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Posted by Gunnar Asgeirsson (Member # 3882) on 10-09-2006, 12:23 AM:
 
I was just wondering and i am not sexist i just wanna tell everybodi that. But is relly here in this world women working as projectionist? I have never heard about that before. Here in iceland we have never had women in this job.

And i hope nobody will get angry becuse this topic. I am just wondering.

Well well me people
 

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Posted by Demetris Thoupis (Member # 833) on 10-09-2006, 01:43 AM:
 
We had 2 occasions in Cyprus with Women projectionists and no problems at all. You know women. Always clean!! At least that was the case here. One used to work at a cinema which closed down about 2 years ago and the other was working at a college cinema with no problems at all and flawless presentation each time. I don't know about anywhere else.
Best Regards
D
 

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Posted by Tony L. Hernandez (Member # 3524) on 10-09-2006, 01:54 AM:
 
Thanks for starting this thread. I was just wondering last night how many lady projectionists there are and were. My close friend Ola who owned and operated movie theaters and drive in theaters with her husband from 1945 until her passing in 2005 did a lot of the projection work in her theaters. She could do changeovers and man the carbon arc lamp houses and later, platters and xenon. She woulod be 84 if she were still here.

I also know of two ladies who own theaters, one in Delta, CO with a drive in and a single screen theater and the other in Trinidad, CO with a six plex who do thier own projection work. There were as couple teenage female managers at a six plex I used to help at that could project, although on one occasion one of them misthreaded the platter and caused a wonderful brainwrap.
Other than that, all the lady projectionists I have known did a wonderful job.

On the other hand, I know a couple old ladies who own theaters and had thier husbands and sons do the projection work and never learned how themselves.

My general belief is that every adult person be they man, woman, black, white, yellow, brown, christian, jewish, muslim, atheist, gay, straight can do an equally good job at anything with proper trianing and practice. Everyone is equal.

BUT...there are not many lady projectionists out there so it would be fun to discuss the ones we know of...

~~Tony H.~~
 

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Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 10-09-2006, 02:56 AM:
 
How many movie theaters do you have in Iceland? Any multiplexes?
 

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Posted by Edwin Sheldon (Member # 4001) on 10-09-2006, 04:19 AM:
 
I work with two female projectionists and have worked with a total of seven in the 18 months I have been in projection. Most were quite capable. One of them was the biggest neat freak I had ever met; when she was running the booth, I never saw the magenta shedding that plagues Christies because she went over each machine with denatured alcohol before every show.
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 10-09-2006, 08:40 AM:
 
I worked with a female projectionist once. She was so good at what she did I asked her to marry me.

She must have thought that I was pretty good too, because she said yes.


 

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Posted by Hillary Charles (Member # 769) on 10-09-2006, 08:52 AM:
 
Awwwwwwww That's very sweet Mark. A match made in the projection booth!

There's got to be a Hallmark card for that!
 

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Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 10-09-2006, 09:36 AM:
 
Miami's best projectionist is a female ....She specializes in handling prints for many of the film festivals in the region....never any technical problems when she is in charge
 

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Posted by Don Furr (Member # 1469) on 10-09-2006, 10:05 AM:
 
During my days of theatre ownership, I had several girls in charge of the booth. One in particular was the best booth person I ever had.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 10-09-2006, 10:53 AM:
 

quote: Richard Fowler

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Miami's best projectionist is a female ....She specializes in handling prints for many of the film festivals in the region

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I think I know who that is, Richard. She wouldn't happen to have a little place out in the Everglades, would she?

While on the subject, I have an old projection book somewhere that goes back to the silent days, and there's a picture of a female projectionist in it -- complete with overalls. Also, the first theatre I ever made a service call in had a female projectionist. This was a big drive-in in West VA, and she was running a pair of Super 135s. She was very knowledgeable and I was always impressed with her.
 

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Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 10-09-2006, 11:08 AM:
 
I have trained 4 women for the booth. All 4 were easy trains. Women seem to pick up the details better than the guys. They are more intimidated by the equipment and the '20s vintage light board than the men and are only interested in learning to operate the machines with no interest in mechanics or maintenance. If there is a problem they will call for advice before fouling things up, the guys will chance a fix before calling, I'd rather they called. Neither sex seems know how to empty a trash can and the broom has never been touched. I've found no difference in performnce. The women have never questioned carrying film cans up the 56 steps to the booth either. The guys whine about it constantly.
 

