The Eugene guard., June 29, 1929, Image 9

L 29. 1929-
THE BrflEVB n r A TJ r
Sound-On-Film Method
'Speed Control9 Latest
Marvels Of Projection
jrecislon!
Those of you who did time In the armv heard rs ,..,..
L.mblect of precision. Those who reached tha firing iin. i p
La learned the gjea value of flattening out and flattening out nre
Mil wnn hnvn rinna anv ftoltw i - . , . , . .
I 1 "s um aaaiuonai dem-
L,(itlons of the necessity of precision and timing. Lindbergh lives
,.j triurapn wuom uinais iiivb noisDie runerais because even his
$t casual ibuuiub is uiiidu una ujo movements of a classic dancer
Precision has become, the passion of modern industrv ,
Liome industries which depend for their life on precision and one
ifiese is iuav mot iun uiuuuu yiumrtso me souna pictures.
Challenges stags
11 the McDonald theater the first
L-H days of this week they will be
Luring u oquau, i coiorrui
Lbj of gypsy li'e which was a
nation on tbe "sptaaing stage
y( York during two long runs,
i'wKess being due not only to its
Ljfjug plot nut w us romantie
y(tl setUDK, sntpuiv uuva, toiiw-
' Mckground.
"i. "The Sauell" as you will see It
McDonald you will find pre
Lnd all of the remarkable lines
y spoken situations, all of tbe
.yir ana in huuimou ntfiuogB ui-n
iitt beyond the possibilities of the
miking" stage with its fued
i!"rl T XV.V.
10U will bvv i'i,iu iivj as nuui,
.( beautiful, disturbing gypsy girl,
,ffl!n( tli rough the life of a little
lEfirian village with Hungarian
J- liseil viviuiy repiuuui-vu ami
Tt on lle i-ieeu iti cue prnna-
fi nnd words of such other stars
. Alitt Joyce, Iioretta Toung, Zasu
ti. Richard Tucker, and Nicholas
p TO mis Time, uic uih oi souna
-rarf have been in many respects
n'ltire. The talking has been in-
InroTcn with the silent scenes in
tioj pictures, 'mere nave oeen a
,r "all-talking" pictures, but in
I Snuall, the art of the talKiug
fcrtarf has emergen in triumph, and
rth this big production the talking
rtares say that tney can do all and
!. than any previous stage craft
And ft all goes back to Pre-
-ion!
Intricate Business
TVire's a areat storr back of mrh
k Mttn.'e as "The Squall." As you
life a a comfortable seat watching
ft Dnng drama unfolding on toe
bwffl. it probably occurs to you
Kit It Is all quite simple. Funny
luebody didn't think of it long ago.
Ton nrobablv ear to yourself that
f. ill just a matter of getting a
phonographic record of the
kr-in lines and turning on . the
'Otyirapb at tbe proper point in
tfri picture. They tried that years
fct war reader. If you could get
ml Brown, manager of toe Mr-
Braid, to take jou back to the
operating rooms yon would get a
revelation.
Did you ever notice the heavy
brown curtains at the center of the
McDonald foyer. Those curtains con
ceal the Bteel doors to the fireproof
operating chamber one of the few
operating rooms in the country whirn
ia on a direct level with the screen
so that there is absolutely no angle
in pictures.
Step inride and you will think you
are in the fire control room of a
big battleship, and no fire control
officers on a big warship ever had
a more exacting job than Louis Gibba
and Gerald Endicott, the McDonald's
two specialists in the projection of
sound pictures.
The McDonald has spent more
than $20,000 on its new sound equip
ment which is Western Electric made
and include the latest patented Ho-ic-
for sound control, devices to
he ffttmH ahIt nri n
machinery. There are two huge
the room and on the walls at the
sides front and back is a mare of
dials, switches and other control in
struments. "Sound On Film"
There are two types of sound pic
tures the older type in which the
spoken lines are on a specially pre
pared phonographic record on a disc
which ia geared in with the projector
motors, and the latest tyoe which is
the "sound on film" type with the
sound on the same roll of film with
the pictures. This "sound on film"
type can be handled only by West
ern Electric devices.
We'll say Mr. Endfcotl la running
the comedy on one machine with a
diso operation as you enter. He's
pretty busy. A small horn In the
ceiling overhead gives him the sound
production just as It is being re
ceived out in the theater. In addi
tion he has a "cue .sheet" to guide
him In turning the various dials
which make the tones as soft or as
loud as desirable. He's coming to
the end of his reel and he signals to
Mr. Gibbs to get ready with the
feature.
A button is Dressed and the sec
ond machine starts revolving slowly
" wtK:y.. -Ass-.
)V?;'Ks v-: s''i Vfi
because it is necessary for It to
gather speed so that it can cut in
with the nsxt event without a mo
ment's delay in the 'program.
The comedy fnrlen out nnd I he
feature picture begins with Mr.
Gibbs operating while Mr. Endicott
is getting the second reel of the
feature ready. There's no time for
either mnn to think things out.
