Sound film
The primary steps in the commercialization of sound cinema were taken in the mid- to late 1920s. At first, the sound films which included synchronized dialogue, known as "talking pictures", or "talkies", were exclusively shorts. The earliest feature-length movies with recorded sound included only music and effects. The first feature film originally presented as a talkie was "The Jazz Singer", released in October 1927. A major hit, it was made with Vitaphone, which was at the time the leading brand of sound-on-disc technology. Sound-on-film, however, would soon become the standard for talking pictures.
Music Box Theatre (Chicago)
Although when the theatre was built, sound films were a new technology, the plans included both an orchestra pit and organ chambers if sound films failed and silent film accompaniment was needed. Photos of the theater in the year it was built show "Western Electric Sound System" and "Vitaphone" advertised on the marquee. The first known silent film presentation at the Music Box theatre was "Wings" in 1983 using the operators home theatre organ and accompanied by Barbara Sellers, the daughter of Preston and Edna Sellers who were Chicago Silent Film and radio theatre organ personalities of the 1920s - 1940s. The first Theatre organ - an Allen three manual electronic - was installed in the previously empty organ chambers, in 1984. The Music Box has continued to screen silent films with live organ accompaniment monthly since 2012.