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.
Hazard E. Reeves
Utilizing separate magnetic film, Reeves created a seven-channel sound system for Cinerama, the company of which he was president by 1952. That same year, Cinerama released its first picture, "This is Cinerama". Reeves' sound system was the first, discrete stereophonic sound system used in post-war commercial application. (Walt Disney had originally released "Fantasia" (1940) in three-track optical sound, but the Disney "Fantasound" system was not used for any other film afterwards.)