11min | Documentary, Animation, Short, Family | 21 June 1929 (USA)
Animated figure Talkie gets a visit from his friend Mutie in search for a job. Talkie takes him to the Western Electric sound lab, where a technician explains the process of putting sound on film and reproducing it in the theatre.
Directors: Max Fleischer, F. Lyle Goldman
Writer: Charles W. Barrell
Stars: Carlyle Ellis, Billy Murray, Walter Scanlan
Animated figure Talkie gets a visit from his friend Mutie in search for a job. Talkie takes him to the Western Electric sound lab, where a technician explains the process of putting sound on film and reproducing it in the theatre.
Directors: Max Fleischer, F. Lyle Goldman
Writer: Charles W. Barrell
Stars: Carlyle Ellis, Billy Murray, Walter Scanlan
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00♪♪♪
00:30♪♪♪♪
00:37Hello.
00:44Meet me...
00:46nah-ah-haa.
00:48Mee-meet-a-haaa.
00:50Oh, oh.
00:52Ha-ha-ha-ha.
00:54Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.
00:57Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.
01:00Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.
01:33Hey, Mute, what's the big idea of busting up my act?
01:40Why, Mutey, I'm a new man.
01:55Haven't you heard about the wonderful thing Dr. Weston did for me?
01:59He pepped up my throat, gave me a set of vocal cords.
02:02You ought to see him.
02:03Take it from me, you'll never land a job the way you are.
02:17Let's go.
02:22Here we are.
02:23Hello, talkie, what's on your mind now?
02:37Doc, my old friend, Mutey, wants you to put him through the works.
02:47Why, man, you still run on 60.
02:57We'll have to pep you up to 90.
03:00Open your mouth.
03:03Come right along with me.
03:15Now, talkie, let's put on an act.
03:17Permit him follow us through.
03:23Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey,
03:44Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey,
03:51Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, Mutey, M
04:21How the sound is picked up by the microphones on the stage.
04:25Sound waves are picked up by this wonderful mechanical ear, the microphone, which is really a glorified telephone transmitter.
04:33This microphone changes the sound waves into electrical vibrations, which are amplified here and sent along these wires to the mixer room.
04:42The sounds from the stage microphones are mixed here so that they're natural for the action in the production.
04:48Mr. Mixer sees the actors through this window and hears them only through this horn.
05:05Now that we've got the sound right, I'll show you how it's amplified. Get ready.
05:11Mm-hmm.
05:16The power from the microphones is amplified about 10 million times by these vacuum tubes,
05:22making the voice current strong enough to operate the machine that photographs the sound.
05:28Do you follow me?
05:30This is the machine that is used to record the sound on film.
05:46This sound film is traveling at the same rate of speed as the picture film in the camera booth.
05:52The light valve has two thin metal strings stretched across this tiny slit.
05:58On one side of the slit is a strong light, while on the other is a film moving at exactly the same speed as the picture camera in the studio.
06:07The greatly amplified voice current passing through these tiny light valve strings moves them closer together or further apart, thus changing the size of the slit.
06:18Therefore, the light varies as it passes through this rapidly changing opening, leaving a true photographic record of the voice currents on the film.
06:29Simple, isn't it? Huh?
06:32Now let's look at the films after they've been developed.
06:37Well, here we are. Here are our two negatives developed.
06:42The next step is to print these two negatives onto a third piece of film.
06:48We'll print the sound record first, and then the picture record.
06:55Here we have a completed sound print, and we are now ready for projection.
07:04This is the picture and sound projector.
07:09One motor drives both the picture and sound equipment.
07:14You see?
07:16Let me illustrate this with a simple diagram.
07:19This lamp illuminates the soundtrack on the film.
07:23The light from the lamp passes through the slit, throwing a very narrow line of brilliant light on the soundtrack.
07:30As the film runs past this light, the marks on the soundtrack cause the light to increase and decrease.
07:39This light, in turn, causes the current through the photoelectric cell to increase and decrease, thus reproducing the electric vibrations first created by the sound wave.
07:50The current from the photoelectric cell is pepped up by the amplifier, and then this amplified current is carried by wires along through the theater and down to the screen on the stage to connect with the loudspeakers.
08:10This is a typical layout of the stage set, with two horns behind the screen.
08:16The receivers connected to the horns convert the electrical vibrations back into sound waves exactly the way the telephone receiver operates,
08:25so that while the picture is being shown, the sound which was recorded is reproduced in step with the picture.
08:36The screen is full of small holes so that the horns may be placed behind the screen to let the sound through.
08:42This gives the illusion that the sound is coming from the image of the speaker.
08:48Talkie, there goes your cue. You're next on screen, while Mutey can go try on his new voice.
08:56Talkie?
08:58Just a call, that's my voice.
09:03Whoopee! I found my voice! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Let me into that machine!
09:09No, you can't go on now! Talkie's doing his stuff.
09:13I can't, eh, Professor Woody? You'll just watch me!
09:22Whee! Wow! Whee!
09:26Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Ho! Ho! Wee!
09:36Look here smarty, if you must stay on the screen with me, suppose we get together with
09:42a little close harmony, what do you say?
09:46Good night ladies, good night ladies, good night ladies, we're going to leave you now.
10:06Merrily we roll along, roll along, roll along, merrily we roll along o'er the deep blue sea.
10:18Good night ladies, good night ladies, good night ladies, we're going home.
10:35you