1920s and 30s Fox Movietone News Collection Baseball

[bobw]

Not sure if this has been previously posted but I came across this collection of Major League Spring Training Movies from the 1920s and 30s WITH SOUND from the Fox Movietone News Collection at the University of South Carolina. Sort of like B&W photos come to life......

https://digital.tcl.sc.edu/digital/s.../nosort/ad/asc

[bbnut]

This is awesome!

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[conor912]

So cool. Crazy how vocal Fred Hofman is behind the plate in the Boston/Washington game. You virtually never hear a peep form any catcher these days. It sounds like him chirping, anyways.

[Vintagecatcher]

Thanks for sharing!

Enjoyed watching Ty Cobb especially with one of his beautiful dogs!

I was also surprised by Walter Johnson's voice!

Thanks,

Patrick

[JLange]

So cool, thanks for sharing!

[pitchernut]

Love the "sandlot" film. thanks for sharing.

[joejo20]

I am in trouble because I could watch this stuff for hours! Thank you

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by conor912

So cool. Crazy how vocal Fred Hofman is behind the plate in the Boston/Washington game. You virtually never hear a peep form any catcher these days. It sounds like him chirping, anyways.

Yeah, he was also moving all over the place behind the plate, making lots of motions towards the pitcher, probably trying to distract the hitter..............didn't seem to be working in those outtakes however, LOL.

Fascinating!

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by Vintagecatcher

Thanks for sharing!

Enjoyed watching Ty Cobb especially with one of his beautiful dogs!

I was also surprised by Walter Johnson's voice!

Thanks,

Patrick

Walter didn't get too fancy with the names of his pitches apparently.

He's got a fast 'un, a slow 'un, and a curve.

That arm angle he used was probably pretty nasty for the times though.

[tschock]

Originally Posted by Vintagecatcher

I was also surprised by Walter Johnson's voice!

Ditto!

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

I'm wondering (and surely hoping) there may be an issue with the audio for Walter. It almost sounds like he inhaled some helium in places.

Edited to add: I've noticed this effect many times before with early talkies. One example that comes to mind is that clip of Ruth and Ruppert when Babe is signing his contract. You'd almost think that somebody has come up with a way of digitally restoring the audio to a truer semblance of what we should be hearing. They likely have and I haven't looked it up.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

I eagerly await the sleuthing skills of all of our photo ID experts! It's incredible to hear these voices and see these players as young men in brand new, vintage uniforms! Can't wait to discover footage of any old friends of mine! Hopefully there will be a couple of them in the mix!

[conor912]

Originally Posted by BillyCox3

I'm wondering (and surely hoping) there may be an issue with the audio for Walter. It almost sounds like he inhaled some helium in places.

Edited to add: I've noticed this effect many times before with early talkies. One example that comes to mind is that clip of Ruth and Ruppert when Babe is signing his contract. You'd almost think that somebody has come up with a way of digitally restoring the audio to a truer semblance of what we should be hearing. They likely have and I haven't looked it up.

Wajo did some radio broadcasting in the late 30's...his voice was pretty high. He comes in at the 1:47 mark here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlLWWFmSetc&t=172s

[Butch7999]

Originally Posted by BillyCox3

I'm wondering (and surely hoping) there may be an issue with the audio for Walter.
It almost sounds like he inhaled some helium in places.

Edited to add: I've noticed this effect many times before with early talkies. One example that comes to mind
is that clip of Ruth and Ruppert when Babe is signing his contract. You'd almost think that somebody
has come up with a way of digitally restoring the audio to a truer semblance of what we should be hearing.
They likely have and I haven't looked it up.

A good point. We can all hear in our heads (without even dialing up a YouTube version) Herb Morrison's horrified description
of the 1937 Hindenburg crash. Morrison sounds helium-injected and nerdly, but years later we found out he actually possessed
a fine radio baritone, and it's something in the preservation or rerecording of older sound-on-film that very slightly condenses
or speeds up vocal sounds and raises their pitch.
There are loads of correctly reconstructed versions of the broadcast now available on-line --here's just one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...ture=emb_title
-- and while Morrison is understandably overcome with emotion at witnessing the sudden flaming death of 36 human beings
(for all Morrison knew, all 97 aboard), at least his actual, non-Les-Nessman voice can be heard...