Every picture hai been rehearsed in
the operating room at least once and
Above the move
able sound proof cam
era booth that Is used
In taking vltaphone
sound pictures. It
must be absolutely
sound proof and Its
construction and wir
ing are a triumph of
engineering.
Below rhe type of
srojeotlon machine tr
sound pictures used at
the McDonald theater
showing the disc at
tachment for those
pictures which use
diso sound reproduc
tion. In the later
"sound-on-fllm'' pro
oess the sound record
Is part of the film It
self which can be
seen running Into the
Erojector. Xne black
ox at the lower right
side of the picture Is
the mysterious "speea
control" device which
guarantees absolute
synchronization.
in some cases many times. (West
ern Electric makes this mandatory.)
The cue sheet is only a guide. Each
picture has to be adjusted perfectly
to each theater'a acoustics.
In the McDonald, the three big
wooden horns are imrdiately back of
the screen which is the new type
transparent texture through which
tbe sound can come directly just a
it would from the mouths of living
actors. The big horn at the bottom
emphasises the low notes and the f
two ttQinlif r horn at the ton pick J
out the finost high ones. Mr. Hr.'wii I
has a perpetusl job a .-rHic.-iJ a
dinc at the rehearsals which ere "
usually betwn midnight ami mm- :
tpg on the day of a change in pie- t
tures. j
Rut the real key to perfect ?,und
pr.Mluetio ia ia "eed control." If
you attempted to run sound picture.1
witk ordiMrr current and devices i
the speed fluctuations due to current
variation would produce ihe ame
heUtm of stniaks and jarring ncises
that you get if you tamper with the
speed dial on a phoncraph while a
Kreisler record is playing.
The McDonald su-itclilvtard Is
coupled with both municipal and
Mountain States current so that
there ia a minimum chance of a
break in main power supply, hut the
pnvfri lines in the operating r"om
are uaed to charge a huge array of
storage batteries whirh are used fr-r
operating current because they give
a supply that will be teadier.
The Magic Box
Eren this, however, is not suf
ficient. He?ide each machine is a
small black iron box about the sue
of a suit case which contains the res
secrets of sound picture magic, ror
many months this box wan Lppt
sealed under requirements of West
ern Electric but now it can be
opened because its contents are bo
intricate that there is little dauger
of it being duplicated.
This sound coutrot hox which con
tains tubes, coils, wires, magnets nnd
a little bit of everythiug Known to
electricity takes the current from
the storage batteries and feeds it to
the motors which rue thf film and
the sound discs or the "sound on
film" in an absolutely even quantity.
If the motors tend lo slow down by
u fraction of a fraction it feeds in
more juice: if they tend to speed up
it cut a iu n tne juice. 1 tie spretl
is absolutely inflexible.
The '"sou nd on film" is an even
more marvelous thing. Hnck iu the
studios, the voices of the actors are
caught up in devices which trans
form sound waves to light wave of
corresponding length which can be
photogrnphed onto film it mi ihest
sound waves appear iih a series of
short and loud lines or wnvey pro
jections on the side of the picture.
Now it happens to be exactly four
teen inches f rom t he point on l he
projecting machiue where the pic
ture passed ihe nroiecinrs to tin
point where the sound enn be picked
up by the amplifiers so the Round
track has to be spliced onto the film
track exactly fourteen inches in ad
vance of the pictures no that the pie
turea and the sound will reach the
audience at precisely the same mo
ment.
It's Fool Proof
The chief advantage of "sound on
film" which is fool proof synchron
isation not possible with discs would
he lost if this splicing waa our of
line .hy a hair's breadth but they
have in Hollywood sound film cut
ters who can read the mysterious
lines and dashes the way a printer
reads type. (They frequently cor
rect the star's pronunciation by cut
tinit.) , J
Hut having got the sound track
NUBI
c.
.n'NTTTOV CITY. June 20.
1 Special ).8ervirea for the funeral
of Mr. Catherine Johnson of New
burg wilt be held from Miller's
ehspel Sunday afternoon at 8r30
o'clock. Her. Gleyeer. pastor of the
Newhurg M. E. church, officisted.
Mr. and Mrs. E. Johnson and their
fs.T:ilT came to Junction t'ity 2'2
years ago Mr. Bert Cooley. a
ds-.ithter. and her husband, with
whom Mrs. Johnson hss mads her
home, mored to N'ewburg seven
years ago where Mrs. Johnson has
lived lis For the past few year
she hss been in poor health but
only the day before her death she
was up and about as usual. At 3
o'clock on Fndav momtnr she was
J taken 111 and passed away at 8:45
a. m. or the tnme day. Mrt. John
son was Srt years, 8 months and 1-4
day old She was a native of Can
ana where ahe has two sisters Still
living. She leaves one daughter, Mrs.
Cooley ; two graodehildren. Inez
Cooley snd Mrs. Florence Brown;
and two great grandchildren. ShA
wn an actir member of the M. E.
church.
The population of the continental
Cnited States it now inerea-ing at a
rate of approximately 1 4ji0.ik0 per
sons per year, or about one person
every 23 seconds.
