The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Here is my latest posting of the Ben Pollack 1929 Vitaphone Short, which includes a young Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden, and Jimmy McPartland:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlsel2 ... 1929_music

Great little movie. Did they play live, or was the music recorded first and then the film later? The sound is excellent by the way. Pollack had such a wonderful band in the period.

According to the late Joe Showler, who piloted the restoration project of the Vitaphone, the film and the sound were separate. He knew about the film first, and found the sound disc many years later and helped put the two together.

I knew about the Vitaphone project years ago. They're doing a great job combining film and discs and as such preserving early sound film history. And there are so many wonderful music shorts!

Watching it again, I'm amazed at how good it is. Before Whiteman made The King Of Jazz, it was normal to film first and then record the sound. Whiteman insisted to record the sound first and then lip synch to that.

syncopeter wrote:Great little movie. Did they play live, or was the music recorded first and then the film later?

I wonder if a few were live. Something like the Buddy Rich (Buddy Traps) Vitaphone of him playing a sort of drum solo on various bits of furniture and things would have been impossible to realistically 'synch' to.

The film element of that particular Vitaphone is one that is lost though. The sound disc survives.

redhotjazz wrote:According to the late Joe Showler, who piloted the restoration project of the Vitaphone, the film and the sound were separate. He knew about the film first, and found the sound disc many years later and helped put the two together.

Not quite the same thing as a dub, which I think was the thrust of the question. IIRC, the Vitaphone process didn't use film with a sound track, but rather a synchronized sound (disc) recording played back in synch with the (silent) film. I think the question can be asked, "Were the film and sound recording made simultaneously?"

Delightful film with nice sound. Does the film exist anywhere in higher (video) resolution? (Is it thus available?)