Many believe Max Steiner's score for "King Kong" (1933) was the first important attempt at integrating background music into sound film, but a closer look at the industry's early sound era (1926--1934) reveals a more extended and fascinating story. Viewing more than two hundred films from the period, Michael Slowik launches the first comprehensive study of a long-neglected phase in Hollywood's initial development, recasting the history of film sound and its relationship to the "Golden Age" of film music (1935--1950).

Slowik follows filmmakers' shifting combinations of sound and image, recapturing the volatility of this era and the variety of film music strategies that were tested, abandoned, and kept. He explores early film music experiments and accompaniment practices in opera, melodrama, musicals, radio, and silent films and discusses the impact of the advent of synchronized dialogue. He concludes with a reassessment of "King Kong" and its groundbreaking approach to film music, challenging the film's place and importance in the timeline of sound achievement.

Through the ages, women undertook a remarkable development in society. They lived their traditional role as housewives and mothers and were also classified as unemployable. But after the Second World War the role model of women changed dramatically. The number of women at universities increased. Due to education women were enabled to take responsible jobs and earn their living on their own. Today, women can fulfil their dreams of consumption themselves. According to female consumption behaviour, luxury manufacturers have adjusted their marketing mix towards women's communication and consumption patterns. Regarding women's liking for branded goods, the luxury industry enjoys stable growth rates. Therefore, female consumption behaviour in the luxury market affects economic growth. The author Michael Slowik gives an overview of females in societies, regarding their likings and different consumer types. He goes into detail regarding the theory of consumption - preferences and considers the "Revealed Preference-Analysis" by Paul Anthony Samuelson concerning external consumption effects. Finally the author concludes how the particular consumption behaviour effects economic growth. The book is addressed to females, economists, companies in the luxury industry and governments.

Many believe Max Steiner's score for "King Kong" (1933) was the first important attempt at integrating background music into sound film, but a closer look at the industry's early sound era (1926--1934) reveals a more extended and fascinating story. Viewing more than two hundred films from the period, Michael Slowik launches the first comprehensive study of a long-neglected phase in Hollywood's initial development, recasting the history of film sound and its relationship to the "Golden Age" of film music (1935--1950).

Slowik follows filmmakers' shifting combinations of sound and image, recapturing the volatility of this era and the variety of film music strategies that were tested, abandoned, and kept. He explores early film music experiments and accompaniment practices in opera, melodrama, musicals, radio, and silent films and discusses the impact of the advent of synchronized dialogue. He concludes with a reassessment of "King Kong" and its groundbreaking approach to film music, challenging the film's place and importance in the timeline of sound achievement.