Lee De Forest Movies

For 50 years radio dominated the airwaves and the American consciousness as the first “mass medium.” In Empire of the Air: The Men Who...

Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake sing snappy songs.

Blake plays his "Fantasy on Swanee River" (two takes of same piece, in different styles). The highest notes failed to record in this seminal...

Early sound film featuring comedian Eddie Cantor.

Follow the bouncing ball sing-along

In his career, De Wolf Hopper recited Ernest Lawrence Thayer's "Casey at the Bat" thousands of times. Here, wearing a tuxedo, he emerges from behind...

Spanish dancer Conchita Piquer performs in a short film produced in the DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film process.

The first presidential film with sound recording.

Early music video.

Vaudeville stars Weber and Fields perform their famous pool hall routine in a short film produced in the DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film process.

'Billy Merson, the great Nottingham-born music hall performer, presents one of his signature numbers. The film clearly captures Merson's comic...

British music hall entertainer Dick Henderson sings "I Love Her All the More" and trills out a resounding ode to his beloved in this early sound...