Evening Star Newspaper, April 18, 1940, Page 42

AMUSEMENTS. Noise for Every Purpose Kept on Tap by Studios Sound Library Can Readily Supply Everything From a Frog’s Croak To a Streamliner’s Roar By JAY CARMODY. HOLLYWOOD. Those ndoks and niches occupied by the glamour girls, and boys do have their fascination in-Hollywood. But the visitor, who maintains self- control sufficiently to choose his own enchantments, can find other fascina- tions. One is the sound library, a collection of noises which runs into the fabulous thousands . and _includes everything up to the rustle of an angel’s wings. Even that may be tucked away in _ one of the cans in the huge vaults It wouldn't sur- prise us & bit; § nothing eould after our session with Mike, the engineer in charge. Mike's last name begins with an S, but we can't read the rest of the scribbling, even if he is too ami- able and intel- Jav Carmody. ligent a fellow to merit such anonymity. The sound library, over which Mike presides—it was M-G-M's, but Paramount, Warners, and others have comparable departments—gives the impression of being the one part of the studio that is completely ready for the wildest imagining of screen writers. A request for the sound of a dream walking probably could be complied with in a minute. Or the whirr of the ghost of Ham- let's father. By way of showing how the thing worked, Mike asked us what sound we would like to hear. Getting down into the B's in the index— the A’s are always so obvious—we flipped over a card toward the bot- tom. Of the dozen entries on it, we chose “Bull frog, croaking,” pmb- THEATER PARKING 6PM.TO o 5 . 12 P.M. CAPITAL GARAGE 1320 N. Y. Ave., Bet. 13th & 14th. DRIVING INSTRUCTIONS E In_accident-proof dual con- trol cars. Lady and rentlcmen AM. to 10 EASY METHOD DlelNG SCHOOL acher: P.M., intieding Sunda. 1608 Iowa Ave. LOANS 74 years of buying, sellmg and lending on diamonds, jewelry, etc. Liberal Loans at Lowest Possible Rates. CASH FOR OLD GOLD (Government License) hed 1866 Em-blu O iy WASHINGTON. _ Tuxedos, Full Dress Cutaways, Chaneery Jackets latest styles in TH® slreswith - come plete accessories. M. STEIN & CO. 1714 L St. N.W. at Conmpcticut Ave. NA, 2435 ts you st Hogate's . , . Washing- Largest Sea Food Restaurant. ‘We're famous for our deep-sea delict eles prepared in visible kitchens. eated on the banks of the Potoma marvelous view is afforded of motable points of interest. LUNCHEONS from 50c DINNER Entrees from 60c Phone REpublic 3013 for party reservations. THE EVENING STAR, -WASHINGTON, D. C., THURSDAY, ably the dormant Huckleberry Finn in us, although we have not checked with the family psychiatrist. Out of can 1178, Mike whipped a roll of sound film, slapped it on a spindle sort of instrument, turned a switch. Instantly, in a laboratory, which was virtually the oddest place in the world for such a sound, came the croaking of the bull frog who probably is closer than any other of his species to immortality. You may have heard him yourself, a sound effect in a romantic scene which finds the young lovers sit- ting enraptured on the shore of a moonlit lake. “Want a croak?” Mike asked. And when we, who never thought of getting an autograph in our life, said a sudden, enthusiastic “yes,” he snipped a croak out of the film and handed it to us. Building up a sound library so infinitely detailed is an enormous Job and an unending one. If it were Just a matter of natural sounds, the cries of animals, the whistling of winds, the weeping of women, or something of that sort, it would not be unending. Such natural sounds do not change much between the Garden of Eden and Hollywood. Once recorded, there they are to be used over and over again in as many