Golden Age of Hollywood Book Club discussion

Aardvark Music, Inc --a strange audio firm which will apparently press wax or vinyl discs of any tune you mail them --is a trove of obscure info on the history of sound.

Fun facts about early sound engineering:
http://www.aardvarkmastering.com/spee...

A vast page of free samples from the personal collection of one of the site owners:
http://www.aardvarkmastering.com/edis...

Aardvark Main Page:
http://www.aardvarkmastering.com/

Japanese 'benshi'; a powerful component of the silent film tradition in Japan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benshi

A typical Japanese silent classic: 'Orochi', a samurai epic

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orochi_...

Portions of the legendary fight scenes are available to view on Youtube.

An early British movie studio few have probably ever heard of, today. Myself included.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British...

Discovered it while sifting through early films of Guinness, Carol Reed, Trevor Howard, and the like.

Essanay Studios

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essanay...

Something I recall now--very cool and distinctive --about Sean Connery Bond films. The sound of his heels.

I don't think it was featured as part of the franchise's typical Foley effects after his tenure.

But Connery, all the time, his heels clicking as he prowled about his errands and right up into his fight scenes. It's a nice touch.

The remark about 'bowler hats' in the hat thread got me musing about this. Goldfinger's manservant, 'Oddjob' had the bowler which doubled as a boomerang.

Famous Players - Lasky, the early New York City-based studio which eventually became Paramount Pictures

the studio with the 'European' sensibility, as opposed to MGM (middle-class) and Warners (lower-class)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famous_...