Evening star., 1936-03-15

. uiOoi1AkShS AASLlt dhu Pldub q uuClO
phone near enough to him to catch
accurately his mournful cry.
Wild animals kept by circuses and
menageries in captivity have been
rather extensively recorded and cata-
logued. It Is the more simple animal
sounds that offer the studio recording
department the greatest difficulty.
No mouse has ever squeaked for
the benefit Of that department-and
Kay Francis has never screamed. The
mouse sound was missed because the
frightened rodent wouldn't squeak
near the microphone, and Miss Francis
has never screamed because she is
temperamentally and physically un-
able to do so.
Laughing hyenas have laughed for
the Warner mike, but no one has ever
recorded a whale blowing-although
1t Is said to be a noise unlike any
other ever heard by man. Squirrel
chatter is another animal sound as
yet never caught for picture purposes.
A crew worked for four nights one
Summer trying to catch the song of
a nightingale which had been located
near the Cathay Circle Theater in
Los Angeles. That venture was finally
successful. They tricked a dog into
howling for the microphone. He was
LETT alone for two hours on a dark
ened sound stage until he was thor
oughly lonesome. Then, through an
installed loud speaker. one Of the
sound engineers played a mournful
tune on harmonica. The dog howled
justify and his lament was heard in
The Case Of the Howling Dog" and
will undoubtedly be heard again in
future pictures. He can, when neces-
sary, be doubled in for the missing
coyote.
Camel noises were caught for the
first time during the filming of the
Ark sequence in THE Green Pastures"
Just q few weeks ago, but the bobcats
cry Is still missing from the sound Ii
brary. A school Of fish jumping is
another animal sound" that no enter
prising sound man has so far managed
to record.
But the biggest gap in the sound
effects list is that left by the absence
Of the noises made by nature on a
rampage. No Nebraska blizzard has
been recorded in sound to date. No
real earthquake rumble has yet been
caught in films, since it obviously is
impossible to know when and where
such an earthquake will take place.
There is no tornado noise listed and
no volcanic eruption.
Sound men would give their shirts
to be on hand with a recording device
when the ice breaks up on the Yukon
River or at the birth of an iceberg.
The ice noises now catalogued contain
nothing more impressive than, the
chipping Of ice for use in a cocktail
shaker.
Sound imitators," people who
earned their living during the early
days of talking pictures by making
animal noises for the microphone, long
ago lost their jobs, except In cartoon
and radio work. There is no single
initiated sound" in the whole library.
But there are some amusing ones, as
follows:
Mad tomcat, with hisses." Chew
ing gum (very juicy)." Socks on the
puss." "Glove to the button" lone
person eating celery. 1.-TWO people
eating celery" Girl sobbing and
blowing her nose (Bette Davis)." ;"
Kisses and kitchen noises" "Red
clothes being changed" Boiling pot. ~
Animal sounds include dogs eating
frogs croaking, bees swarming, hogs
grunting, birds chirping, monkeys
chattering, woodpeckers pecking, ele-
plants trumpeting and sea gulls max
ing sea gull noises" The "cat new
ing" will be heard In Colleen" soon
to open on Broadway. It was re-
! corded by the studio cat, of the alley