Vesta Victoria sings "Poor John."Vesta Victoria sings "Poor John."Vesta Victoria sings "Poor John."
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- TriviaThis film is posted online to the Library of Congress' National Screening Room.
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US "pseudo-talkies"
This film was simply made by Porter in the Edison studios on commission for a company called The Novelty Song Film Company. along with another Vesta Victoria song Waiting at the Church.
The films was used in theatres as an acompaniement to the song, not using any system of synchronised sound, but simply having an actress behind the screen singing the song. The original songs were both by Fred Leigh (words) and Henry Pether (music) and had been specially written for the British music-hall artiste Vesta Victoria. To what extent Porter was even responsible for the content of the films is uncertain. His job in this case may simply have been to turn the crank.
It is interesting to note that this seems only ever to have intended to be a "pseudo-talkie" (live sound from off-stage) although this would not necessarily preclede the use of unsynchronised recordings, a form which enjoyed a brief vogue at tis time in the US. It is curious, however, that there wa no attempt to use synchronised sound. Such systems were after all by this time in relatively wide use, particularly by Gaumont in France, who made several hundred films using his relatively automated "Chronophone" system but also by Pathé and by Georges Mendel who had bought a similarly automated system from Henri Joly, in Germany not only by Messter (the "Biophon"), the majority of whose films at this time were "sound" films, but by several other rival German companies (Deutsche Bioscop, Duskes). Even the tiny British company Walturdaw devised a synchronised sound system in 1907 (the "Cinemaphone")..
The sad truth is that, despite its parallel phongraph interests, Edison's had made no effort whatsoever to develop any synchronised sound system and any attempt to produce such a version in 1907 would simply have showed up the inadequacy in this regard of US technology and encouraged the efforts of the European companies to sell genuine "talkies" in the US market. Gaumont particularly was making furious efforts to try and market the Chronophone films in the US. Herbert Blaché (along with new wife Alice Guy) was sent to the US precisely for this purpose.
The US response at this time to a European challenge recalls the response made in 1896-1897 to the arrival of the Lumières. Basically what the US companies said then (while using any means available, fair or foul, to repel the foreing invader) was "we know our films are not so artistic - which in 1896 just meant not so well photographed - but we provide good old American content in a good old American way" and that seems very much to be what the US companies were saying again in 1907 (while using he MPPC, the "Edison Trust", to limit foreign imports) "we know we are not technically up to scratch but we will provide "talkies" in the good old American way" (ie noises offstage).
Unfortunately, as Charles Musser rccords, the resulting "live" talkies were in practice carelessly performed and the brief vogue for them did not last long. But they had served the purpose of helping to killg the attempt to sell genuine talkies in the US.
When Edison did finally decide to produce films with synchronised sound, very late in the day in 1913-1914, no one was much interested. The entire film industry worldwide was by then geared up to producing full-length features (for which "sound" was not yet seen as practicable) and had completey abandoned the notion of "talkies". Even when the French engineer Eugéne Lauste, now living in Britain but who had formerly worked fro both Edison and Mutoscope, successfully demonstrated sound-on-film in 1912, no one paid any heed. In 1917 even Gaumont, who had invested enormously in the idea, gave up trying to sell sound films. The talkies were simply dead......
...until ten years later when the US would pretend to "invent" them all over again.
The films was used in theatres as an acompaniement to the song, not using any system of synchronised sound, but simply having an actress behind the screen singing the song. The original songs were both by Fred Leigh (words) and Henry Pether (music) and had been specially written for the British music-hall artiste Vesta Victoria. To what extent Porter was even responsible for the content of the films is uncertain. His job in this case may simply have been to turn the crank.
It is interesting to note that this seems only ever to have intended to be a "pseudo-talkie" (live sound from off-stage) although this would not necessarily preclede the use of unsynchronised recordings, a form which enjoyed a brief vogue at tis time in the US. It is curious, however, that there wa no attempt to use synchronised sound. Such systems were after all by this time in relatively wide use, particularly by Gaumont in France, who made several hundred films using his relatively automated "Chronophone" system but also by Pathé and by Georges Mendel who had bought a similarly automated system from Henri Joly, in Germany not only by Messter (the "Biophon"), the majority of whose films at this time were "sound" films, but by several other rival German companies (Deutsche Bioscop, Duskes). Even the tiny British company Walturdaw devised a synchronised sound system in 1907 (the "Cinemaphone")..
The sad truth is that, despite its parallel phongraph interests, Edison's had made no effort whatsoever to develop any synchronised sound system and any attempt to produce such a version in 1907 would simply have showed up the inadequacy in this regard of US technology and encouraged the efforts of the European companies to sell genuine "talkies" in the US market. Gaumont particularly was making furious efforts to try and market the Chronophone films in the US. Herbert Blaché (along with new wife Alice Guy) was sent to the US precisely for this purpose.
The US response at this time to a European challenge recalls the response made in 1896-1897 to the arrival of the Lumières. Basically what the US companies said then (while using any means available, fair or foul, to repel the foreing invader) was "we know our films are not so artistic - which in 1896 just meant not so well photographed - but we provide good old American content in a good old American way" and that seems very much to be what the US companies were saying again in 1907 (while using he MPPC, the "Edison Trust", to limit foreign imports) "we know we are not technically up to scratch but we will provide "talkies" in the good old American way" (ie noises offstage).
Unfortunately, as Charles Musser rccords, the resulting "live" talkies were in practice carelessly performed and the brief vogue for them did not last long. But they had served the purpose of helping to killg the attempt to sell genuine talkies in the US.
When Edison did finally decide to produce films with synchronised sound, very late in the day in 1913-1914, no one was much interested. The entire film industry worldwide was by then geared up to producing full-length features (for which "sound" was not yet seen as practicable) and had completey abandoned the notion of "talkies". Even when the French engineer Eugéne Lauste, now living in Britain but who had formerly worked fro both Edison and Mutoscope, successfully demonstrated sound-on-film in 1912, no one paid any heed. In 1917 even Gaumont, who had invested enormously in the idea, gave up trying to sell sound films. The talkies were simply dead......
...until ten years later when the US would pretend to "invent" them all over again.
helpful•11
- kekseksa
- Oct 28, 2018
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- Also known as
- Vesta Victoria Sings 'Poor John'
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- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime4 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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