New-York tribune., 1922-04-23

- long, narrow room, which is as black
N II as Erebus and not a whole lot cool
or, crowd of men, women and
children sits cntranced, 1t cannot properly
be called ar audience. for it hears nothirg-at
least nothing entertaining. But its collective
gszc is fixed with fascinated intensity upon
White sheet, whcreon flicker those spectaclcs
which at the time Of which l write arc so
novel they have not yet won their nickname of
''thc movies
With startling suddcnness the winkine
stare Of the crowd is diverted from the pho
tographic antics upon the sheet to hooded
cht which flashes on down front, 1t reveals
3 rather Sclf-couscious young woman seated
n front Of piano.
There is a dramatic hush. The news runs
through the distracted assembagc that it is
Edna; Edna, who plays the piano for all the
odge dances. Can it be that shc Is going to
make music here at the acknowledgement? It
AN. She is. Edna lands on the keys fortissi-
no and renders a grand march.
Thus, or something like thus, came music
20 the movies And, as all can testify Edna
started something
Possibly it was the IDEA Of that genius who
linked music and meals. While he covered
multitude of noises in both cases, the movie
innovation was decidedly the greater thought,
IS time has proved. We still are able to take
oft viii
mont. But the fate Of movie nowadays
without al least a double barrcled organ
would bc--weN look what happens to 'em
when censor sees them in the deadly silence
If projection room.
After time Edna at the piano was aug
montcd. She was reinforced by the Young
fellow who fairly good on the fiddle, and
atcr by the girl who had had four lessons
and showed great promise, so her teacher said
the flute The word spread that they had
a whole orchestra at the Globe now, and every
competing motion picture theater in town was
orced to 20 and do likewise
Although it is not generally realized. this
q period when the future of motion pic
lures was seriously threatened. Two things
ravcd them. First, the fact that about nine
tcntns OF the attention Of the audience was
on the picture rather than the musical atroci-
ties being pcrpotrated Second, that the SIGN
out front which said Continuous Perform
anccs' meant the pictures and not the or.
chcstra
In one other development of the musical ad
dltion did the movies face disaster, and thai
was IN the abortive practice which soon fol
lowed upon The increase in the orchestra Can
forget the horrors OF illustrated songs?
The house would be half lighted A soprano
Or q tenor would come Sinking and sinpc1ing
from the wings. Sentimental slides in SOU
devastating chrome colors would be thrown
on the screen and a ballad would burst upon
~. After vocaliy interpreting the amorous
dallylng OF two peculiar looking persons amid
surroundings of alleged natural beauty, the
singer would make motions with his or her
hands and utter the perfectly preposterous re-
quest that 'all ioin III the chorus" And some
Of the aud>ence-ah, how it shattered ones
faith in ones fellow men-actuallv would
But this phase has passed, and that it NAV
come agail-heaven and Hays torefend!
To-day the orchestras are symphonic and the
\ only flats they play arc those written in
the music. The sopranos are colo1atura: they
not only do not asa any one 10 60 cuckoo
cuckoo with them in the choruses but thc,.
would DC quite pecvcd If any one tried.