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Author Topic: Who or what inspired you in this business Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-15-2005 11:53 PM                     John Pytlak *MIGHT* be the very reason I got into the movie theater business be way of a chance meeting at a drive-in theater. We've chatted briefly about this in the past but there's no real way to confirm or deny it. It makes a good story, though, even if it's not true! I was just a kid in grade school. My Mom and Dad used to have friends in NY state, just across the line from where I live. (Erie, PA.) They used to go to a drive-in movie and take us kids along. Us kids would spend a lot of time going to "buy popcorn" but *I* always found a way to detour by the projection booth. I remember getting shooed out of the projection booth a many theaters but there's one incident in particular that sticks in my mind. Most kids in the 70's would head for the playground at intermission time. Not me! I headed straight for the booth door. Well, one time, I got there at JUST the right time. The guy in the booth just happened to be in a good mood and the planets were aligned just right. He let me in to see the projectors! He showed me how to thread the projector and make a changeover. He gave me a clip of film and a stump of a carbon and sent me on my way. I got back to the car and I showed Mom and Dad my what I had got. My Dad grabbed me by the arm and dragged me back to the booth because he thought I stole them! I TRIED to tell him that the Projector Man gave them to me but he didn't believe me! When the booth guy said that he actually gave the stuff to me I was off the hook. I took that film and that piece of carbon home and it was my "treasure" for the longest time. I think I showed it to EVERYBODY for the rest of the summer! Subsequently, John and I were talking and he told me that he used to work that drive-in right about the same time frame. So, there is a distinct possibility that it was John who gave me my first lesson in the booth when I was about 7 or 8 years old! I still remember the movie. It had Warren Beaty and Goldie Hawn. I think the title was "Money" or something like that. It was the scene where Goldie Hawn pulled a huge wad of cash out of a duffel bag (or something) and was fanning it out and celebrating with it. It was only about 5 or 6 frames long. It might have been a clip out of an old trailer. Many of the details are sketchy but I remember that piece of film pretty well for it happening 30+ years ago! Like I said... There's virtually no way to prove it but it certainly makes a good story! If it really WAS you, Thanks John!  |  IP: Logged Darryl Spicer Film God Posts: 3250 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 03-16-2005 01:02 AM                    quote: Randy Stankey I think the title was "Money" or something like that. The film was called $Dollars$....... My Interests go back to 1976. That was when Mid-States theatres opened two locations here in town called the Northpark and Southpark Both locations featured four projectors located in the lobby. So while you are waiting to go into the movie you could stand there and watch the projectionist thread the shows and the movies run. When I became old enough to get a job or more so my dad said you need to get a job.... I applied at the Northpark in 1982 and worked there for about six months before they had a management change and the company decided to clean house. I was upset because of that and even refused to attend a movie at that theatre for about a year and a half. I then decided to lift the boycot and started attending shows at the theatre soon becoming a frequent as once or twice a week. After a while the manager at the time asked me if I would be interested in a job. I said sure. So for about a month I worked as usher and concession and a friend of mine was working the projection equipment at the time and he was showing me thing and teaching me threading and everything. After a month went by one of the projectionists just up and quit one day and I said I am ready give me the shift. That's when it all started running through the blood......  |  IP: Logged Kyle Caudill Film Handler Posts: 92 From: Wichita Falls, TX Registered: May 2002 posted 03-16-2005 02:07 AM                     Hey darryl...wanna move to ca??  |  IP: Logged Jared Foley Film Handler Posts: 22 From: Madison, IL, USA Registered: Feb 2005 posted 03-16-2005 05:29 AM                     My brother worked at a small two screen theatre in town about four or five years ago. I remember looking at the projector before it was threaded and trying to figure out how it worked... looked too confusing for me. Skip forward to just four months ago, and I was offered a job working with my cousin at a 6 screen in East Alton, IL. Right after I started, Management changed over, and the booth guy was shoved up to middle management, and I asked to be trained in booth. Since then I've read everything I can about the projectors I use, and even those that I don't. I seem to get made fun of when I talk about these things with co-workers, since it seems no one else there even has an interest in films, let alone an enthusiastic interest. Ah well... I love it and that's all that matters I guess.