Doubtless the value of the moving-picture drama will be greatly enhanced if speaking and singing parts in moving-picture performances, with the aid of the phonograph, have been made thoroughly practical by means of an instrument known as the “magnaphone,” as is claimed by promoters of the device. The promoters are so well satisfied with the outcome of their experiments that they claim it will soon be used in all parts of the country. The instruments are not sound-magnifiers, but consist of a number of instruments resembling the megaphone which are placed in various parts of the audience, and the voice from the phonograph, which comes over a wire, is thus brought close enough to all parts of the house to make it plainly audible to every one.[7]
The following progress of “Picture Plays” has been kindly furnished by Mr. Alexander Black:
1—First “plays,” in three acts, written, photographed, and presented by Alexander Black—1894.
2—Episodic motion-pictures placed in series.
3—Short five-minute comedies in motion pictures.
4—Scenes of travel in motion-pictures.
5—Scenes from novels in motion-pictures (“Vanity Fair,” for example, presented in consecutive series—1911).
6—Scenes from “Odyssey” in consecutive series—1911–12.
7—Sarah Bernhardt in “Queen Elizabeth”—1912.