[78-L] Mit-Out Sound

[David Lennick]

Hmm..I kinda like this one (WackyPackia, I know, I know) which places the 
origin with Fritz Lang or Ernst Lubitsch:

<A popular (presumed to be mythical) origin is that MOS stands for either "Mit 
Out Sprechen" or "Mit Out Sound," a broken-English phrasing meaning "Without 
sound," as a 1920s German-emigré director might have said it.

According to this theory, a German director, recently transplanted to Hollywood 
(probably Ernst Lubitsch, but possibly Fritz Lang), was asked by a script 
supervisor how he would like to shoot the next scene of the day. The director 
responded "Mit Out Sprechen!", and so this was noted as a joke on the 
production reports and the camera slates for the shot. This myth ignores the 
fact that in German the word for "without" is "ohne"; it is highly improbable 
that a person speaking German as his first language would mistakenly say "mit 
out" for "without".

dl

Harold Aherne wrote:
> I have looked in a couple of different sources to back up this claim (and 
> because my curiosity was piqued):
>  
> In "The Camera Assistant's Manual" (David Elkins, Focal Press, 2000), the 
> term is glossed as "minus optical sound", meaning that the scene
> is filmed without synchronised sound (which would be added
> later). The opposite of MOS is "synch", meaning that the sound
> is recorded with the action (pp. 3-4). That definiton is also given in 
> "The Practical Art of Motion Picture Sound" (Yendall, 2003).
>  
> The ascription of "mit out sound" to Erich von Stroheim is noted in a few places, 
> but the only dialogue film that he directed was "Hello Sister" (aka "Walking Down
> Broadway", Fox, 1933). Although he appeared in leading and supporting parts
> in several early talkies from 1929-32, there seems no obvious reason
> why he'd have to be concerned with the mechanics of sound on any of 
> them. If the "mit out sound" legend is correctly attributed to him, it would
> almost have to result from his work on that single film.
>  
> The more usual German-accented pronunciation of "without" would
> seem to be "vitout", though there could be variations (the German word for
> "without" is ,,ohne''). None of this proves that "minus optical system" isn't in
> fact a "backronym", but it's the best I can do!
>  
> -Harold
>  
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> 
> --- On Mon, 10/13/08, joe at salerno.com <jsalerno at earthlink.net> wrote:
> 
> From: joe at salerno.com <jsalerno at earthlink.net>
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Mit-Out Sound
> To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Date: Monday, October 13, 2008, 9:55 AM
> 
> It seems strange calling a film "minus optical system"
> 
> In the beginning film sound was on disc, was it not? like Vitaphone discs?
> 
> joe salerno
> 
> 
> 
> 
>       
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