One observer concluded that compared with good showman with
second rate equipment the Edison superior machine still looked
53
"amateurish". The kinetophone failed entertain audiences
and soon vanished from the scene.
The failure produce commercial system talking
pictures hurt the Edison enterprise and must have been severe
disappointment the "old man. There were more highly
expensive forays into new technologies West Orange? the
kinetophone was the last hurrah the "best lab ever.IX-38
quality the films.
. Huge amounts money,
every possible resource, and the best brains the laboratory
had not brought success. Even the final film was good
technical accomplishment, judged the engineers West
Orange, still could not compete with professional
entertainer who used other systems sound motion pictures. further effort was made to
develop talking pictures West Orange." Technology had not triumphed
over art. It
was show that audiences wanted and not several unrelated
technical demonstrations the capabilities the machine."
Innovation the Edison laboratory was taking conservative
and cost-conscious path away from the revolutionary
technologies such the talking picture and magnetic ore
separation. The kinetophone was the last the highly ambitious
experimental projects which had characterized the West Orange
laboratory the nineteenth century
