The Coming of Sound

by Gomery; Douglas

• ISBN13: 9780415969017
• ISBN10: 0415969018
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2004-12-07
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The coming of sound to film was an event whose importance can hardly be overestimated; sound transformed not only the Hollywood film industry but all of world cinema as well. As economic and film historian Douglas Gomery explains, the business of film became not only bigger but much more complex. As sound spread its power, the talkies became an agent of economic and social change through the globe, extending America's reach in ways that had never before been imaginable. Over the years, Douglas Gomery's essays on the coming of sound have been key documents in the study of film. Revisiting and amplifying them in the light of new archival research, he has produced a book that provides important historical insight into such topics as the development of movie chains, the early history of Warner Brothers and Fox, and the struggle for control of sound itself. This will be an essential work for anyone interested in early film, film history and economics, and the history of the American media. Alsoincludes an eight page insert.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Photographs	ix
Preface: The Research Question, the Method, and the Data	xi
1. A Preview: Order and Profit, Not Chaos	1	(6)
2. The Preconditions for Innovation	7	(16)
3. The Warner Bros. Innovate Sound	23	(24)
4. William Fox Innovates Sound	47	(8)
5. Warners' Blockbuster: The Singing Fool	55	(8)
6. Paramount and Loew's Wait, and Then Make Their Deal	63	(14)
7. The Rise of RKO: The Failure of All Others	77	(10)
8. The Diffusion of Sound in the United States	87	(18)
9. Diffusion of Sound Throughout the World	105	(10)
10. The Formation of the Studio System: Merger Mania	115	(24)
11. Mopping up the Loose Ends	139	(12)
12. The Coming of Sound: A Reinterpretation	151	(4)
Endnotes	155	(20)
Index	175