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Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 10-09-2006, 12:59 PM:
 

quote: Bill Enos

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All 4 were easy trains. Women seem to pick up the details better than the guys

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I actually love placing women up in the booth for this very reason being that they are tons more metulious with their hands than some of the fellas are - being that if they know how to sew cloth, they can "sew" up film in the machine.

They're more careful, obediant, observant, cautious and fussy on cleaning..

When I managed a twin number of years ago, I had a split between boy and girls operating the booth and the girls won hands down in presentation factors than did the guys - mainly the guys are so career minded that doing piddly booth work was actually a bother to them, thus there were problems that I had to attain to. Whereas the girls, who are more down to earth, just cared on the matter at hand

Even today at a Drive-In where I service and do sub booth work, I trained a lady on machine handling and she's great whereas the relief operator, who really doesn't care one way or another on his presetation factors, kinda shoddily just manages to get the movies on the screen..and he's been doing this for quite the years...where the lady, I trained last year and haven't missed a beat on my booth procedures.

-Monte
 

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Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 10-09-2006, 01:19 PM:
 
Tim, I think we are talking about the same person Her investments in "swamp lands" has made her very weatlhy on paper
 

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Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 10-09-2006, 02:01 PM:
 
It's funny, in a way. You're not supposed to "discriminate" based on sex... and we don't... but it seems that most of the detail and supervisory positions around here are held by females.

My wife handles the boxoffice, and also trains and supervises the people who work in there when we need more than one person selling tickets. Those people are picked from concession personnel with at least one year of experience with us, and all happen to be women.

Our snack bar is "manned" exclusively by women. No guys have applied to work there since my daughter and her boyfriend graduated and moved.

The only person who touches our projectors, besides me, is one of my daughters, and she knows what she's doing. She also manages parking and security, and can step into any concession or boxoffice position where she might be needed.

This past season, we had 3 or 4 guys here, all working in the fields... supervised by my oldest daughter. It's interesting, that the field positions seem to be where the guys want to be.

Having raised a family of daughters, I am well aware of my place... both practically and diplomatically. I am "allowed" to run the booth, and carry a wrench for when a toilet needs attention. I get to work in the kitchen, boxoffice and fields, but only when needed. If all is working well, the wife and kids don't seem to have any problem, sending me back to the booth.

I get to monitor temperatures in the refrigeration equipment, light pilots in the fryers and pizza ovens, change belts in the fans... high-level stuff like that. Once in a while, they let me mop the floors, but not all the time.

I get to grumble good-naturedly about where I'm "allowed" to be visible... but the fact of the matter is that this place runs as well as anyone could imagine. It's a game that works quite well... for everyone.
 

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Posted by Chris Hipp (Member # 1788) on 10-09-2006, 02:58 PM:
 
I've had plenty of girls work for me in the booth over the years. For the most part they do great. There is the occasional problem with girls that don't want to stop talking on their cell phones to their boyfriends and end up damaging prints. I had one girl scratch four prints in two weeks because of that. They also tend to get emotional about stupid stuff.

That being said, I have also had plenty of guys that couldn't do their job right because of a girl and I have had guys that would get mad over any little thing.

It just depends on who you would rather look at while you are working.
 

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Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 10-09-2006, 03:34 PM:
 
Over the last 30 years, I have worked with 5 women operators who did the job extremely well....also cleanest booths in town. I have never met a woman who did an average or lower job. I wish I could say the same for the guys....quality from wonderful to "fire this guy." Louis
 

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Posted by Kacie MacLagan (Member # 3637) on 10-09-2006, 09:31 PM:
 
I can say that I am one of the few female projectionists in my circuit. Out of 7 projectionists at my building 3 of us are female. One... she does well, but can't troubleshoot real well. In the other theaters in our circuit there are a couple of females throughout.

For the most part, I feel that as a woman, I can do the job just as well (if not better at times) then the men. There are things that I know I cannot do since I am a female and just don't have the same strength as the men do. But I can for the most part hold my own.

I can say also, that some females do not belong in the booth even if they are up there. I feel if you can't move a print or handle the everyday operation correctly (male or female) then you don't belong there. But that is not an issue of Male/Female.

I know some men who can't handle the job. The only problem with women is sometimes height and some heavy lifting. But that's my opinion.
 

