my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » Union Projectionists (Page 3)

This topic comprises 40 pages: 1  2  3  4  5  6  ...  38  39  40

Author Topic: Union Projectionists Darryl Spicer Film God Posts: 3250 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 10-30-2003 10:00 AM                    was there a mob connection there. Man that's a lot for pay but I guess in a high cost of living that is sufficiant.  |  IP: Logged Bill Gabel Film God Posts: 3873 From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 10-30-2003 10:36 AM                     It's true that during the golden years of the unions in the big cities. The big theatres had to employ 2 operators. In Los Angeles the union contract at one time had a provision that stated you had to employ 2 operators if the theatre seated over 1000 seats. The big Roadshow theatres during the 50s and 60s had to have two operators and you got a better rate of pay ($50.00 a show). And during special studio preview screenings the contract had three projectionists for just one screening. One to run picture and one to handle the track and one to handle the fader in the theatre. The one running picture got 2 calls or what would amount to 16 hours at studio rate and the other two operators got each 1 call or 8 hours at studio rate. So the operator from the theatre would call the local to arange for two other operators for the screening. So the Business Agent would get two people (that most times were only useful in getting coffee and coming back with the fader cable all tangled with gaffers tape). So over time the operator at the theatre would call other operators that could do the job right. Because sometimes the studio would make a about the person working the call. I work in Manhattan and pay $1750 for a nice one bedroom apartment in Midtown Theatre District.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-30-2003 12:17 PM                     In Ontario all theatres over 1000 seats were required bt law to have 2 operators present in the booth up until 1958 After that until 1987 any screen showing film larger than 35mm had to have 2 operators in that screen Until the current crop of bean counters the standard booth rate for the circuits was typically very similar to any machine operator rate for the night shifts  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 10-31-2003 10:23 PM                       The two-men-per-booth arrangement started in the nitrate days - for safety reasons (or, so it was reasoned).  |  IP: Logged Edward Jurich Master Film Handler Posts: 305 From: Las Vegas USA Registered: Jul 2003 posted 10-31-2003 11:08 PM                     There was a theater in Chicago I was told that removed all the balcony seats so they could get by with 1 operator. That was back around the mid 60's.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-01-2003 05:09 AM                     Several odd Chicago "Booth Stories"............. One theatre in Chicago(near the old Playboy Theatre) that had two operators up until the late 70's, and a pair of JJ's had a line painted down the back wall across the floor and up the front wall between the two machines. Seems the two operators had fueded for years and this was the way they settled matters and were able to keep quiet. Neither crossed the line into the others "booth territory". Another famous 70MM Chicago booth was manned by a guy with the last name of Solor. So it was known as the "Solor Cell". That booth was painted all black inside. A booth in a predominatley Jewish Community north of Chicago briefly had an operator that dressed up in womans clothes while operating the "Moving Picture Machines". Although I never saw this guy, the long time theatres manager and several other repair technicians that told me of about this were quite credible people. There was a one armed man that was sent to run a 70mm system that consisted of a JJ and AW-3. He repeatedly threaded the film reversed in the projector. Don't know if the arm he lost was his "normally used arm" but no matter what the film was threaded reversed through the machine. I felt really sorry for this guy when he was transfered back to another 35mm loation because he was a really nice guy. Edward J., I once serviced that theatre with no balcony seats. They also later on in the late 80's had to remove many of the seats on the main floor to get around some sort of new fire codes. It was a huge old 2nd run barn on the south side that probably had close to 2K seats and it wassized down to about 1200. There was probably about 25 rows of seats taken out in front of the auditorium. The theatres manager had to stand guard on my van when I did calls there. Mark  |  IP: Logged Ken Lackner Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1907 From: Atlanta, GA, USA Registered: Sep 2001 posted 11-02-2003 01:22 AM                     quote: I was at a United Artist and asked a manager about it. He said they started at $27.00 per hour, and you needed to take a test in order to become one. Does anyone know if these even could be true given that UA is now part of Regal and Regal does not use unions? Are there any special circumstances that were in place with UA that Regal left in place when they took over?  |  IP: Logged Nathan Guerriero Film Handler Posts: 43 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 11-02-2003 03:05 AM                     Mark- What was the name of the theatre with the boundary line between the JJs?  |  IP: Logged Bernie Anderson Jr Master Film Handler Posts: 435 From: Woodbridge, New Jersey Registered: Apr 2000 posted 11-02-2003 10:20 AM                        Hey John, I'm actually in your area. I started working in Movie City 5 in East Brunswick and at the time Brunswick Square opened as a 5 plex back in 1994 (I was one of the last operators to run that as a twin with 2 projector changeovers) I worked for the Grants from 1993 to the end of 1994 non union for $7 an hour. I got out of it for awhile after that and then I got a call from a friend of mine who was in the Union 534 saying that the Cranford (cineplex odeon) needed a back up guy. Now I was non union working under a union contract getting paid what the union got paid, which for that twin was $11 an hour. After awhile I got work at Rialto, Westfield, NJ and I decided to join for reasons I don't want to go into now. When I got to Rialto the rate was $12.50 an hour with a 4 hour min. Now the Union has some benifits depending on your local and how strong and respected they are. 534 is neither. So when we go up to renegotiate the contract it seems we loose a little everytime for the sake of keeping the theatre. In the day, General Cinema was the best to work for. They wanted us and I can tell you in this area, GCC had the best presentation out of all the theatres. As time went on GCC changed people in the office and it was harder for us to maintain work with them. Bridgewater is one such theatre that we had full booth 13 years ago up until the mid to late 90's. Our hours went down to 40, then 30, then 20, now where're at 6 hours min. which we can work up to 40 with the management's approval. I can tell you how many times that has happened. Also, we were at $15.35 and we dropped to $13.35. Needless to say I'm not at that theatre out of prinicipal. Same job less money? And it's the Local's feeling that we should be happy with what we have. Which is crap and is not what a union is about. I ended up at Loew's New Brunswick, which we're on borrowed time too, but I feel we're only there because the manager wants us there. And he has enough pull to do it. That theatre is $16 and we have a max of 30 hours. Now here's an interesting thing. The rest of the time the supervisors from the floor run the booth. And I have to say that they're pretty decent. They get lazy and have bad habits at times but overal are good and open to suggestions on how to do it from us. But it a Loew's policy that the Supervisors can't work more that 50% of their schedule in the booth. It's like that so they can't claim that it's the only job they do. This way they can't unionize. Very smart. The biggest problem with most of the theatres is that it's all about money. The Loews to me is a fast food restuarant which so happens to have a movie playing in it. They rather have a show go down with a $7 an hour person, give passes out then to have us at a higher rate and not have a show go down. The idea is that if you give a pass that person is gonna come back to use it and possibly buy more from the stand. It's all about the theatres and studios trying to screw each other as cheaply as possible. If you ever want to come by email me and we'll talk. I'm only there a couple of days and they change sometimes. Bernie  |  IP: Logged Edward Jurich Master Film Handler Posts: 305 From: Las Vegas USA Registered: Jul 2003 posted 11-02-2003 10:39 AM                     --------------------------------------------- One theatre in Chicago(near the old Playboy Theatre) that had two operators up until the late 70's, and a pair of JJ's had a line painted down the back wall across the floor and up the front wall between the two machines. Seems the two operators had fueded for years and this was the way they settled matters and were able to keep quiet. Neither crossed the line into the others "booth territory". ---------------------------------------------- The Esquire was a couple blocks from the Playboy, so was another one called I think the Carnegie. ----------------------------------------------- Edward J., I once serviced that theatre with no balcony seats. They also later on in the late 80's had to remove many of the seats on the main floor to get around some sort of new fire codes. It was a huge old 2nd run barn on the south side that probably had close to 2K seats and it wassized down to about 1200. There was probably about 25 rows of seats taken out in front of the auditorium. The theatres manager had to stand guard on my van when I did calls there. ------------------------------------------------ I'm trying to imagine which theater that was. I grew up on the southwest side. Theaters in my neighborhood were the Colony, Marquete and Hiway. The Avalon was a huge house in a not so good area. Another was the Metropolitan that you got to the booth through a door in the auditorium wall, sort of like a secret panel. The Capital was another huge theater in a not so good south side area. I worked as an usher in the 60's (back when ushers actually took people to seats) and got to know several operators. A couple operators let me run the show, a thrill for me then a teenager. One operator was Holmes, the son of the Holmes who made projectors.