Abstract
The year 1923 begins with great promise. Using the process he had first imagined in 1918, Lee de Forest is poised for his prime time premiere. By now he has made several dozen short Phonofilms and screened a few of these for the American and German press. This is the year of the Phonofilm, and for the first time members of the public will be able to experience a movie with synchronized sound. As Phonofilm matures Lee de Forest again turns from an inventor into a pitchman. First he speaks about his invention at engineering conferences. Then he carefully attempts to reach the widest audience possible and bring them in on what he has accomplished by making himself available to the daily newspapers, the scientific popular press, and the film technical support fraternity through the Society of Motion Picture Engineers. He also writes a booklet aimed at potential investors. At all of these venues and in print he sounds similar themes as de Forest, as always, “stays on message.” He will continue to be the producer and director of the content he envisions for his improved technology. He will be the face of Phonofilm. This year, 1923, is the premiere year for Phonofilm. But first he will be forced to reconsider his relationship with Theodore Case.
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Notes
- 1.
Lee de Forest, “The Phonofilm,” SMPE Transactions, No. 16, May 1923.
- 2.
De Forest letter to Case, March 17, 1923, Case Papers.
- 3.
ibid.
- 4.
ibid.
- 5.
ibid.
- 6.
ibid.
- 7.
ibid.
- 8.
ibid.
- 9.
ibid.
- 10.
ibid.
- 11.
Case letter to de Forest, March 25, 1923, Case Papers.
- 12.
ibid.
- 13.
FOR p 367–368.
- 14.
New York Times, April 5, 1923.
- 15.
FOR p 370.
- 16.
New York Times, April 16, 1923.
- 17.
ibid.
- 18.
New York News, April 29, 1923.
- 19.
ibid.
- 20.
ibid.
- 21.
Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 22, 1923
- 22.
ibid.
- 23.
ibid.
- 24.
New York City Telegram, April 29, 1923.
- 25.
ibid.
- 26.
FOR p 371.
- 27.
Scientific American, August 1923.
- 28.
ibid.
- 29.
ibid.
- 30.
De Forest, explaining Phonofilm to an Associated Press reporter, January 5, 1924, and carried in hundreds of daily papers.
- 31.
C. Francis Jenkins, from the SMPE Charter.
- 32.
Lee de Forest, “The Phonofilm,” SMPE Transactions, No. 16, May 1923.
- 33.
ibid.
- 34.
ibid.
- 35.
ibid.
- 36.
ibid.
- 37.
ibid.
- 38.
ibid.
- 39.
ibid.
- 40.
ibid.
- 41.
ibid.
- 42.
ibid.
- 43.
JT Tykociner, “Photographic Recording and Photoelectric Reproduction of Sound,” SMPE Transactions, No. 16, May 1923.
- 44.
ibid.
- 45.
De Forest book, “Phonofilm,” 1923, Perham de Forest papers.
- 46.
Waddell in de Forest book, “Phonofilm,” 1923, Perham de Forest papers.
- 47.
ibid.
- 48.
ibid.
- 49.
Atlanta Constitution, April 8, 1923.
- 50.
Worcester Massachusetts Telegram, October 14, 1923.
- 51.
ibid.
- 52.
Paducah Democrat (KY), April 30, 1923.
- 53.
Bisbee Press (SD), December 12, 1923.
- 54.
Stockton Record (CA), December 13, 1923.
- 55.
Los Angeles Herald June 29, 1923.
- 56.
ibid.
- 57.
De Forest letter to Case, March 31, 1923, Case Papers.
- 58.
ED Clapp letter to Case, April 5, 1923, Case Papers.
- 59.
Case attorney John Taber letter to de Forest, March 15, 1923, Case Papers.
- 60.
De Forest letter to Case, April 13, 1923, Case Papers.
- 61.
ibid.
- 62.
John Taber letter to de Forest, April 23, 1923, Case Papers.
- 63.
De Forest letter to Case, May 24, 1923, Case Papers.
- 64.
ibid.
- 65.
De Forest cable to Case, May 28, 1923, Case Papers.
- 66.
Wadell letter to Case, May 24, 1923, Case Papers.
- 67.
Case letter to de Forest, May 29, 1923, Case Papers.
- 68.
De Forest letter to Case, August 28, 1923, Case Papers.
- 69.
De Forest letter to General George Squier, August 28, 1923, Case Papers.
- 70.
New York World, May 12, 1923 quoted in Phonofilm brochure, Perham de Forest papers.
- 71.
De Forest Phonofilm brochure, 1923, Perham de Forest papers.
