Smell-o-vision
Encyclopedia
Smell-O-Vision was a system that released odor
during the projection of a film
so that the viewer could "smell
" what was happening in the movie. The technique was created by Hans Laube and made its only appearance in the 1960
film Scent of Mystery
, produced by Mike Todd, Jr.
, son of film producer
Mike Todd
. The process injected 30 different smells into a movie theater's seats when triggered by the film's soundtrack.
of the Family Theatre in Forest City, Pennsylvania
, placed a wad of cotton wool that had been soaked in rose oil
in front of an electric fan during a newsreel
about the Rose Bowl Game
. However, between 1903 and 1915, there were no games held, so it is unknown what the newsreel was about, although the Rose Parade (which has been held annually since 1890) seems likely.
In 1929, during the showing of The Broadway Melody
, a New York City
theater sprayed perfume
from the ceiling. Arthur Mayer installed an in-theater smell system in Paramount's Rialto Theater on Broadway
in 1933, which he used to deliver odors during a film. However, it would take over an hour to clear the scents from the theater, and some smells would linger for days afterward. Further attempts with releasing scents timed to key points in a film happened at a Detroit, Michigan
theater with The Sea Hawk
and Boom Town
.
All of these early attempts, however, were made by theater owners and not part of the films themselves. The audience could be distracted by the scents instead of focusing on what the film director
intended. Furthermore, because of the size of the theaters, large amounts of perfume had to be released to reach all members of the audience. This caused another problem: The human nose has a difficult time transitioning between smells until the molecules that triggered one smell are completely cleared from the nose, and with that volume of perfume, the scents would mix together, becoming muddled.
Walt Disney
was the first filmmaker to explore the idea of actually including scents with his 1940 film Fantasia
, but eventually decided against pursuing this for cost reasons.
General Electric
developed a system in 1953 that they called Smell-O-Rama. They demonstrated its potential by exhibiting a three-dimensional image of a rose accompanied by floral scents.
Laube's technique, which he dubbed "Scentovision", was to connect pipes to individual seats in theaters, so that the timing and amount could be carefully controlled by the projectionist using a control board. He introduced this system during the 1939 New York World's Fair
, soon after which all his equipment was seized by police "under the pretext that a similar, patented system already exists in the USA". The New York Times reported in 1943 that Scentovision "is said to have produced odors as quickly and easily as the soundtrack of a film produces sound", but Laube, a Swiss national, returned to Europe in 1946, unable to interest any film or television studios with his invention.
. They remembered Laube's invention and although they decided not to use it for this film, Todd Jr., after his father's death, was intrigued enough to sign Laube to a movie deal.
Laube's system, for which he had been issued a U.S. patent
and which was renamed "Smell-O-Vision" by Todd, had been improved in the intervening time. Now, instead of the scents being manually released, it used what he called a "smell brain", which was a series of perfume containers linked in a belt, arranged in the order that they would be released. The belt was then wound around a motorized reel. As the film threaded through the movie projector
, markers on it would cue the brain. Needles would pierce membranes on the containers, releasing the scents, which would then be blown by fans through the pipes to individual vents underneath the audience members' seats. The cost of outfitting a theater to accommodate the system was anywhere from US$15,000 at Chicago's Cinestage theater to $1,000,000 elsewhere ($ to $ today).
Both Laube and Todd understood that the system had aesthetic limitations. For example, a heavy drama was not the sort of film that could employ it well. Thus, the system was to be deployed with the mystery-comedy Scent of Mystery
, which would be the first film in which smells revealed certain plot points to the audience. For example, one character is identified by the smell of pipe tobacco
.
was rushing to release Behind the Great Wall, a travelogue through China
made by Italian director Carlo Lizzani, accompanied by a process called "AromaRama" to send scents through the air-conditioning system of a theater. The particular process was invented by Charles Weiss who stated in a 1959 appearance on CBS's popular television programme To Tell the Truth
:
Behind the Great Wall was released on December 2, 1959, just three weeks ahead of Scent of Mystery, and the competition between the two films was called "the battle of the smellies" by Variety
. Besides the slightly earlier release date, the name AromaRama itself made fun of Todd Sr.'s Cinerama
process, and the choice of film was also deliberate, as travelogues were one of Cinerama's specialties.