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-02-2003 11:35 AM                     Thanks Edward, It was the Carnegie. As for the theatre on the south side...it was none of those. I'll have to go back and look for old invoices or something. I think it was also a Kohlberg house as well at some point in its illustrious career. But my service calls there were way after that era. I am pretty sure it was just a block or two off the Dan Ryan E.W. and few miles further east of the exit you'd take for going to Midway Airport. It had a Brenkert booth and the Western Electric Rack was still sitting at the rear of the booth. The old W.E. snail horn booth monitor was still being used at the time I was there servicing. Mark  |  IP: Logged Edward Jurich Master Film Handler Posts: 305 From: Las Vegas USA Registered: Jul 2003 posted 11-02-2003 04:42 PM                     ------------------------------------------- The old W.E. snail horn booth monitor was still being used at the time I was there servicing. ------------------------------------------- The Beverly had a horn booth monitor, I remember that from a visit to the booth. I didn't think it was the Beverly because the Beverly was in a fairly decent area, at least in the 60's. The booth at the Beverly stuck out of the building high up in the air at the back of the building. Story I was told was that the designer forgot to include a projection booth in the original blue prints, the booth was added after the auditorium was constructed. I don't know if this is a true story. edit... While at work, I remembered that it might actually be the Rhodes that had the horn monitor. By the way, my picture was taken in the booth of the Hiway Theater on south Western Ave. It was part of a small chain owned by the Sterns. I've uploaded the original picture, note the gag sign just right of my head. Also, the cabinet just right of me with the reels stacked was originally used to store the sound disks when sound was on records. [ 11-03-2003, 05:29 PM: Message edited by: Edward Jurich ]  |  IP: Logged Bob Koch Expert Film Handler Posts: 183 From: williams ca Registered: Nov 2001 posted 11-02-2003 11:18 PM                     Boys please; this is not a "snail horn", it is an exponential trumpet driven by a 555 loudspeaking telephone  |  IP: Logged Jeffry L. Johnson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 809 From: Cleveland, Ohio, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 11-04-2003 02:34 PM                        quote: Does anyone know if these even could be true given that UA is now part of Regal and Regal does not use unions? Regal currently has collective bargaining agreements in some IATSE jurisdictions. They are not totally non-union.  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 11-07-2003 03:32 PM                    November 7, 2003 Nine Are Charged in Wave of Cinema Arsons By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 3:12 p.m. ET CHICAGO (AP) -- Seven members of a movie projectionists union and two associates have been charged in a wave of fires and assaults at movie theaters in 10 states, federal prosecutors said Friday. Prosecutors said the crimes were intended to scare officials of three theater chains into giving in during contract disputes. In some cases, theater managers were beaten -- with a pipe in one case, with a bat in another. The crimes took place from New York to Texas, and fires were started with moviegoers in the theaters, forcing mass evacuations, according to the indictment. Four defendants -- including Albin C. Brenkus, 48, business manager of Chicago-based Local 110 of the movie projectionists union -- were arrested early Friday by federal agents. A woman who answered the telephone at Local 110 in Chicago said there was no one on hand to respond to questions about the charges. Brenkus was also charged with obstruction of justice. He allegedly told another suspect that if subpoenaed by a grand jury, he should say "he don't know nobody" and "don't know nothing." The 20 arson incidents and assaults outlined in the indictment occurred at theaters owned by AMC Entertainment of Kansas City, Cinemark U.S.A. of Plano, Texas, and Loews Cineplex Entertainment of New York. Seven attacks were in Illinois, with others in Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas and Wisconsin. The suspects were described as members or prospective members of the Motion Picture Projectionists, Operators and Video Technician Local 110 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees of the United States and Canada. The union has an image, acquired decades ago, of corruption and alleged mob links. In the early 1980s, the Chicago Crime Commission said at least 24 relatives of "reputed hoodlums" held ghost jobs with the union. Source  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 40 pages: 1  2  3  4  5  6  ...  38  39  40

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.