A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially practical. Reliable synchronization was difficult to achieve with the early sound-on-disc systems, and amplification and recording quality were also inadequate. Innovations in sound-on-film led to the first commercial screening of short motion pictures using the technology, which took place in New York City in April 1923.

The primary steps in the commercialization of sound cinema were taken in the United States in the mid- to late 1920s. At first, the sound films incorporating synchronized dialogue—known as "talking pictures", or "talkies"—were exclusively shorts; the earliest feature-length movies with recorded sound included only music and effects. The first feature film originally presented as a talkie was ''The Jazz Singer'', released in October 1927. A major hit, it was made with Vitaphone, the leading brand of sound-on-disc technology. Sound-on-film, however, would soon become the standard for talking pictures.

By the early 1930s, the talkies were a global phenomenon. In the United States, they helped secure Hollywood's position as one of the world's most powerful cultural/commercial systems (see Cinema of the United States). In Europe (and, to a lesser degree, elsewhere) the new development was treated with suspicion by many filmmakers and critics, who worried that a focus on dialogue would subvert the unique aesthetic virtues of soundless cinema. In Japan, where the popular film tradition integrated silent movie and live vocal performance, talking pictures were slow to take root. In India, sound was the transformative element that led to the rapid expansion of the nation's film industry—the most productive such industry in the world since the early 1960s.

History

Early steps

The idea of combining motion pictures with recorded sound is nearly as old as the concept of cinema itself. On February 27, 1888, a couple of days after photographic pioneer Eadweard Muybridge gave a lecture not far from the laboratory of Thomas Edison, the two inventors privately met. Muybridge later claimed that on this occasion, six years before the first commercial motion picture exhibition, he proposed a scheme for sound cinema that would combine his image-casting zoopraxiscope with Edison's recorded-sound technology. No agreement was reached, but within a year Edison commissioned the development of the Kinetoscope, essentially a "peep-show" system, as a visual complement to his cylinder phonograph. The two devices were brought together as the Kinetophone in 1895, but individual, cabinet viewing of motion pictures was soon to be outmoded by successes in film projection. In 1899, a projected sound-film system known as Cinemacrophonograph or Phonorama, based primarily on the work of Swiss-born inventor François Dussaud, was exhibited in Paris; similar to the Kinetophone, the system required individual use of earphones. An improved cylinder-based system, Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre, was developed by Clément-Maurice Gratioulet and Henri Lioret of France, allowing short films of theater, opera, and ballet excerpts to be presented at the Paris Exposition in 1900. These appear to be the first publicly exhibited films with projection of both image and recorded sound. Phonorama and yet another sound-film system—Théâtroscope—were also presented at the Exposition.

Three major problems persisted, leading to motion pictures and sound recording largely taking separate paths for a generation. The primary issue was synchronization: pictures and sound were recorded and played back by separate devices, which were difficult to start and maintain in tandem. Sufficient playback volume was also hard to achieve. While motion picture projectors soon allowed film to be shown to large theater audiences, audio technology before the development of electric amplification could not project to satisfactorily fill large spaces. Finally, there was the challenge of recording fidelity. The primitive systems of the era produced sound of very low quality unless the performers were stationed directly in front of the cumbersome recording devices (acoustical horns, for the most part), imposing severe limits on the sort of films that could be created with live-recorded sound.

Cinematic innovators attempted to cope with the fundamental synchronization problem in a variety of ways. An increasing number of motion picture systems relied on gramophone records—known as sound-on-disc technology; the records themselves were often referred to as "Berliner discs", after one of the primary inventors in the field, German-American Emile Berliner. In 1902, Léon Gaumont demonstrated his sound-on-disc Chronophone, involving an electrical connection he had recently patented, to the French Photographic Society. Four years later, Gaumont introduced the Elgéphone, a compressed-air amplification system based on the Auxetophone, developed by British inventors Horace Short and Charles Parsons. Despite high expectations, Gaumont's sound innovations had only limited commercial success—though improvements, they still did not satisfactorily address the three basic issues with sound film and were expensive as well. For some years, American inventor E. E. Norton's Cameraphone was the primary competitor to the Gaumont system (sources differ on whether the Cameraphone was disc- or cylinder-based); it ultimately failed for many of the same reasons that held back the Chronophone.

In 1913, Edison introduced a new cylinder-based synch-sound apparatus known, just like his 1895 system, as the Kinetophone; instead of films being shown to individual viewers in the Kinetoscope cabinet, they were now projected onto a screen. The phonograph was connected by an intricate arrangement of pulleys to the film projector, allowing—under ideal conditions—for synchronization. Conditions, however, were rarely ideal, and the new, improved Kinetophone was retired after little more than a year. By the mid-1910s, the groundswell in commercial sound motion picture exhibition had subsided. Beginning in 1914, ''The Photo-Drama of Creation'', promoting Jehovah's Witnesses' conception of mankind's genesis, was screened around the United States: eight hours worth of projected visuals involving both slides and live action were synchronized with separately recorded lectures and musical performances played back on phonograph.

Meanwhile, innovations continued on another significant front. In 1907, French-born, London-based Eugene Lauste—who had worked at Edison's lab between 1886 and 1892—was awarded the first patent for sound-on-film technology, involving the transformation of sound into light waves that are photographically recorded direct onto celluloid. As described by historian Scott Eyman,

It was a double system, that is, the sound was on a different piece of film from the picture.... In essence, the sound was captured by a microphone and translated into light waves via a light valve, a thin ribbon of sensitive metal over a tiny slit. The sound reaching this ribbon would be converted into light by the shivering of the diaphragm, focusing the resulting light waves through the slit, where it would be photographed on the side of the film, on a strip about a tenth of an inch wide.

Though sound-on-film would eventually become the universal standard for synchronized sound cinema, Lauste never successfully exploited his innovations, which came to an effective dead end. In 1914, Finnish inventor Eric Tigerstedt was granted German patent 309,536 for his sound-on-film work; that same year, he apparently demonstrated a film made with the process to an audience of scientists in Berlin. Hungarian engineer Denes Mihaly submitted his sound-on-film Projectofon concept to the Royal Hungarian Patent Court in 1918; the patent award was published four years later. Whether sound was captured on cylinder, disc, or film, none of the available technology was adequate to big-league commercial purposes, and for many years the heads of the major Hollywood film studios saw little benefit in producing sound motion pictures.

Crucial innovations

A number of technological developments contributed to making sound cinema commercially viable by the late 1920s. Two involved contrasting approaches to synchronized sound reproduction, or playback:

Advanced sound-on-film – In 1919, American inventor Lee De Forest was awarded several patents that would lead to the first sound-on-film technology with commercial application. In De Forest's system, the sound track was photographically recorded on to the side of the strip of motion picture film to create a composite, or "married", print. If proper synchronization of sound and picture was achieved in recording, it could be absolutely counted on in playback. Over the next four years, he improved his system with the help of equipment and patents licensed from another American inventor in the field, Theodore Case.

At the University of Illinois, Polish-born research engineer Joseph Tykociński-Tykociner was working independently on a similar process. On June 9, 1922, he gave the first reported U.S. demonstration of a sound-on-film motion picture to members of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. As with Lauste and Tigerstedt, Tykociner's system would never be taken advantage of commercially; De Forest's, however, soon would. On April 15, 1923, at New York City's Rivoli Theater, came the first commercial screening of motion pictures with sound-on-film, the future standard: a set of shorts under the banner of De Forest Phonofilms, accompanying a silent feature. That June, De Forest entered into an extended legal battle with an employee, Freeman Harrison Owens, for title to one of the crucial Phonofilm patents. Although De Forest ultimately won the case in the courts, Owens is today recognized as a central innovator in the field. The following year, De Forest's studio released the first commercial dramatic film shot as a talking picture—the two-reeler ''Love's Old Sweet Song'', directed by J. Searle Dawley and featuring Una Merkel. Phonofilm's stock in trade, however, was not original dramas but celebrity documentaries, popular music acts, and comedy performances. President Calvin Coolidge, opera singer Abbie Mitchell, and vaudeville stars such as Phil Baker, Ben Bernie, Eddie Cantor, and Oscar Levant appeared in the firm's pictures. Hollywood remained suspicious, even fearful, of the new technology. As ''Photoplay'' editor James Quirk put it in March 1924, "Talking pictures are perfected, says Dr. Lee De Forest. ''So'' is castor oil." De Forest's process continued to be used through 1927 in the United States for dozens of short Phonofilms; in the UK it was employed a few years longer for both shorts and features by British Sound Film Productions, a subsidiary of British Talking Pictures, which purchased the primary Phonofilm assets. By the end of 1930, the Phonofilm business would be liquidated.

In Europe, others were also working on the development of sound-on-film. In 1919, the same year that DeForest received his first patents in the field, three German inventors patented the Tri-Ergon sound system. On September 17, 1922, the Tri-Ergon group gave a public screening of sound-on-film productions—including a dramatic talkie, ''Der Brandstifter'' (''The Arsonist'') —before an invited audience at the Alhambra Kino in Berlin. By the end of the decade, Tri-Ergon would be the dominant European sound system. In 1923, two Danish engineers, Axel Petersen and Arnold Poulsen, patented a system in which sound was recorded on a separate filmstrip running parallel with the image reel. Gaumont would license and briefly put the technology to commercial use under the name Cinéphone.

It was domestic competition, however, that led to Phonofilm's eclipse. By September 1925, De Forest and Case's working arrangement had fallen through. The following July, Case joined with Fox Film, Hollywood's third largest studio, to found the Fox-Case Corporation. The system developed by Case and his assistant, Earl Sponable, given the name Movietone, thus became the first viable sound-on-film technology controlled by a Hollywood movie studio. The following year, Fox purchased the North American rights to the Tri-Ergon system, though the company found it inferior to Movietone and virtually impossible to integrate the two different systems to advantage. In 1927, as well, Fox retained the services of Freeman Owens, who had particular expertise in constructing cameras for synch-sound film.

Advanced sound-on-disc – Parallel with improvements in sound-on-film technology, a number of companies were making progress with systems in which movie sound was recorded onto phonograph discs. In sound-on-disc technology from the era, a phonograph turntable is connected by a mechanical interlock to a specially modified film projector, allowing for synchronization. In 1921, the Photokinema sound-on-disc system developed by Orlando Kellum was employed to add synchronized sound sequences to D. W. Griffith's failed silent film ''Dream Street''. A love song, performed by star Ralph Graves, was recorded, as was a sequence of live vocal effects. Apparently, dialogue scenes were also recorded, but the results were unsatisfactory and the film was never publicly screened incorporating them. On May 1, 1921, ''Dream Street'' was re-released, with love song added, at New York City's Town Hall theater, qualifying it—however haphazardly—as the first feature-length film with a live-recorded vocal sequence. There would be no others for more than six years. In 1925, Warner Bros., then a small Hollywood studio with big ambitions, began experimenting with sound-on-disc systems at New York's Vitagraph Studios, which it had recently purchased. The Warner Bros. technology, named Vitaphone, was publicly introduced on August 6, 1926, with the premiere of the nearly three-hour-long ''Don Juan''; the first feature-length movie to employ a synchronized sound system of any type throughout, its soundtrack contained a musical score and sound effects, but no recorded dialogue—in other words, it had been staged and shot as a silent film. Accompanying ''Don Juan'', however, were eight shorts of musical performances, mostly classical, as well as a four-minute filmed introduction by Will H. Hays, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, all with live-recorded sound. These were the first true sound films exhibited by a Hollywood studio. Warner Bros.' ''The Better 'Ole'', technically similar to ''Don Juan'', followed in October.

Sound-on-film would ultimately win out over sound-on-disc because of a number of fundamental technical advantages:

Synchronization: no interlock system was completely reliable, and sound could fall out of synch due to disc skipping or minute changes in film speed, requiring constant supervision and frequent manual adjustment

Editing: discs could not be directly edited, severely limiting the ability to make alterations in their accompanying films after the original release cut

Distribution: phonograph discs added expense and complication to film distribution

Wear and tear: the physical process of playing the discs degraded them, requiring their replacement after approximately twenty screenings

Nonetheless, in the early years, sound-on-disc had the edge over sound-on-film in two substantial ways:

Production and capital cost: it was generally less expensive to record sound onto disc than onto film and the central exhibition systems—turntable/interlock/projector—were cheaper to manufacture than the complex image-and-audio-pattern-reading projectors required by sound-on-film

Audio quality: phonograph discs, Vitaphone's in particular, had superior dynamic range to most sound-on-film processes of the day, at least during the first few playings; while sound-on-film tended to have better frequency response, this was outweighed by greater distortion and noise

As sound-on-film technology improved, both of these disadvantages were overcome.