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Posted by Charles Greenlee (Member # 3856) on 10-10-2006, 12:31 AM:
 
Yeah, I find that my ligher physique add many challenges to the physical aspect of the job. Pearl Harbor, to name one of my struggles, amongst several movies approaching 3 hrs and longer. I came in one day, and the thurs. night projectionist didn't move the prints to their new screens. So I had to, not normally a problem, I moved like 5 prints that day, all part of the job. Well I forgot to mentioned I could get no one to help. I have moved my share of prints by my lonsome, thanks to the clamps, but for safety and to make it easier, I usually enlist help. Like I said, could find no one (willing) to help me, not even a door person. 3 frakking 3 hour prints, each weight, I don't know, ALOT. Not to mention the odd handling angles and maneuvers required. I even had one of the managers walk up to me while carrying the print, oviously struggling, doing the little stagger walk bit. He laughs and goes "That looks heavy" and watches for enough time for him to have helped. I swear, if I had a safe (for the print) way of dropping it, and beating his head in with a ring or something. Sling the damn movie at him, let him see just how heavy it is. But I had alot to do that day, and not much time, and no one was going to help. Lets help with the visual. I'm 6'1", and 130lbs on a good day, not by choice, just can't put on weight. I'd do good to wrestle a 5 year old. And movie 3 hour movies by myself.
 

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Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 10-10-2006, 02:54 AM:
 
This topic used to come up with me and an old manager. A woman who COULD do the job but chose not to always and I mean ALWAYS argued with me about training the supervisors (usually girls) to be run the booth.
In my experience most girls catch on faster and run tighter shifts with less errors than the boys. I have no idea why that is.
 

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Posted by Cameron Glendinning (Member # 3516) on 10-10-2006, 03:09 AM:
 
I have only good things to say about all the many females that I have worked with or shared the booth with.

I once worked with someone who was a second generation projectionist in london, his mum was one during world war 2 and passed on her passion for it.
 

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Posted by Edwin Sheldon (Member # 4001) on 10-10-2006, 04:14 AM:
 
Charles, I worked with a crazy old projectionist who insisted on moving all prints by himself without clamps, regardless of size. He claims he moved a LOTR print by himself without clamps...this guy can't be bigger than 5'6" and 150lbs. Crazy son of a bitch.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 10-10-2006, 06:20 AM:
 
My very first full-time job in Texas in an 800 seat theatre, The College Theatre on the outskirts of Texas A&M U. The chief projectionist there was a women, Peggy, and she was great. She was an old gal (at least to me), maybe in her 40s who evidently had already been working here for many years -- this goes way back to the late 60s. So yes, women have been in booths for decades. And like most have said, she was meticulous and very conscientious, and had strict rules about cleaning the machines, the floor....everything. She taught me quite a bit. You let any of it slide and she would let you know in no uncertain terms that you were skating on thin ice. You didn't want to get Peggy pissed! I really loved the ole girl. She would often bring me sandwiches and home baked pie when I had the early shift and she came in to relieve me. It was one of the best jobs I ever had.

A few years after I left and got work in big time New York city, I went back to visit -- had to work on divorce papers (job was great....other stuff, not so much) -- and I went back to see the place. Peggy was no longer working there, but all the other people were and my old boss wanted to take me out to dinner, but I begged him to give the projectionist the night off and let me be the "guest projectionist" for the two last shows, which he did, and brought up a whole tray of texmex food and we ate it in the booth, for which Peggy would have scolded us roundly.
 

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Posted by Richard Hamilton (Member # 321) on 10-10-2006, 07:58 AM:
 
At the Movie Wonderland in Changchun China, they have 3 attractions which have 8/70 projectors. All 3 booths are run by girls. The techs are guys. The only English words the girls know are "Hi Rick", so training them was fun! They are the best run booths I've seen. In the 3D booth, there are typically 6 workers. 1 at each projector, 1 at each platter, 1 at the sound racks, and 1 overseeing everything. When the film starts, a girl sits in a chair by each platter the entire show, and the other girls just keep an eye on the booth and equipment.

These are the cleanest and best run booths I have seen. I only know of 1 other large format theater that has a girl operator. As far as commercial theaters, I've been in many booths that have girl projectionists.

Rick
 

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Posted by Charles Greenlee (Member # 3856) on 10-10-2006, 10:27 AM:
 
We have Beth. She's an old salt, kind of personality. I'l still learning to read her, because she comes acros a crass and crabby. But so far so good. She's been with Regal, or one of it's component companies, as a projectionist for something like 35 years. Tough the booth pretty much defaults to me, she has senoirity. And on the rare occasion she speaks up, people listen. I'd like to get a more talkative relatioship with her, because I think we're similar in the booth. She just has 30+ years on me, which would do good for me to pick up some ideas.
 

