Finding His Voice
| Finding His Voice | |
|---|---|
| Directed by |
F. Lyle Goldman Max Fleischer |
| Produced by | Western Electric |
| Voices by |
Billy Murray Walter Scanlan |
| Animation by | Al Eugster |
| Distributed by | Western Electric |
| Release date(s) |
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| Color process | B&W |
| Running time | 10:38 minutes |
| Language | English |
Finding His Voice (1929) is a short film, created as an instructional film on how the Western Electric sound-on-film recording system worked. Recording stars Billy Murray and Walter Scanlan, uncredited, provide the speaking and singing voices. Murray also provided the voice for the Fleischer Studios character Bimbo.
A live-action hand draws a strip of (sound) film, which takes the form of a human head, which uses musical notes to form a body. Then he sings notes that form a xylophone. Then, he performs a short solo, until another piece of film (silent) jumps on him. The talking strip yells, "Hey, Mute! What's the big idea, ruining my act?" The silent piece uses sign language, with subtitles above, asking him about his voice's origin. He talks about a man named "Dr. Western" that gave him "a set of vocal cords", saying he needs to see him, too.
They go to his office, with "Talkie" telling him to put "'Mutie' through the 'works.'" They go on a filming set, where Talkie sings "Love's Old Sweet Song." Then, Dr. Western explains every step of the Western Electric process of sound recording, and Mutie finally earns his voice, as Talkie was performing his song. He jumps onto the stage and disrupts his solo. He asks him to calm down, and they perform "Goodnight, Ladies" and "Merrily We Roll Along" as they sail on a boat, with an awkward ending of a whale eating the boat and an advertisement for Western Electric.
Late in 1926, AT&T and Western Electric created a licensing division, Electrical Research Products Inc. (ERPI), to handle rights to the company's film-related audio technology. (In Finding His Voice, the credits give W. E. Erpi as the author of the story.)
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