The third crucial set of innovations marked a major step forward in both the live recording of sound and its effective playback: Fidelity electronic recording and amplification – Beginning in 1922, the research branch of AT&T;'s Western Electric manufacturing division began working intensively on recording technology for both sound-on-disc and sound-on film. In 1925, the company publicly introduced a greatly improved system of electronic audio, including sensitive condenser microphones and rubber-line recorders. That May, the company licensed entrepreneur Walter J. Rich to exploit the system for commercial motion pictures; he founded Vitagraph, which Warner Bros. acquired a half interest in just one month later. In April 1926, Warners signed a contract with AT&T; for exclusive use of its film sound technology for the redubbed Vitaphone operation, leading to the production of ''Don Juan'' and its accompanying shorts over the following months. During the period when Vitaphone had exclusive access to the patents, the fidelity of recordings made for Warners films was markedly superior to those made for the company's sound-on-film competitors. Meanwhile, Bell Labs—the new name for the AT&T; research operation—was working at a furious pace on sophisticated sound amplification technology that would allow recordings to be played back over loudspeakers at theater-filling volume. The new moving-coil speaker system was installed in New York's Warners Theatre at the end of July and its patent submission, for what Western Electric called the No. 555 Receiver, was filed on August 4, just two days before the premiere of ''Don Juan''.

Late in the year, AT&T;/Western Electric created a licensing division, Electrical Research Products Inc. (ERPI), to handle rights to the company's film-related audio technology. Vitaphone still had legal exclusivity, but having lapsed in its royalty payments, effective control of the rights was in ERPI's hands. On December 31, 1926, Warners granted Fox-Case a sublicense for the use of the Western Electric system; in exchange for the sublicense, both Warners and ERPI received a share of Fox's related revenues. The patents of all three concerns were cross-licensed. Superior recording and amplification technology was now available to two Hollywood studios, pursuing two very different methods of sound reproduction. The new year would finally see the emergence of sound cinema as a significant commercial medium.

Triumph of the "talkies"

In February 1927, an agreement was signed by five leading Hollywood movie companies: the so-called Big Two—Paramount and MGM—a pair of studios in the next rank—Universal and the fading First National—and Cecil B. DeMille's small but prestigious Producers Distributing Corporation (PDC). The five studios agreed to collectively select just one provider for sound conversion. The alliance then sat back and waited to see what sort of results the forerunners came up with. In May, Warner Bros. sold back its exclusivity rights to ERPI (along with the Fox-Case sublicense) and signed a new royalty contract similar to Fox's for use of Western Electric technology. As Fox and Warners pressed forward with sound cinema in different directions, both technologically and commercially—Fox with newsreels and then scored dramas, Warners with talking features—so did ERPI, which sought to corner the market by signing up the five allied studios. The big sound film sensations of the year all took advantage of pre-existing celebrity. On May 20, 1927, at New York's Roxy Theater, Fox Movietone presented a sound film of the takeoff of Charles Lindbergh's celebrated flight to Paris, recorded earlier that day. In June, a Fox sound newsreel depicting his return welcomes in New York and Washington, D.C., was shown. These were the two most acclaimed sound motion pictures to date. In May, as well, Fox had released the first Hollywood fiction film with synchronized dialogue: the short ''They're Coming to Get Me'', starring comedian Chic Sale. After rereleasing a few silent feature hits, such as ''Seventh Heaven'', with recorded music, Fox came out with its first original Movietone feature on September 23: ''Sunrise'', by acclaimed German director F. W. Murnau. As with ''Don Juan'', the film's soundtrack consisted of a musical score and sound effects (including, in a couple of crowd scenes, "wild", nonspecific vocals).

Then, on October 6, 1927, Warner Bros.' ''The Jazz Singer'' premiered. It was a smash box office success for the mid-level studio, earning a total of $2.625 million in the U.S. and abroad, almost a million dollars more than the previous record for a Warners' film. Produced with the Vitaphone system, most of the film does not contain live-recorded audio, relying, like ''Sunrise'' and ''Don Juan'', on a score and effects. When the movie's star, Al Jolson, sings, however, the film shifts to sound recorded on the set, including both his musical performances and two scenes with ad-libbed speech—one of Jolson's character, Jakie Rabinowitz (Jack Robin), addressing a cabaret audience; the other an exchange between him and his mother. The "natural" sounds of the settings were also audible. Though the success of ''The Jazz Singer'' was due largely to Jolson, already established as one of America's biggest music stars, and its limited use of synchronized sound hardly qualified it as an innovative sound film (let alone the "first"), the movie's profits were proof enough to the industry that the technology was worth investing in.

The development of commercial sound cinema had proceeded in fits and starts before ''The Jazz Singer'', and the film's success did not change things overnight. Not until May 1928 did the group of four big studios (PDC had dropped out of the alliance), along with United Artists and others, sign with ERPI for conversion of production facilities and theaters for sound film. Initially, all ERPI-wired theaters were made Vitaphone-compatible; most were equipped to project Movietone reels as well. Even with access to both technologies, however, most of the Hollywood companies remained slow to produce talking features of their own. No studio beside Warner Bros. released even a part-talking feature until the low-budget-oriented Film Booking Offices of America (FBO) premiered ''The Perfect Crime'' on June 17, 1928, eight months after ''The Jazz Singer''. FBO had come under the effective control of a Western Electric competitor, General Electric's RCA division, which was looking to market its new sound-on-film system, Photophone. Unlike Fox-Case's Movietone and De Forest's Phonofilm, which were variable-density systems, Photophone was a variable-area system—a refinement in the way the audio signal was inscribed on film that would ultimately become the rule. (In both sorts of system, a specially designed lamp, whose exposure to the film is determined by the audio input, is used to record sound photographically as a series of minuscule lines. In a variable-density process, the lines are of varying darkness; in a variable-area process, the lines are of varying width.) By October, the FBO-RCA alliance would lead to the creation of Hollywood's newest major studio, RKO Pictures. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. had released three more talkies, all profitable, if not at the level of ''The Jazz Singer'': In March, ''The Tenderloin'' appeared; it was billed by Warners as the first feature in which characters spoke their parts, though only 15 of its 88 minutes had dialogue. ''Glorious Betsy'' followed in April, and ''The Lion and the Mouse'' (31 minutes of dialogue) in May. On July 6, 1928, the first all-talking feature, ''Lights of New York'', premiered. The film cost Warner Bros. only $23,000 to produce, but grossed $1.252 million, a record rate of return surpassing 5,000%. In September, the studio released another Al Jolson part-talking picture, ''The Singing Fool'', which more than doubled ''The Jazz Singer'''s earnings record for a Warners movie. This second Jolson screen smash demonstrated the movie musical's ability to turn a song into a national hit: inside of nine months, the Jolson number "Sonny Boy" had racked up 2 million record and 1.25 million sheet music sales. September 1928 also saw the release of Paul Terry's ''Dinner Time'', among the first animated cartoons produced with synchronized sound. Soon after he saw it, Walt Disney released his first sound picture, the Mickey Mouse short ''Steamboat Willie''.

Over the course of 1928, as Warner Bros. began to rake in huge profits due to the popularity of its sound films, the other studios quickened the pace of their conversion to the new technology. Paramount, the industry leader, put out its first talkie in late September, ''Beggars of Life''; though it had just a few lines of dialogue, it demonstrated the studio's recognition of the new medium's power. ''Interference'', Paramount's first all-talker, debuted in November. The process known as "goat glanding" briefly became widespread: soundtracks, sometimes including a smatter of post-dubbed dialogue or song, were added to movies that had been shot, and in some cases released, as silents. A few minutes of singing could qualify such a newly endowed film as a "musical." (Griffith's ''Dream Street'' had essentially been a "goat gland.") Expectations swiftly changed, and the sound "fad" of 1927 became standard procedure by 1929. In February 1929, sixteen months after ''The Jazz Singer'''s debut, Columbia Pictures became the last of the eight studios that would be known as "majors" during Hollywood's Golden Age to release its first part-talking feature, ''Lone Wolf's Daughter''. In late May, the first all-color, all-talking feature, Warner Bros.' ''On with the Show!'', premiered. Most American movie theaters, especially outside of urban areas, were still not equipped for sound and the studios were not entirely convinced of the talkies' universal appeal—through mid-1930, the majority of Hollywood movies were produced in dual versions, silent as well as talking. Though few in the industry predicted it, silent film as a viable commercial medium in the United States would soon be little more than a memory. ''Points West'', a Hoot Gibson Western released by Universal Pictures in August 1929, was the last purely silent mainstream feature put out by a major Hollywood studio.

Transition: Europe

''The Jazz Singer'' had its European sound premiere at the Piccadilly Theatre in London on September 27, 1928. According to film historian Rachael Low, "Many in the industry realized at once that a change to sound production was inevitable." On January 16, 1929, the first European feature film with a synchronized vocal performance and recorded score premiered: the German production ''Ich küsse Ihre Hand, Madame'' (''I Kiss Your Hand, Madame''). Dialogueless, it contains only a few songs performed by Richard Tauber. The movie was made with the sound-on-film system controlled by the German-Dutch firm Tobis, corporate heirs to the Tri-Ergon concern. With an eye toward commanding the emerging European market for sound film, Tobis entered into a compact with its chief competitor, Klangfilm, a joint subsidiary of Germany's two leading electrical manufacturers. Early in 1929, Tobis and Klangfilm began comarketing their recording and playback technologies. As ERPI began to wire theaters around Europe, Tobis-Klangfilm claimed that the Western Electric system infringed on the Tri-Ergon patents, stalling the introduction of American technology in many places. Just as RCA had entered the movie business to maximize its recording system's value, Tobis also established its own production operations.

Over the course of 1929, most of the major European filmmaking countries began joining Hollywood in the changeover to sound. Many of the trend-setting European talkies were shot abroad as production companies leased studios while their own were being converted or as they deliberately targeted markets speaking different languages. One of Europe's first two feature-length dramatic talkies was created in still a different sort of twist on multinational moviemaking: ''The Crimson Circle'' was a coproduction between director Friedrich Zelnik's Efzet-Film company and British Sound Film Productions (BSFP). In 1928, the film had been released as the silent ''Der Rote Kreis'' in Germany, where it was shot; English dialogue was apparently dubbed in much later using the De Forest Phonofilm process controlled by BSFP's corporate parent. It was given a British trade screening in March 1929, as was a part-talking film made entirely in the UK: ''The Clue of the New Pin'', a British Lion production using the sound-on-disc British Photophone system. In May, ''Black Waters'', a British and Dominions Film Corporation promoted as the first UK all-talker, received its initial trade screening; it had been shot completely in Hollywood with a Western Electric sound-on-film system. None of these pictures made much impact. The first successful European dramatic talkie was the all-British ''Blackmail''. Directed by twenty-nine-year-old Alfred Hitchcock, the movie had its London debut June 21, 1929. Originally shot as a silent, ''Blackmail'' was restaged to include dialogue sequences, along with a score and sound effects, before its premiere. A British International Pictures (BIP) production, it was recorded on RCA Photophone, General Electric having bought a share of AEG in order to gain access to the Tobis-Klangfilm markets. ''Blackmail'' was a substantial hit; critical response was also positive—notorious curmudgeon Hugh Castle, for example, called it "perhaps the most intelligent mixture of sound and silence we have yet seen."