films as may be made. When a recording wears out, rather before it wears out, a re-recording is made so the sound always is fresh. * ok K X Artificial sounds are the capricious, changing ofies and those which give the sound effects library people their real and continuing problem. The automobile provides an illustration. Its sound effects are constantly changing, just as are those of all other mechanical devices. The library must be kept constantly up to date. “But the human ear is not tuned finely enough to appreciate those minute distinctions,” one protests. “Some human ears are,” Mike explains. “We've got to have au- thenticity.” He cites the specific case of streamlined railroad equipment. M-G-M’s library is right up to date on this as on other scores. It was brought to that level of modernity because the studio hired a special train, ran it under every kind of conditions, in canyons, over trestles, in flat lands. Inside and out the train was plastered with miero- phones and recording apparatus. Never a sound did the train make that was not recorded, catalogued and filed away against the day when some director calls for, say, a streamliner crossing a trestle in a mountain gorge at a speed pf 52 miles an hour. ‘The process is that thorough, even if it does sound silly and fill the outsider with a perverse longing for the day when the sound track will give off a shrill, steamy whistle instead of the deep-throated horn tone which is the latest thing for keeping people off grade crossings. Even worse than the designers of automobiles and trains on the equi- librium of sound effects chasers are those who build airplanes. Airplanes sound different almost from plane to plane and keeping pace with them is a dizzy job. One of Mike's favorite anecdotes on this phase of his mammoth sub- ject has to do with a director who ‘was expert enough on airplanes to be precise about a certain kind of noise. When it failed to show up in the sound of a formation flight of a new type of plane, he insisted that the recording was faulty. That specific noise, a certain beat created by the engines of massed planes, could not be eliminated, he told Mike. He had to go to an airport and listen for himself before he would believe that it had been. * K ok ok ‘The mass of movie-goers would hardly indulge in such hair-splitting, but sound recorders take no chance that even one hair-splitter might show up some night. There are many sounds in the studio libraries which cannot be used. One such group is the cries of animals in pain. Censorship says no because there is an echoing cry of pain in humans in a great many instances. The animal in question might not be hirt at all. It might be merely acting, or the cry might be used without a visual representa- tion of the animal on the screen. But the public would not know that it was merely a noise from a sound AMUSEMENTS. ARBAUGH'S RESTAURANT, 2606 Conn. Ave. Only at Arbaugh’s can you get real r-b-a_spareribs and aged charcoal roiled_steaks. Mixed drinks, wine, beer. BEAUVILLE FOOD SHOP, 1629 Conn. Ave. Excellent dinners, luncheons. fancy drinks. Beafoods our specialty. Served in home tmos| 5 7 Dmnex " Qf eluding cover. "Bupper cover, 50c. RAINBOW ROOM. Hamilton lolel 14 at K. Cocktail and dinner dancl suoper dancing to Milt Daviss Orl 10-1. Min., Saturday only, $1. . 2580, URLINGTON HOTEL. Vermont t.e‘““ls‘e' 3135 K N. sl o0 8L BU No. coyer: Min., S No min. 16r dinner g Ente ment by _Brooke Johns. | Re!V NA 0069, ‘SHAR-ZAD. Carlton Hotel. ancing to George Duffy's Orchestra, (elturlnl cmn 106° e MADRILLON "RESTAURA! Building, 15th and New "rk Ave. !lvorlte nllco to dine. the popular DM. LEY HALL. 1703 3 Dy IGE Ilvlm ing, dancing to Pete Jesturing Adele Van. 10 sover except Ba Pei ffl“""’"’ =3 e, uring Nadin luxe li.llnl d. 2 D:,\ e T, Macias )?n:henn. 