The First Hollywood Sound Shorts, 1926-1931 - by Edwin M Bradley (Paperback)

About the Book

The transition from silent to sound films is a fascinating time in the history of mass entertainment. In the audiences eyes, the halting, stagebound earliest talkies paled in comparison to the fluid, lyrical silents they replaced. Within a few years the technology improved, allowing filmmakers to produce pictures with the added benefits of dialogue, song and sound. However, that five-year period was long enough for careers to have ripened or been ruined and for studio fortunes to have been made or lost.

Book Synopsis

This study of early sound shorts begins with an explanation of the development of sound motion pictures in Hollywood by such influential companies as Warner Bros. and Fox, with an emphasis on short subjects, leading up to the first few months when all of the major studios were capable of producing them. The next chapters discuss the impact on other mass entertainments, the development of audible news reels and other non-fiction shorts, as well as the origins of animated sound subjects. A comprehensive list of pre-1932 American-made shorts completes the volume.

Review Quotes

"well-researched...well-organized...exhaustive...detailed...highly recommended"-Choice; "an impressive volume.... Bradley should be commended for his conscientiousness and attention to this little-known and neglected field of movie history"-Classic Images; "richly detailed...exhaustive filmography"-Big Reel; "this big one is a winner...detailed...essential for anyone seriously interested in those wonderful treats they showed before the big feature"-In the Groove Magazine; "valuable"-Leonard Maltin.com.

About the Author

The late Edwin M. Bradley was the associate curator of film at the Flint (Michigan) Institute of Arts. He published four books on early Hollywood film.