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-16-2005 08:16 AM                        As a kid growing up in the 1980s, I saw many films in my town's theatre (a single-screen 400-seater from the 1920s with curtains, great sound, and which was well managed and always impeccably clean; it closed around 1986/87). I always loved the experience there and, although I didn't know much about film presentation, I was always fascinated by how they were able to switch from one projector to the other during the movie without any noticeable disruption on screen. I was similarly fascinated by the 16mm projectors in school and I showed many bad educational movies on B&H auto-shredders. In high school, I became interested in film production and the technical side of things and made a couple of 16mm shorts. I became interested in things like optical film sound, lab procedures, and Dolby encoding as a result. In college, I fell in love with the local theatre (a 1930s single-screen house with 500 seats, curtains, eclectic programming, and a big screen). Eventually, I ended up working there as a projectionist after a management "changeover" (pardon the bad pun) where the new manager lost the former employees and was completely clueless about film in general. I already loved the films, and learned to love the equipment and the idea of putting on a perfect show every time. Since then, I've been unable to stay away from the exhibition business, and have done occasional part-time work in many projection booths running all formats (16/35/70mm), met many excellent operators, and generally had a good time. I have also acquired the contents of a booth (including a pair of Centurys--just like the ones I ran at that theatre near my college) and will be setting up an apartment screening room in the near future. I have a full-time "real job" which I also love, but I expect to be involved in exhibition in some limited way for years to come.  |  IP: Logged Darryl Spicer Film God Posts: 3250 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 03-16-2005 09:51 AM                    quote: Kyle Caudill Hey darryl...wanna move to ca?? No not really.......So when you gonna move back here?  |  IP: Logged Don Sneed Master Film Handler Posts: 451 From: Texas City, TX, USA Registered: Aug 2001 posted 03-16-2005 10:13 AM                        a 16mm Victor Sound Projector, when I was growing up, we did not have a TV, my dad had this machine with about (20) 1 hr. reels. movies & music film shorts such as MTV video music is today, only this was music from the 40's & early 50's....when I turned 17, I got a job as a union projectionist at a single screen theatre, the rest is history !!  |  IP: Logged Rachel Craven Madam Moderator Posts: 2190 From: Pensacola, FL Registered: Dec 2000 posted 03-16-2005 10:59 AM                     I started as a popcorn scooper when I was 13 and have made my way to supervisor, projectionist, asst. manager, and now GM. I did take a break for about a year but I missed it so I came back. I guess my first boss KIND OF inspired me to stay in the business. I liked the guy but he was the toughest man I ever worked for. After we cleaned theaters he would walk through with a flashlight and point out any kernals or skittles and make you pick them up. Take in mind, when he had the flashlight, no brooms were allowed. I'm still convinced he just did that to look at the girls butts but he made me want to be a manager just to have the control... MWAHAHAHAHA No really, I always thought there was another way to go about getting the same results as he did. I wanted to prove that the employees could work hard yet still have fun, I'm still working on that.  |  IP: Logged Kyle Caudill Film Handler Posts: 92 From: Wichita Falls, TX Registered: May 2002 posted 03-16-2005 01:50 PM                     quote: Darryl Spicer No not really.......So when you gonna move back here? When the time is right...right now its 80 and sunny, so the time is not right I got into the business when it was a summer job in a small time. You took the first job you found. Transferred to another theatre when I went to U of K. One thing led to another now i'm a GM. But Darryl did train me in booth when a spot opened up after an employee chased a customer out of the building with a broom.