Editing Vitaphone (section)

==Early history==

[[File:First-nighters posing for the camera outside the Warners' Theater before the premiere of "Don Juan" with John Barrymore, - NARA - 535750.jpg|thumb|''[[Don Juan (1926 film)|Don Juan]]'' premiered in New York City.]]

In the early 1920s, [[Western Electric]] was developing both [[sound-on-film]] and sound-on-disc systems, aided by the purchase of [[Lee De Forest]]'s [[Audion tube|Audion amplifier tube]] in 1913, consequent advances in [[public address]] systems, and the first practical [[condenser microphone]], which Western Electric engineer E.C. Wente had created in 1916 and greatly improved in 1922. De Forest debuted his own [[Phonofilm]] sound-on-film system in New York City on April&nbsp;15, 1923, but due to the relatively poor sound quality of Phonofilm and the impressive state-of-the-art sound heard in Western Electric's private demonstrations, the Warner Brothers decided to go forward with the industrial giant and the more familiar disc technology.

The business was established at Western Electric's [[Bell Laboratories]] in New York City and acquired by Warner Bros. in April 1925.<ref name="HBTHYNA1-04143">Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 111.</ref>  Warner Bros. introduced Vitaphone on August 5, 1926, with the premiere of their silent feature ''[[Don Juan (1926 film)|Don Juan]]'',<ref name=afi>{{AFI film|3803}}</ref> which had been retrofitted with a symphonic musical score and sound effects. There was no spoken dialog. The feature was preceded by a program of short subjects with live-recorded sound, nearly all featuring classical instrumentalists and [[opera]] stars. The only "pop music" artist was guitarist [[Roy Smeck]] and the only actual "talkie" was the short film that opened the program: four minutes of introductory remarks by motion picture industry spokesman [[Will H. Hays|Will Hays]], (''[[Introduction of Vitaphone Sound Pictures]]'').

''Don Juan'' was able to draw huge sums of money at the box office,<ref name="HBTHYNA1-04143"/> but was not able to recoup the expenses Warner Bros. put into the film's production.<ref name="HBTHYNA14143">Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 113.</ref> After its financial failure, Paramount head [[Adolph Zukor]] offered [[Sam Warner]] a deal as an executive producer for Paramount if he brought Vitaphone with him.<ref name="HBTHYNA1414">Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 114.</ref> Sam, not wanting to take any more of [[Harry Warner]]'s refusal to move forward with using sound in future Warner films, agreed to accept Zukor's offer,<ref name="HBTHYNA1414" /> but the deal died after Paramount lost money in the wake of [[Rudolph Valentino]]'s death.<ref name="HBTHYNA1414" />  Harry eventually agreed to accept Sam's demands.<ref name="HBTHYNA116">Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 116.</ref> Sam then pushed ahead with a new Vitaphone feature starring [[Al Jolson]], the Broadway dynamo who had already scored a big hit with early Vitaphone audiences in ''[[A Plantation Act]]'', a musical short released on October&nbsp;7, 1926. On October&nbsp;6, 1927, ''[[The Jazz Singer]]'' premiered at the Warner Theater in New York City, broke box-office records, established Warner Bros. as a major player in Hollywood, and is traditionally credited with single-handedly launching the talkie revolution.

[[File:Don Juan (1926).webm|thumb|right|Don Juan (1926)]]

At first, the production of Vitaphone shorts and the recording of orchestral scores were strictly a New York phenomenon, taking advantage of the bountiful supply of stage and concert hall talent there, but the Warners soon migrated some of this activity to their more spacious facilities on the West Coast. Dance band leader [[Henry Halstead]] is given credit for starring in the first Vitaphone short subject filmed in Hollywood instead of New York. ''Carnival Night in Paris'' (1927) featured the Henry Halstead Orchestra and a cast of hundreds of costumed dancers in a Carnival atmosphere.