Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-29
LONE talkies will soon be on
the market in a big way,
and in their wake will

7 LONE talkies will soon be on
r the market in a big way,
and in their wake will
come a new wrinkle in
home entertainment called read
ing machines" or talking books.
Regarded as the natural pre-
cursor of televiSion, which must
very nearly equal film reproduc-
lions to be generally accepted by
| the public, talking motion picture
apparatus for the home will be
sold largely through radio dealers
Cameras with sound Synchroniz-
ing accessories will also be mar
keted, and feature films with
sound accomplishments will be
offered on a rental basis.
Talking books are not yet
ready to emerge from the acouSti-
cal laboratories which are produc-
ing radios and the talking picture
equipment, but they are definitely
on their way. Voices reading full
length books, magazine and news
paper articles and other teXtual
features are to be recorded on
films or disks to be heard through
a reading machine" that will
intone them for hours without
interruption.
The reading robot" idea was
inspired by a long-felt necessity
among the blind, though its ire
mendouS possibilities for general
Institutional and entertainment
purposes are not being overlooked
Such a device is technically prac-
ticable at the moment, but copy
right problems and the fact that
the radio makers are now con-
centrated on home talkies and
radio improvements are holding
back its emergence
Though some televiSion ap-
paratuS is already on the market
and a dozen or more visual broad
casting stations are now Offering
regular programs, televiSion is
still regarded officially as an ex-
perimental field for those who are
technically minded or interested
in tinkering with that all
important development. Fortu-
nately for the television expert
mentors, there are tens of thou
sands thus inclined.
To bring more satisfactory eye
appeal to the audible in home
entertainment, and also because
the demand for radios has been
markedly on the decline of late
some of the radio makers already
closely identified with the motion
picture industry are turning to the
home talkieS to stimulate 1878
interest and sales. Some of the
talking picture projectors will bt
incorporated in radio and phono-
graph combinations. Relatively
low price ranges are promised
both for the original equipment
and the rented film and dish
subjects.
The appeal will be both to de-
voices of amateur photography
and among prospective buyers O.
radio sets. 'Film the antics anC
record the first lispings of you
baby" and take your own voice
and screen tests" will be employed
as slogans when the cameras anC
projectors come on the market
Several companies have already
placed their equipment among
distributors, but the big public
Splurge will come next Fall aftel
the radio trade has viewed thu
apparatus of the various manu-
facturers at their annual trade
show in Chicago this June.
Not much is being said publicl!
about the reading machines,
but the laboratories are known tt
be busy on this device, a relatively
simple adaptation of phonograpl
and talking film principles. On
system, devised by Allen Canton
New York inventor, is being Spon'
Sored by Morris S. Frank, man.
aging director of 1.-THE Seeing
Eye" an institution at Nashville
Tenn, devoted to training dogs a!
guides for the blind. It is simply
a small simplifying system thai
speaks out recording from strips
of an exceedingly thin film sub,
stance which is rolled like a mo-
ton picture reel, and one winding
Of which carries thousands o.
words.
Not only books and spoken
articles, but full-length opera:
and lectures can be recorded fol
reproduction through an ampli.
flying system not unlike a radio
receiver, that can be manufac-
tured and sold at a fairly small
cost. The Canton system is one
of a number of such device,
now occupying the attention o.
scientists.
| A MOTHER step in the develop.
"A ment of the National Press
Building in Washington as the
Nations radio center was disclosed
with the announcement last week
of plans to establish there q
permanent exhibit of the latest
types of radio transmitting anc
accessory equipment.
The organization, to be known
as the National Radio Equipment