An alternate explanation of the provenance of the word "AromaRama" is provided by its developer, Charles Weiss: "Screenwriter Henry Myers (Destry Rides Again) came up with the name "AromaRama" because the process was to the sense of smell what Cinerama was to the sense of sight. AromaRama echoed Cinerama rather than made fun of it. 'Behind the Great Wall' was chosen because distributor Walter Reade felt many of the scenes would be even more impressive with scents added. Because it had won major awards in Europe, it was expected to be well received in America - and it was.
The film received scathing treatment from New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther, who called it a "stunt" that had an "artistic benefit" of "nil". The accuracy of the odors was described as "capricious... elusive, oppressive or perfunctory and banal... merely synthetic smells that occasionally befit what one is viewing, but more often they confuse the atmosphere." By contrast, the film itself, which was not made with AromaRama in mind, received high praise. Further negative reviews came from Time
, Variety, and The New Yorker
.
Not all reviews were unfavorable. The New York Herald Tribune in its review titled, "AromaRama Premieres Here: Audience Smells What It Sees and Hears in Movie," the uncited critic writes: "With a few minor exceptions, the audience last night pronounced the successtion of smells a total success from the start, which consisted of an opening from Chet Huntley, television commentator, who demonstrated what was about to happen by slicing an orange while the odor track suffused the theatre with a smell of oranges being sliced." A follow-up article in the December 13, 1959 Sunday Herald Tribune said: "Curiously enough, they do not give the impression of being blown in or wafted from any specific direction (although they are said to be linked to the airconditioning system.) Actually the individual smells simply appear in the nostrils without any effort being made to sniff or strain for them. And what is more remarkable, each individual odor disappears promptly when the image smelled leaves the screen...There is no question about its effectiveness in creating illusions of reality."
The Sunday News awarded the film 3 stars out of a possible 4 stars in its review titled, "'Behind Great Wall' Puts Smell on Screen." Reviewer Dorothy Masters wrote, "Several wise men anticipated the birth of AromaRama, the major prophet being Charles Weiss, a public relations executive, who journeyed afar to enlist the support of a chemical company, an electronic air-filter plant, a camera equipment firm and an industrial timer organization. Together they devised a workable system for coordinating the picture of an orange with the smell of an orange."
The December 21, 1959 edition of Time Magazine stated in its review of "Behind the Great Wall", which it panned, "The AromaRama process itself, developed by a public relations executive, Charles Weiss, is fairly ingenious. The film carries a "scent track" that transmits cues to an electronic "trigger" that fires a salvo of scent into the theatre through the air-conditioning ports. The AromaRama people claim that they can reach every nose in the house within two seconds and remove the odor almost as fast. The perfumes are built up on a quick-evaporating base (Freon) and as the air is drawn off for filtering it is passed over electrically charged baffles that precipitate the aromatic particles. The fragrances were developed by Rhodia, Inc." Rhodia was a subsidiary of Rhone Poulenc.
The World Telegram Sun exclaimed, "You've got to breathe it to believe it - scented movies are here to stay!"
The Film Encyclopedia in its article on AromaRama states, "It competed with another process, SMELL-O-VISION for the attention of audiences in Hollywood's desperate attempt in the 50s to regain customers lost to television...Neither system proved popular, although technically they were both successful..."
Charles Weiss is alive (86 years old as of November 2010) and well in Boca Raton, Florida. He has never stopped experimenting with motion pictures and aromas. He spends most of this time adding fragrances to classic black and white films to demonstrate how smells might be used in the future.
In 2007, Smell O Vision became a brandname in the Benelux, the owner of the brandname use it for his entertainment branche, he own Oxygenbars and Smell O Vision units.
The film's poor reception threatened to derail the debut Scent of Mystery before it even opened, as the cinematic press now expected the odor release system to be poor.
Scent of Mystery was shown with an animated short titled Old Whiff, which was about a bloodhound who had lost his sense of smell; the dog's voice was provided by Bert Lahr
.