On August 23, the modest-sized Austrian film industry came out with a talkie: ''G’schichten aus der Steiermark'' (''Stories from Styria''), an Eagle Film–Ottoton Film production. On September 30, the first entirely German-made feature-length dramatic talkie, ''Das Land ohne Frauen'' (''Land Without Women''), premiered. A Tobis Filmkunst production, about one-quarter of the movie contained dialogue, which was strictly segregated from the special effects and music. The response was underwhelming. Sweden's first talkie, ''Konstgjorda Svensson'' (''Artificial Svensson''), premiered on October 14. Eight days later, Aubert Franco-Film came out with ''Le Collier de la reine'' (''The Queen's Necklace''), shot at the Épinay studio near Paris. Conceived as a silent film, it was given a Tobis-recorded score and a single talking sequence—the first dialogue scene in a French feature. On October 31, ''Les Trois masques'' debuted; a Pathé-Natan film, it is generally regarded as the initial French feature talkie, though it was shot, like ''Blackmail'', at the Elstree studio, just outside of London. The production company had contracted with RCA Photophone and Britain then had the nearest facility with the system. The Braunberger-Richebé talkie ''La Route est belle'', also shot at Elstree, followed a few weeks later. Before the Paris studios were fully sound-equipped—a process that stretched well into 1930—a number of other early French talkies were shot in Germany. The first all-talking German feature, ''Atlantik'', had premiered in Berlin on October 28. Yet another Elstree-made movie, it was rather less German at heart than ''Les Trois masques'' and ''La Route est belle'' were French; a BIP production with a British scenarist and German director, it was also shot in English as ''Atlantic''. The entirely German Aafa-Film production ''Dich hab ich geliebt'' (''Because I Loved You'') opened three-and-a-half weeks later. It was not "Germany's First Talking Film", as the marketing had it, but it was the first to be released in the United States. In 1930, the first Polish talkies premiered, using sound-on-disc systems: ''Moralność pani Dulskiej'' (''The Morality of Mrs. Dulska'') in March and the all-talking ''Niebezpieczny romans'' (''Dangerous Love Affair'') in October. In Italy, whose once vibrant film industry had become moribund by the late 1920s, the first talkie, ''La Canzone dell'amore'' (''The Song of Love''), also came out in October; within two years, Italian cinema would be enjoying a revival. The first movie spoken in Czech debuted in 1930 as well, ''Tonka Šibenice'' (''Tonka of the Gallows''). Several European nations with minor positions in the field also produced their first talking pictures—Belgium (in French), Denmark, Greece, and Romania. The Soviet Union's robust film industry came out with its first sound features in December 1930: Dziga Vertov's nonfiction ''Entuziazm'' had an experimental, dialogueless soundtrack; Abram Room's documentary ''Plan velikikh rabot'' (''The Plan of the Great Works'') had music and spoken voiceovers. Both were made with locally developed sound-on-film systems, two of the two hundred or so movie sound systems then available somewhere in the world. In June 1931, the Nikolai Ekk drama ''Putevka v zhizn'' (''The Road to Life'' or ''A Start in Life''), premiered as the Soviet Union's first true talking picture.

Throughout much of Europe, conversion of exhibition venues lagged well behind production capacity, requiring talkies to be produced in parallel silent versions or simply shown without sound in many places. While the pace of conversion was relatively swift in Britain—with over 60 percent of theaters equipped for sound by the end of 1930, similar to the U.S. figure—in France, by contrast, more than half of theaters nationwide were still projecting in silence by late 1932. According to scholar Colin G. Crisp, "Anxiety about resuscitating the flow of silent films was frequently expressed in the [French] industrial press, and a large section of the industry still saw the silent as a viable artistic and commercial prospect till about 1935." The situation was particularly acute in the Soviet Union; as of May 1933, fewer than one out of every hundred film projectors in the country was as yet equipped for sound.

Transition: Asia

During the 1920s and 1930s, Japan was one of the world's two largest producers of motion pictures, along with the United States. Though the country's film industry was among the first to produce both sound and talking features, the full changeover to sound proceeded much more slowly than in the West. It appears that the first Japanese sound film, ''Reimai'' (''Dawn''), was made in 1926 with the De Forest Phonofilm system. Using the sound-on-disc Minatoki system, the leading Nikkatsu studio produced a pair of talkies in 1929: ''Taii no musume'' (''The Captain's Daughter'') and ''Furusato'' (''Hometown''), the latter directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. The rival Shochiku studio began the successful production of sound-on-film talkies in 1931 using a variable-density process called Tsuchibashi. Two years later, however, more than 80 percent of movies made in the country were still silents. Two of the country's leading directors, Mikio Naruse and Yasujiro Ozu, did not make their first sound films until 1935 and 1936, respectively. As late as 1938, over a third of all movies produced in Japan were shot without dialogue.

The enduring popularity of the silent medium in Japanese cinema owed in great part to the tradition of the ''benshi'', a live narrator who performed as accompaniment to a film screening. As director Akira Kurosawa later described, the benshi "not only recounted the plot of the films, they enhanced the emotional content by performing the voices and sound effects and providing evocative descriptions of events and images on the screen.... The most popular narrators were stars in their own right, solely responsible for the patronage of a particular theatre." Film historian Mariann Lewinsky argues,

The end of silent film in the West and in Japan was imposed by the industry and the market, not by any inner need or natural evolution.... Silent cinema was a highly pleasurable and fully mature form. It didn't lack anything, least in Japan, where there was always the human voice doing the dialogues and the commentary. Sound films were not better, just more economical. As a cinema owner you didn't have to pay the wages of musicians and benshi any more. And a good benshi was a star demanding star payment.

By the same token, the viability of the benshi system facilitated a gradual transition to sound—allowing the studios to spread out the capital costs of conversion and their directors and technical crews time to become familiar with the new technology. The Mandarin-language ''Gēnǚ hóng mǔdān'' (, ''Singsong Girl Red Peony''), starring Butterfly Wu, premiered as China's first feature talkie in 1930. By February of that year, production was apparently completed on a sound version of ''The Devil's Playground'', arguably qualifying it as the first Australian talking motion picture; however, the May press screening of Commonwealth Film Contest prizewinner ''Fellers'' is the first verifiable public exhibition of an Australian talkie. In September 1930, a song performed by Indian star Sulochana, excerpted from the silent feature ''Madhuri'' (1928), was released as a synchronized-sound short, the country's first. The following year, Ardeshir Irani directed the first Indian talking feature, the Hindi-Urdu ''Alam Ara'', and produced ''Kalidas'', primarily in Tamil with some Telugu. Nineteen-thirty-one also saw the first Bengali-language film, ''Jamai Sasthi'', and the first movie fully spoken in Telugu, ''Bhakta Prahlada''. In 1932, ''Ayodhyecha Raja'' became the first movie in which Marathi was spoken to be released (though ''Sant Tukaram'' was the first to go through the official censorship process); the first Gujarati-language film, ''Narsimha Mehta'', and all-Tamil talkie, ''Kalava'', debuted as well. The next year, Ardeshir Irani produced the first Persian-language talkie, ''Dukhtar-e-loor''. Also in 1933, the first Cantonese-language films were produced in Hong Kong—''Sha zai dongfang'' (''The Idiot's Wedding Night'') and ''Liang xing'' (''Conscience''); within two years, the local film industry had fully converted to sound. Korea, where ''pyonsa'' (or ''byun-sa'') held a role and status similar to that of the Japanese benshi, in 1935 became the last country with a significant film industry to produce its first talking picture: ''Chunhyangjeon'' (/) is based on the seventeenth-century pansori folktale "Chunhyangga", of which as many as fifteen film versions have been made through 2009.

Consequences

Technology

In the short term, the introduction of live sound recording caused major difficulties in production. Cameras were noisy, so a soundproofed cabinet was used in many of the earliest talkies to isolate the loud equipment from the actors, at the expense of a drastic reduction in the ability to move the camera. For a time, multiple-camera shooting was used to compensate for the loss of mobility and innovative studio technicians could often find ways to liberate the camera for particular shots. The necessity of staying within range of still microphones meant that actors also often had to limit their movements unnaturally. ''Show Girl in Hollywood'' (1930), from First National Pictures (which Warner Bros. had taken control of thanks to its profitable adventure into sound), gives a behind-the-scenes look at some of the techniques involved in shooting early talkies. Several of the fundamental problems caused by the transition to sound were soon solved with new camera casings, known as "blimps", designed to suppress noise and boom microphones that could be held just out of frame and moved with the actors. In 1931, a major improvement in playback fidelity was introduced: three-way speaker systems in which sound was separated into low, medium, and high frequencies and sent respectively to a large bass "woofer", a midrange driver, and a treble "tweeter."

There were consequences, as well, for other technological aspects of the cinema. Proper recording and playback of sound required exact standardization of camera and projector speed. Before sound, 16 frames per second (fps) was the supposed norm, but practice varied widely. Cameras were often undercranked or overcranked in order to improve exposures or for dramatic effect. Projectors were commonly run too fast in order to shorten running time and squeeze in extra shows. Variable frame rate, however, made sound unlistenable, and a new, strict standard of 24 fps was soon established. Sound also forced the abandonment of the noisy arc lights used for filming in studio interiors. The switch to quiet incandescent illumination in turn required a switch to more expensive film stock. The sensitivity of the new panchromatic film delivered superior image tonal quality and gave directors the freedom to shoot scenes at lower light levels than was previously practical.

As David Bordwell describes, technological improvements continued at a swift pace: "Between 1932 and 1935, [Western Electric and RCA] created directional microphones, increased the frequency range of film recording, reduced ground noise ... and extended the volume range." These technical advances often meant new aesthetic opportunities: "Increasing the fidelity of recording ... heightened the dramatic possibilities of vocal timbre, pitch, and loudness." Another basic problem—famously spoofed in the 1952 film ''Singin' in the Rain''—was that some silent-era actors simply did not have attractive voices; though this issue was frequently overstated, there were related concerns about general vocal quality and the casting of performers for their dramatic skills in roles also requiring singing talent beyond their own. By 1935, rerecording of vocals by the original or different actors in postproduction, a process known as "looping", had become practical. The ultraviolet recording system introduced by RCA in 1936 improved the reproduction of sibilants and high notes. With Hollywood's wholesale adoption of the talkies, the competition between the two fundamental approaches to sound-film production was soon resolved. Over the course of 1930–31, the only major players using sound-on-disc, Warner Bros. and First National, changed over to sound-on-film recording. Vitaphone's dominating presence in sound-equipped theaters, however, meant that for years to come all of the Hollywood studios pressed and distributed sound-on-disc versions of their films alongside the sound-on-film prints. Fox Movietone soon followed Vitaphone into disuse as a recording and reproduction method, leaving two major American systems: the variable-area RCA Photophone and Western Electric's own variable-density process, a substantial improvement on the cross-licensed Movietone. Under RCA's instigation, the two parent companies made their projection equipment compatible, meaning films shot with one system could be screened in theaters equipped for the other. This left one big issue—the Tobis-Klangfilm challenge. In May 1930, Western Electric won an Austrian lawsuit that voided protection for certain Tri-Ergon patents, helping bring Tobis-Klangfilm to the negotiating table. The following month an accord was reached on patent cross-licensing, full playback compatibility, and the division of the world into three parts for the provision of equipment. As a contemporary report describes:

Tobis-Klangfilm has the exclusive rights to provide equipment for: Germany, Danzig, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Holland, the Dutch Indies, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Finland. The Americans have the exclusive rights for the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, and Russia. All other countries, among them Italy, France, and England, are open to both parties.

The agreement did not resolve all the patent disputes, and further negotiations were undertaken and concords signed over the course of the 1930s. During these years, as well, the American studios began abandoning the Western Electric system for RCA Photophone's variable-area approach—by the end of 1936, only Paramount, MGM, and United Artists still had contracts with ERPI.

Labor

While the introduction of sound led to a boom in the motion picture industry, it had an adverse effect on the employability of a host of Hollywood actors of the time. Suddenly those without stage experience were regarded as suspect by the studios; as suggested above, those whose heavy accents or otherwise discordant voices had previously been concealed were particularly at risk. The career of major silent star Norma Talmadge effectively came to an end in this way. The celebrated German actor Emil Jannings returned to Europe. Moviegoers found John Gilbert's voice an awkward match with his swashbuckling persona, and his star also faded. Audiences now seemed to perceive certain silent-era stars as old-fashioned, even those who had the talent to succeed in the sound era. The career of Harold Lloyd, one of the top screen comedians of the 1920s, declined precipitously. Lillian Gish departed, back to the stage, and other leading figures soon left acting entirely: Colleen Moore, Gloria Swanson, and Hollywood's most famous performing couple, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. As actress Louise Brooks suggested, there were other issues as well:

Studio heads, now forced into unprecedented decisions, decided to begin with the actors, the least palatable, the most vulnerable part of movie production. It was such a splendid opportunity, anyhow, for breaking contracts, cutting salaries, and taming the stars.... Me, they gave the salary treatment. I could stay on without the raise my contract called for, or quit, [Paramount studio chief B. P.] Schulberg said, using the questionable dodge of whether I'd be good for the talkies. Questionable, I say, because I spoke decent English in a decent voice and came from the theater. So without hesitation I quit.

