''Finding His Voice'' (1929) is a

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

, created as an instructional film on how the

Western Electric The Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company officially founded in 1869. A wholly owned subsidiary of American Telephone & Telegraph for most of its lifespan, it served as the primary equipment ma ...

sound-on-film Sound-on-film is a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying a picture is recorded on photographic film, usually, but not always, the same strip of film carrying the picture. Sound-on-film processes can either record an analog ...

recording system worked. Recording stars Billy Murray and

Walter Scanlan Walter Van Brunt (22 April 1892 – 11 April 1971) was an American tenor known initially for his recordings on Thomas Alva Edison's Blue Amberol Records and later for his role in a scandal involving a stage name and case of adultery. Biogra ...

, uncredited, provide the speaking and singing voices. Murray also provided the voice for the

Fleischer Studios Fleischer Studios () is an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures, the parent company and the distributor of i ...

character

Bimbo Bimbo is slang for a conventionally attractive, sexualized, naive, and unintelligent woman. The term was originally used in the United States as early as 1919 for an unintelligent or brutish man. As of the early 21st century, the "stereotypic ...

Plot

A live-action hand draws a strip of (sound) film, which takes the form of a human head, which uses musical notes to form a body. Then he sings notes that form a xylophone. Then, he performs a short solo, until another piece of film (silent) jumps on him. The talking strip yells, "Hey, Mute! What's the big idea, ruining my act?" The silent piece uses

sign language Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign l ...

, with subtitles above, asking him about his voice's origin. He talks about a man named "Dr. Western" that gave him "a set of vocal cords", saying he needs to see him, too. They go to his office, with "

Talkie A sound film is a motion picture A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, percep ...

" telling him to put "'Mutie' through the 'works.'" They go on a filming set, where Talkie sings "

Love's Old Sweet Song "Love's Old Sweet Song" is a Victorian parlour song published in 1884 by composer James Lynam Molloy and lyricist Graham Clifton Bingham. The first line of the chorus is "Just a song at twilight", and its title is sometimes misidentified as su ...

." Then, Dr. Western explains every step of the Western Electric process of sound recording, and Mutie finally earns his voice, as Talkie is performing his song. He jumps onto the stage and disrupts his solo. He asks him to calm down, and they perform "

Goodnight, Ladies "Goodnight, Ladies" is a folk song attributed to Edwin Pearce Christy, originally intended to be sung during a minstrel show. Drawing from an 1847 song by Christy entitled "Farewell, Ladies", the song as known today was first published on May 16 ...

" and " Merrily We Roll Along" as they sail on a boat, with the awkward ending of a

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

eating the boat and an advertisement for Western Electric.

Production background

Late in 1926,

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

and

created a licensing division, Electrical Research Products Inc. (ERPI), to handle rights to the company's film-related audio technology. (In ''Finding His Voice'', the credits give W. E. Erpi as the author of the story.) The

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...

sound-on-disc system

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one th ...

still had legal exclusivity, but having lapsed in its royalty payments, effective control of the rights was in ERPI's hands. On December 31, 1926—just four months after the premiere of the first Vitaphone feature ''

Don Juan Don Juan (), also known as Don Giovanni (Italian), is a legendary, fictional Spanish libertine who devotes his life to seducing women. Famous versions of the story include a 17th-century play, '' El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra'' ...

''—Warners granted

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

Case Case or CASE may refer to: Containers * Case (goods), a package of related merchandise * Cartridge case or casing, a firearm cartridge component * Bookcase, a piece of furniture used to store books * Briefcase or attaché case, a narrow box to c ...

a sublicense for the use of the Western Electric system. In exchange for the sublicense, both Warners and ERPI received a share of Fox's related revenues. The patents of all three concerns were cross-licensed. Superior recording and amplification technology were now available to two Hollywood studios, pursuing two very different methods of sound reproduction. Although the film explained the Western Electric sound-on-film system, when the film was initially released, the sound was provided by the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system. Co-director F. Lyle Goldman had done the animation for ''Wireless Telephony'' (1921) and ''The Mystery Box'' (1922) for the

Bray Studios Bray Productions was a pioneering American animation studio that produced several popular cartoons during the years of World War I and the early interwar era, becoming a springboard for several key animators of the 20th century, including the ...

and released by

Goldwyn Pictures Goldwyn Pictures Corporation was an American motion picture production company that operated from 1916 to 1924 when it was merged with two other production companies to form the major studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was founded on November 19, 1 ...

, and ''The Ear'' (1920) for

International Film Service International Film Service (IFS) was an American animation studio created to exploit the popularity of the comic strips controlled by William Randolph Hearst. History In 1914, William Randolph Hearst expanded his International News Service wire ...

and released by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

.Goldman's entry at IMDB
/ref>

References

Bibliography

* Douglas Gomery, ''The Coming of Sound: A History'' (New York and Oxon, UK: Routledge, 2005) {{ISBN, 0-415-96900-X

External links

''Finding His Voice'' at IMDB

''Finding His Voice'' available for download at Internet Archive

''Finding His Voice'' at the AT&T Tech Channel Archive
1929 films 1920s English-language films Fleischer Studios short films 1929 short films Films about filmmaking American black-and-white films 1920s American films

Plot

Production background

See also

References

Bibliography

External links