Clifford Sanford Elfelt (Chicago, Illinois, December 13, 1892 – Los Angeles, California, September 3, 1975) was an American silent film director, writer and producer. He was active in the silent film industry from 1916 up to 1926, worked with Universal Studios, was head of Metropolitan Pictures Corporation of California and had his own Clifford S. Elfelt Productions company. He was married to the actress Gladys E. Fry (1903 - 1991, also known as June LaVere), who divorced him in 1923.
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound. In silent films for entertainment, the plot may be conveyed by the use of title cards, written indications of the plot and key dialogue lines. The idea of combining motion pictures with recorded sound is nearly as old as film itself, but because of the technical challenges involved, the introduction of synchronized dialogue became practical only in the late 1920s with the perfection of the Audion amplifier tube and the advent of the Vitaphone system. During the silent-film era that existed from the mid-1890s to the late 1920s, a pianist, theater organist—or even, in large cities, a small orchestra—would often play music to accompany the films. Pianists and organists would play either from sheet music, or improvisation.
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