Similarly, Clara Bow's speaking voice was sometimes blamed for the demise of her Hollywood career, though the real issues involved her clashes with studio executives and what film historian David Thomson describes as the "backlash of bourgeois hypocrisy" against a lifestyle that would have been unremarkable for a male star. Buster Keaton was eager to explore the new medium, but when his studio, MGM, made the changeover to sound, he was quickly stripped of creative control. Though a number of Keaton's early talkies made impressive profits, they were artistically dismal.

Several of the new medium's biggest attractions came from vaudeville and the musical theater, where performers such as Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Jeanette MacDonald, and the Marx Brothers were accustomed to the demands of both dialogue and song. James Cagney and Joan Blondell, who had teamed on Broadway, were brought west together by Warner Bros. in 1930. A few actors were major stars during both the silent and the sound eras: Richard Barthelmess, Clive Brook, Bebe Daniels, Norma Shearer, the comedy team of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, and the incomparable Charlie Chaplin, whose ''City Lights'' (1931) and ''Modern Times'' (1936) employed sound almost exclusively for music and effects. Janet Gaynor became a top star with the synch-sound but dialogueless ''Seventh Heaven'' and ''Sunrise'', as did Joan Crawford with the technologically similar ''Our Dancing Daughters'' (1928). Greta Garbo was the one non–native English speaker to achieve Hollywood stardom on either side of the great sound divide.

As talking pictures emerged, with their prerecorded musical tracks, an increasing number of moviehouse orchestra musicians found themselves out of work. More than just their position as film accompanists was usurped; according to historian Preston J. Hubbard, "During the 1920s live musical performances at first-run theaters became an exceedingly important aspect of the American cinema." With the coming of the talkies, those featured performances—usually staged as preludes—were largely eliminated as well. The American Federation of Musicians took out newspaper advertisements protesting the replacement of live musicians with mechanical playing devices. One 1929 ad that appeared in the ''Pittsburgh Press'' features an image of a can labeled "Canned Music / Big Noise Brand / Guaranteed to Produce No Intellectual or Emotional Reaction Whatever" and reads in part:

Canned Music on Trial This is the case of Art vs. Mechanical Music in theatres. The defendant stands accused in front of the American people of attempted corruption of musical appreciation and discouragement of musical education. Theatres in many cities are offering synchronised mechanical music as a substitute for Real Music. If the theatre-going public accepts this vitiation of its entertainment program a deplorable decline in the Art of Music is inevitable. Musical authorities know that the soul of the Art is lost in mechanisation. It cannot be otherwise because the quality of music is dependent on the mood of the artist, upon the human contact, without which the essence of intellectual stimulation and emotional rapture is lost.

By the following year, a reported 22,000 U.S. moviehouse musicians had lost their jobs.

Commerce

In September 1926, Jack Warner, head of Warner Bros., was quoted to the effect that talking pictures would never be viable: "They fail to take into account the international language of the silent pictures, and the unconscious share of each onlooker in creating the play, the action, the plot, and the imagined dialogue for himself." Much to his company's benefit, he would be proven very wrong—between the 1927–28 and 1928–29 fiscal years, Warners' profits surged from $2 million to $14 million. Sound film, in fact, was a clear boon to all the major players in the industry. During that same twelve-month span, Paramount's profits rose by $7 million, Fox's by $3.5 million, and Loew's/MGM's by $3 million. RKO, which hadn't even existed in September 1928 and whose parent production company, FBO, was in the Hollywood minor leagues, by the end of 1929 was established as one of America's leading entertainment businesses. Fueling the boom was the emergence of an important new cinematic genre made possible by sound: the musical. Over sixty Hollywood musicals were released in 1929, and more than eighty the following year.

Even as the Wall Street crash of October 1929 helped plunge the United States and ultimately the global economy into depression, the popularity of the talkies at first seemed to keep Hollywood immune. The 1929–30 exhibition season was even better for the motion picture industry than the previous, with ticket sales and overall profits hitting new highs. Reality finally struck later in 1930, but sound had clearly secured Hollywood's position as one of the most important industrial fields, both commercially and culturally, in the United States. In 1929, film box-office receipts comprised 16.6 percent of total spending by Americans on recreation; by 1931, the figure had reached 21.8 percent. The motion picture business would command similar figures for the next decade and a half. Hollywood ruled on the larger stage, as well. The American movie industry—already the world's most powerful—set an export record in 1929 that, by the applied measure of total feet of exposed film, was 27 percent higher than the year before. Concerns that language differences would hamper U.S. film exports turned out to be largely unfounded. In fact, the expense of sound conversion was a major obstacle to many overseas producers, relatively undercapitalized by Hollywood standards. The production of multiple versions of export-bound talkies in different languages, a common approach at first, largely ceased by mid-1931, replaced by post-dubbing and subtitling. Despite trade restrictions imposed in most foreign markets, by 1937, American films commanded about 70 percent of screen time around the globe. Just as the leading Hollywood studios gained from sound in relation to their foreign competitors, they did the same at home. As historian Richard B. Jewell describes, "The sound revolution crushed many small film companies and producers who were unable to meet the financial demands of sound conversion." The combination of sound and the Great Depression led to a wholesale shakeout in the business, resulting in the hierarchy of the Big Five integrated companies (MGM, Paramount, Fox, Warners, RKO) and the three smaller studios also called "majors" (Columbia, Universal, United Artists) that would predominate through the 1950s. Historian Thomas Schatz describes the ancillary effects:

Because the studios were forced to streamline operations and rely on their own resources, their individual house styles and corporate personalities came into much sharper focus. Thus the watershed period from the coming of sound into the early Depression saw the studio system finally coalesce, with the individual studios coming to terms with their own identities and their respective positions within the industry.

The other country in which sound cinema had an immediate major commercial impact was India. As one distributor of the period said, "With the coming of the talkies, the Indian motion picture came into its own as a definite and distinctive piece of creation. This was achieved by music." From its earliest days, Indian sound cinema has been defined by the musical—''Alam Ara'' featured seven songs; a year later, ''Indrasabha'' would feature seventy. While the European film industries fought an endless battle against the popularity and economic muscle of Hollywood, ten years after the debut of ''Alam Ara'', over 90 percent of the films showing on Indian screens were made within the country.

Most of India's early talkies were shot in Bombay, which remains the leading production center, but sound filmmaking soon spread across the multilingual nation. Within just a few weeks of ''Alam Ara'''s March 1931 premiere, the Calcutta-based Madan Pictures had released both the Hindi ''Shirin Farhad'' and the Bengali ''Jamai Sasthi''. The Hindustani ''Heer Ranjha'' was produced in Lahore, Punjab, the following year. In 1934, ''Sati Sulochana'', the first Kannada talking picture to be released, was shot in Kolhapur, Maharashtra; ''Srinivasa Kalyanam'' became the first Tamil talkie actually shot in Tamil Nadu. Once the first talkie features appeared, the conversion to full sound production happened as rapidly in India as it did in the United States. Already by 1932, the majority of feature productions were in sound; two years later, 164 of the 172 Indian feature films were talking pictures. Since 1934, with the sole exception of 1952, India has been among the top three movie-producing countries in the world every single year.

Aesthetic quality

In the first, 1930 edition of his global survey ''The Film Till Now'', British cinema pundit Paul Rotha declared, "A film in which the speech and sound effects are perfectly synchronised and coincide with their visual image on the screen is absolutely contrary to the aims of cinema. It is a degenerate and misguided attempt to destroy the real use of the film and cannot be accepted as coming within the true boundaries of the cinema." Such opinions were not rare among those who cared about cinema as an art form; Alfred Hitchcock, though he directed the first commercially successful talkie produced in Europe, held that "the silent pictures were the purest form of cinema" and scoffed at many early sound films as delivering little beside "photographs of people talking". In Germany, Max Reinhardt, stage producer and movie director, expressed the belief that the talkies, "bringing to the screen stage plays ... tend to make this independent art a subsidiary of the theater and really make it only a substitute for the theater instead of an art in itself ... like reproductions of paintings." In the opinion of many film historians and aficionados, both at the time and subsequently, silent film had reached an aesthetic peak by the late 1920s and the early years of sound cinema delivered little that was comparable to the best of the silents. For instance, despite fading into relative obscurity once its era had passed, silent cinema is represented by eleven films in ''Time Out'''s Centenary of Cinema Top One Hundred poll, held in 1995. The first year in which sound film production predominated over silent film—not only in the United States, but also in the West as a whole—was 1929; yet the years 1929 through 1933 are represented by three dialogueless pictures (''Pandora's Box'' [1929], ''Zemlya'' [1930], ''City Lights'' [1931]) and zero talkies in the ''Time Out'' poll. (''City Lights'', like ''Sunrise'', was released with a recorded score and sound effects, but is now customarily referred to by historians and industry professionals as a "silent"—spoken dialogue regarded as the crucial distinguishing factor between silent and sound dramatic cinema.) The earliest sound film to place is the French ''L'Atalante'' (1934), directed by Jean Vigo; the earliest Hollywood sound film to qualify is ''Bringing Up Baby'' (1938), directed by Howard Hawks.

The first sound feature film to receive near-universal critical approbation was ''Der Blaue Engel'' (''The Blue Angel''); premiering on April 1, 1930, it was directed by Josef von Sternberg in both German and English versions for Berlin's UFA studio. The first American talkie to be widely honored was ''All Quiet on the Western Front'', directed by Lewis Milestone, which premiered April 21. The other internationally acclaimed sound drama of the year was ''Westfront 1918'', directed by G. W. Pabst for Nero-Film of Berlin. Historian Anton Kaes points to it as an example of "the new verisimilitude [that] rendered silent cinema's former emphasis on the hypnotic gaze and the symbolism of light and shadow, as well as its preference for allegorical characters, anachronistic." Cultural historians consider the French ''L'Âge d'Or'', directed by Luis Buñuel, which appeared late in 1930, to be of great aesthetic import; at the time, its erotic, blasphemous, anti-bourgeois content caused a scandal. Swiftly banned by Paris police chief Jean Chiappe, it was unavailable for fifty years. The earliest sound movie now acknowledged by most film historians as a masterpiece is Nero-Film's ''M'', directed by Fritz Lang, which premiered May 11, 1931. As described by Roger Ebert, "Many early talkies felt they had to talk all the time, but Lang allows his camera to prowl through the streets and dives, providing a rat's-eye view."

Cinematic form

"Talking film is as little needed as a singing book." Such was the blunt proclamation of critic Viktor Shklovsky, one of the leaders of the Russian formalist movement, in 1927. While some regarded sound as irreconcilable with film art, others saw it as opening a new field of creative opportunity. The following year, a group of Soviet filmmakers, including Sergei Eisenstein, proclaimed that the use of image and sound in juxtaposition, the so-called contrapuntal method, would raise the cinema to "unprecedented power and cultural height. Such a method for constructing the sound-film will not confine it to a national market, as must happen with the photographing of plays, but will give a greater possibility than ever before for the circulation throughout the world of a filmically expressed idea." So far as one segment of the audience was concerned, however, the introduction of sound brought a virtual end to such circulation: Elizabeth C. Hamilton writes, "Silent films offered people who were deaf a rare opportunity to participate in a public discourse, cinema, on equal terms with hearing people. The emergence of sound film effectively separated deaf from hearing audience members once again." On March 12, 1929, the first feature-length talking picture made in Germany had its premiere. The inaugural Tobis Filmkunst production, it was not a drama, but a documentary sponsored by a shipping line: ''Melodie der Welt'' (''Melody of the World''), directed by Walter Ruttmann. This was also perhaps the first feature film anywhere to significantly explore the artistic possibilities of joining the motion picture with recorded sound. As described by scholar William Moritz, the movie is "intricate, dynamic, fast-paced ... juxtapos[ing] similar cultural habits from countries around the world, with a superb orchestral score ... and many synchronized sound effects." Composer Lou Lichtveld was among a number of contemporary artists struck by the film: "''Melodie der Welt'' became the first important sound documentary, the first in which musical and unmusical sounds were composed into a single unit and in which image and sound are controlled by one and the same impulse." ''Melodie der Welt'' was a direct influence on the industrial film ''Philips Radio'' (1931), directed by Dutch avant-garde filmmaker Joris Ivens and scored by Lichtveld, who described its audiovisual aims:

To render the half-musical impressions of factory sounds in a complex audio world that moved from absolute music to the purely documentary noises of nature. In this film every intermediate stage can be found: such as the movement of the machine interpreted by the music, the noises of the machine dominating the musical background, the music itself is the documentary, and those scenes where the pure sound of the machine goes solo.