John Waters
released an enhanced "Odorama" version of his film, Polyester
in 1982. Waters included scratch and sniff
cards that the audience could use while watching the movie. Each card contained ten numbered spots that were scratched when that number flashed in the bottom right corner of the screen. Although this approach solved the problems inherent in previous attempts at this technology, it did not gain widespread usage for other films. The idea, however, was duplicated twice: Once in the mid-1980s when MTV
aired Scent of Mystery in conjunction with a convenience store
promotion that offered scratch and sniff cards; the second time was the 2003 animated film Rugrats Go Wild!
, the makers of which claimed it was an homage
to Waters.
The Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resorts currently make use of this idea, in their 3-D film
s and other attractions. The Animal Kingdom
's attraction It's Tough to Be a Bug (also at Disney's California Adventure
) releases an unpleasant odor coinciding with a stink bug on-screen, causing an audience reaction, similarly Mickey's Philharmagic
at the Magic Kingdom
in Orlando produces pie scents. Soarin' Over California
and Soarin' include orange blossom, pine forest, and sea air fragrances as the scenery flies below the passengers. Heimlich's Chew Chew Train drips watermelon scented water onto the riders before crawling through an Animal cracker
scented box. Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!
briefly takes riders through a ginger scented sushi house. It is unknown, however, if the technology behind this is the same or a derivative of Laube's work.
In 2006, NTT Communications, a Japanese telecom giant, developed a new way to display odors during the release of Terrence Malick
's The New World. During 7 key moments throughout the film, scents were emitted by an internet server that was linked to the reel of film, effectively downloading the scent. The schedule can be seen here: http://www.ntt.com/release_e/news06/0004/0411a.html
The scents used were supposed to evoke from the audience the emotions that were trying to be expressed in the film. Further reading of how it this system works can be seen here: http://www.ntt.com/release_e/news06/0004/0411.html including an illustrated schematic for a visual representation for how it worked.
Scents included:
floral for romance scenes,peppermint & rosemary for tear-jerking moments,orange & grapefruit for joyful sequences, and eucalyptus, tea tree & herbs for angry scenes.
In 2010, the Norwegian film Kurt Josef Wagle And The Legend of the Fjord Witch by director Tommy Wirkola
was released to cinemas with scratch and sniff
cards that the audience could use while watching the movie. One year later, the American film Spy Kids: All the Time in the World by director Robert Rodriguez
used the same idea, at no additional ticket cost, advertised as "4D Aroma-Scope".
Odor
An odor or odour is caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds, generally at a very low concentration, that humans or other animals perceive by the sense of olfaction. Odors are also commonly called scents, which can refer to both pleasant and unpleasant odors...
during the projection of a film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
so that the viewer could "smell
Olfaction
Olfaction is the sense of smell. This sense is mediated by specialized sensory cells of the nasal cavity of vertebrates, and, by analogy, sensory cells of the antennae of invertebrates...
" what was happening in the movie. The technique was created by Hans Laube and made its only appearance in the 1960
1960 in film
The year 1960 in film involved some significant events, with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho the top-grossing release in the U.S.-Events:* April 20 - for the first time since coming home from military service in Germany, Elvis Presley returns to Hollywood, California to film G.I...
film Scent of Mystery
Scent of Mystery
Scent of Mystery is a 1960 mystery film that featured the one and only use of Smell-O-Vision, a system that timed odors to points in the film's plot. It was the first film in which aromas were integral to the story, providing important details to the audience...
, produced by Mike Todd, Jr.
Mike Todd, Jr.
Michael Todd Jr. was the son of movie producer and cinema pioneer Mike Todd and his first wife, Bertha Freshman Todd. He also a stepson of Elizabeth Taylor eventhough he was older than his famous stepmother through his father's third marriage. Todd Jr...
, son of film producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
Mike Todd
Mike Todd
Michael Todd was an American theatre and film producer, best known for his 1956 production of Around the World in Eighty Days, which won an Academy Award for Best Picture...
. The process injected 30 different smells into a movie theater's seats when triggered by the film's soundtrack.