- 72.
ibid.
- 73.
New York Times, April 26, 1923.
- 74.
De Forest letter to Case, November 7, 1923, Case Papers.
- 75.
De Forest letter to Case, December 31, 1923, Case Papers.
- 76.
Case letter to de Forest, December 31, 1923, Case Papers.
- 77.
De Forest letter to Case, January 3, 1924, Case Papers.
- 78.
Bronx Home News, January 5, 1924.
- 79.
De Forest letter to New York World, January 3, 1924, Case Papers.
- 80.
De Forest letter to Case, January 11, 1924, Case Papers.
- 81.
ibid.
- 82.
ibid.
- 83.
Elwell letter to Case, January 14, 1924, Case Papers.
- 84.
Case letter to de Forest, February 11, 1924, Case papers.
- 85.
ibid.
- 86.
ibid.
- 87.
New York Herald quotes Quirk in February 1924 Photoplay, February 17, 1924.
- 88.
De Forest, commenting on press account, 1924, Seaver Center.
- 89.
Waddell letter to Case, February 27, 1924, Case Papers.
- 90.
De Forest letter to Case, February 28, 1924, Case Papers.
- 91.
ibid.
- 92.
Hugo Riesenfeld letter to Waddell, February 13, 1924, Case papers.
- 93.
De Forest letter to Case March 4, 1924, Case Papers.
- 94.
De Forest letter to Case, March 3, 1924, Case Papers.
- 95.
Waddell letter to Case, April 7, 1924, Case Papers.
- 96.
Waddell latter to Case, March 18, 1924, Case Papers.
- 97.
De Forest letter to Case, April 11, 1924, Case Papers.
- 98.
De Forest latter to Case, April 30, 1924, Case Papers.
- 99.
Case letter to de Forest, May 7, 1924, Case Papers.
- 100.
Case letter to de Forest, May 19, 1924, Case Papers.
- 101.
In his research the author photographed over 800 documents and photographs at the Case Research Laboratory. Each of these was about some part of the invention of sound-on-film collaboration between de Forest and Case. There are schematic diagrams, notes, and the progression in these writings from the curious in 1920 to the hopeful in 1923 to the angry in 1927 is reflected in the collection saved by Theodore Case. This and the de Forest diaries are the best primary evidence we have of de Forest and Case as individuals and scientists as they were engaged and interacted in the development of the talkies. It should be noted that in the early biographies of de Forest and in the collections of papers that de Forest kept that are now in San Jose and Los Angeles, he has not either mentioned or saved any copies of the hundreds of letters that he sent to Case or their answers. He has “lost” for posterity an entire decade.
- 102.
De Forest letter to Case, June 4, 1924, Case Papers.
- 103.
De Forest letter to Case, June 11, 1924, Case Papers.
- 104.
ibid.
- 105.
Case letter to de Forest, May 15, 1924, Case Papers.
- 106.
See the list and many of the de Forest Phonofilm patents in the Appendix.
- 107.
Case letter to Waddell, June 12, 1924, Case Papers.
- 108.
ibid.
- 109.
De Forest letter to Case, July 2, 1924, Case Papers.
- 110.
Case letter to Waddell, June 30, 1924, Case Papers.
- 111.
Case letter to Elwell, July 14, 1924, Case Papers.
- 112.
Case letter to de Forest, July 8, 1924, Case Papers.
- 113.
De Forest letter to Case, July 11, 1924, Case Papers.
- 114.
De Forest letter to Case, July 7, 1924, Case Papers.
- 115.
ibid.
- 116.
De Forest letter to Case, July 17, 1924, Case Papers.
- 117.
Case letter to de Forest, July 18, 1924, Case Papers.
- 118.
Case letter to de Forest, July 21, 1924, Case Papers.
- 119.
Case letter to de Forest, July 23, 1924, Case Papers.
- 120.
De Forest letter to Case, July 24, 1924, Case Papers.
- 121.
De Forest letter to Case, July 26, 1924, Case Papers.
- 122.
De Forest diary, August 15, 1924, Perham de Forest papers.
- 123.
De Forest letter to Case, August 14, 1924, Case Papers.
- 124.
De Forest letter to Case, August 15, 1924, Case Papers.
- 125.
De Forest diary, August 31, 1924, Perham de Forest papers.
- 126.
Coolidge as vice-president originally took office in August, 1923 following the death of Warren Harding. He was re-elected in 1924. Source: whitehouse.gov.
- 127.
De Forest diary, June 29, 1924, Perham de Forest papers.
