The Wilmington morning star., 1940-05-28
In Hollywood
BY BILL PORTER
NEA Service Staff Corresponds

Observation-Disclosures is hard
to describe. It's really so simple
It's difficult to put on paper.
The purpose of Sonovox is to
change a sound such as a buzz
saw, a high wind. music, lip
movements into spoken English.
1t will be especially useful in
movie cartoons and in making
foreign versions of American films.
The sonovox instrument looks
like two small cans of evaporated
milk with a wire from each run
ming to a monograph. The cans
take the place of the loud speaker
on the monograph. On the phono-
graph is played a record of the
sound to be changed into English.
For instance, there's a record of
a hurricane. This sound comes
from the little cans, slightly muted
because there is no sound box.
Consequently, to amplify the
sound a sound box IS needed.
The operators throat and
mouth acts as the sound box.
The two little cans are pressed
one on each side of the Adams
apple. When this is done the hurri-
cane can be heard better coming
out of the operators mouth.
Now the problem is to m a k e
words. This is done simply by 60
ing through the motions of talking
without making any sound. Qt's as
If you talked to someone on a train
as you stand on the platform wait
ing for the train to leave.) In this
way the hurricane sound is shaped
into words.
when you talk" explained Gil
bert Wright, the Inventor, you
start a sound in your vocal co1r
If you just hold your mouth open
you don't say any words, but ii
you articulate with your lips you
form words. That's what you do
with Sonovox, except that the
sound is supplied for YOU"
VIBRATOR BUTTONS
DO THE WORK
The sound is vibrated into your
throat by the broad vibrator but
tons which are on top of the cans.
These vibrators take the place of
the diaphragm on a loud speaker.
The cans themselves are almost
identical to the mechanical part
of a loud speaker.
With Sonovox, anybody can sing
like Bing Crosby, and Crosby's
songs ar be changed to any Ian.
guage without changing his voice.
For instance, if Crosby yer to
make a recording of IF 1 Had My
Way a Frenchman could hold the
Sonovox instruments against his
Adams apple and articulate the
lyrics silently in French. The re-
suit would be Bing Crosby's voice
singing French.
Mrs. Gilbert Wright, wife of the
inventor, demonstrated this chang
ing of 20 sole Mo-" sung in Ital-
ian by a tenor. She followed the
tune by art~iculating the lyrics in
English. The result was the tenor
voice singing English coming out
of Mrs. Wright's mounth.
In the same way one man can
be a whole b~arbershop quartet.
This was illustrated by an electric
organ playing harmony which
through Sonovox came out of one
mans mouth as he articulated the
lyrics.
ESPECIALLY USEFUL
IN CARTOONS
Walt Disney has already leased
cartoon rights to Sonovox. Para
mount has leased an instrument
to make ghostly winds talk in
The Ghost Breakers" And So
novox will be valuable in making
foreign versions of American films.
Instead of needing a whole for
eign cast to dub in a foreign lam
guage on film. one man will be
able to change Clark Cables
English into Spanish still retaining
Cables voice. And the same man
can change Myrna Logs English
into Spanish, French, or any Ian
guage merely by shaping the for
eign words with his lips.
Sonovox will also be a help to
people who have lost their voices.
A small instrument carried in the
pocket would give them a voice
which they could form into words.
st won't be any use to deaf
mutes, however," said Mr.. Wright,
because deaf mutes having never
heard sounds don't know how to
form them
Gilbert Wright isn't an inventor
by profession, but a writer. His
invention is a result of his writ
ing.
Il wrote a story in which the
hero believes he killed a girl"
Wright explained. He takes a
train to try to get away but the
clickety clack of the train wheels
keep saying, You killed her. 1t
would have sounded silly to haze
an offstage voice say those words.
l had to make the wheels say
them. So I worked out Sonovox.
No, the story was never pro-