Many similar experiments were pursued by Dziga Vertov in his 1931 ''Entuziazm'' and by Chaplin in ''Modern Times'', a half-decade later.

A few innovative commercial directors immediately saw the ways in which sound could be employed as an integral part of cinematic storytelling, beyond the obvious function of recording speech. In ''Blackmail'', Hitchcock manipulated the reproduction of a character's monologue so the word "knife" would leap out from a blurry stream of sound, reflecting the subjective impression of the protagonist, who is desperate to conceal her involvement in a fatal stabbing. In his first film, the Paramount ''Applause'' (1929), Rouben Mamoulian created the illusion of acoustic depth by varying the volume of ambient sound in proportion to the distance of shots. At a certain point, Mamoulian wanted the audience to hear one character singing at the same time as another prays; according to the director, "They said we couldn't record the two things—the song and the prayer—on one mike and one channel. So I said to the sound man, 'Why not use two mikes and two channels and combine the two tracks in printing?'" Such methods would eventually become standard procedure in popular filmmaking.

One of the first commercial films to take full advantage of the new opportunities provided by recorded sound was ''Le Million'', directed by René Clair and produced by Tobis's French division. Premiering in Paris in April 1931 and New York a month later, the picture was both a critical and popular success. A musical comedy with a barebones plot, it is memorable for its formal accomplishments, in particular, its emphatically artificial treatment of sound. As described by scholar Donald Crafton,

''Le Million'' never lets us forget that the acoustic component is as much a construction as the whitewashed sets. [It] replaced dialogue with actors singing and talking in rhyming couplets. Clair created teasing confusions between on- and off-screen sound. He also experimented with asynchronous audio tricks, as in the famous scene in which a chase after a coat is synched to the cheers of an invisible football (or rugby) crowd.

These and similar techniques became part of the vocabulary of the sound comedy film, though as special effects and "color", not as the basis for the kind of comprehensive, non-naturalistic design achieved by Clair. Outside of the comedic field, the sort of bold play with sound exemplified by ''Melodie der Welt'' and ''Le Million'' would be pursued very rarely in commercial production. Hollywood, in particular, incorporated sound into a reliable system of genre-based moviemaking, in which the formal possibilities of the new medium were subordinated to the traditional goals of star affirmation and straightforward storytelling. As accurately predicted in 1928 by Frank Woods, secretary of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, "The talking pictures of the future will follow the general line of treatment heretofore developed by the silent drama.... The talking scenes will require different handling, but the general construction of the story will be much the same."

See also

History of film

Sound stage

Film soundtrack

:Category:Film sound production for articles concerning the development of cinematic sound recording

Part-talkie

List of film sound systems

Notes

Sources

Altman, Rick (1995). "The Sound of Sound", ''Cineaste'', vol. 21, January 1 (archived online).

Altman, Rick (2005). ''Silent Film Sound'', New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-11662-4

Anderson, Joseph L., and Donald Richie (1982). ''The Japanese Film: Art and Industry'', expanded ed. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-05351-0

Barnier, Martin (2002). ''En route vers le parlant: histoire d'une évolution technologique, économique et esthétique du cinéma (1926–1934)''. Liège: Editions du Céfal. ISBN 2-87130-133-6

Bazin, André (1967 [1958–65]). "Cinema and Exploration", in his ''What Is Cinema?'', trans. and ed. Hugh Gray, pp. 154–163. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Bernds, Edward (1999). ''Mr. Bernds Goes to Hollywood: My Early Life and Career in Sound Recording at Columbia With Frank Capra and Others''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press (excerpted online). ISBN 0-8108-3602-5

Bhuyan, Avantika (2006). "Going, Going, Gone...", ''Screen Weekly'', March 31 (available online).

Bognár, Desi Kégl (2000). ''International Dictionary of Broadcasting and Film'', 2d ed. Burlington, Massachusetts: Focal Press. ISBN 0-240-80376-0

Bordwell, David (1985). "The Introduction of Sound", chap. in Bordwell, Janet Staiger, and Kristin Thompson, ''The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style & Mode of Production to 1960'', pp. 298–308. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-06054-8

Bordwell, David, and Kristin Thompson (1995 [1993]). "Technological Change and Classical Film Style", chap. in Balio, Tino, ''Grand Design: Hollywood as a Modern Business Enterprise, 1930–1939'', pp. 109–41. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-20334-8

Bradley, Edwin M. (1996). ''The First Hollywood Musicals: A Critical Filmography of 171 Features, 1927 Through 1932''. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-2029-4

Bradley, Edwin M. (2005). ''The First Hollywood Sound Shorts, 1926–1931''. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-1030-2

Brooks, Louise (1956). "Mr. Pabst", ''Image'', no. 5, September 7.

Brownlow, Kevin (1968). ''The Parade's Gone By ...'' Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03068-0

Burch, Noël (1979). ''To the Distant Observer: Form and Meaning in the Japanese Cinema''. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03877-0

Carey, Frances (1999). ''The Apocalypse and the Shape of Things to Come''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-8325-0

Carné, Marcel (1932). "Cinema and the World", trans. Claudia Gorbman, in ''French Film Theory and Criticism: A History/Anthology, 1907–1939. Volume 2: 1929–1939'', ed. Richard Abel, pp. 102–5. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-05518-1

Chapman, James (2003). ''Cinemas of the World: Film and Society from 1895 to the Present''. London: Reaktion Books. ISBN 1-86189-162-8

Chatterji, Shoma A. (1999). "The Culture-specific Use of Sound in Indian Cinema", paper presented at International Symposium on Sound in Cinema, London, April 15–18 (available online).

Cosandey, Roland (1996). "François (or Franz) Dussaud (1870–1953)", in ''Who's Who of Victorian Cinema: A Worldwide Survey'', ed. Stephen Herbert and Luke McKernan. London: BFI Publishing (available online). ISBN 0-85170-539-1

Crafton, Donald (1997). ''The Talkies: American Cinema's Transition to Sound, 1926–1931''. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 0-684-19585-2

Crisp, Colin G. (1997). ''The Classic French Cinema, 1930–1960''. Bloomington/London: Indiana University Press/I. B. Tauris. ISBN 0-253-21115-8

Dardis, Tom (1980 [1979]). ''Keaton: The Man Who Wouldn't Lie Down''. Middlesex, England, and New York: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-005701-3

Dibbets, Karel (1999). "High-tech Avant-garde: ''Philips Radio,''" in ''Joris Ivens and the Documentary Context'', ed. Kees Bakker, pp. 72–86. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. ISBN 90-5356-425-X

Eames, John Douglas (1985). ''The Paramount Story''. New York: Crown. 0-517-55348-1

Ebert, Roger (2002). ''The Great Movies''. New York: Broadway Books. ISBN 0-7679-1038-9

Eckes, Alfred E. and Thomas W. Zeiler (2003). ''Globalization and the American Century''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-80409-4

Eisenstein, Sergei et al. (1928). "A Statement", in his ''Film Form: Essays in Film Theory'' (1957 [1949]), trans. Jay Leyda, pp. 257–60. New York: Meridian (available online).

Eyman, Scott (1997). ''The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution 1926–1930''. New York: Simon & Schuster (chapter 1 available online). ISBN 0-684-81162-6

Finler, Joel W. (2003). ''The Hollywood Story'', 3d ed. London and New York: Wallflower. ISBN 1-903364-66-3

Freiberg, Freda (1987). "The Transition to Sound in Japan", in ''History on/and/in Film'', ed. Tom O'Regan and Brian Shoesmith, pp. 76–80. Perth: History & Film Association of Australia (available online).

Freiberg, Freda (2000). "Comprehensive Connections: The Film Industry, the Theatre and the State in the Early Japanese Cinema", ''Screening the Past'', no. 11, November 1 (available online).

Geduld, Harry M. (1975). ''The Birth of the Talkies: From Edison to Jolson''. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-10743-1

Glancy, H. Mark (1995). "Warner Bros. Film Grosses, 1921–51: The William Schaefer Ledger", ''Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television'', March (archived online).

Gomery, Douglas (1980). "Economic Struggle and Hollywood Imperialism: Europe Converts to Sound", in ''Film Sound: Theory and Practice'' (1985), ed. Elisabeth Weis and John Belton, pp. 25–36. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-05637-0

Gomery, Douglas (1985). "The Coming of Sound: Technological Change in the American Film Industry", in ''Technology and Culture—The Film Reader'' (2005), ed. Andrew Utterson, pp. 53–67. Oxford and New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-415-31984-6

Gomery, Douglas (2005). ''The Coming of Sound: A History''. New York and Oxon, UK: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-96900-X

Guy, Randor (2004). "First Film to Talk in Kannada", ''The Hindu'', December 31 (available online).

Hall, Mordaunt (1930). "''Because I Loved You''—Germany's First Talking Film", ''The New York Times'', January 25 (available online).

Haltof, Marek (2002). ''Polish National Cinema''. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books. ISBN 1-57181-275-X

Hamilton, Elizabeth C. (2004). "Deafening Sound and Troubling Silence in Volker Schlöndorff's ''Die Blechtrommel''", in ''Sound Matters: Essays on the Acoustics of German Culture'' (2004), ed. Nora M. Alter and Lutz Koepnick, pp. 130–41. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books. ISBN 1-57181-436-1

Hijiya, James A. (1992). ''Lee De Forest and the Fatherhood of Radio''. Cranbury, N.J., and London: Associated University Presses. ISBN 0-934223-23-8

Hirschhorn, Clive (1979). ''The Warner Bros. Story''. New York: Crown. ISBN 0-517-53834-2

Hubbard, Preston J. (1985). "Synchronized Sound and Movie-House Musicians, 1926–29", ''American Music'', vol. 3, no. 4, Winter.

Jelavich, Peter (2006). ''Berlin Alexanderplatz: Radio, Film, and the Death of Weimar Culture''. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-24363-3

Jewell, Richard B., with Vernon Harbin (1982). ''The RKO Story''. New York: Arlington House/Crown. ISBN 0-517-54656-6

Joshi, Lalit Mohan (2003). ''Bollywood: Popular Indian Cinema''. London: Dakini. ISBN 0-9537032-2-3

Kaes, Anton (2009). ''Shell Shock Cinema: Weimar Culture and the Wounds of War''. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-03136-3

Kemp, Philip (1987). "Josef Von Sternberg", in ''World Film Directors, Volume I: 1890–1945'', ed. John Wakeman, pp. 1041–51. New York: H. W. Wilson. ISBN 0-8242-0757-2

Kenez, Peter (2001). ''Cinema and Soviet Society from the Revolution to the Death of Stalin''. London and New York: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 1-86064-632-8

Koerber, Martin (1996). "Oskar Messter, Film Pioneer: Early Cinema Between Science, Spectacle, and Commerce", in ''A Second Life: German Cinema's First Decades'', ed. Thomas Elsaesser, pp. 51–61. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. ISBN 90-5356-172-2

Lai, Linda (2000). "Hong Kong Cinema in the 1930s: Docility, Social Hygiene, Pleasure-Seeking & the Consolidation of the Film Industry", ''Screening the Past'', no. 11, November 1 (available online).

Lasky, Betty (1989). ''RKO: The Biggest Little Major of Them All''. Santa Monica, California: Roundtable. ISBN 0-915677-41-5

Lee, Hyangjin (2000). ''Contemporary Korean Cinema: Identity, Culture, and Politics''. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-6008-7

Liebman, Roy (2003). ''Vitaphone Films: A Catalogue of the Features and Shorts''. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-1279-8

Lindvall, Terry (2007). ''Sanctuary Cinema: Origins of the Christian Film Industry''. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-5210-1

Lloyd, Ann, and David Robinson (1986). ''The Illustrated History of the Cinema''. London: Orbis. ISBN 0-85613-754-5

Łotysz, Sławomir (2006). "Contributions of Polish Jews: Joseph Tykociński–Tykociner (1877–1969), Pioneer of Sound on Film", ''Gazeta'', vol. 13, no. 3, winter–spring (available online).

