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Show I MUSIC AND COLOR FOR THE SILENT DRAMA I I B rn VRLLS hl.NOSLEY. w w THENEVLR a new Invention is announced gl " VV that will "revolutionize" an industry it LL IH well to accept the (statement with the pro- fcTJI verbial grain of salt And especially Is this true MtH of Inventions in the motion-picture industry. So many extra agunt claims have been made for mo- mVI Hon p.cturus in coloi, motion pictures with the L third dimension aud talking pictures, that a new 1 color process or a now talking movie is almost I as great a joke as a new spring wheel T And, what Is even more to the point, It :s cx- D tremely doubtful if there is any great demand for motion pictures in color, even granted a per- H feet color process were available. Certainly ' there Is no demand for talking movies for it has ', been shown time and again that the voice lessens I i rather than heightens the illusion t However, there has just been perfected and f demonstrated to the writer three new lnven- B- Hons which may have a great effect in the in- 1 dustry. One of them Is a new process of color I i photography which enables objects to be pho- I I tographed in their natural colors by au optical t camera. Just as the eye sees them. The becond H Is a motion picture which has the third dlmen- L slon and the third and. in the opinion of the ' U writer, the most Important is a motion picture F which has its musical accompauiment on the I ii l1 film, i f All three of these new "processes" are the in- J vontlons of Dr. W. H. Perk. Vice-President of the Colorcraft Corporation of New York, and they j represent the results of fifteen years' study and experimentation, and, as may be guessed, a small . , fortune has been spent bringing them to a stage H a r of perfection. The fact that Dr. Peck's color pictures are already being shown in some of the larger movie theatres and that he has already signed contracts for the rights to use his "musical "musi-cal films'' Is evidence that these inventions are of practical value. There ha. e been so many different color pictures pic-tures on the market that at first glance Dr. Peck's color pictures do not seem particularly remarkable However, his color pictures differ from the others in that they are actually photographed pho-tographed In natural colors just as the eye sees them, this being possible by reason of a special optical camera which he has invented And the process includes the printing of the film In color, which it does by automatically picked up the blue, green, violet, red, orange and yellow dyes according to the density of the picture. The most life-like color pictures over shown arc obtained by this process and they give the motion picture "the third dimension." So far they have only-been only-been used for short subjects and titles. Whether the theatre-going public wants an entire photoplay photo-play In color Is a matter of opinion. The point Is that it is now possible should there be a demand de-mand for it. However, it Is Dr. Peck's combination of music with motion pictures that is the most "revolutionary" "revolu-tionary" invention in the industry in years For this invention will enable theatre managers to do without orchestras and thus effect a saving of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year This invention in-vention will enable tbe smallest village theatre to present a photoplay with the same musical accompaniment that Is to be heard in the largest and finest cinema playhouses on Broadway. Unlike the talking movies that Thomas A. Edison aud others have cltered with disastrous financial results, Dr Peck's Invention Is not .vvhtes i W&ffir' '-si 1 3 B . ' " - j9BHBj Dr. W. H. Peck. based on the perfect synchronization of music with the action of the picture. Dr. Peck has perfected per-fected a device to transform sound waves to electrical waves which are recorded on the film and which arc then transformed hack to sound waves. This Innovation must not be confused with the unsatisfactory selenium cell process which has been a widely known experiment for some years. When the film Is run off in the projection pro-jection machine the sound waves are sent out by the aid of an amplifier, with the result that full orchestra accompaniment is possible, even In a private home. Heretofore it has been Impossible to synchronize synchro-nize music with photoplays for the reason that the latter often have to bo ''cut." and when that is done tho music doesn't fit. With Dr Peck's invention it doesn't matter where or how muc'a of the film is "cut," for just that much of the music is omitted, the music being right on the film "I have worked for fifteen years to bring color and music to tho films." said Dr. Peck to the writer last week. "One seldom hears the question ques-tion of color harmony and contrast discussed, to Bay nothing of the more or less obscure question ques-tion of quality, texture or luminosity or the range of Its action upon the mind and the emotional faculties. It Is with this emotional side of the subject that the new arts of color music and color motion pictures are chiefly concerned, and 1t Is especially through such arts that it is possible to study the influence of color upon our senses and upon our minds, and through them upon our lives. "The action which color has upon us in its harmonies and contrasts, its varying strength and delicacy, its power of giving joy and pain, is an emotional one, and if mobile color art be attacked because It rests upon this appeal to emotion, music must bo attacked on the same grounds. If sre admit that emotional appeal Is at the root of all art, then it may be worth while to examine, further points of resemblance between be-tween mobile color art and music. All colors are produced by varying frequencies of vibration of the ether acting upon the retina of the eye, and all musical souuds by varying frequencies of air vibration acting upon the ear Both color and sound are due to vibrations which stimulate the optic and aural nerves respectively. respec-tively. All the impressions we receive of pleasure pleas-ure or pain, beauty or ugliness, interest or dul-ness, dul-ness, come through color and sound. "The faintest possible flush of color can be made to swell into a full note or chord of gTeat strength, and also to die away through a long succession of changes until it disappears. A blaze of magnificent color can be thrown upon the screen in a short, sharp burst, or a few wandering wan-dering notes can be made to flit across It, so I delicate that we are 1 rdly aware of their ex- "In tho kindred art, the gradual decrease of the intensity of musical notes has a pathetic effect upon the mind, while rapidly increasing strength of tone has a joyful or stirring influence That the samo thing applies to color In naturo will readily be admitted. The gradual dying away of color in a sunset is usually more or less depressing, depress-ing, while the increase of light and splendor In a sunrise has a buoyant effect "On analysis, you will find it is not tho disap-peara&ca disap-peara&ca and Ions of the sun In the one instance in-stance and the hope of a bright day in the other, but to the lessening of beautiful color and Its final disappearance Into a cold and unsatisfying gray or gradual Increase until it blends and merges Info the full strength of daylight. "Unless we are blind it is impossible for any of us to escape the Influence of color, be It good or bad. No object of any kind, unless it be black or white, Is svlthout color. Color Is everywhere In nature, most of whose beauty 1b chiefly dependent de-pendent on it. On land, on son or in the sky, color is omnipresent and In over changing variety, vari-ety, It is In every house and street, In every room, garden or field, i |
