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Show Blind People Can AW 'Sec9 Plays Through Medium of Phonographic Discs i , ! - - . 1 v - r u - ' - far .","- t ' Broadway star recording play for the blind. Mady Christians, with Joseph Wolland and associate players, acting Iledda Gabler before the microphone at the sound studios of the American Foundation for the Blind, New York, N. Y for the Talking Book production of the Ibsen play. NEW YORK. It is not often that blind people have the advantage over the seeing. Usually it is the other way round. The blind who live far away from Broadway, however, how-ever, have a distinct edge on their seeing neighbors. As they cannot go to the theater, the theater now comes to them complete, with full sound effects and incidental music and acted by players from the Broadway stage. The idea of giving to the many thousands of sightless citizens across the country the chance to hear the best that the contemporary theater has to offer, originated with the American Foundation for the Blind, New York city, which decided decid-ed to utilize the "Talking Book" for this purpose. The book, designed de-signed to bring the best in ink print books within reach of blind people, consists of long-playing phonographic phonograph-ic discs on which trained readers record the works of the chosen authors. au-thors. The discs are played on an electric reading machine resembling a portable phonograph. For several years the Library of Congress has been co-operating with the foundation, and by using congressional con-gressional appropriations, has met most of the cost of the majority of these recorded works, and places them in 27 regional public libraries across the country which operate departments for the blind. Theater Co-operative. In launching its new venture of bringing acted plays to the blind, the Broadway theater was found eager ea-ger to co-operate. A group of young players from contemporary successes suc-cesses formed the nucleus of a repertory rep-ertory company to which guest stars from time to time come to contribute contrib-ute their services. Among those whose work reaches the blind people peo-ple of the country on the discs of the Talking Book are Dame Sybil Thorndike, Otis Skinner, Eva Le-Gallienne. Le-Gallienne. Mady Christians, Hilda Spong, Bert Lytell, Whitford Kane. Selena Royle, Wesley Addy, Brenda Forbes, Edith Taliaferro, Joseph Holland and House Jameson. To date no less than 44 plays have been acted onto the discs solely for the use of the blind an impressive list of classic and contemporary drama which includes such plays as "Elizabeth the Queen," "Ah Wilderness," Wilder-ness," "Hedda Gabler," "King Richard Rich-ard II," "Our Town," "When La-dies La-dies Meet," "The Silver Box," "The Rivals," and "The Bat." The playing play-ing time of all these productions corresponds cor-responds with the time the blind listener would spend in an actual theater. The average modern play runs to four or five double-sided discs, or from two to two hours and a hall of playing time. The older plays, which are given without cutting, run to almost double that number. Shakespeare's "Anthony and Cleo-patro" Cleo-patro" takes up seven double-sided discs, or three hours and a half of playing time. Thanks to all that has been accomplished ac-complished to date, the theater now comes in this way to the blind. It comes to them, moreover, free of all charge. The blind individual who wishes to enjoy what Broadway has to offer without leaving his armchair arm-chair has only to send a list of the plays he wishes to hear to the public pub-lic library nearest him, and one by one these plays reach him, each with its individual enchantment. These plays even travel between library and reader postage free. |