Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-10-23
WHAT MUSIC DOES FOR THE MOVIES,
AND SOME THINGS IT MAY DO
Without Music Movie House Would Be Too Terrible
to Sit In-Some Music Is Worse
Than None
By Will r. ANTLSDEL

HlHE first thing that ought to be said
labOut mrsic and the movies is that the
movies owe a lot to music, and 30 far
music owes nothing to the movies. That
is not a knock Music is old enough to
give away a little. and Il Is strong enough
not to need any help.
Looking at pictures occupies only one
sense-sight Now the intense stare which
you and give to the screen Is little
too much for us. II picture were shown
in dead silence. without any leaders. the
silence and the suspense would be unbear-
able. We'd want TO get up and yell In
simplest terms. the music does our yell
ing for us.
Too often that is literally true. The
loud piano. the organ pushed to the ut
most, or the orchestra playing what the
critics might call a tutti. fortissimo, are
all mistakes. because they distract from
the picture. But the well-regulated pro-
gram, played by an intelligent accom-
panist, is a necessitv to the success Of a
picture
I saw sfnteIligent .,,ompanist'' because
the music must be only an accompani-
ment and should never have special
part of its own, except between pictures
To show what I mean. let me illustrate
from a picture recently shown here, as
compared with a song recital The great
song writers have realized the position
Of the piano and have subdued II at GER
tain moments. let II sing out bravely at
others and sometimes carried along the
feeling of the song after the song is done.
They have also known the value OF let
ting the voice 20 Il alone. In The Iron
Strain" CTriangle) there was a tremen-
dous scene between two girls concerning
a man. One of the girls was the mans
wife the other a Tilted sweetheart As
the two fought with fists, tool. the
music swept up, growing in volume and
| IN effectiveness as the hght progressed.
| Then the sweetheart broke free from the
other girl and swung around with a mood
of words. You could hear her talk. You
could feel the silence In the room as the
man and his wife watched her, afraid
to interrupt You knew what she was
| saving and why she was saying IL. And
| the total effect Of this whole scene was
due TO the fact that the music had
stopped-stopped absolutely.
OF course that was an exception.
Usually you have to blend music and
action, as Is done notably in The Birth
| Of a Nation" The choice Of old Southern
tunes and Of Northern military tunes
was dictated by history more than by Mt
ness, although. they are all admirable.
But the use Of the Wallyrie music, from
the Nfbelungen Lied Of Wagner, is a pos
live inspiration. II is played whenever
the Klan Is shown flying over the coun-
tryside. It stirs the audience uncon-
sciously No one realizes that the music
is helping the color and the action and
| the plot TO excite him But the music
does help.
Some criticism OF the use Of 'In the Hall
Of the Mountain King" from the famous
Peer Gynt suite, has been made. This
music Is used in the scenes showing Pc
tersburg and the burning Of Atlanta df
memory does not play me tricks). The
only answer is that IL the music fits II
| ought to be. used. Probably more people
win associate the music with ''The Birth
OF a Nation" than with Ibsen's play.
The great danger OF music in the
| movies is that IL tends to become stale.
Every time a bride is shown the accom-
panist plays Here Comes the Bride" :"
! EVERY time a queer hat appears you
hear where Did You Get That Hat7"
IN the bass. Last year every love scene
went to the Partisan tune, ''Un Peu
1 d'Amor'' ('.Just a Little Love. a Little
Kiss'0; and 50 on. That's a great pity,
because the audience viii eventually get
tired and because a fresh picture needs
music to carry II over The life OF an
accornpanist no doubt, is not a very
merry one although IL may be exciting
tc watch Jack Dalton nine times a day
come within half an inch Of killing lit
1 tie Mary Pickstein. The accompanist has