As a historical matter films were never shown without some kind of accompaniment; single piano, string quartet, full symphony orchestra, or lecture accompaniment. Simply, the current discussion is about something that never existed historically. Yes, Japanese silent films were accompanied by a narrator who told the story that was being played out on the screen. Many of these narrators had followings much like any other performer. There were star narrators just as there were star actors and actresses. Donald Richie and Joseph L. Anderson have written about this mode of performance. (I don't remember whether it was in their classic book JAPANESE FILM something written later, as individuals). If someone wants to speak of the joys of viewing silent films in 1993 accompanied only by the sound of their thoughts, fine. But this experience has nothing to do with films as experienced in the era between 1896 and 1927. It is worth noting that the coming of sound was not without its debates. Many people seriously suggested that only the sound track (music and effects) be synchronized while the acting continued silent. Others argued that sound should be used for special dramatic impact. A close viewing will show that this is one of the dramatic techniques used in JAZZ SINGER. In a crucial scene, Al Jolson as Jackie Robin (ne Jankele Rubinowitz) teases his mother while vamping and singing. Directly in the middle of the frame in the background a door is seen. And as anyone knows a door this prominently displayed is going to be used. And it was. Yankele's father, the cantor, burst into the door and the audience hears him shout: STOP! The sound track goes silent while the screen displays an intertitle: POPPA. The story proceeds without dialogue until another climactic scene. (Jonathan Tankel has published at least one paper on the film analyzing it in terms of the use of sound as a means of promoting this new device that Western Electric and Warner Bros. had invested considerable capital. Sorry I don't have the cite close to hand; it was during the mid-'seventies in the Journal of the Film and Video Assn.) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Cal Pryluck, Radio-Television-Film, Temple University, Philadelphia <[log in to unmask]> <PRYLUCK@TEMPLEVM>