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Topic: Pictures of the Booth at the Hiway Theater - Chicago (demolished)

Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-15-2007 02:06 PM

quote: Stephen Furley
Are you saying that you only get used prints once in two years, or that you get lots of used prints, but only a few of them are damaged?

The latter. We play about 12 to 15 movies a year on the break, and the rest are used prints, but we play as close to break as possible so most of our used prints have only been in one other booth before ours.

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Stephen Furley
Film God

Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002

posted 10-15-2007 02:08 PM

I've seen a tower with dual-gauge spindles, and another where one of the four spindles on a double-sided tower had been replaced by a dual-gauge one, but neither cinema ran 70mm, and I've never seen a 70mm tower spool, or met anybody who claimed to have used them. Did they really exist? I can't imagine that one person could possibly lift one of those safely on their own. I can lift a slightly overfilled 35mm spool onto a tower on my own, but that's about as heavy as I'd want to go. I haven't run a tower for years, and I'd much rather work with smaller spools.

quote: Mike Blakesley
The latter. We play about 12 to 15 movies a year on the break, and the rest are used prints, but we play as close to break as possible so most of our used prints have only been in one other booth before ours.

I'd say maybe one in ten has some sort of significant damage; rather more if you count dirty reel ends. Some are prints that have only been to one or two previous venues, others are decades old.

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 10-15-2007 02:15 PM

I've seen a house that had hydraulic hoists for those big 13k, 70mm reels to huck them up on that upper spindle.

..like the hoists to scoop IMAX prints from their respective platters ...esp the huge DMR prints...like 'dang' that's 800 lbs of film to move around..

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Rick Raskin
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1100
From: Manassas Virginia
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 10-15-2007 02:44 PM

I was there in the good old days. Carbons were dirty and film was too often oily. Some booths had to be accessed through a trap door and ladder while others were add-ons to old vaudeville houses that sometimes had fire escape type entrances. Equipment often dated from the silent era but for the most part was well maintained. As stated earlier, changeovers were the easy part. Smoothly starting and stopping a show with curtains, footlights and houselights was the real test of showmanship. Most operators back then also could do spot repairs to keep the show running. However, we did have our fair share of bozos. One of the old old-timers cautioned me not to get trapped in the business.

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-15-2007 03:01 PM

Rick,

The reply that I often heard was "cleaning the projector is not part of the contract". Its these pathetic souls that ruin it for those that do a good job.

quote: Stephen Furley
I think that what I said still stands; the fact that somebody was 12 wouldn't stop them from being able to be a good projectionist, other than possibly the heavy lifting, depending on the equipment they were using.

Stephen,

That wasn't my point. I guess you had to have worked with all the schmucks I had to some years ago to understand where I am comming from.

Mark

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Edward Jurich
Master Film Handler

Posts: 305
From: Las Vegas USA
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 10-15-2007 04:19 PM

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
I guess you had to have worked with all the schmucks I had to some years ago to understand where I am comming from.

I understand where you are coming from. Although most all the union operators I knew in Chicago did an excellent job, there was one that was a total f#&% up. I mean picture out of focus, missed cues, sleeping during reels and reels running out. But the union protected him regardless how much the theater complained. There was one time he almost got fired. He decided the rollers on the sprockets should ride on the film and spin so he took pliers and forced the adjustment screws for all the sprocket rollers. He completely stripped a brand new print on the first run and the theater had to pay for the print. The union had him take a vacation but he was back a few weeks later. But other that that he was a really nice guy, just a lousy operator.

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Rick Raskin
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1100
From: Manassas Virginia
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 10-15-2007 04:33 PM

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
"cleaning the projector is not part of the contract"

You can bet I followed behind some of those guys. One in particular would leave dirty machines and carbon stubs long enough to run two reels. But his shows always looked good. One thing for sure, he never ran out of trim.

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Mark Lensenmayer
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1605
From: Upper Arlington, OH
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 10-15-2007 08:31 PM

Some of the 3-strip Cinerama locations used a small elevator to lift the large 35mm reels. You can see it about 1/3 of the way down this page from Roland Lataille's Cinerama Site about the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco.

In tracking this down, I also came across the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Cinerama Location . There is a picture about 1/3 down the page of quite a suspicious gentleman! (He's the second guy from the left.)

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 10-15-2007 08:45 PM

quote: Rick Raskin
Some booths had to be accessed through a trap door and ladder while others were add-ons to old vaudeville houses that sometimes had fire escape type entrances

...were some of these booths equipped with Carbon TET extingusher bottles held in a device that had a spring loaded hammer that was held in place by a spot of lead, so if there was a fire, the lead melted freeing the hammer that would bust the TET filled bottles to smother out the flames, (or rid the booth of oxygen..lol) if needed?

One booth that I worked in had these, plus the firetrap doors on the portholes . The Carbon TET devices finally came out in late 1972..

-Monte

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

Posts: 9532
From: Toronto Ontario Canada
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-15-2007 09:10 PM

Quote Mark "In tracking this down, I also came across the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Cinerama Location . There is a picture about 1/3 down the page of quite a suspicious gentleman! (He's the second guy from the left."
can't be the same person he isn't holding a martini glass [Smile]

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