John.. <snnniff!>, you're bringing tears to my eyes. And yes, I WOULD want to go back to those days, when it was a CRAFT! Just pick me up, and set me down somewhere in the middle of 1948!! I'll take it from there.

At my theater, we BUILD film using the MAKE-UP TABLE, but never say we MAKE UP a film, for some odd reason. At the end of its run, we BREAKDOWN film, but one of our managers (who came here from another theater) calls it TEARING DOWN.

My friend at another theater puts a trailer PACKAGE before the first reel of the feature, but I call it a trailer SET.

We sometimes say we THREAD a PROJECTOR, or LOAD a MACHINE, depending on the mood of the day, but I have never heard the term LACE before today.

Just last week, I called another theater of a different chain in our town, to find out when we could pick up a ROLL-OFF (used print) we were getting from them. I asked her when that movie DROPS (meaning: when does it finish playing); she kindly informed me that it “TAILED OUT” at 11:30 (I had never heard the term “tail out” before).

The film at our theater plays out of a CENTER-FEED MECHANISM, and NEVER out of a BRAIN. That is how I was trained (by a union projectionist), and we have carried on that tradition at our theater, but others in our chain use the “B” word. If, heaven forbid, we have a wrap, it’s called a CENTER-FEED WRAP.

Also, our concessions stand sells POP, not SODA, though I sometimes use another more vulgar term for it.

Chris

"Wow that is a pretty big tape in that camera" "Is that the sheet down there?"

I have used the term lace, thread and load depending on mood and sentence. As in, time to lace-up or load the projector or gotta go thread.

The first term I had for the payout device in a platter was "center-feed" and it has pretty much stuck and is popular in these parts. The other term used is "core" as in "core-wrap" Personally, I don't like the term "brains" for the device because it isn't really accurate but it is the most common I have heard on a nationwide basis. Platters don't have brains but operators/projectionists should.

Now that summer is upon us...here is a term that seems to have some varients as well...the process of running one film in two or more screens (platter operation)...

It was most commonly called Tandem in the DC area back when a twin was considered a multi-plex. Some like to call it "interlock" but that often referrs to running unmarried or "two-strip" prints. It also implies that the two machines have some form or mechanical or electrical connection so they are interlocked together (like a dubber with selsen or bi-phase encoder). The last term I have heard is "Sync".

I'm sure you all have heard others.

Steve

Out here in California - apparently what you call a ROLL-OFF print... we call a CICUITED print. And we're big fans of TAILING OUT as well. Although I'll usually just tell anybody who asks that the "SHOW IS OVER AT"

I've lately been driven nuts by the previous theatre manager's legacy of "LIFTING" movies from platter to platter. The rest of my projection staff "LIFTS" while I "SCOOP" or "MOVE" the print. Oddly enough they use "LIFTERS" to "LIFT" that print, while I use "CLAMPS"

when a film reaches its end, it is 'tailing out'

when a film has already tailed out and is inbetween shows but not threaded, it is 'dead'

I 'clamp and move' a print

I 'circuit' a print, sometimes on 'sixes', as the chain management won't allow circuiting a print 'on the ring' anymore

The trailers on a print are a 'trailer pack'

I 'build' and 'break' prints

I do cueing and trailer pack work 'on the [rewind] bench' rather than at the 'make-up table'

The units on the rewind bench are 'rewinds', the Goldberg device that looks like a camera magazine is a 'rewinder'

I 'thread' a projector or platter, and during my early years with platters, called the thing in the center the 'centerpiece' (christie's official name for it) but now always call it the 'brain' (less syllables than 'centerpiece' i figure)

The take-up controller on Norelco and Christie platters is a 'swing arm' and on Potts, Strong, and CFS platters, its a 'Dancer'...

i could go on.......

People often ask me if they can see the cameras, and I tell them we have none...and they say "Oh my god, how do you show the movie then"? And I say...Do you show a picture with your camera?...we use projectors!

We run reel to reel on 6000' reels with automated changeovers, therefore the only brain in our booth is mine (and that breaks down sometimes as well). Back when I had my apprenticeship...we ran the film on the picture sheet, but today it's on the screen. We would "warm" the procenium curtain with the built in floods on the balcony front. Those floods were referred to as curtain warmers. Also if the show concisted of all parts of the program...cartoon, newsreel, travelogue, short, trailer(s) and the Feature it was a Deluxe show, while some late afternoon shows skiped some of those elements and they were therefore Non-Deluxe shows. Or if there was a stage show with the film...that was a Deluxe show, while those without the live acts were Non-deluxe. Today we still use that term to designate the difference between weekday shows when only 2/3 of the houselights are used, and weekend and holiday shows when all stage and houselights are used. Every fixture is lit for every show, but on non-deluxe shows...only 2/3 of the circuits are turned on in most of the fixtures.