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-16-2005 02:30 PM                        quote: Rachel Gilardi After we cleaned theaters he would walk through with a flashlight and point out any kernals or skittles and make you pick them up. HAH! I thought I was the only person who did that with his staff. Sometimes they're amazed how much stuff can be found with the flashlight.  |  IP: Logged R. Andrew Diercks Expert Film Handler Posts: 232 From: Marion, Iowa (In the middle of everywhere) Registered: May 2003 posted 03-16-2005 04:13 PM                     I washed cars for a year before I worked at a theatre. Not enough hours after school to make anything and a good friend of mine worked at our local one screen theatre built in 1924. I begged the manager for a job several times and he reluctantly hired me. Apparently he did not like me then. I was hired as "strictly summer help". When August rolled around he stated that he was not letting me leave and the rest is history. He and I are great friends now and my friend that got me the job is also a GM for our company. I did go to college and try some other things, but the theatre kept dragging me back.  |  IP: Logged Dieter Depypere Master Film Handler Posts: 343 From: Deutsch-Wagram, Lower Austria, Austria Registered: May 2005 posted 05-30-2005 07:27 AM                     My father was projectionist - sometimes, as a little boy, I watched him at work in the booth... When I grew up, he taught me how to operate the booth properly. At the age of 12 or 14 (dunno exactly) I was able to run the show on my own. Due to school (higher technical college) I hadn't had the chance to be projectionist for about 8 years. Last year in summer I was free so I went back. Quite an addictive job Once you have learned it, you'll never forget it. I am looking forward to the mid of June when there are new shows to come up!  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 05-30-2005 08:13 AM                     My mentor was Sid O'Berry, the first TV cameraman at WSM TV in Nashville TN. When I met him, he was working as the film director of an independent TV station in Nashville in 1976 that was about to go on the air. He said he saw something in me that made him want to show me the right way to do things with film inspection. Sid had 40+ years handling film. His father owned a theatre in Ellenton, SC back in the 1930's before the town was bought up by the Aiken SC nuclear plant site. Sid was the projectionist there. Sid got me started at the drive-in in Nashville, too. Showed me the ropes of changeovers, then went outside and watched the movie with his wife Frieda while I handled the show. I loved the work. Stayed in the 16mm world, mainly, until 1999. Now its 35mm all the way. Sid passed away in 1990 after a long bout with lung cancer. I'll never forget him, his still picture work, his scrapbooks of thousands of famous country music people pictures that he took while at WSM. I carry on his legacy. It's a big load to carry.  |  IP: Logged Dennis Udovich Film Handler Posts: 71 From: Sheboygan, WI, USA Registered: Dec 2001 posted 05-30-2005 08:26 PM                        I grew up in the business. My dad was a union projectionist working at different indoor single screens and an outdoor theatre in Sheboygan. So I always got to see free movies. In my younger years, in the summer, my dad took my brother, sister and I along to the drive-in for a tripe feature on the weekend. I'd also tag along in the morning when he would go to repair broken and ripped out speakers. I knew I wanted to be in the business. With television killing the movie business in the 50's, my dad always told me to stay out. He said, "It's a dying business." Well, the more he wanted me to stay out of it, the more I wanted to be in it. I applied for an usher job while in high school at the downtown theatre. My dad told the manager not to hire me. Since I had a motorcycle, I would go to the drive-in most every night. (Hey I got in free, my dad worked their.) I think the manager got sick of me hanging around, he offered me a job. So I worked in the concession stand selling popcorn and hot dogs. Once the late show started and the concession stand closed, I'd hang in the booth with the "other" projectionists when my dad wasn't working. They all knew me and soon started to show me how to run the projectors. The day (night) came when I approached Dad that I knew how to run the show. At that point he never had a problem with me being in the business. I think he was proud. The next four years I was in the Army during Viet Nam as a post commander's clerk. Oh Ya, I ran the military theatre too. Never been out of the business.  |  IP: Logged Jeremy Fuentes Mmmm, Dr. Pepper! Posts: 1168 From: Corpus Christi, TX United States Registered: Jan 2004 posted 05-31-2005 10:46 AM                     My inspiration was mainly the girls that worked at and went to the movies.  |  IP: Logged

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