Not many people realize that sound film existed well before the advent of ‘The Jazz Singer’ in 1927 and one of the pioneers of early experimental sound film was of course Thomas Edison. In 1913, the Edison Company made talking pictures using a sound-on-cylinder system called The Kinetophone. These pioneering sound movies were shown in theatres for about a year, and featured vaudeville acts, comedy sketches, dramatic scenes and musical performances. Only 8 of the 200 Kinetophone films made survive in both film and cylinder elements, and these have now been digitally restored and synchronized by the Library of Congress. Above I’ve posted one of them, titled ‘Jack’s Joke’ and featuring a young Arthur Housman who later played almost exclusively comic drunkards, often in Laurel and Hardy movies. The conceit is that a young man (Jack) plays a practical joke on two friends who haven’t yet met by telling them each privately that the other one is severely hard of hearing. Thus, when they meet and are left alone, an elaborately shouted conversation ensues for no reason. The gag is somewhat undermined though, due to the non-shouting section of the playlet being also spoken at high volume due to the sensitivity of the primitive sound equipment. Nonetheless we are transported to a world long vanished; a vaudeville theater where a charming little sketch is presented for our amusement by a charming group of ‘players’ (as actors were often called). They even take charming, formal bows at the end. Bravo.