| Where it all began
In 1927, a milestone in
film history occurred, Al Jolson starred in "The Jazz Singer",
considered to be Hollywood's first talkie. Adding
a musical score and a few spoken lines to the
moving picture was a huge hit. However, it also
threw some people in the film business out of
work. Bignames. Silent movie stars. And everyday
people like Ray de Steiger. He wasn't famous
like some of the others but he lost his job just
the same. You see, he played piano in the local
movie theaters for the silent movies. Now that
sound was a part of the picture there was no
need for his piano playing talents. So Ray went
looking for work. He tried his hand at several
things before he finally found success in the
lighting business. That was 70 years ago.
Now, we're not
saying that if sound hadn't come to the film industry
you wouldn't have electric lights in your home.
Oh no, not at all, but we're confident that you
wouldn't have such a nice store to shop and save
on lighting products. |