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Posted by Kacie MacLagan (Member # 3637) on 10-10-2006, 04:48 PM:
 

quote:

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Charles Greenlee: I'm 6'1", and 130lbs on a good day..

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quote:

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Richard Hamilton : All 3 booths are run by girls. The techs are guys.

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I guess I'm the odd ball in this mess. I'm both a projectionists and part-time tech. I can say that one of the main reasons why I'm so meticulous about things. I have to fix it if anything breaks. Plus now that I know the tech aspect of things I know more about how things should be done. I always did my work the best I could presentation-wise, but now that I know more... The little things now bug me if it's not perfect.

I can say however, we did have a female up in the booth who really shouldn't have been there at all. We've had two who just didn't take pride or care in their work. But on the other hand we've had more men for some reason that are the same way.
 

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Posted by Bob Koch (Member # 1062) on 10-10-2006, 05:05 PM:
 
Of course this from the prehistoric dark ages but 56 years ago Wyoming was my territory{RCA} and I had two women in the projection rooms.In a little coal mining town called Superior, there was a woman "operator". I had`nt seen her and as I serviced the equipment in the afternoon; all junk; reg Simplex with single bearing intermittents, Peerless Low arc lamps, and other assorted crap. I couldnt help but notice how clean all this junk was kept. I was in the booth writing my report when she showed up for work. A pretty woman dressed like she`d just come out of the kitchen at home; apron and all, and a very cute little boy about five. I watched her
get the show ready and put the feature on the screen, all quite competently, when all of a sudden she did the damndest thing, with picture on the screen, she decided to clean the front surface of the lens by giving it a quick wipe with
the corner of her apron.
The other woman was in Rock Springs and was the widow of the business agent,[Rock Springs was union then]who had been a good Projectionist, a great mechanic but had a devotion to the"sauce"that took him early. He had evidently taught Jenny how to work in the projecrtion room. As they had two small children the other "brothers" decided to keep her employed so she could suppoprt them. She did reasonably well in the booth, but damn near got killed in a film fire in the old Grand Theatre. Last film fire I cleaned up after. WE universal base etc.Hell of a job.
 

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Posted by Aaron Mehocic (Member # 15) on 10-14-2006, 12:55 PM:
 
We had a female projectionist some years ago who dressed so poorly for her booth shifts that the owners began to require operators to wear uniforms. She went on to marry the manager and both are now gone.

Currently I'm working with more females in the booth than at any other time in my nearly 16 years in this business. Some are good and others still need some additional training. I've never met any female operators who were more clean or more tight with presentation than a male counterpart.
 

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Posted by Donna Siegwart (Member # 3232) on 10-14-2006, 02:05 PM:
 
For about a year we ONLY had female projectionists. (One was myself.) We had about 5 or 6 projectionists. We finally are getting some guys up there, only about 3 of the projectionists actually LIKED their jobs, most just wanted a promotion away from floor. Luckly now we are giving raises to two new projectionists, one guy and one girl. They both seem to be very excited about working in the booth (not just for the raise). And we have ONE guy projectionist but hes really sloppy and leaves stuff everywhere. We once had a guy leave a make-up table on while he went on the other side of the building and one of our platters fell off a projector due to him not paying attention to his work. Luckly we could fix that problem. I think its funny when people say they dont see many women in booth cuz we have always had alot of women in booth here

We used to correct people when they would refer to the projectionist as "he" or "him". That was back when we only had women running the films.

EDIT: Also to what was said earlier about women being on their phones all the time, our male projectionists are just as bad as the girls I think it just depends on the person.
 

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Posted by Jeremy Jorgenson (Member # 2989) on 10-15-2006, 06:20 AM:
 
I've never found a correlation between gender and projection abilities. I've had female counterparts in the 35mm, 8/70 and 15/70 booths that I've worked in ... some were good, some weren't - in no different proportion than the male counterparts I've worked with.

It IS true, however, that every booth I've worked in has had more male projectionists than female ones.
 

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Posted by Kara Tillotson (Member # 3899) on 10-15-2006, 04:54 PM:
 
interesting topic.
Thats one of my next goals, to learn projection. I already am "technilogically advanced" and have always found the whole concept cool
 

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Posted by John T. Hendrickson, Jr (Member # 849) on 10-16-2006, 06:05 PM:
 
We're beating a dead horse here. I've delt with two women. One was a disaster and the other, one of the best people I have trained.