Low, Rachael (1997a [1971]). ''The History of the British Film 1918–1929 (The History of British Film, Volume IV)''. Oxford and New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-415-15649-1

Low, Rachael (1997b [1985]). ''The History of the British Film 1929–1939: Film Making in 1930s Britain (The History of British Film, Volume VII)''. Oxford and New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-415-15451-0

Millard, Andre J. (2005). ''America on Record: A History of Recorded Sound'', 2d ed. Cambridge et al.: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-83515-1

Milne, Tom (1980). "Rouben Mamoulian", in ''Cinema: A Critical Dictionary'', ed. Richard Roud, pp. 658–663. New York: Viking. ISBN 0-670-22257-7

Moone, Tom (2004). "Joseph Tykociner: Pioneer of Sound on Film", ''Ingenuity'', vol. 9, no. 1, March (archived online).

Moritz, William (2003). ''Optical Poetry: The Life and Work of Oskar Fischinger''. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-86196-634-1

Morton, David (2006). ''Sound Recording: The Life Story of a Technology''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-8398-9.

Narasimham, M. L. (2006). "A Leader and a Visionary", ''The Hindu'', September 8 (available online).

Nichols, Nina Da Vinci, and Jana O'Keefe Bazzoni (1995). ''Pirandello and Film''. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-3336-1

Nolletti, Arthur (2005). ''The Cinema of Gosho Heinosuke: Laughter through Tears''. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-34484-0

Oderman, Stuart (2000). ''Lillian Gish: A Life on Stage and Screen''. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0644-5

"Outcome of Paris: Accord Signed/Total Interchangeability—Globe Divided into Three Patent Zones—Patent Exchange" (1930), ''Film-Kurier'', July 22 (available online).

Pradeep, K. (2006). "When the Stars Talked", ''The Hindu'', March 17 (available online).

Rajadhyaksha, Ashish, and Paul Willemen (2002 [1999]). ''BFI Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema'', rev. ed. Oxford and New York: BFI/Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-85170-669-X

Ranade, Ashok Da. (2006). ''Hindi Film Song: Music Beyond Boundaries''. New Delhi: Promilla/Bibliophile South Asia. ISBN 81-85002-64-9

Reade, Eric (1981 [1979]). ''History and Heartburn: The Saga of Australian Film, 1896–1978''. East Brunswick, N.J.: Associated University Presses. ISBN 0-8386-3082-0

Richie, Donald (1977). ''Ozu''. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03277-2

Richie, Donald (2005). ''A Hundred Years of Japanese Film: A Concise History'', 2d ed. Tokyo: Kodansha. ISBN 4-77002-995-0

Ris, Peter Harry (2004). "''Jayu Manse/Hurrah! for Freedom''", in ''The Cinema of Japan & Korea'', ed. Justin Bowyer, pp. 33–40. London: Wallflower Press. ISBN 1-904764-11-8

Robertson, Patrick (2001). ''Film Facts''. New York: Billboard Books. ISBN 0-8230-7943-0

Robinson, David (1997). ''From Peepshow to Palace: The Birth of American Film''. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-10338-7

Rollberg, Peter (2008). ''Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-6072-4

Rosen, Miriam (1987). "Luis Buñuel", in ''World Film Directors, Volume I: 1890–1945'', ed. John Wakeman, pp. 71–92. New York: H. W. Wilson. ISBN 0-8242-0757-2

Russell, Catherine (2008). ''The Cinema of Naruse Mikio: Women and Japanese Modernity''. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press. ISBn 0-8223-4312-6

Saunders, Thomas J. (1994). ''Hollywood in Berlin: American Cinema and Weimar Germany''. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-08354-7

Schatz, Thomas (1998). ''The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era''. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-19596-2

Segrave, Kerry (1997). ''American Films Abroad: Hollywood's Domination of the World's Movie Screens from the 1890s to the Present''. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0346-2

Sponable, E. I. (1947). "Historical Development of Sound Films", ''Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers'', vol. 48, nos. 4–5, April/May (available online).

Spoto, Donald (1984 [1983]). ''The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock''. New York: Ballantine. ISBN 0-345-31462-X

Stojanova, Christina (2006). "Post-Communist Cinema", in ''Traditions in World Cinema'', ed. Linda Badley, R. Barton Palmer, and Steven Jay Schneider, pp. 95–114. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-3873-0

"Talking Movies: They'll Never Take, Asserts Film Company's Head" (1926), Associated Press, September 3 (available online).

Thomson, David (1998). ''A Biographical Dictionary of Film'', 3d ed. New York: Knopf. ISBN 0-679-75564-0

''Time Out Film Guide'' (2000). Eighth ed., ed. John Pym. London and New York: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-028365-X

Truffaut, François (1984 [1983]). ''Hitchcock'', rev. ed. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-52601-4

Wagenleitner, Reinhold (1994). ''Coca-Colonization and the Cold War: The Cultural Mission of the United States in Austria After the Second World War'', trans. Diana M. Wolf. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-2149-7

Wlaschin, Ken (1979). ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the World's Greatest Movie Stars and Their Films''. New York and London: Salamander/Harmony. ISBN 0-517-53714-1

External links

Film Sound History well-organized bibliography of online articles and resources; part of the FilmSound website

Hollywood Goes for Sound charts showing transition to sound production by Hollywood studios, 1928–1929; part of the Terra Media website

Progressive Silent Film List (PSFL)/Early Sound Films comprehensive and detailed listing of first generation of sound films from around the world; part of the Silent Era website

Recording Technology History extensive chronology of developments, including subsites, by Steven E. Schoenherr; see, in particular, Motion Picture Sound

A Selected Bibliography of Sound and Music for Moving Pictures compiled by Miguel Mera, Royal College of Music, London; part of the School of Sound website

The Silent Film Bookshelf links to crucial primary and secondary source documents, a number of which cover the era of transition to sound

Sound Stage—The History of Motion Picture Sound informative illustrated survey; part of the American WideScreen Museum website

Historical writings

"The Art of Sound" May 1929 essay by filmmaker and critic René Clair

"Asynchronism as a Principle of Sound Film" 1934 essay by filmmaker and theorist Vsevolod Pudovkin

"Dialogue and Sound" essay by film historian and critic Siegfried Kracauer; first published in his book ''Theory of Film: The Redemption of Physical Reality'' (1960)

"The Film to Come" essay by producer and composer Guido Bagier; first published in ''Film-Kurier'', January 7, 1928

''Handbook for Projectionists'' technical manual covering all major U.S. systems; issued by RCA Photophone, 1930

"Historical Development of Sound Films" chronology by sound-film pioneer E. I. Sponable; first published in ''Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers'', April/May 1947

"Madam, Will You Talk?" article on the history of Bell Laboratories' early research into sound film, by Stanley Watkins, Western Electric engineer; first published in ''Bell Laboratories Record'', August 1946

"Merger of the Sound Film Industry—The Founding Agenda of Tobis" corporate manifesto first published in ''Film-Kurier'', July 20, 1928

"The Official Communiqué: Foundations of the Sound-Film Accord Sales Prospects for the German Electronics Industry" article first published in ''Film-Kurier'', July 23, 1930

''Operating Instructions for Synchronous Reproducing Equipment'' technical manual for Western Electric theatrical sound projector system; issued by ERPI, December 1928

"Outcome of Paris: Accord Signed/Total Interchangeability—Globe Divided into Three Patent Zones—Patent Exchange" article first published in ''Film-Kurier'', July 22, 1930

"''The Singing Fool''" review by film theorist and critic Rudolf Arnheim, ca. 1929

"Sound-Film Confusion" 1929 essay by Rudolf Arnheim

"Sound Here and There" essay by composer Paul Dessau; first published in ''Der Film'', August 1, 1929

"Sound in Films" essay by director Alberto Cavalcanti; first published in ''Films'', November 1939

"Theory of the Film: Sound" 1945 essay by film theorist and critic Béla Balázs

"What Radio Has Meant to Talking Movies" prescient essay by Universal sound engineer Charles Feldstead; first published in ''Radio News'', April 1931

Historical films

''Ben Bernie and All the Lads'' excerpts from ca. 1924 Phonofilm sound film; on The Red Hot Jazz Archive website

''A Few Minutes with Eddie Cantor'' 1924 Phonofilm sound film; on Archive.org

''Gus Visser and His Singing Duck'' 1925 Theodore Case sound film; on YouTube

''President Coolidge, Taken on the White House Lawn'' 1924 Phonofilm sound film; on Archive.org

Category:History of film Category:Film and video technology Category:Film sound production

ast:Cine sonoru ca:Cinema sonor da:Tonefilm de:Tonfilm es:Cine sonoro fr:Cinéma sonore ko:발성 영화 hi:वाक्पट hr:Zvučni film it:Cinema sonoro ms:Filem suara nl:Geluidsfilm ja:トーキー ro:Film sonor simple:Sound film sr:Звучни филм sh:Zvučni film sv:Ljudfilm zh:有声电影

Demetri Martin (born May 25, 1973) is an American comedian, actor, artist, musician, writer and humorist. Martin is best known for his work as a stand-up comedian, contributor on ''The Daily Show'' and for his Comedy Central show ''Important Things with Demetri Martin''.

Early life

Demetri Martin was born to a Greek American family in New York City, New York, and grew up in Toms River, New Jersey. He is the son of Lillian, a nutritionist, and Dean C. Martin, now deceased, a Greek Orthodox priest. Martin graduated from Yale University in 1995. Although he was accepted into Harvard Law School, he went to New York University School of Law after he received a full scholarship.

Career

In 2001, Martin caught his first big break in stand-up comedy when he appeared on Comedy Central's stand-up showcase ''Premium Blend''. At the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe he won the Perrier award with his show ''If I...''. The show was turned into a British television special in 2004. From 2003 to 2004, Martin wrote for ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''. In 2004, Martin had his own ''Comedy Central Presents'' stand-up special. His special was divided into three parts. In the first, he performed in traditional stand-up comedy fashion. In the second segment, he used humorous drawings as visual aids, which would serve either as the punchline or a background. During the third segment, he played a guitar and put on a pseudo-play where he would strum his guitar while alternating between playing harmonica and talking; some of his comedian friends dressed as fairies and dragons acted according to the story he was telling, detailing the magical land where his jokes came from. Martin's mother and grandmother also appeared.

Since late 2005, he has been credited as a contributor on ''The Daily Show'', on which he has appeared as the named "Senior Youth Correspondent" and on which he hosts a segment called "Trendspotting". He has used this segment to talk about so-called hip trends among youth such as hookahs, wine, guerilla marketing and Xbox 360. A piece about social networking featured his profile on MySpace. On March 22, 2007, Demetri made another appearance on ''The Daily Show'', talking about the Viacom lawsuit against Google and YouTube.

He has recorded a comedy CD/DVD titled ''These Are Jokes'', which was released on September 26, 2006. This album also features ''Saturday Night Live'' member Will Forte and stand-up comedian Leo Allen.

Martin returned to ''The Daily Show'' on March 22, 2006, as the new Youth Correspondent, calling his segment "Professional Important News with Demetri Martin". In 2007, he starred in a Fountains of Wayne music video for "Someone to Love" as Seth Shapiro, a character in the song. He also starred in the video for the new Travis single "Selfish Jean", in which he wears multiple t-shirts with lyrics written on them.

On September 2, 2007, Martin appeared on the season finale of the HBO series ''Flight of the Conchords''. He appeared as a keytar player named Demetri.

He also had a part in the movie ''The Rocker'' (2008) starring Rainn Wilson. Martin played the part of the videographer when the band in the movie was making their first music video.

In 2009, he hosted and starred in his own television show called Important Things With Demetri Martin on Comedy Central. Later in June, it was announced his show had been renewed for a second season. The second season premiered, again on Comedy Central, on February 4, 2010. Martin has stated that ''Important Things'' will not return for a third season.

Prior to completing work on his second season, Martin starred in the comedy-drama film ''Taking Woodstock'' (2009), directed by Ang Lee, which premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. In the film Martin plays Elliot Tiber, a closeted gay artist who has given up his ambitions in the city to move upstate and help his old-world Jewish family run their Catskill Mountains motel. The film is based on the book written by Tiber.

On April 25, 2011, Martin released his first book, titled ''This Is a Book by Demetri Martin''.

Martin was slated to portray Paul DePodesta as Oakland Athletics assistant GM to Billy Beane in the 2011 movie ''Moneyball'', however was dropped and Jonah Hill took his place in the movie.

