Photokinema

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the international photo and imaging trade fair, see photokina.

Photo-Kinema (some sources say Phono-Kinema) was a

motion pictures
invented by Orlando Kellum.

1921 introduction

The system was first used for a small number of

Harding administration
.

Kellum also filmed musical numbers, including a performance of the song "De Ducks" by

F. E. Miller and Aubrey Lyles who wrote the book for the musical Shuffle Along (1921), and The Famous Van Eps Trio in a Bit of Jazz (1921), featuring Fred Van Eps, father of musician George Van Eps.[1]

A filmed performance by Sir Harry Lauder made in Phono-Kinema is preserved at the UCLA Film and Television Archive but the disc with the sound is lost.

D. W. Griffith and Dream Street

The process was most famously used by

Chronomegaphone) and Pathé in France, and others, but they were only used for short films. Dream Street was the first feature-length film
in which a frame-synchronous human voice was heard from a sound recording of any kind.

Some prints of Dream Street show Griffith speaking in a brief introduction to the film. However, the sound quality was poor, and Dream Street was only shown with sound at two theaters in New York City.

The silent version premiered on April 12, 1921 at the Central Theatre in New York City. On April 27, Griffith and Ralph Graves filmed and recorded their respective sound segments at Orlando Kellum's Photokinema office at 203 West 40th Street.[2][3]

The premiere of the sound version of Dream Street took place on May 2, 1921 at

Town Hall in New York City with Griffith's introduction. On May 15, the film also featured two other short sound sequences — Ralph Graves singing, and background noise in a scene showing a craps game. Unfortunately, no other theaters could show the sound version of the film, since no other theaters had the Photokinema sound system installed.[4]

On Sunday, May 29, Dream Street moved to the Schubert-Crescent Theater in Brooklyn in a program with Phonokinema short films. However, business was poor and the program soon closed.

Phonokinema overshadowed by other systems

Phonokinema was soon overshadowed by the

Fox Movietone in 1927 and RCA Photophone
in 1928.

According to

Internet Movie Database, two low-budget Westerns released in 1930, Sagebrush Politics and The Apache Kid's Escape, the latter film with Western star Jack Perrin
, were the last two films released in the Phonokinema system.

In 1982, Kellum's widow donated the surviving films made with the Phonokinema process to the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

See also

References

  1. ^ The Famous Van Eps Trio in a Bit of Jazz at SilentEra.com
  2. ISBN 9780195088113
    .
  3. ^ "Griffith to Present Sound Film at Town Hall Tomorrow", The New York Times (May 1, 1921), Drama and Music section, page 78
  4. ^ Scott Eyman, The Speed of Sound (1997), page 43

External links

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