
An intertitle invites viewers to 'see for a brief moment’ the sound equipment for talking pictures. Then a Hoyts Talking Pictures Roadshow sound unit truck is seen coming down the street. Two uniformed men open the back doors and begin unloading the sound equipment. More intertitles follow promising to embody ‘every sphere of talkie entertainment’ with News of the World in sight and sound; as well as 'music and dancing by famous international stars’. Summary by Poppy De Souza
Sound films in the Hoyts touring program were an all American lineup: Mother’s Boy, Strange Cargo, Father and Son, Show Boat, Kitty and Tonight at Twelve. The first full Australian Talking Pictures program did not tour until 1931.
This Hoyts cinema advertisement shows the wonders of the Hoyts Talking Pictures Roadshow which toured a portable sound unit to bring the ‘talkies’ to country areas around Australia in 1929. The advertisement is silent, so much of the information is conveyed with intertitles.
Commercial talking pictures arrived in Australia around 1928 and initially boosted cinema attendances around the country. By 1929, many cinemas in the capital cities had been wired for sound, and audiences could easily access the ‘talkies’. However, converting picture houses to accommodate sound pictures was expensive and theatres in country or regional areas took longer to catch up. It wasn’t until 1937 that all Australian cinemas countrywide had been converted to sound. The portable sound units which toured with ‘skilled engineers and sound technicians’, seen here in this Hoyts advertisement, allowed audiences in country areas to access the wonders of the ‘talkies’ like their city counterparts.
Notes by Poppy De Souza
This black-and-white clip is a silent advertisement for Hoyts, a film exhibition company, promoting its 'Touring Talkie Show’, which took sound films and portable audio equipment to rural cinemas not equipped for sound. It shows a van with the words 'HOYTS TALKINGPICTURES ROADSHOW UNIT 1’ stencilled on the side. Two uniformed men open the back of the van to reveal rolls of cable and other audio equipment. A series of intertitles, superimposed against a stylised image of a turning film reel, is included.
Educational value points
Education notes provided by The Learning Federation and Education Services Australia
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.