Science: Phonofilm

Standing on the south portico of the White House, a fortnight ago, President Coolidge addressed 500 editors and publishers—who did not hear his voice until a week later. When they did hear it, they were in Manhattan. Still more extraordinary, they beheld him as he spoke. The magician in the case was Dr. Lee DeForest, inventor, assisted by one Moses Koenigsberg, newspaper feature service man. Inventor DeForest had perfected what he called the “phonofilm,” a device that records simultaneously a motion picture and a phonograph record of whatever noises are made near the camera. Mr. Koenigsberg had arranged for the making of a special selection for the editors and publishers. As the latter settled into their seats in the Friars’ Club, Mr. Koenigsberg introduced President Coolidge from the platform. The lights went out, Mr. Koenigsberg’s voice was heard in a second introduction, this time from the phonofilm machine. Then the President appeared upon the screen and, with appropriate gestures began : “The march of invention is faster in our days than ever before.” Had the President tuned his wireless set to broadcasting stations in Washington that night, he might have heard his own voice, which originally spoke in Washington, repeating itself in Manhattan, whence further ingenuity sent it back to Washington again. No new principle was involved in Dr. DeForest’s invention. Its novelty lay in the synchronization of film with phonograph.