Evening star., 1924-09-07
TALKING MOVIES NEXT
They Will Be in National Colors and Record Real
Events of World.

" VERY mans house his own
L. movie theater and a movie
theater in which the charac-
A ters will move and act in their
own natural colors, against a
naturally colored background and
best of aIl-will talk as If they were
present in the flesh instead of being
mere shadows on screen. and the
whole by wireless from real, not
faxed, events.
That is not the dream of a Jules
Verne or an Fl. G. Wells. but a pre-.
diction for the not remote future OF
one Of Americas best known scien-
lists. DR.. Willis r. whitney. a man
whose achievements in practical re-
search have been honored by uniyer-
stiles and learned societies in both
Europe and the United States, a for
mer president of the American Chem
ical Society, and of the American
Electrochemical Society, member OF
the faculty of the Massachusetts, In
stitute of Technology and for the last
20 years director of the Research
Laboratory of the General Electric
Company.
Dislikes Prophecy.
DR.. Whitney is too sincere a scien-
tist to be addicted to prophecy. When
l asked him to tell me some of the
marvels which mankind might still
expect from electricity his first i'm
pulse was very courteously but very
firmly to refuse anything in the ma
ture of prediction.
safe" he said. "Inventions in the ap-
plication Of electricity such as radio
and the X-rays are developed quite
Unexpectedly from our previously un-
recognized assets. No one could
have predicted either Of them any
more than any one could have pre-
dicted the telephone or the telegraph
How about the transmission of
pictures by wireless as well as
words?" l asked.
well, that is scarcely prediction,
for it has already been accomplished
But as yet rather crudely," l sug-
gested. What are the possibilities
of it's development? Can moving pic
lures be projected by wireless through
space? Years ago Flammarion pre-
dicted that a moving picture would
one day be taken of any event, a bat
tie. for instance, and instantly prof.
ected and reproduced at any distance
from the actual scene. Is there any
thing inherently impossible in that
prediction?'
Talking Movie Coming,
Nothing whatever" rpelied DR.
Whitney. There is no practical diff
fculty in doing such a. thing today.
The only thing necessary is for some
one to work out the details We
know not only that such projections
are possible. but the talking movie in
natural colors is also quite practical
and undoubtedly will be perfected
before long. The Patent Office in
Washington is flooded with applica-
tions for patents covering numerous
methods of doing these very things.
The principles are quite well under
stood and thoroughly feasible in prac-
tice, but the very multiplicity of pat
ents is one of the difficulties in the
way of practical operation. A firm
which undertook the commercial de-
velopment of these inventions would
probably have to spend years in buy
ing patents and fighting patent
claims"
But such difficulties will be over
Gomez"
"Oh. undoubtedly. Theoretically it
man to sit in his home and have
events of the day recorded in moving
and talking pictures on one of his
blank walls"
mo matter how remote his home
was from the city?''
Distance Unimportant.
eyes. Distance would be of little
Importance. The only question in
volved would be the expense of
transmission equipment, but the
farmer in the remotest section of
the West has his radio today, and /
expect the time will come when he
will have his motion picture prof.
ector also"
How about electricity as a SER