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Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one which was widely used and commercially successful. The soundtrack was not printed on the film itself, but issued separately on phonograph records. The discs, recorded at 33 1/3 rpm (a speed first used for this system) and typically 16 inches in diameter, would be played on a turntable physically coupled to the projector motor while the film was being projected. Many early talkies, such as ''The Jazz Singer'' (1927), used the Vitaphone system. The name "Vitaphone" derived from the Latin and Greek words, respectively, for "living" and "sound". The "Vitaphone" trademark was later associated with cartoons and other short subjects that had optical soundtracks and did not use discs. ==Early history== In the early 1920s, Western Electric was developing both sound-on-film and sound-on-disc systems, aided by the purchase of Lee De Forest's Audion amplifier tube in 1913, consequent advances in public address systems, and the first practical condenser microphone, which Western Electric engineer A.C. Wente had created in 1916 and greatly improved in 1922. De Forest debuted his own Phonofilm sound-on-film system in New York City on April 15, 1923, but due to the relatively poor sound quality of Phonofilm and the impressive state-of-the-art sound heard in Western Electric's private demonstrations, the Warner Brothers decided to go forward with the industrial giant and the more familiar disc technology. The business was established at Western Electric's Bell Laboratories in New York City and acquired by Warner Brothers in April 1925.〔Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 111.〕 Warner Brothers introduced Vitaphone on August 6, 1926 with the release of their silent feature ''Don Juan'', which had been retrofitted with a symphonic musical score and sound effects. There was no spoken dialog. The feature was preceded by a program of short subjects with live-recorded sound, nearly all featuring classical instrumentalists and opera stars. The only "pop music" artist was guitarist Roy Smeck and the only actual "talkie" was the short film that opened the program: four minutes of introductory remarks by motion picture industry spokesman Will Hays. ''Don Juan'' was able to draw huge sums of money at the box office,〔 but was not able to match the expensive budget Warner Brothers put into the film's production.〔Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 113.〕 After its financial failure, Paramount head Adolph Zukor offered Sam Warner a deal as an executive producer for Paramount if he brought Vitaphone with him.〔Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 114.〕 Sam, not wanting to take any more of Harry Warner's refusal to move forward with using sound in future Warner films, agreed to accept Zukor's offer,〔 but the deal died after Paramount lost money in the wake of Rudolph Valentino's death.〔 Harry eventually agreed to accept Sam's demands.〔Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 116.〕 Sam then pushed ahead with a new Vitaphone feature starring Al Jolson, the Broadway dynamo who had already scored a big hit with early Vitaphone audiences in ''A Plantation Act'', a musical short released on October 7, 1926. On October 6, 1927, ''The Jazz Singer'' premiered at the Warner Theater in New York City, broke box-office records, established Warner Brothers as a major player in Hollywood, and is traditionally credited with single-handedly launching the talkie revolution. At first, the production of Vitaphone shorts and the recording of orchestral scores was strictly a New York phenomenon, taking advantage of the bountiful supply of stage and concert hall talent there, but the Warners soon migrated some of this activity to their more spacious facilities on the West Coast. Dance band leader Henry Halstead is given credit for starring in the first Vitaphone short subject filmed in Hollywood instead of New York. ''Carnival Night in Paris'' (1927) featured the Henry Halstead Orchestra and a cast of hundreds of costumed dancers in a Carnival atmosphere. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Vitaphone」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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