Future plans

Martin sold his movie concept ''Will'' to DreamWorks; he is expected to play a key supporting role. He will play the lead in the film ''Moon People'', a pitch that he sold to Columbia Pictures.

Martin also signed a blind script deal with CBS in October 2010 to produce, write, and star in his own television series.

After CBS was shown the pilot for the series, they decided not to air it.

On August 11, 2011, Fox ordered a presentation of a new animated show they might air.

''If I''

''If I'' is a Perrier Comedy Award-winning comedy one-man show written and performed by Demetri Martin at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It was also aired on British television as a special. The show is an autobiographical examination of Martin's life, as seen through various definitions of the word "if."

The title of the special comes from a lengthy palindromic poem that Martin wrote; the words "if I" are at the center of the poem.

Comedic style

Martin is known for being an unconventional stand-up comic. He uses one-liners and drawings on a "large pad", as well as accompanying his jokes with music on either guitar, harmonica, piano, keyboard, glockenspiel, toy bells, ukulele, or tambourine, sometimes all at once. He has cited comedian Steven Wright as an important influence (both use deadpan one-liners in their acts) and he is also a fan of Bill Cosby.

Personal life

According to a July 2011 interview on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast, Demetri had a short-lived marriage to a girl he knew from high school. They began dating after high school and got married when he was in NYU Law School and she was attending NYU Medical School. He was aged 25 and in the end of his marriage when his stand-up career began.

He is extremely allergic to nuts and peanuts.

Martin moved to Santa Monica, California in 2009.

Filmography

''Invite Them Up'' (2005)

''These Are Jokes'' (2006)

''Demetri Martin. Person.'' (2007)

''Important Things with Demetri Martin (2009-2010)

Filmography and television work

''If I'' ''12:21'' ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' "''Someone to Love (Fountains of Wayne song) ''Flight of the Conchords (TV series) ''The Rocker (film) ''Paper Heart'' ''Post Grad'' ''Taking Woodstock'' ''Important Things with Demetri Martin'' ''Take Me Home Tonight (film) ''Contagion (film) ''Conan_(TV_series)

Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
2002	''Analyze That''	Personal Assistant
2003	|	Himself	British television special, also writer
2004	|	Himself	short film, also writer
2004	|	Himself	1 episode, series writer
2007	Someone to Love''" ||	Seth Shapiro	''Fountains of Wayne'' music video
2007	Flight of the Conchords'' ||	Demetri	Season 1, Episode 12
2008	The Rocker'' ||	Kip (a music video producer)
2009	|	Himself
2009	|	Ad Exec
2009	|	Elliot Tiber
2009–2010	|	Himself / Various	writer, series creator, executive producer, and composer
2011	Take Me Home Tonight'' ||	Carlos
2011	Contagion'' ||	Dr. David Eisenberg
2011	Conan'' ||	Himself	guest

Written works

''This Is a Book'', April 2011, .

Awards and nominations

AwardPerrier Comedy AwardEmmy Awards Shared with Mike Sweeney (writer)Writers Guild of America Award Shared with Mike Sweeney (writer)Barry Award (for comedy)

Year	|	For	Category	Result	Other notes
2003	|	''If I''		Won	At the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
2004	|	''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''	Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music, or Comedy Program	Nominated	Mike Sweeney (head writer), Chris Albers, Jose Arroyo, Andy Blitz, Kevin Dorff, Daniel J. Goor, Michael Gordon, Brian Kiley, Michael Koman, Brian McCann, Guy Nicolucci, Conan O'Brien, Allison Silverman, Robert Smigel, Brian Stack, Andrew Weinberg
2005	|	''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''	Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) - Series	Won	Mike Sweeney (head writer), Chris Albers, Jose Arroyo, Andy Blitz, Kevin Dorff, Daniel J. Goor, Michael Gordon, Brian Kiley, Michael Koman, Brian McCann, Guy Nicolucci, Conan O'Brien, Allison Silverman, Robert Smigel, Brian Stack, Andrew Weinberg
2006	Barry Award ||	''Dr. Earnest Parrot Presents Demetri Martin''		Won	Award for best show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival

References

External links

Interview from November, 2006, in Onion AV Club

Interview from October 2006, in The DePaulia

Article, in ''The Scotsman''

Article, in ''Gelf Magazine''

Interview by Brian M. Palmer

MP3 Audio Interview on ''The Sound of Young America'' public radio show and podcast

Interview Believer Mag

New Jersey Monthly Magazine

Fresh Air, NPR.org

Category:1973 births Category:Actors from New Jersey Category:Actors from New York City Category:American comedians Category:American comedy musicians Category:American comedy writers Category:American film actors Category:American humorists Category:American people of Greek descent Category:American stand-up comedians Category:American television actors Category:American television writers Category:Living people Category:New York University alumni Category:Writers from New Jersey Category:Writers from New York City Category:Writers Guild of America Award winners Category:Yale University alumni Category:The Daily Show correspondents and contributors

cs:Demetri Martin da:Demetri Martin de:Demetri Martin fr:Demetri Martin gl:Demetri Martin it:Demetri Martin ru:Мартин, Деметри simple:Demitri Martin fi:Demetri Martin sv:Demetri Martin

name	Annette Hanshaw
background	solo_singer
birth name	Catherine Annette Hanshaw
birth date	October 18, 1901
death date	March 13, 1985
origin	Manhattan, New York, United States
instrument	Vocals
genre	Jazz
occupation	Singer
associated acts	Ethel WatersBessie Smith Eddie Lang Joe Venuti
notable instruments	}}

Catherine Annette Hanshaw (October 18, 1901 – March 13, 1985) was one of the first popular female jazz singers. In the late 1920s she ranked alongside Ethel Waters, Bessie Smith and the Boswell Sisters in popularity and influence.

Biography

Her singing style was relaxed and suited to the new jazz-influenced pop music of the late 1920s. Although she had a low opinion of her own singing, she continued to have fans because she combined the voice of an ingenue with the spirit of a flapper. Hanshaw was known as "The Personality Girl," and her trademark was saying "That's all," in a cheery voice at the end of many of her records.

Between September 1926 and February 1934, she recorded prolifically. From 1926–28 she recorded for Pathe (her sides were released on both the Pathe and Perfect labels). Starting in June 1928, she recorded for Columbia; most of these were issued on their dime store labels Harmony, Diva, Clarion and Velvet Tone. A handful were also released on their regular price Columbia and OKeh. Although most were released under her own name, she was renamed Gay Ellis (for sentimental numbers) and Dot Dare or Patsy Young (for her Helen Kane impersonations). She recorded under a number of other pseudonyms which included Ethel Bingham, Marion Lee, Janet Shaw, and Lelia Sandford. Starting in August 1932, she began recording for the ARC with her recordings issued on their Melotone, Perfect, Conqueror, Oriole and Romeo. Her final session, February 3, 1934 was placed on ARC's Vocalion label.

Hanshaw made her one and only appearance on film in the 1933 Paramount short ''Captain Henry's Radio Show,'' "a picturization" of the popular Thursday evening radio program ''Maxwell House Show Boat,'' in which she starred from 1932 to 1934.

Having grown tired of show business, in the late 1930s Hanshaw retired and settled into married life with her husband, Pathé Records executive Herman "Wally" Rose. Later in life, in a would-be comeback, she recorded two demo records, but they were never released. She died of cancer in 1985 at New York Hospital after a long illness; she was living in Manhattan at that time.

Collections of Hanshaw's recording were released on Audio CD in 1999 by Sensation Records. Another revival of interest occurred in 2008 with the indie animated feature ''Sita Sings the Blues'', which retold the Indian epic poem the ''Ramayana'' from Sita's perspective by setting scenes from it to performances by Hanshaw. More recently, her 1929 song "Daddy Won't You Please Come Home" was featured in the video game Bioshock 2 in 2010.

Birthdate

For many years it was believed that Annette had been born in 1910 and began her recording career shortly before her 16th birthday. However, it has recently come to light that she was in fact born nine years earlier, making her 24 at the time of her first commercial recording in September 1926. Her nephew, Frank W. Hanshaw III, has confirmed 1901 as the date on her birth certificate.

Songs

Under Moon

Notes

External links

Annette Hanshaw Biography at jazzage1920s.com

Annette Hanshaw at Find a Grave

Annette Hanshaw at the Internet Archive

Multiple audio streams of Hanshaw's songs (needs Realplayer)

Annette Hanshaw This site has a video of a performance and references to having talked to family members.

VH1 This Web site lists her birth year as 1910 and has her starting her career at 15 and retiring at 24. The liner notes from the CD "Lovable & Sweet: 25 Vintage Hits" on the Asv Living Era label also contain this apparently incorrect information.

Annette's Genealogy

Category:1901 births Category:1985 deaths Category:American jazz singers Category:American female singers

de:Annette Hanshaw it:Annette Hanshaw

name	Jennifer Lawrence
birthname	Jennifer Shrader Lawrence
birth date	August 15, 1990
birth place	Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
occupation	Actress
yearsactive	2006–present }}

Jennifer Shrader Lawrence (born August 15, 1990) is an American film and television actress. She has had lead roles in TBS's ''The Bill Engvall Show'' and in the independent films ''The Burning Plain'' and ''Winter's Bone'', for which she received critical acclaim and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. At age 20, this made her the second youngest actress to ever be nominated for the award. She also played Mystique in ''X-Men: First Class''. In 2012, Lawrence starred as the heroine, Katniss Everdeen, in the film ''The Hunger Games''.

Early life

Lawrence was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, and has two older brothers. Her parents are Karen (née Koch), who runs a children's camp, and Gary Lawrence, who once owned a concrete construction firm, Lawrence & Associates. She acted in church plays and, by the age of 14, had decided to pursue an acting career, persuading her parents to take her to New York City to find a talent agent. Although she had no training or experience, she received high praise from the agency for which she auditioned. She graduated from high school two years early in order to begin a career in acting.

Career

Early work

Lawrence was in the main cast of the TBS comedy ''The Bill Engvall Show'', playing eldest daughter 'Lauren Pearson'. Written and created by Bill Engvall and Michael Leeson, the show is set in a Denver suburb and follows the life of 'Bill Pearson' (played by Engvall), a family counselor whose own family could use a little dose of counseling. The series went on the air in September 2007 and was canceled in 2009 after three seasons.

Lawrence had guest-roles in the television series ''The Devil You Know'', ''Cold Case'', ''Medium'', and ''Monk''.

In 2008, she appeared in a small role in the film ''Garden Party'' she played the role of Tiff directed by Jason Freeland. The same year, Lawrence appeared on the big screen in Guillermo Arriaga's film directorial debut ''The Burning Plain'', opposite Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger. Her performance in the film earned her the Marcello Mastroianni Award for best young emerging actor/actress during the Venice Film Festival in 2008.

Still in 2008, she had the lead role in another film director's debut, Lori Petty's family drama ''The Poker House'', opposite Selma Blair and Chloë Moretz, where Lawrence starred as Agnes, a young girl victim of abuse. She appeared in the music video for the song "The Mess I Made", from the 2009 album ''Losing Sleep'' by Parachute.

2010–present

Lawrence's lead role in Debra Granik's ''Winter's Bone'', which won best picture at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010, is generally cited as a breakout performance for her. She portrays Ree Dolly, a seventeen-year-old in the Ozark Mountains who cares for her mentally ill mother and her younger brother and sister. Ree then discovers that her father put their house and land up as a bond for a court appearance before he disappeared, and the family now faces eviction.

The performance was highly acclaimed by film critics. David Denby, writing in ''The New Yorker'', said "the movie would be unimaginable with anyone less charismatic playing Ree." Lawrence received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, for the role, on January 25, 2011. She is the second-youngest person to date to be nominated for the category.

Lawrence had a role in ''The Beaver'', a dark comedy starring Jodie Foster and Mel Gibson that was filmed in 2009, but which spent an extended period of time stalled due to controversies surrounding Gibson. It was released on May 6, 2011. Lawrence co-starred in the independent film ''Like Crazy,'' which premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and received a wider release by Paramount Pictures.

In June 2011, Lawrence appeared as shape-shifting villain Mystique in ''X-Men: First Class'', a prequel to the rest of the ''X-Men'' film series. Lawrence's Mystique is a younger version of the character played by Rebecca Romijn in earlier ''X-Men'' films. Lawrence is also set to star alongside Elisabeth Shue in Mark Tonderai's thriller ''House at the End of the Street'', which completed filming in 2010 and is in post-production.

