Lee de Forest : King of Radio, Television, and Film

The life-long inventor, Lee de Forest invented the three-element vacuum tube used between 1906 and 1916 as a detector, amplifier, and oscillator of radio waves. Beginning in 1918 he began to develop a light valve, a device for writing and reading sound using light patterns. While he received many patents for his process, he was initially ignored by the film industry. In order to promote and demonstrate his process he made several hundred sound short films, he rented space for their showing; he sold the tickets and did the publicity to gain audiences for his invention. Lee de Forest officially brought sound to film in 1919. __Lee De Forest: King of Radio, Television, and Film__ is about both invention and early film making; de Forest as the scientist and producer, director, and writer of the content. This book tells the story of de Forest’s contribution in changing the history of film through the incorporation of sound. The text includes primary source historical material, U.S. patents and richly-illustrated photos of Lee de Forest’s experiments. Readers will greatly benefit from an understanding of the transition from silent to audio motion pictures, the impact this had on the scientific community and the popular culture, as well as the economics of the entertainment industry. Lee de Forest, Yale doctorate and Oscar winner, gave voice to the radio and the motion picture. Yet by the 1930s, after the radio and the Talkies were regular features of American life, Lee de Forest had seemingly lost everything. Why? Why didn't he receive the recognition and acclaim he sought his entire life until years later in 1959, when he was awarded an Oscar? A lifelong innovator, Lee de Forest invented the three-element vacuum tube which he developed between 1906 and 1916 as a detector, amplifier, and oscillator of radio waves. As early as 1907, he was broadcasting music programming. In 1918, he began to develop a system for recording and playing back sound by using light patterns on motion picture film. In order to promote and demonstrate his process he made hundreds of short sound films, found theatres for their showing, and issued publicity to gain audiences for his invention. While he received many patents for this technology, he was ignored by the film industry. Lee de Forest, King of Radio, Television, and Film is about the process of invention--how inventors really get ideas and how every inventor learns that they must know the work of those who came before, and why the myth of the lone inventor and the "Aha! moment" is largely a fiction. Through his inventions, Lee de Forest made possible the mass entertainment media we enjoy today. This is his story Front Matter....Pages i-xvii Born to Invent....Pages 1-39 The Race for Wireless....Pages 41-84 The Meaning of the Audion....Pages 85-123 California Days....Pages 125-166 Radio’s Arrival....Pages 167-202 Phonofilm, The Promise....Pages 203-252 Phonofilm, The Realization....Pages 253-303 Phonofilm, The Rejection....Pages 305-347 Phonofilm, The Lawyers....Pages 349-387 Lesson and Legacy....Pages 389-427 Back Matter....Pages 429-553 Annotation This volume explores both the career of Lee de Forest and the early history of film making, exploring the work of de Forest as the scientist and producer, director and writer of content who changed the history of film through the incorporation of sound