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1904: Lubin Struggles With Sound
Siegmund Lubin was one of the first film pioneers to appreciate the potential of talking pictures. Ironically, he would see his movie empire crumble before sound became a viable – and affordable – technology. As early as 1904 he was marketing ‘Cineophone films’ to a largely disinterested public.
The first sound films Lubin marketed in August of 1904 were based on five Monarch records released by the Victor Talking Machine Company whose store at 15 South Ninth Street in Philadelphia was just a short walk from Lubin’s base. Victor’s recording laboratory was also nearby, on 10th Street, although it is probable that Lubin chose to film his own staff miming to the musical and comedy performances rather than filming the original artists as they recorded the songs and routines.
Lubin promised that his catalogue would soon offer ‘ONE HUNDRED CINEOPHONE FILMS of the latest known singers, dancers and musicians,’ but, in the face of public indifference, his efforts to market this new marvel were practically abandoned within a month, although the wily Lubin tried to promote sales throughout the autumn of 1904 by a less direct route – offering Cineophone films as part of a package deal to budding entrepreneurs.
For $99 Lubin offered to supply a package deal that comprised of a 1905 Exposition Model Cineograph and Stereopticon, two 100-feet cineophone films, two Monarch records and a Victor talking machine complete with horn (which he marketed as free of charge). [ADD]
(Source: The King of the Movies: Film Pioneer Siegmund Lubin by Joseph P. Eckhardt, p53, publisher: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1997)
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