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The Speed of Sound
- Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution 1926 - 1930
- Narrated by: Adams Morgan
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
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Publisher's summary
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.
Critic reviews
"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
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- The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of a Billion-Dollar Empire
- By: Zack O'Malley Greenburg
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Michael Jackson, Inc. reveals the incredible rise, fall, and rise again of Michael Jackson's fortune - driven by the unmatched perfectionism of the King of Pop. Forbes senior editor Zack O'Malley Greenburg uncovers never-before-told stories from interviews with more than 100 people, including music industry veterans Berry Gordy, John Branca, and Walter Yetnikoff; artists 50 Cent, Sheryl Crow, and Jon Bon Jovi; and members of the Jackson family.
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The King Lives...Life,Legacy and Love
- By Amazon Customer on 06-22-17
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Seinfeldia
- How a Show About Nothing Changed Everything
- By: Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
- Narrated by: Christina Delaine
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
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Comedians Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld never thought anyone would watch their silly little sitcom about a New York comedian sitting around talking to his friends. NBC executives didn't think anyone would watch either, but they bought it anyway, hiding it away in the TV dead zone of summer. But against all odds, viewers began to watch, first a few and then many, until nine years later nearly 40 million Americans were tuning in weekly.
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This bad narration is making me thirsty...
- By Audio Gra Gra on 10-06-16
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Let’s Go Crazy
- Prince and the Making of Purple Rain
- By: Alan Light
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Purple Rain is a song, an album, and a film - each one a commercial success and cultural milestone. How did this semiautobiographical musical masterpiece that blurred R&B, pop, dance, and rock sounds come to alter the recording landscape and become an enduring touchstone for successive generations of fans?
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A Must-Read For Any PRINCE Fan
- By Bryan K. Chavez on 05-06-16
By: Alan Light
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Without Lying Down
- By: Cari Beauchamp
- Narrated by: Holly Palance
- Length: 20 hrs and 3 mins
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Cari Beauchamp masterfully combines biography with social and cultural history to examine the lives of Frances Marion and her many female colleagues who shaped filmmaking from the early teens through the 1940s. Frances Marion was Hollywood's highest paid screenwriter - male or female - for almost three decades, wrote almost 200 produced films and remains the only woman to win two Academy Awards for original screenwriting (The Big House and The Champ).
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A Must Read
- By Robert Wallace on 03-19-19
By: Cari Beauchamp
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Street Gang
- The Complete History of Sesame Street
- By: Michael Davis
- Narrated by: Caroll Spinney
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
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When the first episode aired on Nov. 10, 1969, Sesame Street revolutionized the way education was presented to children on television. It has since become the longest-running children's show in history, and today reaches 8 million pre-schoolers on 350 PBS stations and airs in 120 countries. Street Gang is the compelling and often comical story of the creation and history of this media masterpiece and pop culture landmark.
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An important subject, but hardly gripping
- By Scott T. Hards on 09-24-10
By: Michael Davis
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Dangerously Funny
- The Uncensored Story of 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour'
- By: David Bianculli
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
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Decades before The Daily Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour proved there was a place on television for no-holds-barred political comedy with a decidedly antiauthoritarian point of view. In this explosive, revealing history of the show, veteran entertainment journalist David Bianculli tells the fascinating story of its three-year network run---and the cultural impact that's still being felt today.
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Poor narration
- By Jane on 01-20-11
By: David Bianculli
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Razzle Dazzle
- The Battle for Broadway
- By: Michael Riedel
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 16 hrs and 40 mins
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Razzle Dazzle is a provocative, no-holds-barred narrative account of the people, money, and power that reinvented an iconic quarter of New York City, turning its gritty back alleys and sex shops into the glitzy, dazzling Great White Way - and bringing a crippled New York from the brink of bankruptcy to its glittering glory.
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Too long and boring in spite of a vibrant subject
- By harry rohme on 03-04-18
By: Michael Riedel
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Caddyshack
- The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story
- By: Chris Nashawaty
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
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Caddyshack is one of the most beloved comedies of all time, a classic snobs vs. slobs story of working-class kids and the white-collar buffoons that make them haul their golf bags in the hot summer sun. It has sex, drugs, and one very memorable candy bar, but the movie we all know and love didn't start out that way, and everyone who made it certainly didn't have the word classic in mind as the cameras were rolling.
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Not Really About Caddyshack Until Hour 5
- By William M. on 07-01-18
By: Chris Nashawaty
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Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted
- And All the Brilliant Minds Who Made the Mary Tyler Moore Show a Classic
- By: Jennifer Armstrong
- Narrated by: Amy Landon
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
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Mary Tyler Moore made her name as Dick Van Dyke's wife on the eponymous show; she was a cute, unassuming housewife that audiences loved. But when screenwriters James Brooks and Allan Burnes dreamed up an edgy show about a divorced woman with a career, network executives replied: "Americans won't watch television about New York City, divorcées, men with mustaches, or Jews." But Moore and her team were committed, and when the show finally aired, in spite of tepid reviews, fans loved it.
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An Interesting Story That Never Quite Gets Told
- By S. Blythe on 07-26-13
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ABRIDGED VERSION BADLY NEEDED!
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Jean Renoir
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Jean Renoir's career almost spans the history years of cinema - from the early silent movies, to the naturalism of the talkies, committed cinema, film noir, Hollywood studio productions, the Technicolor-period comedies and fast television techniques. His film The Grand Illusion remains one of the greatest movies about the effects of war.
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With intimate detail, author Maria Riva reveals the rich life of her mother, Marlene Dietrich, the charismatic star of stage and screen whose career spanned much of the 20th century. Opening with Dietrich's childhood in Schöneberg, Riva's biography introduces us to an energetic, disciplined, and ambitious young actress whose own mother equated show business with a world of vagabonds and thieves.
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Wow
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When Brian De Palma agreed to allow Julie Salamon unlimited access to the film production of Tom Wolfe's best-selling book The Bonfire of the Vanities, both director and journalist must have felt like they were on to something big. How could it lose? But instead Salamon got a front-row seat at the Hollywood disaster of the decade.
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WHAT A GEM!!!
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What listeners say about The Speed of Sound
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- deb
- 02-03-23
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.
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- Sue Smith
- 02-04-21
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.
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2 people found this helpful
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- P. Williford
- 03-05-22
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?
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 10-10-20
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.
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Overall
- Nick Palmer
- 12-18-09
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.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Johann Cat
- 12-11-22
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.
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- J. Gunderssen
- 05-04-22
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.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Marc
- 12-26-20
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.
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Overall
- Colin Barton
- 08-31-11
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!
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Laura A. Cella
- 02-25-16
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
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