Now We're Talking

Charles Lindbergh

On May 20, 1927, Fox-Case Movietone recorded the first sensation in sound film history. At 7:52 a.m., Charles Lindbergh flew into the skies of Long Island in a single-engine monoplane. The American aviator and engineer would accomplish the first nonstop solo flight between New York and Paris, France.

That very afternoon, eager crowds in packed New York City cinemas watched, and heard, the epic event. They wanted a chance to share in the thrill of the moment, to hear the full throttle of the engine charge down the runway. Variety magazine reported that as the Spirit of St. Louis came into view and then quickly disappeared in the morning mist, viewers were unable to contain their excitement. People, young and old, yelled and stomped. It were as if they had personally witnessed the dramatic departure at Roosevelt Field.

The following week, Movietone went to Washington, D.C., to film the bands playing and President Coolidge giving Lindbergh a hero’s welcome home. The complete Lindbergh footage, from takeoff to tribute, was shown over and over and was sold out for weeks.

The box office was talking. By October 1927, Movietone News, the first commercially successful sound film, appeared all over New York. Display ads began listing the theaters in Manhattan and Brooklyn where the news series was showing. Talking newsreels were causing the full-length silent features to fall by the wayside.