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Hey you guys the men we all talking about was great, but how many projectionist do you know that never saw a projector before can walk into a booth & run it....give up...the "Gremlins" (in the movie Gremlins) now they were just born & can walk into a booth & put on the movie Snow White & run it!

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Well, they're certainly more inately talented than my personal hero, the Swedish Chef, who must have had a print fall off his ORC platter in the original Muppet Movie, where we see him peek out of the port hole yelling "Da Flim is Okie-Dokie" before getting it up and running again .

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Cheers,
Peter, W2IRT

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Why are you nationally televised? I can't imagine there is a projectionist show? Does this involve some other activity in your life? Let me guess... you are a part time opera singer, no footballer, no, I give up. Wait, you're a lion tamer.

Monty Python mode.

Has he got a hat?

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Charles Beadow MBE is still an active member, now on the committee of the Projected Picture Trust. Charles was awarded an MBE some years ago, I spoke to him recently at the opening of the Enigma Cinema, Bletchley Park.

www.ppttrust.org

Peter Bayley MBE, chief projectionist at the Pheonix Cinema, East Finchley, was awarded an MBE for 43 years of loyal service.

In the days of B+W BBC television, Maurice Parkin, the chief projectionist at the Columbia Theatre, Shaftsbury Avenue, appeared in the intro titles of 'Film Night' almost weekly for years. Maurice was seen in the projection room with the Philips DP70 projectors.

I know Peter well, but I haven't seen him for a few months. In fact I haven't been to the Phoenix since it re-opened after the recent refurbishments, I live quite a long way away, and only tend to get there for special events. I will almost certainly be there for 'Open House' in September.

The last time I saw Peter was at the NFT, after Dion Hanson's 'Fantasic Formats' presentation. He was there with Lawrence Lewis and Ruth Mulandi. He told me about the award, but before I could ask him about it, or congratulate him, they had vanished. Do you know Peter? If you see him, give him my best wishes.

I corrected the spell checker as you were posting. I have also added something else on BBC tv.

I did freelance projection for nine months at the Rex / Phoenix, 30 years ago, but I haven’t seen Peter since. I know he does remember me by a letter he put in a recent PPT magazine. I will try and get to the ‘Open House’ you mentioned in September.

I met Peter through one of the relief projectionists at the Phoenix, about eight yeas ago now. I have never projected there, but have spent quite a lot of time in the box.

If you were there 30 years ago, they probably still had Kalee11s with Vulcan arcs, or possibly they had just put in the 21s with Magnarcs. These were later replaced by Westars, fitted with 6000 foot boxes, also with Magnarcs. By the time I knew the place, these had also been removed, and a single Kinoton FP20 installed. This ran with a Cinemeccanica tower until a few months ago, when it was replaced by a Westrex tower. They also have a 16mm Fumeo which is surprisingly bright for just a 900 Watt vertical lamp.

I expect you know about the auditorium being turned round in 1938. Some time in the '70s the rake of the floor was increased, and the inner foyer area enlarged, was this during your time? The recent changes were intended to improve the foyer area, and provide better disabled access. The auditorium still looks much as it would have done after the 1938 rebuilding.

A couple of years ago, stereo sound was installed, with a CP-65, still using the original exciter lamp, no red light conversion.

They usually do something special for Open House, last year they ran a tribute for the 80th anniversary of the composer Malcolm Arnold, where they showed, amongst other things, a print of the BP film 'Divertimento', which was from my colection. This used to be shown by the BBC as a trade test colour film.

If you are going to 'Open House', let me know nearer the time, and I will look out for you.

I am visible for several seconds in a snipet of video that is frequently used as a seque on "Ebert & Roeper", a movie review program. Me, one of my X-L's and a Blue Star anamorphic. But of the three only I had to sign the artist's release for Disney.

The stepped raked floor and extended foyer was just completed before my time at the cinema.

The projector heads were Gaumont Kalee 21s onto the original RCA 1041 soundheads with a mono solid state RCA amplifier. The carbon arcs were Peerless Magnarc. You could put on a very nice show with the perfect sightlines. There was also Projectomatic model ‘0’ which just did changeovers, but Peter would not use it.

About a month before I left, Granada Theatres purchased the freehold, booked and operated under their own management. They sold out about 12-18 months later to Charles Cooper’s Contemporary Films Limited, who were a leading 16 & 35mm distributor. They handled their own despatch and not through RFD (Rank). By strange coincidence I happened to be the person who helped Contemporary on a part time basis looking after most of the 35mm prints from the labs and condition wise before they went out to cinemas. It was Charles Cooper who changed the cinemas name from Rex to Phoenix. They also had other cinemas, - the Paris Pullman, Fulham, - Venus Cinema, Kentish Town, - Phoenix 1&2, Oxford.

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Bernard,

A few days ago I received the latest edition of 'Phoenicular', the programme leaflet/newsletter of the Pheonix Cinema. It contained the following anouncement:

"Open House
Touch and go, but at the last minute the London Borough of Barnet have decided to support this years event, and that means we’ll be throwing open our doors on Sunday 22 September. Full details in the next Phoenicular."

Thanks for posting. I will e-mail you if I can make it, I might however be in the States around that time.