Omnibus and tram tickets issued
In Tendon each day total un to 7.-
1 OOO.OrtO.
Myrn Loy, as Nubl, Gypsy Gale
of Passion In "The Squall" at the
McDonald Sunday, Monday, Tues
day and Wednesday.
! the proper fourteen Inches ahead of
i the picture, the next trick is to
! transform the light waves of the
j sound irak back into sound waves
I nnd this is done by another mysieri
i ous device known as ihe "phot-elee-:
trie cell" which is a silver coated
-!!. hulb with one "eye" left bare
to catch Ihe light. The amount of
light entering this cell exactly con
' trols the amount of electrons re
leased into the amplifiers which are
viM-y much like ordinary radio loud
speakers.
For the mechanically minded per
son a trip through the sound pro
jection room would he a treat. The
iaynuin can get only the high spots,
for while the operators nre very
obliging they are also very busy
people.
However, nobody hss a more in
teresting Job. Mr. (tihbs and Mr.
F.ndicott are looking forward to mak
ing "The Squall" the beat o h!r
productions, for in these days . the
uperntor Is more than a mechanical
man. He has to be an artist with
broad knowledge of theat rical ef
fects and sound Judgment and re
sourcefulness in producing them.,
I Nearly 7i0,lW0 spiders, it hss been
estimated, would be required to pro
duce a pound of web. A single spider
has been known to spin a thrend
3I.S00 vards long.
. 4
Gold Is the bet conductor of heat,
but it is second 'as a conductor of
electricity to copper.
In Holland all Christian names
.after the first are taxed.
COMING
SUNDAY!
1THEATR&!
AND
MONDAY!
(SrWEDQ.
aidkmkd
Arthur Somers Roche's sparkling romance of
rrmadway maidens who dance through love,
luxury nnd lounge Heard without omeklns
the aholl.
lk. with
I OLIVE BORDEN
and
r TArrr iTritrn'ATT va
V LAST TIMES TONIGHT 1
f
2
sasuas
atris;
Come! Celebrate! The McDonald's "Thank-U-Week"
In Honor of Six Months of PERFECTED TALKING PICTURES in Eugene, the McDonald Has Arranged This Gala
100X ALL-TALKING! ALL-SINGING! PROGRAM UNPARALLELED
"
VllAPnogi BRINGS TO THE
'LIVING SCREEN THE STAGE
SENSATION OF THE YEAR
ALL-TALKING! ALL-SINGING! ALL-LOVING!
u u If
STARTING SUNDAY
n n n n
C 0
EXCLUSIVE WESTERN ELECTRIC SOUND SYSTEM
WHAT PRICE TALKIES?
Ti TaikiM P1ctr equipmaal Inilalled In the McDonald
to Um BlUMU thl4Taiifit of tht Western Klactrlc lab
OTtorle. and to the flMt type evolved by them TSe
'llTsstat of Iwtalllnf this equipment In the McDonald
wat nearly IE5.000, originally, and two expert enineer
of th. Western Electric company are on our payroll or
a weekly lnpeUoi and dJiiBtment of thl equipment
Doas it not itaid to rin the McDonald equipment
should "speak far itMir'T
AdlUonlly. RDoj1d. because of its l
of quipment. hm the bsoluu pick of the better ta ng
picture from the !!. producer., who "'ur,",.,wLllb
their producdons to be een and heard to the best sa
vantap: Tb McDonald will always lead.
O
,m,r. Ths MoOonsId Hss He Only
Wesrn eet: Sound System In EOoene.
fcjW&jSrf ALL-TALKING! V
ALL-SINOING! W&j4d
firiisiz&iv ALL-LovDrci rMu
t fdi&'M&a T.s 6 G.!Vy sf lUfjy.V Sjt
K.VWt, tt.r. tvsr sn sn ftfii.-.:i ;,. r!?1
Hews is) os nu f ,
ONLY AT THE McDONALD
CAN SUCHQUALITY TALKING
PICTURES BE SEEN andHEARD
THE HOME 07 PERFECTED TALKIES
t.r:
-O : T
AliJotf
yrti Lof
tichard VucsImb
Lortt Yois
Cu f itts
Carrol Wye
Esrry Cordi
Nicholas ftoujoojtaln
Knute Erlckson
George HackaUOme
MtfflrKS-PrCTtnSS
EXCLUSIVE WESTERN ELECTRIC SOUND SYSTEM
PLAN NW TO "REE AMD HEAR"
THESE BIG TALKING SPECIALS
ON V. E. $25,000.00 EQUIPMENT
"HIS LUCKY DAY," with Reginald Denny
"8TARK MAD." with H. B. Warner
"The WILD PARTY," with Clara Bow
"The VALIANT"
"The DONOVAN AFFAIR"
"The GHOST TALKS"
"THUNDERBOLT"
"The DESERT SONS"
and "BROADWAY"
"MoDensid Tsllclss Speak far Themsstvea
REMPMBKR -THE MAMMOTH McDONALD ICE
"fciSi; . - ' II 3
jaB-onSi MWfiqjDMS cool and cow?qrtable wthe. ho matter how hot .1 on m QUTsmaJ ; j
o o o o
ir