- 128.
FOR, p393.
- 129.
De Forest letter to Case, August 15, 1924, Case Papers.
- 130.
Case letter to de Forest, August 21, 1924, Case Papers.
- 131.
Case letter to de Forest, August 28, 1924, Case papers.
- 132.
Case bookkeeper Eldred letter to de Forest company, August 28, 1924, Case Papers.
- 133.
De Forest letter to Case, August 28, 1924, Case Papers.
- 134.
Talladega Evening Post, December 16, 1922.
- 135.
Letter from Franklin Institute, September 22, 1922, Seaver Center.
- 136.
New York Evening Journal, December 12, 1923.
- 137.
De Forest introductory notes, tribute to Edison luncheon, February 1924, de Forest collection, Seaver Center.
- 138.
Signed Edison letter to de Forest, February 20, 1924, Seaver Center.
- 139.
De Forest diary, March 30, 1924, Perham de Forest papers.
- 140.
De Forest diary, October 1924, Perham de Forest papers.
- 141.
De Forest diary, February 19, 1925, Perham de Forest papers.
- 142.
De Forest diary, December 25, 1925, Perham de Forest papers.
- 143.
Radio Digest Illustrated, November 25, 1922.
- 144.
Letter to de Forest company stockholders, December 1922, Seaver Center.
- 145.
Boston Globe, May 1923.
- 146.
New York Times, March 21, 1924.
- 147.
ibid.
- 148.
De Forest diary April 12, 1924, Perham de Forest papers.
- 149.
New York City News, May 11, 1924.
- 150.
Court document quoted in the Chicago Post, May 15, 1924, Seaver Center.
- 151.
Lee de Forest, SMPE Transactions, No 20, September 1924.
- 152.
ibid.
- 153.
ibid.
- 154.
De Forest diary, March 1924, Perham de Forest papers.
- 155.
New York Sun, June 23, 1923.
- 156.
“The First Sound of Movies” is a 2003 documentary from Inkwell Productions. It is a two-DVD set, one a series of interviews with the late Maurice Zouray and the de Forest Phonofilm story, minus Case, as Zouary told in his biography. The second DVD was a series of restored Phonofilms, but Zouary replaced the “de Forest-Case” titles with those having de Forest name only.
The real importance of Maurice Zouary was his donation of the Phonofilm collection to the Library of Congress, some of which he had restored. In 1969 the Library staged a public showing of several Phonofilms, a so-called 50th anniversary (1919–1969) of the de Forest invention. This was part of the annual New York Film Festival held at Lincoln Center. According to Zouary associate Ray Pointer, the Phonofilms were never copyrighted, so as originals in the Library collection they remain in public domain. There was an attempt in 2003 by Zouary and Pointer to sell their documentary on de Forest and Phonofilm called the “First Sound of Movies,” but it received very little public exposure. Archivist Sam Kula of the American Film Institute, the AFI, was asked by Zouary in 1969 to appraise the de Forest collection and determine its fair market value, but the estimate was not included in the small Zouary file available to the author furnished courtesy of Stan Rubenstein, President, Radio Club of America. In his book Zouary concluded, “If we measured de Forest in terms of the money he accumulated and left as his worldly goods upon his death in 1961, then he could rightly be called a failure. His widow, Marie de Forest received an estate of just $1,200 and for the subsequent years until her death, she lived in abject poverty.” (Maurice Zouary, DeForest: Father of the Electronic Revolution, 1995, Zouary as publisher).
In 2010 this author contacted Mr Zouary, then 89 years old, in an attempt to interview him and look at his papers. His wife answered the phone and said, “Oh, we just took him to the emergency room – he is not going to make it.” He didn’t. Surely a missed opportunity, but in the end it can be concluded that in his zeal as a de Forest apologist Mr. Zouary lacked the scholar’s perspective. Just a few hours from his home were the missing pieces of the Phonofilm story, another collection of original de Forest materials in the Case Museum in Auburn.
- 157.
De Forest diary, March 1924, Perham de Forest papers.
- 158.
New York Times, April 20, 1924.
- 159.
Providence RI News, April 6, 1924.
- 160.
De Forest diary, June 1924, Perham de Forest papers.
- 161.
De Forest diary, June 29, 1924, Perham de Forest papers.
- 162.
ibid.
- 163.
Charles Ross Taggart, interview in the Vermonter, Vol 32, no. 6, Nov 1927.
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Adams, M. (2012). Phonofilm, The Realization. In: Lee de Forest. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0418-7_7
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