The Speed of Sound

Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution 1926 - 1930

By: Scott Eyman

Narrated by: Adams Morgan

Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

It was the end of an era. It was a turbulent, colorful, and altogether remarkable period, four short years in which America's most popular industry reinvented itself.

Here is the epic story of the transition from silent films to talkies, that moment when movies were totally transformed and the American public cemented its love affair with Hollywood. As Scott Eyman demonstrates in his fascinating account of this exciting era, it was a time when fortunes, careers, and lives were made and lost, when the American film industry came fully into its own.

In this mixture of cultural and social history that is both scholarly and vastly entertaining, Eyman dispels the myths and gives us the missing chapter in the history of Hollywood, the ribbon of dreams by which America conquered the world.

©1997 Scott Eyman (P)1997 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Eyman captures the tenor and the terror of the times....A fascinating account of what Eyman terms 'the destruction of one great art and the creation of another.'" ( Booklist)
"Eyman combines a historian's zeal for detail and context with a storyteller's talent for the perfect illustrative anecdote....A remarkable book that belongs in every film history collection." ( Library Journal)
"Eyman is particularly good at conveying the beauty of the fully developed art that was silent cinema....Eyman tells this story with wit and skill, detailing a surprisingly overlooked but crucial period in Hollywood history." - Kirkus Reviews

incredible film history

highly recommend! gives great insights into how various stars & directors made the transition to sound and just a great general history of film for that era.

Lively narration, fascinating content, plus humor!

You'll learn a whole lot about silent as well as sound films, plus intriguing facts about pop culture, legendary stars and directors, and cinematic technique. The prose style informs and delights the reader, sprinkling in ironies and jokes here and there.

If Vocal Fry Is Your BAG...

There is no other subject that interests me more. This book was highly informative and exciting. The reader has heavy vocal fry which sounds to me like a cassette player on rewind heavy on the consonants and gravel. IF the person who cast this reader was trying to make a person feel the anxiety and annoyance of the first talkies audiences listening to the hiss pop of Vitaphone, they have succeeded. There is an ice pick in my kitchen. I have thought of stabbing my own ears while rewinding the performance over and over trying to understand certain words. NO air. NO vowels. I wonder if the reader was once a growling dog turned into a fancy human being by a frightened wizard?

The effects of adding sound to movies

Struggled to finish it. The performance was great. But after the fun facts end about half way into the book, it focuses of the lives of all these old key players of the movie industry which is not super interesting if you're curious about them.

Facinating look at an overlooked period in film

Fascinating look into a period of film that is all-too-often ignored. Eyman really brings the world to life with lots of memorable characters and anecdotes.

The narration is great, too.

History of an Era, not of the Technology

This is good, but it is somewhat other than my expectations. Even the early chapters of this promised a kind of focused, lucid, technical history of the sound revolution. There are passing references to the technology, but the developmental history does not dominate the narratives here or stay in detailed focus. Rather, the book is fortified (or ballasted--depending on your tolerances) with accounts of actor, director, and owner strife, triumph, business dealings, etc. On the balance I'd say this is about 15% history of the technologies of syncing sound with film images and 85% history, intrigue, and gossip about Hollywood characters and films *in this era*. It is still very interesting, but the technical history isn't as precise as I'd like; I know more about the (alleged) competitive drama between actors Al Jolson & George Jessel or the attempts of Fox Films to become a proto-21st century mega-corp. than I do about the visible specifics of the technologies that competed to synch sound and film.

Enjoyable for Old Film Buffs

If you like silent and early sound films (or are a general 1900s-1930s history buff) you'll enjoy this. It tells the story of how sound films were born, all the obstacles that had to be overcome, and the eventual triumph. It also busted some myths about this era, namely that countless actors were driven to ruin because of some oddity in their voice like a lisp or an accent.

My only gripe is that the author occasionally delves into critical analyses of some film that seems tangentially related to the story of sound pictures. Not a deal breaker; just kind of weird and seemingly off topic.

Film history at it’s finest!

A great retelling of facts and stories of cinema’s painful bend from silent to sound. Told in a compelling narrative that keeps your attention to all the effort made to change the industry.

Better than nothing!

This book was a fun read and with a total lack of any film history books available as audio book, it shines. Really enjoyed it and may listen to it again, where else can you here about the early days of Warner Brothers and the history of American Cinema. Great technical facts about early film processes, can't believe they used to sync records to films and thought that was a good idea!

Great History of Talkies

What made the experience of listening to The Speed of Sound the most enjoyable?

I knew very little about early talkies when I began this book. All I knew was that Jolson's The Jazz Singer was the first talkie (and I was wrong about that). This book is full of well-researched details about the revolution that sound brought to film. Mr. Eyman's prose is precise and full of the kind interesting detail that comes from extensive research.

What other book might you compare The Speed of Sound to and why?

Most of Mr. Eyman's Hollywood books are similar in topic, extent of research, and curiousity about the film ndustry.

Have you listened to any of Adams Morgan’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I do not recall this narrator reading any other books I have read. He has a beautiful voice and enunciates clearly. My only complaint is that he mispronounces some Hollywood names (SH-enk for SK-enk and Wang-ger for Wayne-jer). Unfortunately a lot of narrators of Hollywood books do this.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Mute No More