Back in the day, silent films weren't limited to accompanying music. Thanks to a very clever instrument known as the photoplayer or fotoplayer, pictures got diegetic sounds such as thunder, bird chirps, doorbells, and gunshots, as well as a whole orchestra-worth of musical instruments.
These instruments appeared in 1912, falling out of fashion with the arrival of “talkies” in the late 1920s. According to the Silent Cinema Society, less than 50 survive, and of those, only 12 are known to be in playing condition. One of those can be found in the home of Joe Rinaudo, a Silent Cinema Historian and Preservationist, whose devoted work has even caught the attention of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hands out the Oscars.
Rinaudo's interest in films began in the 1950s, watching silent cartoons and comedies on black & white television. Moved by this interest, in 1976, he purchased a 1926 fotoplayer. The instrument belonged to a theater in Saskatchewan, Canada, but was built in Van Nuys, meaning that Rinaudo went through the endeavor of shipping it back to California before fully restoring it.
“The fotoplayer used a fascinating combination of piano, organ pipes, drums, and various sound effects designed to narrate the action of any silent film,” explains the Silent Cinema Society, “This resembles a player piano, but with two rolls for changing music for different scenes; an assortment of pull cords, levers, buttons and stops connected to a side cabinet containing organ pipes, percussion, brass, sound effects, and literally bells and whistles. The pianist usually lets the rolls play the music while he selects the instrument stops and creates the sound effects. He’s watching the film, of course, all at the same time.”
In a recent video shared by composer Alex Heflin, Rinaudo gives a thrilling demonstration of all the fotoplayer's capabilities, as if bringing an action-packed scene to life. While these instruments have been gone for over a century, they remain a key part of the history of cinema, reminding us of the lengths movie makers and fans to immerse themselves in a visual story.
Joe Rinaudo, a Silent Cinema Historian and Preservationist, owns one of the last fotoplayers—instruments used to add sound and music to silent movies.
In a recent video shared by composer Alex Heflin, Rinaudo can be seen giving a thrilling demonstration of all the fotoplayer's capabilities.
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For the full experience, watch this fascinating video of Rinaudo playing alongside a silent film.
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