History
The use of scents in conjunction with film dates back to 1906, before the introduction of sound. In this first instance, a 1958 issue of Film Daily claims that Samuel Roxy RothafelSamuel Roxy Rothafel
Samuel Lionel Rothafel, known as "Roxy" was an American theatrical impressario and entrepreneur. He is noted for developing the lavish presentation of silent films in the deluxe movie palace theaters of the 1910s and 1920s.-Biography:Born in Stillwater, Minnesota, Samuel L. Rothafel was a showman...
of the Family Theatre in Forest City, Pennsylvania
Forest City, Pennsylvania
Forest City is a borough in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. Forest City is situated at the corner of Susquehanna County, Lackawanna County and Wayne County, Pennsylvania and is designated by a marker which is located in the Forest City Industrial Park....
, placed a wad of cotton wool that had been soaked in rose oil
Rose oil
Rose oil, meaning either rose otto or rose absolute, is the essential oil extracted from the petals of various types of rose...
in front of an electric fan during a newsreel
Newsreel
A newsreel was a form of short documentary film prevalent in the first half of the 20th century, regularly released in a public presentation place and containing filmed news stories and items of topical interest. It was a source of news, current affairs and entertainment for millions of moviegoers...
about the Rose Bowl Game
Rose Bowl Game
The Rose Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2...
. However, between 1903 and 1915, there were no games held, so it is unknown what the newsreel was about, although the Rose Parade (which has been held annually since 1890) seems likely.
In 1929, during the showing of The Broadway Melody
The Broadway Melody
The Broadway Melody is a 1929 American musical film and the first sound film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. It was one of the first musicals to feature a Technicolor sequence, which sparked the trend of color being used in a flurry of musicals that would hit the screens in 1929-1930...
, a New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
theater sprayed perfume
Perfume
Perfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils and/or aroma compounds, fixatives, and solvents used to give the human body, animals, objects, and living spaces "a pleasant scent"...
from the ceiling. Arthur Mayer installed an in-theater smell system in Paramount's Rialto Theater on Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
in 1933, which he used to deliver odors during a film. However, it would take over an hour to clear the scents from the theater, and some smells would linger for days afterward. Further attempts with releasing scents timed to key points in a film happened at a Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
theater with The Sea Hawk
The Sea Hawk (1940 film)
The Sea Hawk is a 1940 American Warner Bros. feature film starring Errol Flynn as an English privateer who defends his nation's interests on the eve of the Spanish Armada. The film was the tenth collaboration between Flynn and director Michael Curtiz. The film's screenplay by Howard Koch and Seton I...
and Boom Town
Boom Town (film)
Boom Town is a 1940 adventure drama Hollywood film starring Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert, Hedy Lamarr, and Frank Morgan. A story written by James Edward Grant in Cosmopolitan magazine titled "A Lady Comes to Burkburnett" provided the inspiration for the film.-Plot:"Big John"...
.
All of these early attempts, however, were made by theater owners and not part of the films themselves. The audience could be distracted by the scents instead of focusing on what the film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
intended. Furthermore, because of the size of the theaters, large amounts of perfume had to be released to reach all members of the audience. This caused another problem: The human nose has a difficult time transitioning between smells until the molecules that triggered one smell are completely cleared from the nose, and with that volume of perfume, the scents would mix together, becoming muddled.
Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
was the first filmmaker to explore the idea of actually including scents with his 1940 film Fantasia
Fantasia (film)
Fantasia is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by Walt Disney Productions. The third feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are...
, but eventually decided against pursuing this for cost reasons.
General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
developed a system in 1953 that they called Smell-O-Rama. They demonstrated its potential by exhibiting a three-dimensional image of a rose accompanied by floral scents.
Laube's technique, which he dubbed "Scentovision", was to connect pipes to individual seats in theaters, so that the timing and amount could be carefully controlled by the projectionist using a control board. He introduced this system during the 1939 New York World's Fair
1939 New York World's Fair
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people...
, soon after which all his equipment was seized by police "under the pretext that a similar, patented system already exists in the USA". The New York Times reported in 1943 that Scentovision "is said to have produced odors as quickly and easily as the soundtrack of a film produces sound", but Laube, a Swiss national, returned to Europe in 1946, unable to interest any film or television studios with his invention.
