The term "silent movie era" is rather misleading. From the invention of the cinema in the late 1890s until the adoption of the "talkies" in the late 1920s, motion pictures may have lacked the sound experience we enjoy today but the theaters were far from silent. Despite a long list of failed experiments, most films of this era didn't include synchronized sound. However, auditory elements were recognized very early on as an important tool for influencing the emotions that audiences felt during a movie. Theaters in large U.S. cities would employ enormous orchestras with as many as a ... Read More