Let’s remember when video with sound technology first debuted in Seattle, on this day in 1927 (December 2)
This is all very cool, if you ask me.
From HistoryLink’s Eric Flom and David Wilma:
On December 2, 1927, sound-on-film motion picture technology debuts in Seattle at the Blue Mouse Theater, located at 1421 5th Avenue. Fox Movietone News shows the departure of Col. Charles Lindbergh (1902–1974) on his solo flight across the Atlantic, as well as the Washington D.C., reception held upon his return, hosted by President Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933).
Lee DeForest (1873–1961) developed this early sound-on-film technology, called Phonofilm. “The sound waves are transformed into light rays that are filmed on the edge of the picture” reported The Seattle Times. “When the film is run off in a theater, the light rays are amplified back into sound waves and in perfect synchronization with the picture. By means of it, the patrons at the Blue Mouse will see and hear great events of the last few weeks just as if they were there in person when the film was actually made.”
Although the competing Vitaphone disk technology offered greater sound fidelity, Phonofilm was more convenient for outdoor production and for sound editing. Other developments soon replaced both Vitaphone and Phonofilm.
The new Phonofilm technology came to the Blue Mouse through the efforts of manager John Hamrick (1876–1956), who owned and operated several movie theaters in the Pacific Northwest. The Phonofilm coup came on the heels of his success with the Vitaphone format, which he had debuted at the Blue Mouse only nine months earlier. “This is what John Hamrick has brought back with him from his recent trip to New York,” observed the Times, “and he says it will startle Seattle all over again, just as did the Vitaphone.”
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