"Vivaphone" Film (The Two Obadiahs)

Cecil Hepworth’s early musical short shows two monks in white habits against a black backdrop, performing a song. This synchronised Vivaphone film (more detail below) has been matched to its original recording, HP Lyste’s gently humorous ‘moral song’ which pokes fun at various vices, from 1876. The song was most famously adopted by famed music hall singer and ‘lion comique’ G H MacDermott and features in another film production - Cheer Boys, Cheer (1939) - in which is it sung as a party piece by Moore Marriott and Graham Moffat. On this disc the sing is sung by George Grossmith and Edmund Payne.

In 1909 Cecil Hepworth launched his new synchronized sound system, the Vivaphone. The device synchronised pre-recorded phonograph discs with a film picture which featured actors miming to the recording. This film from the BFI National Archive has been synchronised to its corresponding original recording, supplied to the BFI by Tony Barker. Special thanks also to Glenn Mitchell for coordinating the project. This synchronised Vivaphone film has been supported by The Adam S Rubinson Charitable Fund.