Scent of Mystery
Todd Sr. had staged a series of musical films at the 1939 World's Fair and met Laube during this time. Fifteen years later, Todd and his son were thinking of ways they could enhance their film Around the World in Eighty DaysAround the World in Eighty Days (1956 film)
Around the World in 80 Days is a 1956 adventure film produced by the Michael Todd Company and released by United Artists. It was directed by Michael Anderson. It was produced by Michael Todd, with Kevin McClory and William Cameron Menzies as associate producers. The screenplay was written by James...
. They remembered Laube's invention and although they decided not to use it for this film, Todd Jr., after his father's death, was intrigued enough to sign Laube to a movie deal.
Laube's system, for which he had been issued a U.S. patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
and which was renamed "Smell-O-Vision" by Todd, had been improved in the intervening time. Now, instead of the scents being manually released, it used what he called a "smell brain", which was a series of perfume containers linked in a belt, arranged in the order that they would be released. The belt was then wound around a motorized reel. As the film threaded through the movie projector
Movie projector
A movie projector is an opto-mechanical device for displaying moving pictures by projecting them on a projection screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices, are present in movie cameras.-Physiology:...
, markers on it would cue the brain. Needles would pierce membranes on the containers, releasing the scents, which would then be blown by fans through the pipes to individual vents underneath the audience members' seats. The cost of outfitting a theater to accommodate the system was anywhere from US$15,000 at Chicago's Cinestage theater to $1,000,000 elsewhere ($ to $ today).
Both Laube and Todd understood that the system had aesthetic limitations. For example, a heavy drama was not the sort of film that could employ it well. Thus, the system was to be deployed with the mystery-comedy Scent of Mystery
Scent of Mystery
Scent of Mystery is a 1960 mystery film that featured the one and only use of Smell-O-Vision, a system that timed odors to points in the film's plot. It was the first film in which aromas were integral to the story, providing important details to the audience...
, which would be the first film in which smells revealed certain plot points to the audience. For example, one character is identified by the smell of pipe tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
.
Competition with AromaRama
On October 17, 1959, The New York Times reported that Walter Reade Jr.Walter Reade
Walter Reade Sr was the man behind a chain of theatres which grew from a single theatre in Asbury Park, New Jersey to a chain of forty theatres and drive-ins in New Jersey, New York and neighboring states that lasted into the mid seventies. Known as the “Showman of The Shore,” his name was...
was rushing to release Behind the Great Wall, a travelogue through China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
made by Italian director Carlo Lizzani, accompanied by a process called "AromaRama" to send scents through the air-conditioning system of a theater. The particular process was invented by Charles Weiss who stated in a 1959 appearance on CBS's popular television programme To Tell the Truth
To Tell the Truth
To Tell the Truth is an American television panel game show created by Bob Stewart and produced by Goodson-Todman Productions that has aired in various forms since 1956 both on networks and in syndication...
:
I... have invented a process to make movies smell. I call the process AromaRama. After more than two and a half years of work, our picture Behind the Great Wall will open December 2 at the Mayfair Theater in New York. In addition to seeing the action and hearing the dialogue, our audiences will be able to smell the scenes. More than 100 different aromas will be injected into the theater during the film. Among these are the odors of grass, earth, exploding firecrackers, a river, incense, burning torches, horses, restaurants, the scent of a trapped tiger and many more. We believe, with Rudyard KiplingRudyard KiplingJoseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
, that smells are surer than sounds or sights to make the heartstrings crack.
Behind the Great Wall was released on December 2, 1959, just three weeks ahead of Scent of Mystery, and the competition between the two films was called "the battle of the smellies" by Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
. Besides the slightly earlier release date, the name AromaRama itself made fun of Todd Sr.'s Cinerama
Cinerama
Cinerama is the trademarked name for a widescreen process which works by simultaneously projecting images from three synchronized 35 mm projectors onto a huge, deeply-curved screen, subtending 146° of arc. It is also the trademarked name for the corporation which was formed to market it...
process, and the choice of film was also deliberate, as travelogues were one of Cinerama's specialties.
An alternate explanation of the provenance of the word "AromaRama" is provided by its developer, Charles Weiss: "Screenwriter Henry Myers (Destry Rides Again) came up with the name "AromaRama" because the process was to the sense of smell what Cinerama was to the sense of sight. AromaRama echoed Cinerama rather than made fun of it. 'Behind the Great Wall' was chosen because distributor Walter Reade felt many of the scenes would be even more impressive with scents added. Because it had won major awards in Europe, it was expected to be well received in America - and it was.
