THE SOUND OF SILENTS WHAT FILM FANS HEARD IN '10S, '20S PLAYS ON.Byline: Alex Dobuzinskis Staff Writer LA CRESCENTA - What did the audience hear when one of the Keystone Kops Keystone Kops the slapstick film comedians specializing in wild chases (1912-1920). [Am. Cinema: Halliwell, 399] See : Zaniness was being conked on the head? Or when a train ran away on screen? Or a sultry sul·try adj. sul·tri·er, sul·tri·est 1. a. Very humid and hot: sultry July weather. b. Extremely hot; torrid: the sultry sands of the desert. Gypsy danced in a tavern? If it happened in a silent film, chances are the Fotoplayer by the American Photo Player Co. provided the sound effects sound effects Noun, pl sounds artificially produced to make a play, esp. a radio play, more realistic sound effects npl → efectos mpl sonoros for whatever was happening on screen. The last Fotoplayer - a combination piano-organ-noisemaker - was produced in Van Nuys in 1926. Collectors say fewer than 10 of the 4,500 that were manufactured still play. Film buff Joe Rinaudo of La Crescenta has one of them. He put thousands of hours into restoring his Fotoplayer, including the sounds of castanets castanets (kăs'tənĕts`), percussion instruments known to the ancient Egyptians and Greeks, possibly of Middle Eastern origin, now used primarily in Spanish dance music or imitations of it. , a train whistle The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. , gunshots, a tambourine tambourine (tăm'bərēn`), musical instrument of the percussion family, having a narrow circular frame and a single parchment drumhead, with metal plates or jingles set in the frame. , a wind siren and other noises produced on the machine by hand-drawn chords. He also learned how to use his Fotoplayer to ``narrate'' or add a live soundtrack to a silent film. The effect is the musical equivalent of a high-octane cartoon. ``When I do a live demonstration ... and I narrate a silent film, people are screaming,'' Rinaudo said. ``And I want to do that. I want to bring this back. It's got to happen. ``Kids go nuts over this thing. They love this machine. It sounds like a merry-go-round.'' His machine has been recorded for silent films released on DVD DVD: see digital versatile disc. DVD in full digital video disc or digital versatile disc Type of optical disc. The DVD represents the second generation of compact-disc (CD) technology. and for demonstrations seen by schoolchildren schoolchildren school npl → écoliers mpl; (at secondary school) → collégiens mpl; lycéens mpl schoolchildren school and film clubs. The lesson: Silent film was never meant to be enjoyed in silence. Rinaudo said most Fotoplayers were scrapped when ``talkies'' became popular in the late 1920s. By the 1940s, most of those remaining were dismantled so the metal could be used for the World War II effort. Rinaudo's Fotoplayer had been in storage for decades under a stage of a Saskatchewan movie theater before it was purchased in 1970 by an Orange County resident, who kept it in his garage. Rinaudo bought it from him in 1971 for $3,500 and estimates he has spent 2,000 hours restoring it. ``Of course, it's not a job; it's a passion for him,'' said David Shepard, a retired film professor at the University of Southern California The U.S. News & World Report ranked USC 27th among all universities in the United States in its 2008 ranking of "America's Best Colleges", also designating it as one of the "most selective universities" for admitting 8,634 of the almost 34,000 who applied for freshman admission . ``And he keeps going out and buying more and more (music) rolls.'' Rinaudo has collected more than 1,000 music rolls for silent movies, similar to those used for player pianos. The perforated paper rolls were the ``software'' for machines like the Fotoplayer and provided a musical accompaniment to silent films. But few of the rolls were written for specific movies. Instead, a Fotoplayer operator would pick from rolls titled ``Fire, Fire, Fire'' or ``On the Lagoon,'' for example, to set the mood for a scene. Cues on the roll gave the operator an idea of what kind of scene would go well with the music. ``A good Fotoplayer operator had to know the machine (and) had to know the film, and he had to have a little bit of a musical ear to kind of give it 'English,''' Rinaudo said. Shepard, who distributes silent films on DVD through his Film Preservation Associates, has used Rinaudo's Fotoplayer to record musical accompaniment to silent films. He has also recorded five hours of music rolls on the machine and the sound effects it makes so that those sounds can later be added to other DVD versions of silents. John Duff John Duff (January 17, 1895 – January 8, 1958) was a Canadian racecar driver who won many races and has been inducted in the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame[1]. He was one of only two Canadians who raced and won on England’s famous Brooklands Motor Course. of Toluca Lake met Rinaudo years ago through the Sons of the Desert, a club of Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy, American film comedy team. The duo consisted of Stan Laurel, 1890–1965, b. Ulverson, England, whose real name was Arthur Stanley Jefferson; and Oliver Hardy, 1892–1957, b. Atlanta, Ga. fans that got its name from one of the comedic duo's movies. On Dec. 10, Rinaudo played Laurel and Hardy films for the South Pasadena South Pasadena (păs'ədē`nə), city (1990 pop. 23,936), Los Angeles co., S Calif., a residential suburb of Los Angeles; inc. 1888. Medical supplies, clothing, and transportation and electronic equipment are manufactured. chapter of the club, using a 1912 hand-crank projector. Duff, 54, enjoys the Fotoplayer, too. ``I loved it. It's a concert within itself,'' he said. ``There's just so many things you can do with it.'' Rinaudo is also a big Laurel and Hardy fan, and in a way he owes his current job to the silent film icons. After seeing old lamps in Laurel and Hardy movies, he started to copy some of them and started a company in 1976 that manufactures turn-of-the-century style lamps. In a way, that has brought him back to the movies because his lamps have been used in Clint Eastwood films, in addition to landing at hotels, theme parks and Victorian homes. Alex Dobuzinskis, (818) 546-3304 alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) Collector Joe Rinaudo shows one of his restored, hand-cranked film projectors used almost a century ago in movie theaters. (2) Joe Rinaudo plays the 'computer' and 'software' of its day - more than just a player piano - creating background music and sound effects for silent films. Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion