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Author Topic: Keeping riff raff out of the projection room Marcel Birgelen Film God Posts: 3357 From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 04-14-2017 03:48 PM                     quote: Mitchell Dvoskin Easy solution. It is not a projection room, it is your computer server room, which certainly can be kept locked. But first be certain there aren't any stricter rules regarding "server rooms" in the local building code. quote: Scott Norwood 520 CMR 3.00, which specifies that projection booth doors may not be locked in Massachusetts when the auditorium is occupied by the public. So, when there are no people in the auditorium, it doesn't matter that the projectionist burns?  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 04-14-2017 04:14 PM                        The smell won't bother anyone then.  |  IP: Logged Manny Montes Master Film Handler Posts: 270 From: United States Registered: Feb 2010 posted 04-14-2017 07:46 PM                     I'd never leave the booth door unlocked, just buy one of these and call it a day http://www.homedepot.com/s/keypad%2520door%2520lock?NCNI-5  |  IP: Logged David Buckley Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 525 From: Oxford, N. Canterbury, New Zealand Registered: Aug 2004 posted 04-16-2017 03:58 PM                        You could do what they do in mental institutions to have the doors unlocked but to stop the inmates wandering through them; just a standard door handle, of the lever type, not a knob, but put the latch in the wrong way round, so instead of pushing the handle down as we all know to do, one has to lift the lever to open the door.....  |  IP: Logged James Westbrook Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1133 From: Lubbock, Texas, Usa Registered: Mar 2006 posted 04-17-2017 04:03 PM                     That is how I got out. I lifted the lever up and the door opened.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 04-17-2017 06:28 PM                        In each of the booths that I've worked, which I admit is not more than a half dozen, most in NY, some in TX, one in CT and one in MA, the booth doors were always locked from the inside even though, just like MA, NY regs specified that the booth door should remain unlocked when the theatre is opened to the public. Fact is, security seems to trump the regulations in every case. Who is going to risk the havoc teenage gremlins can reign down on a cinema if they were to get into a multiplex booth while a show was running and a dozen platters spinning, film crisscrossing everywhere? Even if inspectors would site a theatre for such a minor violation, the cost of the fine would certainly be well worth keeping the doors locked given what damage miscreants could do in booth even in as little as 10 minutes. In our big theatre, there is a corridor leading to the control rooms that we keep locked from the inside at all times. It has a crashbar so you can get out with no key, but not in. Theoretically the booth doors themselves could be kept unlocked because the public can't access the control room corridor but no matter, we still keep those control booths -- lighting, sound and projection -- locked while the shows are running in order to protect our techs from the hordes. Safety of our crew is a primary concern -- not so much when we are running movies, but rock and roll shows...[i]championship boxing matches[/i}! You don't want the public getting access to those isolated booths at any time. Massachusetts regs didn't seem to be followed there either. Thing is, I recalled reading in the NYC regulations manual years ago, there was an explanation as to the reason the booth door was to be kept unlocked, and it had nothing to do with concern for the safety of the projectionist. The reg went on to say that the booth was to always be available to inspectors from the licensing agency -- then it was the Bureau of Gas and Electricity or NYC Fire inspectors who also did inspections. It went on further to say that (paraphrasing) "there shall be no mechanical or electrical device installed in the Box Office, Manager's Office or elsewhere in the theatre that could be used to signal the booth of the presence of a City Inspector on the premises." Seems like managers would warn operators that an inspector was about to visit, I imagine so an errant operator would get rid of evidence of violations, maybe like cigarette butts or the like? Maybe MA's reg was similarly motivated. So I guess having a telephone or intercom in the both was also a violation?! Silly bureaucrats.  |  IP: Logged Donald Brown Expert Film Handler Posts: 131 From: Lincoln, DE Registered: Sep 2009 posted 04-17-2017 07:53 PM                     I will never forget one particular night at Massachusetts infamous Motor-In Theatre in Sutton. I was operating the booth, which was one door forward of the ladies rest room. The projection booth at the Motor-In had a pair of Brenkert Enarc lamps and two Brenkert 80s mounted above RCA 9030s. The door was open, and I was inside. After leaving the rest room, a lady entered the booth. She attempted to explain that a toilet in one of the stalls was blocked and that she had loosened things up by hand! As she motioned with a clearly wet hand, I backed up further into the room desperately trying to avoid contact! During its renaissance in the late '80s, the Motor-In had a reputation for attracting a rather coarse crowd!  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-17-2017 10:18 PM                        The DI outside of College Park, MD (I think the Greenbelt, but some of the DC guys can correct me) was an 1930's DI that had become hardcore porn by the 70's. The manager's office and the projection booth shared the same space. The DI used to hire biker types as lot boys, and would bring people who snuck onto the lot into the office to either beat the crap at of them or at least threaten to. One night, they left someone in there for an unknown reason and the guy picked up a reel and smashed the projectionist over the head and escaped (not like the projectionist was going to do anything to stop him). The projectionist got several stitches. The rest of us were not too happy to be working there after that.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 04-18-2017 08:09 AM                     While, I cannot confirm the story, the closest drive in to College Park would have been the Beltsville Drive-In (where the Costco is now).  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-18-2017 09:58 AM                        Yup, the Beltsville. Beltsville DI Looks like I had the opening date era wrong, though in my defense, that's what the people there told me when I worked it. Can't remember the projectionist who got attacked last name, first name was Ed.  |  IP: Logged

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