A journey through the emergence of synchronized sound movies, from early experiments to the final transformation of cinema, with rare 16mm film prints of preserved shorts, cartoons, jazz and blues, comedy, feature film excerpts, and more.

“You ain’t heard nothin’ yet!” ...Contrary to myth, The Jazz Singer was not only a mere “part-talkie,” it wasn’t even the first sound movie. Not by a long shot. In reality, sound cinema is nearly as old as cinema itself. As early as 1895, Thomas Edison’s labs were already using wax cylinders to record live audio while filming scenes. By the early 1900s, Edison and counterparts in Europe were showing crudely synchronized sound films for paying audiences. Truly modern sound movies were being regularly screened across the US in 1924, three years before Al Jolson’s big hit.

Tonight’s program spans this early history of sound cinema, with rare 16mm film examples of Edison Kinetophone, De Forest Phonofilm, Vitaphone, Fox Case Movietone, and more. Performers you’ll see – and hear! – include Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle, Bessie Smith, George Bernard Shaw, Al Jolson, Robert Benchley, Edna Flugrath, and others.

(A similar program was previously screened in 2010.)