The film received scathing treatment from New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther, who called it a "stunt" that had an "artistic benefit" of "nil". The accuracy of the odors was described as "capricious... elusive, oppressive or perfunctory and banal... merely synthetic smells that occasionally befit what one is viewing, but more often they confuse the atmosphere." By contrast, the film itself, which was not made with AromaRama in mind, received high praise. Further negative reviews came from Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, Variety, and The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
.
Not all reviews were unfavorable. The New York Herald Tribune in its review titled, "AromaRama Premieres Here: Audience Smells What It Sees and Hears in Movie," the uncited critic writes: "With a few minor exceptions, the audience last night pronounced the successtion of smells a total success from the start, which consisted of an opening from Chet Huntley, television commentator, who demonstrated what was about to happen by slicing an orange while the odor track suffused the theatre with a smell of oranges being sliced." A follow-up article in the December 13, 1959 Sunday Herald Tribune said: "Curiously enough, they do not give the impression of being blown in or wafted from any specific direction (although they are said to be linked to the airconditioning system.) Actually the individual smells simply appear in the nostrils without any effort being made to sniff or strain for them. And what is more remarkable, each individual odor disappears promptly when the image smelled leaves the screen...There is no question about its effectiveness in creating illusions of reality."
The Sunday News awarded the film 3 stars out of a possible 4 stars in its review titled, "'Behind Great Wall' Puts Smell on Screen." Reviewer Dorothy Masters wrote, "Several wise men anticipated the birth of AromaRama, the major prophet being Charles Weiss, a public relations executive, who journeyed afar to enlist the support of a chemical company, an electronic air-filter plant, a camera equipment firm and an industrial timer organization. Together they devised a workable system for coordinating the picture of an orange with the smell of an orange."
The December 21, 1959 edition of Time Magazine stated in its review of "Behind the Great Wall", which it panned, "The AromaRama process itself, developed by a public relations executive, Charles Weiss, is fairly ingenious. The film carries a "scent track" that transmits cues to an electronic "trigger" that fires a salvo of scent into the theatre through the air-conditioning ports. The AromaRama people claim that they can reach every nose in the house within two seconds and remove the odor almost as fast. The perfumes are built up on a quick-evaporating base (Freon) and as the air is drawn off for filtering it is passed over electrically charged baffles that precipitate the aromatic particles. The fragrances were developed by Rhodia, Inc." Rhodia was a subsidiary of Rhone Poulenc.
The World Telegram Sun exclaimed, "You've got to breathe it to believe it - scented movies are here to stay!"
The Film Encyclopedia in its article on AromaRama states, "It competed with another process, SMELL-O-VISION for the attention of audiences in Hollywood's desperate attempt in the 50s to regain customers lost to television...Neither system proved popular, although technically they were both successful..."
Charles Weiss is alive (86 years old as of November 2010) and well in Boca Raton, Florida. He has never stopped experimenting with motion pictures and aromas. He spends most of this time adding fragrances to classic black and white films to demonstrate how smells might be used in the future.
In 2007, Smell O Vision became a brandname in the Benelux, the owner of the brandname use it for his entertainment branche, he own Oxygenbars and Smell O Vision units.
The film's poor reception threatened to derail the debut Scent of Mystery before it even opened, as the cinematic press now expected the odor release system to be poor.
Reception
Smell-O-Vision did not work as intended. According to Variety, aromas were released with a distracting hissing noise and audience members in the balcony complained that the scents reached them several seconds after the action was shown on the screen. In other parts of the theater, the odors were too faint, causing audience members to sniff loudly in an attempt to catch the scent. These technical problems were mostly corrected after the first few showings, but the poor word of mouth, in conjunction with generally negative reviews of the film itself, signaled the end of Smell-O-Vision. A 2000 Time reader survey listed Smell-O-Vision in the "Top 100 Worst Ideas of All Time".Scent of Mystery was shown with an animated short titled Old Whiff, which was about a bloodhound who had lost his sense of smell; the dog's voice was provided by Bert Lahr
Bert Lahr
Bert Lahr was an American actor and comedian. Lahr is remembered today for his roles as the Cowardly Lion and Kansas farmworker Zeke in The Wizard of Oz, but was also well-known for work in burlesque, vaudeville, and on Broadway.-Early life:Lahr was born in New York City, of German-Jewish heritage...
