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It's early in the year of 1925 in Manhattan, New York.

The car drives up to Bell Laboratories,

the company at the cutting edge of technological innovations in America.

Sitting inside the vehicle is Sam Warner, one of four brothers heading up the fledgling film studio,

Warner Brothers. His driver opens the door and Sam steps out.

He's immediately greeted by Nathan Levinson, a sound engineer and all-around genius with electronics.

Nathan has been helping Warner Brothers break into the still new field of radio.

But today Sam is here to talk about a medium even more novel.

As they walk down the long hallways of Bell Labs,

Sam can sense his colleagues' excitement.

Nathan has been experimenting with sound on moving pictures,

and he's invited Sam here today for a demonstration.

Led into a small screening room, Sam takes a seat in front of the silver screen.

The darkened room is suddenly illuminated by the bulb of the projector,

before an image of a nervous-looking man appears on screen.

The man begins to whistle, and the sound appears perfectly in sync with the image.

Sam is awestruck. A man then disappears, but is quickly replaced by another who sits at a piano and

begins to play. As more and more musicians join the piano player on screen, the sound becomes

tremendous. Sam jumps out of his seat, turns to Nathan and declares him a genius.

...