Hello, Everybody! by Anthony Rudel

Author:Anthony Rudel [Rudel, Anthony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

OCTOBER 7, 1927—Lined up outside the Warner Theatre in New York City, crowds of movie fans hoped to get a ticket to the world premiere of The Jazz Singer. Sensing the importance of the event, WRNY contracted to broadcast the premiere, including descriptions of the celebrities arriving for the show, in what was the equivalent of today's red-carpet ceremonies. At 8 P.M. listeners to WRNY heard Albert Howson describe the gala, from the arrival of the celebrities to the preliminary program, along with the music being heard in the theater and greetings from the notables in attendance, including Al Jolson himself.

The relationship between radio and movies developed further when the motion-picture industry, in an effort to ready the moviegoing public for the unstoppable arrival of talking pictures, turned to radio for promotional help. Hollywood arranged to have several leading stars speak over a nationwide hookup. Then, to build anticipation and audience interest, Hollywood leaked the names of the participants: Douglas Fairbanks, John Barrymore, Charlie Chaplin, Dolores del Rio, Norma Talmadge, and director D. W. Griffith would all be heard. Some movie palaces, all with newly installed sound equipment, would play the radio program in the theaters prior to that night's feature. Sponsored by Dodge Brothers, the automobile company, the broadcast originated from Mr. Fairbanks's bungalow in Hollywood and the WJZ studios, where Paul Whiteman and his band played interludes between the stars' talks.

It was a glittering event: The program opened with Whiteman and his band playing "Together," but before the galaxy of America's film stars were heard, the fifty-five-station NBC network was turned over to Detroit for special words from Edward G. Wilmer, president of Dodge Brothers, who announced the release of Dodge's new six-cylinder car, the Standard Six. After Wilmer's more than ten-minute pitch for the car, the broadcast returned to Hollywood and its stars. Fairbanks gave a talk titled "Keeping Fit"; Barrymore recited Hamlet's soliloquy; Miss Talmadge spoke about women's fashion; Miss del Rio sang "Ramona"; D. W. Griffith talked about love; and Charlie Chaplin told "characteristic" Jewish and cockney jokes. When he emerged from Fairbanks's bungalow, Chaplin told a Variety reporter that he had not enjoyed the experience because of mike fright.

But the broadcast was doomed by heavy rain in the Northeast and ice storms in the Midwest, which created interference in the form of loud echoing noises in the movie theaters, where the sound was being amplified. Audiences—at least those who stayed—stomped their feet and demanded that the offending sounds be turned off. Reporting on the initiation of sound in movie theaters, Variety called the effort "brutal."

While almost any kind of entertainment was potential radio content, ultimately music—live and on phonograph records—filled a great deal of the airtime during radio's first decade. Live music programs were easy to assemble and there was no shortage of available talent in every city, big or small. Paul Whiteman, for whose band George Gershwin composed Rhapsody in Blue, was one of New York's most powerful bandleaders; his band was often heard on the radio playing new songs of the day mixed in with classical favorites.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.