't 2, o min. or Co. 7500, ¢ Her 7th Successive Hit!- (and as with all the others) Stays for a WEEK'! DEANNA ZOUNDS, THOSE SOUNDS!—A visit to the sound Udrary where the noises of life and death—everything from the croak.of a frog to the roar of a torngdo—are kept on file, inspires a nightmare. Suppose all those sounds were suddenly let loose upon the world in one anguished yowl! library, in other words, something out of the files, so the censors say no. Mike and his associates appreciate the logic of it. There are some eerie corners of the sound library’s index, not to mention the library itself. Under “laughter,” for example, the casual flip of a card may, and did, disclose the entry “Laughter, happy, Jean Harlow.” An emphatic re- minder of mortality, the more em- phatic for being filed under laugh- ter. Dramatic things, files. Upon occasion, at least. That small fragment of film is another indication of the complete- ness, however, of the sound library. Except for dialogue, indeed, any picture could be produced down to the smallest detail—of which there might be thousands—direct from today’s files. It is downright awe-inspiring, a sound library. Makes one wonder what would happen if some night, by some perverse magic, all the sounds were to break out at once. Undoubtedly that would be the wildest bedlam in- human history. Might be a suggestion in the thought if Providence is thinking up a proper ending for Hollywood. To Stage Operetta Charles Gabriel's comic operetta, “The Merry Milk Maids,” is being | presented by the Recreation Depart- ment tomorrow night at 8:30 o'clock at the Armstrong High School. The operetts is directed by Dr. W. Scott Mayo. The choral ensemble is com- posed of members of the Tempo Choral Society and members from the Recreation Chorus. Those as- sisting with the production are Miss Wilhelmina Patterson, Mrs. Mabel Jones Freeman, Mrs. Helen Smith Mason, Miss Gertrude P. McBrown and Mrs. Sadie Hamilton. Census Club Show A one-act comedy and a variety show will be presented tomorrow night at 8:15 o'clock in the Depart- ment of Commerce auditorium by the Census Bureau Dramatic Club. The play is “Those Sonnets,” which is being directed by Linda Cherry, who also will play one of the lead- ing roles. Others in “Those Sonnets” will be Betty Dorf, Moe Plotkin and Joseph Capalbi. Arnold C. Levey will be master of ceremonies for the variety show, and Frances Segal, pianist, will provide the musical accompaniment for the entertainers. Among those | contributing to the entertainment will be Joe Mandelbaum, Justine Hoskins, Enid 'T. Herger, Mary T. Vranesh, George J. Baird, Virgil Willard, William Stoneberger, Mary Pence, Betty Clark, Beatrice A. Prince, Mary Thompson, Thomas Johnson, Mary:Ireland, Lois Keefer, Bertha I. Cross, Carl Mueller, Sylvia Singerman and Colin Kerr Cameron. AMUSEMENTS. BELASCO * 11 A.M. Continuous Every Day! 25¢ UNTIL 1 P.M.—35¢ UNTIL 5 P.M.—55¢ TO CLOSING DONT MISS IT NOW! THE PICTURE YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO SEE! One Week Only! Last Public Showing! FRIDAY ..WHAT GOINGS.ON! Young Tom Edison sets the town on its ears with his Andy Hardy-ish pranks! Hirky ROONEY "Young TOM EDISON" FAY BAINTER o GEORGE BANCROFT “The House Across the Bay” Lost Virginie Weidler Eugene Polletre Day Joan BENNETT © George RAFT " KEITH'S A WASHINGTON INSTITUTION izl KAY FRAN[:IS WALTERPIDGEUN «++ for good measure this NEW added attraction « ¢« the latest edition of The MARCH of TIME *‘American Youth-1840" Walt Disney’s "ThQ Rivoto:" stays t00 . . . ! G*«A'«f.u GINGER ROGERS ® JOEL McCREA in “The PRIMROSE