Smell-O-Vision
Roughly similar concepts integrating odor experiences into entertainment performances date back at least to 1868 for live theatre, with the first film usage in 1906.
[6] 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.
Further attempts with releasing scents timed to key points in a film happened at the Vogue Theatre in Detroit, Michigan in 1940 with Boom Town and The Sea Hawk.
[12] In 1955, Laube, with financing from the Stanley Warner Corporation, set up a working model of his system at the Cinerama-Warner Theatre in New York to show a ten-minute pilot film.
1 to be filmed in March 1959 using a fragrance process called "Weiss-Rhodia Screen-Scent" to be produced by a company headed by Charles H. Weiss, a public relations executive.
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.
The film received scathing treatment from The 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".
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.)
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.
The December 21, 1959 edition of Time Magazine stated in its review of "Behind the Great Wall", "The AromaRama process itself, developed by a public relations executive, Charles Weiss, is fairly ingenious.
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.
[24] Charles Weiss continued to experiment with motion pictures and aromas, adding fragrances to classic black and white films to demonstrate how smells might be used in the future.
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.
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.
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.
[25] 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.
73 were both aired in "Aromavision" with accompanying "Aromapack" scratch and sniff cards distributed with listings magazine TVTimes;[27] the second time in the mid-1980s when MTV aired Scent of Mystery in conjunction with a convenience store promotion that offered scratch and sniff cards; the third time was the 2003 animated film Rugrats Go Wild, the makers of which claimed it was a homage to Waters.
releases an unpleasant odor coinciding with a stink bug on-screen, causing an audience reaction; similarly Mickey's Philharmagic at the Magic Kingdom and Disney California Adventure produces pie scents.
[citation needed] 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.
[31] There have been further attempts to develop similar systems for the use with television or advertising screens using gel pellets or inkjet printers to spray small amounts of scent.
[34] Other off-screen features are incorporated into 4DX as well, including motion enabled chairs, fog, strong scents, and water and air to simulate wind and rain.
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.
[37] The 1944 Merrie Melodies cartoon The Old Grey Hare includes a newspaper article which reads "Smellovision replaces television" seen by Elmer Fudd after he apparently visits in the distant future of the year 2000.
In addition, the episode "A Big Piece of Garbage" introduces the Smelloscope, a telescope-like device that allows people to smell distant cosmic objects.
[38] A similar event called "Smelly Telly" for Cartoon Network's Cow and Chicken animated series involved scratch and sniff cards as well, lasting from April 26 to 30, 1999.
