Silent Movies

The 1920s moviegoers' experience was largely dominated by silent movies but saw the introduction of synchronized sound. In the 1920s, movie stars really were stars - with huge salaries, the fashions and activities of the Hollywood greats echoed around the world and 100,000 people would gather in cities all over the world, including such diverse cities as London and Moscow, to greet Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks when they toured Europe. Early silent movies were often accompanied by live piano or organ music and provided enormous entertainment value to audiences captivated by the experience of watching moving pictures on the silver screen. Although there had been previous attempts to introduce sound, it wasn't until 1923 that a synchronized soundtrack was photographically recorded and printed on to the side of a strip of motion picture film and made it on to a commercially distributed movie. It would still be seven long years before talking pictures gained total supremacy and finally replaced the silent film era. The first movie theatres were called Nickelodeons, and were very basic compared to the luxurious picture palaces that followed, but what an aura of excitement, laughter, fun, and tears surrounded them! Before the introduction of movie soundtracks, movies were often accompanied by scripted music from a piano.