.
Legacy
In homage to Smell-O-Vision, American film directorFilm director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
John Waters
John Waters (filmmaker)
John Samuel Waters, Jr. is an American filmmaker, actor, stand-up comedian, writer, journalist, visual artist, and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films...
released an enhanced "Odorama" version of his film, Polyester
Polyester (film)
Polyester is a 1981 comedy film directed, produced, and written by John Waters, and starring Divine, Tab Hunter, Edith Massey, and Mink Stole...
in 1982. Waters included scratch and sniff
Scratch and sniff
Scratch and sniff technology generally refers to things that have been treated with a microfragrance coating. When scratched, the coating releases an odor that is normally related to an image being displayed under the coating...
cards that the audience could use while watching the movie. Each card contained ten numbered spots that were scratched when that number flashed in the bottom right corner of the screen. Although this approach solved the problems inherent in previous attempts at this technology, it did not gain widespread usage for other films. The idea, however, was duplicated twice: Once in the mid-1980s when MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
aired Scent of Mystery in conjunction with a convenience store
Convenience store
A convenience store, corner store, corner shop, commonly called a bodega in Spanish-speaking areas of the United States, is a small store or shop in a built up area that stocks a range of everyday items such as groceries, toiletries, alcoholic and soft drinks, and may also offer money order and...
promotion that offered scratch and sniff cards; the second time was the 2003 animated film Rugrats Go Wild!
Rugrats Go Wild!
Rugrats Go Wild is a 2003 crossover animated film, with two animated Nickelodeon television series Rugrats and The Wild Thornberrys. The film was produced by Klasky Csupo and released in theaters on June 13, 2003 by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies.It also makes this the Rugrats series...
, the makers of which claimed it was an homage
Homage
Homage is a show or demonstration of respect or dedication to someone or something, sometimes by simple declaration but often by some more oblique reference, artistic or poetic....
to Waters.
The Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resorts currently make use of this idea, in their 3-D film
3-D film
A 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
s and other attractions. The Animal Kingdom
Disney's Animal Kingdom
Disney's Animal Kingdom is an animal theme park located at the Walt Disney World Resort. The fourth park built at the resort, it opened on April 22, 1998, and it is the largest single Disney theme park in the world, covering more than . It is also the first Disney theme park to be themed entirely...
's attraction It's Tough to Be a Bug (also at Disney's California Adventure
Disney's California Adventure
Disney California Adventure, or simply California Adventure, is a theme park in Anaheim, California, adjacent to Disneyland Park and part of the larger Disneyland Resort. It opened on February 8, 2001 as Disney's California Adventure Park. The park is owned and operated by the Walt Disney Parks and...
) releases an unpleasant odor coinciding with a stink bug on-screen, causing an audience reaction, similarly Mickey's Philharmagic
Mickey's PhilharMagic
Mickey's PhilharMagic is a 4-D film attraction found at the Magic Kingdom theme park in the Walt Disney World Resort, Hong Kong Disneyland and at Tokyo Disneyland. The film was directed by George Scribner, who is best known for directing Disney's 1988 animated film, Oliver and Company...
at the Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom Park is one of four theme parks at the Walt Disney World Resort located near Orlando, Florida. The first park built at the resort, Magic Kingdom opened Oct. 1, 1971. Designed and built by WED Enterprises, the park's layout and attractions are similar to Disneyland in Anaheim, California...
in Orlando produces pie scents. Soarin' Over California
Soarin' Over California
Soarin' Over California is a simulator attraction at Disney California Adventure . It debuted with the park on February 8, 2001...
and Soarin' include orange blossom, pine forest, and sea air fragrances as the scenery flies below the passengers. Heimlich's Chew Chew Train drips watermelon scented water onto the riders before crawling through an Animal cracker
Animal cracker
Animal crackers are crackers in the shapes of animals, some brands of which are sweetened. These are usually animals one would see at the zoo or circus, including lions, tigers, bears, and elephants....
scented box. Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!
Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!
Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! is a dark ride attraction at Disney California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California...
briefly takes riders through a ginger scented sushi house. It is unknown, however, if the technology behind this is the same or a derivative of Laube's work.
In 2006, NTT Communications, a Japanese telecom giant, developed a new way to display odors during the release of Terrence Malick
Terrence Malick
Terrence Frederick Malick is a U.S. film director, screenwriter, and producer. In a career spanning almost four decades, Malick has directed five feature films....
's The New World. During 7 key moments throughout the film, scents were emitted by an internet server that was linked to the reel of film, effectively downloading the scent. The schedule can be seen here: http://www.ntt.com/release_e/news06/0004/0411a.html
The scents used were supposed to evoke from the audience the emotions that were trying to be expressed in the film. Further reading of how it this system works can be seen here: http://www.ntt.com/release_e/news06/0004/0411.html including an illustrated schematic for a visual representation for how it worked.
Scents included:
floral for romance scenes,peppermint & rosemary for tear-jerking moments,orange & grapefruit for joyful sequences, and eucalyptus, tea tree & herbs for angry scenes.
In 2010, the Norwegian film Kurt Josef Wagle And The Legend of the Fjord Witch by director Tommy Wirkola
Tommy Wirkola
Tommy Wirkola is a Norwegian filmmaker.-Biography:Wirkola's first film was 2007's Kill Buljo that he co-wrote with Stig Frode Henriksen...
was released to cinemas with scratch and sniff
Scratch and sniff
Scratch and sniff technology generally refers to things that have been treated with a microfragrance coating. When scratched, the coating releases an odor that is normally related to an image being displayed under the coating...
cards that the audience could use while watching the movie. One year later, the American film Spy Kids: All the Time in the World by director Robert Rodriguez
Robert Rodriguez
Robert Anthony Rodríguez is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, editor and musician. He shoots and produces many of his films in his native Texas and Mexico. He has directed such films as Desperado, From Dusk till Dawn, The Faculty, Spy Kids, Sin City, Planet...
used the same idea, at no additional ticket cost, advertised as "4D Aroma-Scope".
BBC April Fool's joke
In 1965, BBC TV played an April Fool's Day joke on their viewers. The network aired an "interview" with a man who had invented a new technology called "Smellovision" that allowed viewers at home to experience aromas produced in the television studio. To demonstrate, the man chopped some onions and brewed a pot of coffee. Viewers called in to confirm that they had smelled the aromas that were "transmitted" through their television sets.See also
- Digital scent technologyDigital scent technologyDigital scent technology is a technology to sense, transmit and receive scent-enable digital media . This technology is based and works by combining olfactometer and electronic nose.-History:...
- SynesthesiaSynesthesiaSynesthesia , from the ancient Greek , "together," and , "sensation," is a neurologically based condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway...
- iSmellISmellThe iSmell or iSmell Personal Scent Synthesizer was a computer peripheral device developed by DigiScents in 2001. The prototype connected to a personal computer via USB or serial port and was designed to emit a smell when a user visited a web site or opened an email...
- The Old Grey HareThe Old Grey HareThe Old Grey Hare is a 1944 Warner Bros. cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series, directed by Bob Clampett, written by Michael Sasanoff, music by Carl W. Stalling. Starring an older and young Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd The Old Grey Hare is a 1944 Warner Bros. cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series,...
, a Warner Brothers cartoon that mentions "Smellevision"
External links
- SMELLIT could someday bring Smell-o-vision,
- Mike Todd, Jr. Obituary, The 70mm Newsletter
- Hollywood Ballyhoo, The Belknap Collection for the Performing Arts, University of FloridaUniversity of FloridaThe University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
- Timeline of Influential Milestones and Important Turning Points in Film History
- Film History of the 1950s, The Greatest Films
- Museum of Hoaxes, Smellovision
- Smellovision's coming to the big screen
- When Roses Won’t Do, E-Mail a Fragrance
- www.SmellCinema.com, Smell Cinema Website - Smell-o-vision