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by BillyCox3

I'm wondering (and surely hoping) there may be an issue with the audio for Walter. It almost sounds like he inhaled some helium in places.

Edited to add: I've noticed this effect many times before with early talkies. One example that comes to mind is that clip of Ruth and Ruppert when Babe is signing his contract. You'd almost think that somebody has come up with a way of digitally restoring the audio to a truer semblance of what we should be hearing. They likely have and I haven't looked it up.

I've heard a lot of WaJo audio, and although there could well be some distortion due to the technology of the time, he did seem to have spoken in a high-pitched voice. I described it in my book as a "midwest plains twang." If you want to hear something quite similar in a much more famous voice, Google some Will Rogers audio clips. Rogers was born just s few miles south of Walter's birthplace of Humboldt, Kansas, in Southeast Oklahoma, and I suspect that this was the prevailing accent in that area.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Hank,

Maybe it's just a case of my not having listened to his voice in a while. Guess I could have forgotten his unusual timbre (but how could you?).

I will say that the audio on some of the other videos is actually very good. In one of the 1930 Pirates spring training videos, I'm certain I heard the voice of Ben Sankey from off-camera clear as day. He said about three words, but his voice sounded just as when I knew him!

No audio that I could find, but I did briefly see my old friend Harry Danning throwing a ball and smiling, and another great guy I knew, Joe Moore, getting a single in a game.

It was a treat to hear Pete Alexander so clearly and to watch Dazzy Vance explain pitching mechanics.

Thanks again to the OP for the link!

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by BillyCox3

Hank,
Maybe it's just a case of my not having listened to his voice in a while. Guess I could have forgotten his unusual timbre (but how could you?).

I don't understand your question. I never heard him in person, if that's what you're referring to. He's sounded about the same to me in all of the recordings I've heard. You get an hour or so of it in the 1939 game broadcast. I've never thought of it as particularly unusual, just a high-pitched voice, no doubt surprising to some people coming from such a big guy, but I'm not sure there's any actual "normal" correlation between the two. As I mentioned, just listen to some Will Rogers if you to hear another example of what I believe to be more of a regional accent than some sort of freaky timbre.

[Hankphenom]

What I really love about this footage is that it consists mostly of outtakes, so you're getting a lot of the real person in clips that were cut because they started cutting up or engaging in other unscripted language or activities the editor deemed unsuitable for the final newsreel. The segment from the 1931 Washington spring training showing Walter Johnson trying unsuccessfully to help the filmmaker get Johnson's very young daughter Barbara to say a line they had prepared for her, then turning on a dime into the concerned and loving father when he saw that their badgering was making her upset, and putting a stop to the whole exercise, is just precious. There are other examples of Walter's personality and humor coming through when the planned routine wasn't working out or breaking down, and where else could you find such material?

[Leon]

Originally Posted by bobw

Not sure if this has been previously posted but I came across this collection of Major League Spring Training Movies from the 1920s and 30s WITH SOUND from the Fox Movietone News Collection at the University of South Carolina. Sort of like B&W photos come to life......

https://digital.tcl.sc.edu/digital/s.../nosort/ad/asc

Cool stuff. Thanks for sharing.

[trdcrdkid]

In the "Connie Mack - outtakes" film, the "unidentified pitcher" shown warming up from 0:58 to 1:18 is Lefty Grove.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by trdcrdkid

In the "Connie Mack - outtakes" film, the "unidentified pitcher" shown warming up from 0:58 to 1:18 is Lefty Grove.

It also looks like pandemic baseball in the stands in the game footage from that video. Eerie! Looks like some of the crowds I've seen in New Britain since the AA team moved out.

[trdcrdkid]

You wouldn't know it from the title, but the "Ball test - outtakes" video has the best audio I've ever heard of John McGraw's voice. (I've also heard him speak in very poor newsreel footage taken before the 1933 All-Star game.)

https://digital.tcl.sc.edu/digital/c...id/5553/rec/20

[Leon]

Originally Posted by trdcrdkid

You wouldn't know it from the title, but the "Ball test - outtakes" video has the best audio I've ever heard of John McGraw's voice. (I've also heard him speak in very poor newsreel footage taken before the 1933 All-Star game.)

https://digital.tcl.sc.edu/digital/c...id/5553/rec/20

I think I have a hacksaw just like that one.