Tinies leader writer in an amusing comment. In all scientific matters, Jie adds, precision is important, and it is as well to fix in the mind the words in which the newly-granted patent in America announces to the world its latest treat. What has now been invented is nothing less than “an apparatus for supplying an- olfactory impression in conjunction l with a motion picture impression.” The’ inventor, John Leavell, of Los Angeles, takes a broad view of what olfactory impressions may be; and the nose as an organ of enjoyment, or at any rate of sensation, is about to come into its own. Well may the American Press hail the new device ‘with the cry “Perfumed Pictures permeate programme,” for anyone who pauses to enumerate to himself how many things there arc in the world that smell strongly, and who reflects that whatever exists can be filmed,.will realise that life is to be lived more intensely than before. Every branch of a great industry will profit. It is not only that cookery can be taught from the screen with savours that will be meals in themselves, and that will reveal to housewives perfections of whose existence they did not know. The favourite drama of high life in large and splendid halls will take on a new lease of life when Lucullan banquets can be smelt, even if the day is still distant when a further invention makes the illusion of the film really complete by providing real food for the audience. Odour of Blood. Talkie directors who consider all plots worthless which do not include scenes of entertainments with large choruses will insist on cabaret scenarios, and the talkie crime stories will be strengthened in their claim to provide 100 per cent, of stark horror when a sickly odour of blood pervades the auditorium. Another _ popular class of film, that dealing with wild animals, has not found talking apparatus of any great advantage. But, with a careful selection of wild animals .and a little skill in putting the audience downwind, unforgettable experiences should be created. Each new invention creates a new profession, and parents who hitherto have paid little heed to their children’s power of smell will do well to consider whether the profession of the sniffer is not bound to grow. The film is being used more and more for education, both historical and geographical, and, while the ordinary producer will be able to manage the burning cakes in the Alfred scene and the seasick horses in the tale of the Norman Conquest, he will want help in a good many passages of history. Symbol of Smells. Only the expert can prescribe the olfactory accompaniments to prehistoric monsters, or to the furs and woad of early fashions. Still more skilled will be the blender’s art who uses smells symbolically. Beyond the first obvious exercises in cheese symphonies, to accompany Mickey Mouse lies a vast field for the harmonization of eyes, ears, and nose. We .may expect the “close-ups” and “fade-outs” of happy lovers to be accompanied by the scent of the more obvious flowers, particularly roses. It will be a mark of talent in the Director of Olfaction, whose name will be. added to the already considerable list of memorable persons with which a film begins, to introduce, quite artlessly, his onion smell just before the most emotional passages. Many a lovers’ parting will be staged in a kitchen garden. But if the smellies develop on the lines, of the talkies and the silent films, and megalomania breaks out among the big* noses of the profession, a reckless race will begin to see who can produce, regardless of cost, the most. vivid, arresting, startling, overpowering • and tremendous stench.