Talkies

THE ART OF SOUND PICTURES--Walter B. Pitkin & William M. Marston--Appleton ($2.50).

This book tells how to write for the talkies, incidentally plots out the talkies' field, tells some of their difficulties, predicts some of their triumphs. Say Authors Pitkin & Marston: "The talkie is a new art. It is as distinct from the silent picture as the silent picture is distinct from a stage play." Its limitations are definite. "[The successful talkie] must avoid all explanations, printed or spoken, which involve words beyond the comprehension of an ordinary ten-year-old child."

The basis of the talkie is dialog--not dramatic or literary dialog, but "elementary," sometimes mere grunts and wheezes. "The only people who have had much experience with elementary dialog are a few of our most popular writers of best sellers and the writers of vaudeville sketches." Authors Pitkin & Marston explain the mechanics of sound pictures, admit that their development is just getting under way, prophesy that they will complete the subjugation of the "legitimate" theatre. "The stage must pass, except as a rehearsal spot for companies preparing sound pictures."

Author Pitkin, professor of journalism at Columbia University, is famed among editors as consultant to magazines and publishers. He became famed among newspaper readers last year when he announced that the late great Woodrow Wilson was a lifelong sufferer from an unnameable ailment. Other books by Author Pitkin: Psychology of Happiness, How to Write Stories.

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