Making the Music Fit the Screen 



The picture is rehearsed with the orchestra 

 accompaniment and mechanical cues prepared 



Wlll\.\ I Ik- liero'sniotlicr is gasping 

 her linal blessing as she prepares 

 to depart from the screen to a 

 celluloid heaven and the orchestra in 

 the pit accompanies the pathetic scene 

 with a deafening beating of cymbals and 

 a joyous roaring of snare drums to the 

 tune of "A Hot 

 Time in the Old 

 Town Tonight," it 

 is no wonder that 

 an audience de- 

 cides that ca|)ital 

 punishment for 

 certain orchestra 

 leaders would be 

 an excellent thing. 



Even the best 

 moving picture 

 theaters occasion- 

 ally stoop to "in- 

 cidental music" 

 which fits certain 

 photoplays about 

 as accurately as a 

 right shoe fits a 

 left foot. 



There is only 

 one way to attain 

 a harmonious re- 

 lation between 

 screen drama and 

 incidental music. 

 The two must be 

 Dfdinated. 



Stanley W. Lawlon, general nuisical 

 director of a chain of New York mo\-ing 

 picture and vaude\ille theaters, has 

 invented and constructed an electrical 

 orchestra director which accomplishes 

 this harmonious relation. The picture 

 projecting machine in the booth ab- 

 soluteh' controls the electrical orchestra 

 director in the pit. The theor\' of the 

 Lawton photopla\' orchestral director, as 

 it is called, is simple. By electricitx', 

 signals are aulomalicalh- flashed to the 

 orchestra from the projection machine 

 on the screen as the picture progresses. 

 Ever^• few seconds a different signal 



automaticalh- co- 



flashes, informing the nnisicians that 

 sentimental, liveK', or tragic music is 

 to be played. The musicians' score and 

 cues have been arranged beforehand 

 during rehearsal. They merely read 

 their part and follow the cues, changing 

 from selection to selection as the 

 signals instruct. 

 The machine in 

 the center of the 

 orchestra consists 

 of a flat, oblong 

 box with red glass 

 sides, which sur- 

 mounts a curious 

 looking cylinder or 

 drum. As the 

 films are reeled 

 through the pro- 

 jector, signals flash 

 from the red glass 

 box. For example, 

 if the hero's 

 mother is in 

 death's embrace, 

 the letters 

 "TREM," mean- 

 ing tremolo, are 

 flashed, and the 

 orchestra responds 

 accordingly. 



So accurate is 



the electrical cue- 



a recent rather 



Inflections marked on the paper record 

 are duplicated on the side of the cylinder 

 by steel pegs that contact a magnet 



ing system that at 

 amusing but exacting test given the 

 a|)paratus, tlie signal "DRUM" was 

 flashed and obe>ed at the very instant 

 when a comedian on the screen hurled 

 a chair through a window. 



Xo matter at how rapid or slow a 

 sjieed the film is projected, the timing 

 of the cues to the orchestra will be 

 accurate. This precision is obtained by 

 an electric contact-maker o[)erated b\- 

 a gear on the shaft of the projection- 

 machine handle (sec page 735). Even.- 

 time the handle makes fifteen turns a 

 worm-gear causes electrical contact to be 

 made, and a current passes through wires 

 to the electrical orchestra director, 



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