The Washington times., 1929-06-08

To Mr.. Charles Hayden and
his merry melody men with
union cards who congregate
daily at the E Street head
quarters, the ballot victory will
probably be accepted as hope
full sign.
Most of those who took the
trouble to cross an K accom-
panied the vote with a written
comment explaining their choice.
These opinions are interesting
indeed, since they apparently
show that with many of the
regular F Street patrons, SYM
chronized film music fails to
completely satisfy those who
prefer the opportunity of seeing
the note actually manufactured.
To quote a few:
"Can the canned music"
Gust a good, live orchestra
Is all that is needed"
"Synchronized accompaniment
spoils a good picture. Real
music is best"
"Give me Breeskin and I'll
never ask for more"
Organ and orchestra music
suits me to T."
81 object to synchronized
music, as it makes it harder
to hear the dialogue.
"Nine-tenths of my friends
agree with me. We are for
silent pictures and the orchestra.
''Let the orchestra play the
theme songs"
I could go on, but why bore
you.
Let's pass on to the matter of
the chattering cc...:..-c lids vs.. the
dumb flickers.
The talking pictures have a
decided advantage over the old
fashioned kind with our voting
public. The result is hardly a
surprise, for Washington the
aters, in common with those all
over the country, have discov-
cred that dialogue and syn
chronized features reveal a pop
ularity at the box office which
tells a practical story to the
ater financiers. They outrdraw
by a substantial margin those
which depend entirely upon the
written sub-titles. Some of the
accompanying comment reads:
"The dialogue pictures are
100 per cent better than silent
ones"
"The Doctors Secret" won me
over. I prefer the talking fea-
lures"
IT sometimes strain to catch
the words, but I like the dia-
logue with my pictures"
with all their imperfections
they are big improvement.
"I detest the half -and-half
kind, but l like the talkies."
81 like the dialogue features
best, but | think the theme
songs are overdone."
catalogue pictures with
synchronizcd accompaniment are
such big Improvement over the
old order that there is no COM
parison We shouldn't judge
them too harshly as they are
getting better and better with
each new one"
The silent films still have
their champions as the vote of
81 ballot markers attests. Their
comment rips and tears into the
sound and dialogue cinemas.
II have never heard good
one yet" writes one disgruntled
customer of the takers.
"The theater which has the
courage to play the best silent
features and good shorts will
make the most money" pens
another.
1--WE beg of you to. produce
only clean, uplifting pictures
and give us beautiful music"
is the plea of third silent en-
tertainment advocate.
I could string out another col
umn with these snappy COM
ments, but enough has been said
to summarize the conflicting
opinions and provide a definite
idea of what those who make it
possible for the theaters to pay
the dividends, like and dislike
n their movie menu.
In conclusion, a hearty word
of thanks to those who set down
their opinions and helped make
this straw ballot enlightening
and representative of an in
telligent segment of the average
RRSie audience,