It was late and I hate to give up.

I hear ya! Just last week I had a Super 80 door come down on my head while installing it... Had just finished the static (string and weight) alignment so I tightened the bolts, then made the mistake of giving the thing a quick shake to see if it was solid..... CRASH! Ouch.... Had a headache for the better part of the day.

Another around the same time; during a commercial break there was a slide ad with a 10sec spot, when it came up on air I realised I put the slide in the carriage back to front, not to worry I'll just hit the switch which will reverse the slide, wrong! In my haste to throw the switch I hit the wrong one, this one turned the slide upside down so now I had a slide upside down and back to front!, with 5sec to go I just left it , I didn't wont to risk anything else going wrong. That last 5sec felt like 5mins.

And yet another; I suppose I could blame my wife for this one, she wont be reading this thread……..A few years back when I returned to the bio (booth) I headed off to night shift with my dinner in hand which my lovely wife prepared. I see its in one of those aluminium containers with a lid like you see in takeaway stores. I think great hot food so around 6pm I stick the tray in the oven to heat up to have around 6:45 when the features have started. I get a bit delayed so I didn't grab dinner out of the oven till after 7, I get the tray out , sit down with knife & fork in hand, take the lid off……..oh no!! it’s a salad!!!!!!!! I was hungry that night so I still polished it off, the lettuce wasn't to good, it's surprising how much water comes out of them when their cooked!.

And still another; getting out of bed on a cold wet winter morning absolutely dog tired trudging down to the bus stop for a 25klm ride to work in peak hour traffic, get into work and see the other projectionist walk in the same time as you and say, Gordon what are you doing here your on tonight!, so you get back on the bus and head of again to go through the whole thing again in 6 hours….now that sucks!!.
Back in 73 I also worked in the telecine dept of TV, one Sunday after the midday movie got under way I was sitting back at my control desk like thousands of viewers, having lunch and enjoying the movie.
At the end of one of the commercial breaks I get a call on the intercom from the master controller asking where the second reel of the movie is as nothing is coming up on the preview screen. I spin around to check the other 16mm projector and there's nothing loaded up, the second spool was still in the trolley. Up comes the "stay tuned" caption while I do a quick thread…….most embarrassing!.

Another around the same time; during a commercial break there was a slide ad with a 10sec spot, when it came up on air I realised I put the slide in the carriage back to front, not to worry I'll just hit the switch which will reverse the slide, wrong! In my haste to throw the switch I hit the wrong one, this one turned the slide upside down so now I had a slide upside down and back to front!, with 5sec to go I just left it , I didn't wont to risk anything else going wrong. That last 5sec felt like 5mins.

And yet another; I suppose I could blame my wife for this one, she wont be reading this thread……..A few years back when I returned to the bio (booth) I headed off to night shift with my dinner in hand which my lovely wife prepared. I see its in one of those aluminium containers with a lid like you see in takeaway stores. I think great hot food so around 6pm I stick the tray in the oven to heat up to have around 6:45 when the features have started. I get a bit delayed so I didn't grab dinner out of the oven till after 7, I get the tray out , sit down with knife & fork in hand, take the lid off……..oh no!! it’s a salad!!!!!!!! I was hungry that night so I still polished it off, the lettuce wasn't to good, it's surprising how much water comes out of them when their cooked!.

This was in a single screen cinema that used two projectors and changeovers - we made up one reel of commercials and trailers that would often be shown before several features.

On this occasion, all but one of the trailers were U-certificate (OK to show to kids). The CRASH trailer (18-cert) was right at the end, so that when the reel was being shown in a lower-cert programme, we'd changeover from it at the end of the penultimate trailer, and let the reel run out with the douser closed.

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"We're in real trouble, can ya help us?" he asked. Turned out the guy who was supposed to work the Odeon, Oshawa that night, phoned at the last minute to say he couldn't make it. As I was only half an hour away from the theatre, I vounteered to fill the shift.

It was a piece of cake, two Century projectors, Eprad OS-1 Mono sound system, Peerless Magnarc carbon arcs, twenty minute reels, and a five-reeler called "Young Guns" with a trailer package on the first reel.

As this was basically the same equipment I had worked with years earlier, in Cobourg, Ontario, I figured I might enjoy this trip down memory lane.

The evening was boringly blissful until the last change-over. At the point of change-over, all I saw was a black screen. A lightning quick check, arc on, dowser open, and, looking in the spot-sight box, the change-over blade was still closed. I reached behind the Essanay change-over mechanism to pull the rod so that the change-over blade opened. It was already in the open position. I realized that the blade had become separated from the wire that connected it to the change-over solenoid.

Working at light-speed, I killed the arc, whipped open the arc-lamp door and reached into the back of the projector to lift the blade.

It was at this point that I realized, too late, the wisdom of shutting off the projector motor BEFORE reaching into the back of a Century CC (double-shutter) projector, and attempting to lift the change-over blade.

Realizing that I would now need my tool-box (from my car, parked out front of the theatre), I quickly wrapped my bleeding fingers in brown paper and headed out to my car to grab my tool-box (passing the manager, chatting to one of his staff). Noticing the blood-stained paper towel over my left hand, he casually inquired.
"Everything ok?"

"Just fine" I muttered without stopping.

More serious mistake: Many years later, now having my own place - believing an equipment dealer, telling me, that i'd be a fool installing those two Bauer B11's, i've bought for reserve, because it would be impossible to get spares for them. -He sold me a Vic 9 instead YAK !

-And Kinoton, Münich shows up to have all the bits You need for B11. OK, Miss Victoria has been rockin' and rollin' now for 4 years without making the big trouble, but a mistake it was....

I knew a guy once who (while the projector was running) saw some dirt on the trap and decided to poke at it with an allen wrench. Not a good idea. He dropped the allen into the running projector and tore the crap out of it.

Other than a finger or two cought in fast spinning 6000' reels or hitting my head on equiptment or electricuting myself, I have been pretty lucky compared to some of you guys. Then again, I am still fairly new (5 years).

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It had ran the Thursday and Friday nights this way and was corrected in time for the Saturday night session.

Also had a print slide off the side of the platter one night around about 20 minutes from the end of the show. It took me only 20 minutes to get it back onto the platter to enable me to finish the performance. The biggest problem was that the bio box had an observation window for the patrons to have a look at the projection equipment and there was quite an audience at that window while I was picking up the film.

And the only reason that projectionists put the film in the projector the wrong way and have the sound-track appear on the screen is so that the hearing impaired are able to read the sound. I use this when the trainee stuffs up once again.

Regards to all.

The weather in Townsville is magnificent.

The WORST mess you have EVER seen. How long did it take to fix? From about 2:00 to 2:30.
Oh wait, that's PM to AM!

I know it's hard to take responsibility, but I do hope that you informed the exchange and distributor that the print had spilled, and needed to be cleaned/rewashed before the next booking. Otherwise, the next theatre would have a real mess on their hands with a dirty print full of splices.

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com

I don't know which is worse, the fact that *I* did it, or the fact that no-one else noticed.....

PS.. the great thing about being a 16 plex first run --- receiving used prints is a rarity!