}}

Lawrence has never taken any drama classes/lessons for acting. She lived in New York City for the first few years of her career, but resides in Santa Monica, California.

In March 2011, Lawrence was cast as Katniss Everdeen in ''The Hunger Games'', which was released on March 23, 2012. She had an accident on the last day of the six-week training phase, but was not severely hurt. On March 23rd, the film earned a record-breaking amount at U.S. midnight screenings for a non-sequel film, grossing $19.7 million. Though the film generally received positive reviews, Lawrence's portrayal of Katniss Everdeen was the most highly praised with Todd McCarthy from The Hollywood Reporter saying Lawrence "anchors" the whole film "with impressive gravity and presence", and ultimately called her "the ideal screen actress". Frank Swietek said that Lawrence is "the one ingredient of the film that can described as outstanding" and continued to praise her for "conveying the character's strength and vulnerability in equal measure. None of the other young actors comes close to matching her". Roger Ebert also agreed that "Lawrence is strong and convincing in the central role".

Lawrence was cast in ''The Silver Linings Playbook'', opposite Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro. She was originally cast to play "O" in the film ''Savages'', but dropped out to film ''The Hunger Games'' instead.

On June 18, 2011, it was announced that Lawrence was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, an invitation that included that year, her ''Winter's Bone'' co-star John Hawkes.

Lawrence starts filming the adaptation of the second novel in The Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire, this summer, which is scheduled to be released on November 22, 2013.

Personal life

It was rumored that Jennifer Lawrence was in a relationship with co-star on X-men: First Class, Nicholas Hoult, but she denies this in an interview with Ryan Seacrest saying, "We’re just basketball buddies. We just love playing basketball.".

Filmography

+ Film	! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
2006	''Company Town''	Caitlin	TV film
2007	''Not Another High School Show''	Frantic Girl	TV film
2008		Tiff
2008	''The Poker House''	Agnes	Los Angeles Film Festival – Outstanding Performance Award
2008	''The Burning Plain''	Mariana	Venice Film Festival – Marcello Mastroianni Award
2010	''Winter's Bone''	Ree Dolly	Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising PerformerDetroit Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressFlorida Film Critics Circle Pauline Kael Breakout AwardSan Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressNational Board of Review Breakthrough PerformanceSeattle International Film Festival Award for Best ActressStockholm International Film Festival Award for Best ActressToronto Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressWashington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Academy Award for Best ActressNominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best ActressNominated—Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaNominated—Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressNominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Female LeadNominated—Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressNominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the YearNominated—Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressNominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaNominated—Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading RoleNominated—Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film Leading Young Actress
2011	''Like Crazy''	Sam
2011		Norah
2011	''X-Men: First Class''		IGN
2012		[[Katniss Everdeen
2012	''Devil You Know''	Young Zoe
2012	''House at the End of the Street''	Elissa	Completed
2012	''The Silver Linings Playbook''	Tiffany	Post-production
2013	''Catching Fire''	Katniss Everdeen	Pre-production
2013	''Serena''	Serena Pemberton	Pre-production

+ Television	! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
2006		Mascot	"Mr. Monk and the Big Game" (season 5: episode 3)
2007		Claire Chase	"Mother's Little Helper" (season 3: episode 7)
2007		Abby Bradford	"A Dollar, a Dream" (season 4: episode 18)
2007–09	''The Bill Engvall Show''	Lauren Pearson	Series regular, 30 episodesYoung Artist Award for Outstanding Young Performers in a TV Series
2008		Young Allison	"But for the Grace of God" (season 4: episode 2)

References

External links

Category:1990 births Category:Actors from Kentucky Category:American child actors Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:Living people Category:People from Louisville, Kentucky

ca:Jennifer Lawrence cs:Jennifer Lawrence da:Jennifer Lawrence de:Jennifer Lawrence et:Jennifer Lawrence es:Jennifer Lawrence fa:جنیفر لارنس fr:Jennifer Lawrence ko:제니퍼 로렌스 hr:Jennifer Lawrence it:Jennifer Lawrence he:ג'ניפר לורנס ka:ჯენიფერ ლოურენსი lv:Dženifere Lorensa nl:Jennifer Lawrence ja:ジェニファー・ローレンス no:Jennifer Lawrence pl:Jennifer Lawrence pt:Jennifer Lawrence ru:Лоуренс, Дженнифер sl:Jennifer Lawrence fi:Jennifer Lawrence sv:Jennifer Lawrence tr:Jennifer Lawrence uk:Дженніфер Лоуренс vi:Jennifer Lawrence zh:珍妮佛·勞倫斯

birth date	October 12, 1992
birth place	Union, Kentucky, U.S.
birthname	Joshua Ryan Hutcherson
occupation	Actor, Voice actor
yearsactive	2002–present
homepage	Official site }}

Joshua Ryan "Josh" Hutcherson (born October 12, 1992) is an American film and television actor. He began working in the early 2000s, appearing in several minor film and television roles. He gained wider exposure with major roles in the 2005 films ''Little Manhattan'' and ''Zathura'', the 2006 comedy ''RV'', the 2007 family adventure film ''Firehouse Dog'', and the film adaptations of ''Bridge to Terabithia'', ''Journey to the Center of the Earth'' and ''Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant''. On March 30, 2008, Hutcherson won a Young Artist Award (for Leading Young Actor). Hutcherson was also featured on a Celebrity Teens edition of the hit show ''MTV Cribs'', and is set to play Robert in the ''Red Dawn'' remake and Peeta Mellark in the upcoming 2012 film, ''The Hunger Games''.

Early life

Josh Hutcherson was born in Union, Kentucky. His mother, Michelle, is a former Delta employee who now assists Josh, and his father, Chris Hutcherson, is an analyst for the EPA. He has a younger brother, Connor, as well as many pets, including two dogs, Diesel and Nixon (a boxer). He has wanted to be an actor since he was four years old, but had only begun auditioning for roles in 2002, at the age of 9.

Career

Hutcherson's first role was in the 2002 pilot episode, ''House Blend''; in the same year, he appeared in an episode of ''ER''. In 2003, he played the lead role in the comedy ''Miracle Dogs'' (which was released on Animal Planet), starred opposite Peter Falk and Timothy Daly in the made-for-television film, ''Wilder Days'', and had a minor role in the well-reviewed independent film, ''American Splendor''. He performed for the motion-capture imagery in 2004's ''The Polar Express''.

In 2005, Hutcherson appeared in several Hollywood films: he had a minor role in the Will Ferrell comedy ''Kicking & Screaming'', voiced Markl in the animated film ''Howl's Moving Castle'' (June), and played the lead roles in ''Little Manhattan'' (September) and ''Zathura'', which was released in November to positive reviews. The following year, Hutcherson appeared in the comedy ''RV'', playing the son of Robin Williams's character, and subsequently played Jesse Aarons in the drama ''Bridge to Terabithia'', which was filmed in New Zealand and released on February 16, 2007, performing well critically and commercially. He had not read the novel that the film is based on before being cast in the role.

Hutcherson's next role was in ''Firehouse Dog'' (released on April 4, 2007), in which he played Shane Fahey, a firefighter's son who befriends a dog. Hutcherson filmed ''Firehouse Dog'' before ''Bridge to Terabithia'', though the latter film was released first. His next roles were in the "very dark" independent film drama ''Winged Creatures'', and playing the nephew of Brendan Fraser's character in ''Journey to the Center of the Earth'', a new 3-D film version of the novel of the same name; filming on ''Journey'', which was released on July 11, 2008, began in Montreal in June 2006 and ended in October of that year. Hutcherson also appeared in a film adaptation of the book ''Cirque Du Freak''.

In 2010 he had a supporting role in the critically acclaimed movie ''The Kids Are All Right'' playing Laser.

Hutcherson has said that he would like to appear in every type of film genre.

On April 4, 2011, Lionsgate announced that Hutcherson had been cast as Peeta Mellark in the upcoming 2012 film, ''The Hunger Games''.

Personal life

Hutcherson has cited actor Jake Gyllenhaal as an inspiration.

On August 11, 2007, Hutcherson served as the Grand Marshal at the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series Meijer Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway.

In September 2008, he went to Italy for the first time. He visited Rome and Milan, and participated in a local event about kids and cinema.

Filmography

Film
! Year	! Film	! Role	! Notes
	''Becoming Glen''	Young Glen	TV Movie
	''Miracle Dogs''	Charlie Logan	TV Movie
''One Last Ride''	Joey
	Robin
''Wilder Days''	Chris Morse	TV Movie
	''Eddie's Father''	Eddie Corbett	TV Movie
''Motocross Kids''	TJ
''Party Wagon''	Toad E. Bartley	TV Movie (voice)
	Markl	voice: English version
		Bucky Weston
''Little Manhattan''	Gabe	Lead Role
''Zathura: A Space Adventure''	Walter	Lead Role
2006		Carl Munro
		Jess Aarons	Lead Role
''Firehouse Dog''	Shane Fahey
		Jimmy Jaspersen
	Sean Anderson
2009	''Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant''	Steve "Leopard" Leonard
		Laser
''The Third Rule''	Chuck	(short)
		Robert	Finished
	Clapton Davis
	Joshua Mason	Post-Production
	''Journey 2: The Mysterious Island ''	Sean Anderson	Filming
	Peeta Mellark	Filming
Television
! Year	! Title	! Role	! Notes
2002	''House Blend''	Nicky Harper	Only the pilot
Guest Appearances
! Year	! Title	! Role	! Episode
		Matt	First Snowfall
	''The Division''	Matthew Inwood	Till Death Do Us Part
	Donny Rawlings	Take the Money and Run
2004	''Justice League''	Van-El / Young Bruce Wayne (voice)	For the Man Who Has Everything
Video Game
! Year	! Title	! Role	! Notes
	''Journey to the Center of the Earth''	Sean Anderson

Producer
! Year	! Title	! Note
	''Detention''

Awards and Nominations

! Year !! Award !! Category !! Work !! Result
2004		Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special - Leading Young Actor	''Wilder Days''	rowspan="2"
	Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Ensemble Cast (shared with ''Motocross Kids'' Cast)	''Motocross Kids''
Outstanding Young Ensemble in a New Medium (shared with ''The Polar Express'' Cast)	''The Polar Express''	rowspan="2"
	Best Performance in a Feature Film (Comedy or Drama) - Leading Young Actor
Saturn Awards	Best Performance by a Younger Actor	rowspan="2"
2007		Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor
	Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Ensemble Cast (shared with ''Bridge to Terabithia'' Cast)		rowspan="2"
Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor
Saturn Awards	Best Performance by a Younger Actor	rowspan="2"
2009	Young Artist Awards	Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor
	Breakthrough of the Year Awards	Breakthrough Actor in Film
Gotham Awards	Best Ensemble Cast (shared with ''The Kids Are All Right'' Cast)	rowspan="7"
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards	Best Ensemble Acting (shared with ''The Kids Are All Right'' Cast)
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards	Youth in Film
Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards	Best Ensemble Acting (shared with ''The Kids Are All Right'' Cast)
	Central Ohio Film Critics Association Awards	Best Ensemble (shared with ''The Kids Are All Right'' Cast)
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards	Best Acting Ensemble (shared with ''The Kids Are All Right'' Cast)
Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture (shared with ''The Kids Are All Right'' Cast)
Chlotrudis Awards	Best Performance by an Ensemble Cast (shared with ''The Kids Are All Right'' Cast)

References

External links

People in Film: Josh Hutcherson - Focus Features

Josh Hutcherson MySpace

Josh Hutcherson personal YouTube Channel (JawsSweetEyes)

Category:1992 births Category:Living people Category:American child actors Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:Actors from Kentucky Category:People from Boone County, Kentucky

ar:جوش هوتشرسن ca:Josh Hutcherson de:Josh Hutcherson es:Josh Hutcherson fr:Josh Hutcherson id:Josh Hutcherson it:Josh Hutcherson jv:Josh Hutcherson hu:Josh Hutcherson nl:Josh Hutcherson ja:ジョシュ・ハッチャーソン no:Josh Hutcherson pl:Josh Hutcherson pt:Josh Hutcherson ru:Хатчерсон, Джош simple:Josh Hutcherson fi:Josh Hutcherson sv:Josh Hutcherson th:จอช ฮัทเชอร์สัน tr:Josh Hutcherson uk:Джошуа Гатчерсон zh:喬許·哈卻森