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"The Projectionist"

Lee Tucker does his best work in the dark for the likes of U and the Hollywood Bowl

Because studios occasionally decide to hold major premieres at backwater theaters using a makeshift assortment of geriatric gear, the very best projectionists are master troubleshooters, drawing on an arcane assortment of engineering tricks and archaic knowledge.

And the best of the best--the one guy who's never lost a show--well, that would be Lee Tucker.

Tucker was not always the perfect projectionist. He started out making ends meet as a dockworker in Wilmington, Calif. At around age 25, he called his grandfather, George Flaherty, who was the first VP at IATSE, the guild that encompasses everything from projectionists to stage hands. His grandfather got Tucker in at Technicolor. "I learned processing during the day and came in at night for projecting," he recalls.

Eventually he landed at Goldwyn Studios, where he stayed for 35 years, working his way up to chief projectionist. During his off hours, he became one of a few technicians on the Bel-Air circuit, where he showed films to everyone from Ronald Reagan to Audrey Hepburn to Barry White.

It was at White's house that he met Michael Jackson. He ended up helping him build his dream house theater at Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara. "I was working in Hollywood and heading up to Neverland so frequently that I got my helicopter pilot's license so that I could fly back and forth," he says.

If his reputation was solid before the Neverland theater, afterwards, many of the industry's most notoriously picky auteurs wouldn't open a movie unless Tucker was running the camera. And it's still that way.

"He's the best," says U's Greg McRitchie. "We use him for premieres all over the country, in lots of theaters where stuff can go wrong. He's a real MacGyver; no matter what the problem is, he can fix it."

And because of this, even at 68, Tucker still works nearly every day of the week and on most weekends.

"I don't drink, I don't do drugs; this is my rush," he says. "There's so much adrenaline that comes from running film for a big opening or the Hollywood Bowl or even in somebody's house. How could I ever give that up?"--Steven Kotler

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If his reputation was solid before the Neverland theater, afterwards, many of the industry's most notoriously picky auteurs wouldn't open a movie unless Tucker was running the camera.

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Now THAT's a real McGyver -- gerry-rigging a camera to project film at an opening.

The guy never NEVER lost a show? You think that might be an overstatement?

Still, a nice piece for a dying craft. Sad thing is, he's replaced by automation as happens in lots and lots of professions. There is no such thing nowadays as a projectionist as was Mr. Tucker; now only there are only technicians -- those who know how to maintain and program the equipment. And of course, there are the splicing jockys.
 

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Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 12-12-2004, 04:45 PM:
 
Blah blah blah...I'm still the only nationally televised projectionist...so there.
 

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Posted by Jon Miller (Member # 163) on 12-12-2004, 04:58 PM:
 
"...Tucker running the camera"?

Where are those "notoriously picky auteurs" when you need them?
 

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Posted by Matt Manalis (Member # 2367) on 12-13-2004, 01:48 AM:
 
hi guys, someone said on here that there arn't any projectionist left, i know my grandfather put his first show on at the age of 9 and still works up to this day as a projectionist at the age of 73. he worked 7 days a week till july this year in a non automated and non plater operating box. he has taught me everything i know and i am 16 and learnt at 12 and now operate in that same operating box 7 days a week we only changed over to xenons 3 years ago and now have installed a platter but we still show reel to reel everyday and only have 2 movies on the platter. I still call my self a projectionist and i know lots of other people including my co-workers that also call them selves projectionists
 

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Posted by Thomas King (Member # 2745) on 12-13-2004, 05:32 AM:
 
Matt, I have a vague, nagging feeling that there just may be a few people here who also call themselves projectionists. Nah. Must be the wind.
 

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Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 12-13-2004, 09:22 AM:
 
For many years Lee Tucker was President of the Studio Projectionists local in Hollywood. He is one of the funnest and finest projectionists to work for and with. You will see his name on the tail credits of many New Line and Fox films as Preview Engineer. I've worked with him on many Fox and New Line double-system shows, and to get on to the Bel-Air circuit too. If you know what you are doing and he likes working with you. You will have many hours of work to come.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 12-17-2004, 11:57 AM:
 
Well, I could stand to move to L.A. and get into some of that. I'm tired of living in poverty. I, too, have never lost a show.
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 12-17-2004, 05:32 PM:
 
Get in line Tim. I too have been told I run a good camera, even though I was driving a spotlight at the time. Spotlights, projectors, they're all "cameras" to the rif raf.
 

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Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 12-18-2004, 03:48 AM:
 
Lee called me a few weeks ago about a sneak preview we were supposed to do in Del Mar, San Diego ("America's finest city", as they say here on the radio all the time) for 20th Century Fox of "Flight of the Phoenix". But he never showed up himself. Instead, a gentleman from Dolby LA and from an a/v-company out of Hollywood did. So we ran the preview without "The Projectionist".

It's easy to say "you never lost a show" when you don't do the shows yourself. It's easy to take credit for the achievement of others, and if things go wrong, blame them for the faults. That's probably what he learned from his union granddad. Let me just say this:


Hey, didn't George Lucas do a movie about "Tucker" a little while back. Oh, well, OK, that was about the car guy. But what does it matter? He probably will tell people the movie was about himself.
 

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Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 12-18-2004, 09:38 AM:
 
Mr. Tucker truely loves in doing a good show. I met him a few years ago while he and the late Alysson DeFaria of Dolby handled the screenings at the main convention theatre. He was well prepared with back ups when the "featured" projection equipment supplied by a defunct manufacturer took a dump at the start of the screening...simple changeover to the backup print on his machines. I have some pictures of he and Alysson doing the Hollywood Bowl presentation of "Sound of Music" a few years ago.
 

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Posted by Steve Scott (Member # 630) on 12-18-2004, 09:49 AM:
 
What about Rodney Dangerfield?

Or Tyler Durden, for that matter (despite the cigarette burn remark)
 

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Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 12-18-2004, 10:13 AM:
 
More like Chuck McCann......He was projectionist and part time hero Captain Flash.
 

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Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 12-18-2004, 07:00 PM:
 
Check it out. The inside humor is priceless. Who among us hasn't burned his fingers on a hot gate while trying to deal with a film break?
 

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