"Ever since the advent of the two- and three-our photoplay, which also inaugurated an era of building palatial playhouses for their exhibition, there has come an increased demand for these so-called organ-orchestras and the one at the Strand has attracted so much attention that th ewriter ventured to ask Mr. Austin whether he believed that the mechanical orchestra - though operated at the console by a competent musician - was destined to eventually replace the large orchestral bodies in our play-houses of various grades" (335)..."'But we are convinced that the organ can be made a vital part of the equipment of the modern photoplay-house and by special arrangements of its tonal scheme and voicing can be rendered truly imitative of orchestral qualities and at the same time have sufficient inherent dignity which is invariably lacking in the usual theatre orchestra. The best results in my opinion,' continued Mr. Austin, 'can be obtained in the combination of the pipe organ and a limited orchestra, in fact, I think that not only in the moving picture theatres but in all play-houses the best effects will be achieved by such a combination of the larger organ and a few solo pieces in the orchestra.' The influence of the organ orchestra in the theatre of science has tended to greatly augment the musical side of photplay presentation and it is, indeed, a befitting as well as a truly artistic adjunct of the modern motion picture theatre, illustrating as it does the gradual resort to scientific means of expression. Hence, it is not surprising in this era of newly erected palatial photoplay houses that as high as $50,000 is being expended for what is known as the Wurlitzer Unit Orchestra." (336)

Also discusses potential of talking pictures and first experience with telephone. 

The aims of this research project are to 1) historicize the Classical Hollywood orchestra, and 2) interrogate the cultural significations of the orchestral sound that Hollywood both deployed and helped to form.

This book is amazing; it situates its contributions to our knowledge of silent film music – which our copious – within the existing body of literature, providing a solid point of departure for all further study. Marks gives extensive consideration to the availability and state of the historical evidence, and works to piece together the surviving (often partial) scores, advertisements and reviews in order to create a more complete picture of the silent era’s musical practices then has elsewhere been achieved. Marks debunks the notion that there was a period during which anything went musically as long as it covered up the noise of the projector and compensated for the uncanny flatness of the moving image by looking at music for some of the proto-film technologies (vitascope, biograph and bioskop). The more compelling case of bioskop took place in Europe, however, and their film music practices were not immediately taken up in America. In 1909 Moving Picture World dubbed the majority of pianists inadequate movie accompaniests, and only months later Edison published its first guidelines for film accompaniment. Marks observes that the 1910-14 period has been subject to severe music scholarly neglect due to the perceived lack of evidence. Marks finds and considers numerous “special scores,” i.e. scores written specially for particular movies, that predate Birth of a Nation (1915), the oft cited “first.” Birth of a Nation gets its own chapter too, however, for it was a significant and influential achievement. Marks includes numerous facsimiles as well as transcriptions of the surviving parts/scores, and subjects them to paleographic as well as music analysis. I would say this is THE book for silent film music.

The aims of this research project are to 1) historicize the Classical Hollywood orchestra, and 2) interrogate the cultural significations of the orchestral sound that Hollywood both deployed and helped to form.

This documentary spends an unfortunate amount of time on a present day studio orchestra recreating the event of recording a hollywood film score. However, besides that there are enlightening discussions and examples of film scores by Max Steinr and Erich Korngold in particular, and conversations with then still living composer of Laura, David Raskin. The state of film music archives depicted is exciting and depressing: some scores from classical hollywood era survive but many were thrown away when studios ran short of space. Much film music research is devoted to reconstructing the partially surviving scores.  The technique for achieving synchrony between sound and image - which involves punches and streamers - is well illustrated.