This Presbyterian minister claimed about CT Russell, "
In 1914 he completed work on the first epic motion picture: "The Photo-Drama of Creation" 15 years before any other sound pictures were produced." On page 51 of the publication,"Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose",published by the WTS,this comment is made, "Then Pastor Russell conceived a daring and elaborate educational venturefar ahead of the times.Motion pictures were just becoming popular,so,recognizing in this medium an effective means of reaching masses of people in a comparatively short time,Russell began the preparation of the "Photo-Drama of Creation.....So,the Society was really pioneering in the field of sound film and embarked on the project with full confidence of its success.The results of their pioneering efforts in this medium manifested God's spirit on this undertaking."
This Presbyterian minister sounds like he was getting his information straight out of a WTS publication!And the obvious inference is that the Photo-Drama was a revolutionary invention,quote,"far ahead of the times" that was achieved only through Jehovah's direction.
What was so revolutionary about the Photo-Drama of Creation? According to the same WTS publication,pg.51,"The entire project included picture slides as well asmoving pictures to be synchronizedwith phonograph records in the form of recorded talks and music"
However,was the WTS really the first to develop this method of adding sound to an existing moving picture?
http://hem.passagen.se/filmljud/talkies2.htm
The level of sophistication achieved by these pioneers was startling. The following description by inventor Léon Gaumont of the Chronophonograph of 1902 clearly illustrates this capability.
"Several methods of connecting the apparatus were patented by our organization. One uses two small shunt dc motors of almost the same power and supplied by the same current source. The armatures of these motors contained the same number of sections, and each section of one armature was connected with a corresponding section of the other armature and in the same order. Consequently the first armature turned at the same angular displacement as the second. The first armature controlled the phonograph and the second the projector. Synchronization was obtained by adjusting the speed of unwinding of the motion picture film to the speed of the disk recording...Synchronization of sound and image was perfect, provided the simple precaution was taken of placing the first image in the projector picture gate and at the same time the needle at the extreme start of the disk." 4
Since 1902, Léon Gaumont had been demonstrating promising prototypes in France. He showed himself to be one of the individuals most committed to the idea that talking films would succeed. His persistent efforts to profit from popular, sound film entertainment culminated in the commercial premiere of the Chronophonograph in 1907 at the London Hippodrome.5 The Motion Picture Patents Company, with its vise-grip monopoly on the American film industry, took the Chronophonograph seriously enough to license it exclusively for the United States. Within a year, Gaumont was supplying film shorts containing opera, monologues and dramatic scenes.
Norton, Whitman and Fitch: The Cameraphone
Another major player in this game was E.E. Norton. He was formerly the mechanical engineer for the American Graphophone Company (known to us by the name of Columbia Phonograph Company, a venerable firm currently owned by the Sony Corporation). Norton invented the Cameraphone, and with James A. Whitman and attorney Francis Fitch founded the Cameraphone Company. They began leasing equipment to exhibitors by the Summer of 1908.7
The Cinephone
Will Barker's Cinephone was first brought here from England in March of 1909. It was one of the simplest and cheapest systemsavailable. It too was a lip-sync playback mechanism. There was no link between the sound and picture equipment. Barker placed the playback gramophone in the corner of the shot with a speed indicator clearly in view while the players mouthed to the playing record. Later, when the film was shown to an audience, an identical gramophone, also with an indicator, was placed on the stage. The projectionist had a control dial for the gramophone and all he had to do was ride herd on matching the two indicators. With the aid of a quick starting double spring projector, he could have the show in sync during the head leader and before the first image.
So,the inference that CT Russell was far ahead of his time with his Photo-Drama of Creation does not appear to be supported by the actual facts! Frankly,I fail to see what was so revolutionary about the PD of C being able to synchronize moving pictures with phonograph records in the form of recorded talks and music , when similar technology had already been invented earlier.
Morning Glory