Irene E. TaylorIntroduction to MIAPTechnological History of Fox Movietone News From Edison’s attempts to incorporate the technologies of moving pictures and the phonograph to the synchronized sound in Don Juan (1926) and of course, The Jazz Singer (1927), the history of the development of sound in the cinema has been well documented.1 The purpose here then is not to restate the history of sound, but rather to better illustrate the involvement of Theodore Case and E.I. Sponable and their sound-on-film invention lead to the formation of the Fox-Case Corporation in 1926. The reason this development is so significant in film history is because it allowed for the testing of sound on film. The reason this arrangement is so important for this paper is because the testing and practice was done largely through the newsreel. In three 1947 issues of the Journal of the Motion Picture Engineers, Earl Sponable, not surprisingly, plays up the magnitude Theodore Case had on the history of sound in cinema.2 Relying heavily on Case’s own correspondence, Sponable gives a year-by-year account of the development of sound films, up to andincluding the success of Movietone News. Case began in 1911 to experiment on sound recording while still a student at Yale University. He and Sponable met and began to work together in 1916 (Figure 1a).3 Theirs was not the only collaboration. At times, Case and Sponable were involved with Dr. Lee de Forest, engineers at the Bell and Howell Company, as well as the Western Electric Company. The 1 See, for example, Harry M. Geduld, The Birth of the Talkies: From Edison to Jolson (Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1975), Evan Willaim Cameron, ed. Sound and the Cinma: The Coming of Sound to American Film (Pleasantville: Redgrave, 1980), and Edward W. Kellogg’s multiple installments, “History of Sound Motion Pictures,” Journal of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers 64 (1955): 291-302; 356-74; and 422-37. 2 E.I. Sponable, “Development of Sound Films,” in Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers 48 (1947): 275-303; and 407-22.3 Sponable, 284.1involvement with de Forest concerned the perfection of a photoelectric cell that could be used to capture sound without using up too much heat or power. This ultimately lead to what was termed the “Aeo-light,” which “operated at between 200and 400 v[olts].”4 Sponable, on the other hand, designed and had built by Bell and Howell, a new sound camera (Figure 2) in February 1923, which was tested “with good results.”5 The collaboration with Western Electric Company was in regards to the use of amplifiers and was solidified in early December 1925.It was not until the fall of 1925, after the working arrangements between Case and de Forest were, as Kellogg diplomatically phrases it “terminated” that “the Case laboratory efforts were directed largely to recording principles and apparatus”.6 The results of these efforts were in the design and building of a projector attachment that would work with existing silent projectors. It was during this time that the decision was made “to place the soundhead under the projector, and the offset of 20 frames or 14 ½ in. between picture and sound was established.”7After undergoing numerous extensive tests of what was termed “the Case system,” Case and the Fox Film Corporation entered into an agreement on July 23, 1926, and thus formed the Fox-Case Corporation.8 This date is noteworthy because,4 Kellogg, 295.5 Sponable, 289.6 Kellogg, 295. Film historians have made much of the fact that de Forest never received full compensation for all that he did in the development of sound motion pictures. Sponable himself mentions that de Forest sued both Fox and Case in August 1926 for patent infringement. However, it never went to trial. In his article, Sponable does not defend himself or Case, but rather points out throughout that it was a mutual collaboration. Sponable, 407.7 Kellogg, 295. De Forest’s design had placed the attachment above the projection head. Sponable, 295.8 Raymond Fielding, “The Technological Antecedents of the Coming of Sound: An Introduction,” in Sound and the Cinema: The Coming of Sound to American Film, ed. Evan William Cameron (Pleasantville: Redgrave, 1980), 17. Sponable relates that in this agreement, “Case turned over all patents and rights in his system of talking picture to the new company….agree[ing] to continue his laboratory for the purpose of making recording lights, photoelectric cells, and for general development purposes. Sponable, 302. Interestingly, on another matter, at least one film historian has cited William Fox’s somewhat apathetic feelings toward the development of sound on film. Geduld, 146. However, Sponable gives the impression was one of distrust rather than apathy, when he recalls that 2one of the first demonstrations of the Case system was done in May of that year, four months before the Don Juan premiere.9 In August 1926, Sponable moved to “New York to take part in commercializing the Case system.”10 Courtland Smith11 was made general manager, and “Movietone” was chosen as the commercialized name for the system. A few months later, on January 21, 1927, the “first public showing of Fox-Case ‘Movietone’ subjects [Racquel Meller and Harry Lauder, both popular singers] was given at the Sam Harris Theater in connection with the premiere of ‘What Price Glory,’ though not advertised”.12 This early public demonstration proved that not only was sound-on-film a viable probability for the future of film, but its future success was solidified in June when Charles Lindbergh’s welcome to Washington after his transatlantic flight was recorded by the Fox-Case system.While news subjects, such as Lindbergh’s welcoming, along with a speech given by Mussolini, and several musical numbers had been shown, it was not until October 28, 1927 that the first Movietone News was exhibited. Not only did this first showing establish Movietone News as what would become a commonplace feature at first-run theaters, but it also cemented the procedure of showing several short and frequently unrelated subjects together.13The popularity and success of Movietone cannot be overstated. Not only did the release of Movietone News increase from one to three issues per week in a little when shown the process at his home, “Mr. Fox was at first suspicious of the process;