PATH" Where and When, Caurrent Theater Attractions ‘and Time of Showing National—Dark. Palace — “Rebeccs,” with Lau- rence Olivier and Joan Fontaine in the leading roles: 10:45 am. 1:25, 4:10, 6:50 and 9:35 pm. Keith’s—“It's & Date,” the new Deanna Durbin adventure® 11:30 l.m..lfl 38:30, 5:30, 7:30 and 9:30 hrh— “Too Many Husbands,” with Jean Arthur in that lfl'eluhr but exciting predicament: 11 am., 4:30, 7:15 and 10 pm, Stage shows: 12:50, 3:35, 6:20 and 9:10 pm. Capitol — “Dr. Cyclops,” & mad sclentist tries a new reducing cure: 11 am,, 1:45, 4:40, 7:25 and 10 pm. sunlhm 12:55, 3:50, 6:35 and 9:15 pm. letropolmn— “Road to Singa- pore,” laughs with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope: 11:35 am, 1:40, 3:40, 5:40, 7:45 and 9:45 pm. Columbia—"“The House Across the Bay,” in which Joan Bennett awaits an imprisoned husband: 11:45 a.m., :45, 3:45, 5:45, 7:50 and 9:50 p.m. Little—“It Happened One Night,” return of the Capra prize-winner: 11 am, 1:15, 3:25, 5:30, 7:40 and 9:50 pm. Belasco—“Ecstasy,” at 11 am, 12:30, 2, 3:35, 5:05, 6:40, 8:15 and 9:45 pm. Open-Air—“Broadway Bill,” with Warner Baxter and Myrna Loy: 7:45 and 10 p.m. Trans-Lux — News and shorts, continuous from 10 am, Hersholt's Hobby Basis for Film Jean Hersholt, who plays the title role 'in R-K-O Radio’s “The Courageous Dr. Christian,” is a nationally-known expert concerning charities in addition to being an authority on their administration. Coupled with these interests, which are practically Hersholt’s hobby, has been a deep study of housing conditions in small towns. It was the star's research data on this subject fhat inspired the original story of his latest picture. “Using our already famous myth- ical town of River's End as a sub- ject, we are presenting a social problem that is near to the hearts of small town folk throughout the Nation,” commented Hersholt be- at the studio. NEVER IN ITS HISTORY AS FINE AS NOW OVER $100,000.00 SPENT FOR IMPROVEMENTS. AMUSEMENTS DAILY FROM ONE O’CLOCK. DANCING TO PAUL KAIN'S ORCH. OF 12. WEEK NIGHTS 9 TO 12. FROM THE WORLD'S FAIR “Flying Scooter” THE NEW THRILL RIDE APRIL 18, 1940. AMUSEMENTS. sionally, and others in the cast are Montgomery Group In Play Saturday ‘The Montgomery Players will pre- sent their production of Rachel Crothers’ “Susan and God” Saturday night at Leland Junior High School in Chevy Chase, Md. It will be the group’s last play this season. Kay Wilkkins is playing the role Gertrude Lawrence created profes- Howard Bandy and Irving Da; ‘The comedy is being dlrecud by C!l Fred Kerby. AMUSEMENTS, Again the populace descends on Loew’s Palace to thrill to o great picturization of @ superb novel! David O. Selznick made the Capital cut a wide path to the Palace to ses . his filmizotion of “G. W.T.W." ... And now he’s done it again in this ifi .MK thrilling romance rced to hold for a WEEK BEG. NEXT MON. EVE. Matiness Wod. and Sat. SEATS ON SALE CNILDI!N‘S HOSPITAL PRESENTS Laurence OLIVIER WIRTH'S JOAN FONTAINE Mightiest Array of Arenic and Circus Stars. General M-lll'h'n lnurnl Beats SECOND WEEK TICKETS A'l' AP..A.“.r & PENNA, AVE, KEYSTONE Al]’l‘o CLU.. IPAUI-D. 'ADIUM. INGS, AS WELL AS AT 47" CAPITO FeAr s2 74 AND HIS MUSICAL KNIGHTS & HIS FAMOUS &ta..POT OF GOLD Given at every performance! If your phone number is called and you are in the audience YOU GET $100 FREE! OLLICKING K SOREEN MuUsIcAL LoVE JOAN TORNER © BLOWDELL * .‘ IRLS WO BRO MN TODAY 52y © “DR. CYCLOPS” o in person. .. Harry JAIES & Orch. HELD OVER SECOND WEEK! for EBECCA e psnd LAURENCE OLIVIR JOAN FONTAINE SEOME SMNRRS + TR Diroetod by'ALPRED WTCHE Prodvesd by DAVID O. Whe mods “PONE WY N Srom e besbusiting novel by’ DAPHNE DU MAUNER, AT OEW'S PALACE.