Throw out the gender on this topic. Either you have good people, or you don't. Male or female- makes no difference.
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 10-16-2006, 08:01 PM:
 
For what it's worth, "gender" = masculine/feminine. "Sex" = male/female. But I agree we can throw out the gender and the sex on this topic.
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 10-17-2006, 01:45 AM:
 

quote: John T. Hendrickson, Jr

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We're beating a dead horse here. I've delt with two women.

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I hope that wasn't the way you dealt with them! Projection booths can be stressful enough places without bringing domestic violence into the mix...

I once asked my vet what would be the best way to persuade a cat to swallow his anti-worm tablets after a week of him spitting them out. 'Well...' the vet said, 'there's more than one way to skin a cat.' I replied that I was very fond of the creature in question and that, however irritating his behaviour was, I had no intention of skinning him.

As for woman projectionists, my experience was that they're in a minority, but of those who are there, there are good ones and not so good ones, just like their male counterparts. I'd imagine that the typical working hours in a theatre would make it pretty difficult to combine the job with raising a family. But that's not just a problem for women or projectionists: my experience was that of all the theatre staff I worked with, those with young famiilies were in a distinct minority.

I did get mildly annoyed with one female colleague who decided that she didn't do moving films from their delivery point to and from the booth, which was 6 flights of stairs away. Every morning I'd come in after an evening she was on, there'd be three or four prints needing to be put out and the same again to come up (this place was an rep house which changed its programme daily). Even if she'd left a note saying 'Sorry; don't feel comfortable lifting that weight, please could you do it?' that would have been fine. It was just the casual assumption that I wouldn't have any issue moving all her films for her which got up my nose.
 

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Posted by Bernard Tonks (Member # 809) on 10-17-2006, 10:44 AM:
 
I know of three cinemas that had a husband as chief, and wife as 2nd projectionist. There was a South London ABC chief projectionist, who had a team of four female projectionists always on his staff. Two women worked in projection at the Gaumont, Rosehill for many years.

quote: Leo Enticknap

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I did get mildly annoyed with one female colleague who decided that she didn't do moving films from their delivery point to and from the booth, which was 6 flights of stairs away...

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quote: Richard Hamilton

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I only know of 1 other large format theater that has a girl operator

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quote: Leo Enticknap

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I did get mildly annoyed with one female colleague who decided that she didn't do moving films from their delivery point to and from the booth, which was 6 flights of stairs away.

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quote: Allison Parsons

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You have two employees. Both have been employeed at your theater the same amount of time, both have very good work ethics. Ones female, ones male. Which one do you ask if their interested in training in booth first: The girl or guy?

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I would interview both of them for the position and make a decision based on how that goes. Have either or both of them expressed a desire to learn the booth? Maybe give each of them a (separate) tour of the booth, explain the job, watch their reactions, see what questions they ask. Then go from there.
 

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Posted by Jeremy Fuentes (Member # 2135) on 11-08-2006, 06:18 PM:
 
Female projectionists? Is it not a problem that women have a smaller brain than the men?
 

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Posted by Donna Siegwart (Member # 3232) on 11-08-2006, 09:52 PM:
 
Ah yeah Kelly I know how that is moving the cases. I personally have a nerve injury in one of my arms and lose feeling in my right arm and hand if I over work it, so I ask for help if I need it, but I generally try to do my best. Maybe its to prove a point or maybe its because I love my job who knows.
 

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Posted by Charles Greenlee (Member # 3856) on 11-08-2006, 11:15 PM:
 
I'm just a frakkin lightwieght. I'm built more slight than most women. A guy running 130lbs on a good day, at 6'1", has to put forth alot of effort to move the film, more specifically the "fox boxes" and clamped films, which can be a pain no matter what your build or gender. However, that said, I do all my own stunts. I move my own cans. I'll get help moving a clamped film if I can for reasons of not wating to accidentally drop or mess up the film, just added security. But often I end up moving clamped films by myself too. In my opinion, XX or XY, doesn't matter. Sure, women as a default are likely to be less physical, but that does not mean that women are less suited to the job. It's an individual thing. How does that individual handle the job?
 

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Posted by David M. Graham (Member # 4062) on 11-15-2006, 05:04 PM:
 
My wife works as a "semi-suit" with one of the majors (I'm not saying which one anywhere my name is visible - they're NOT the nicest of people).

While company policy is that managers must know the booth and be able to run it themselves, a sizable number of male managers simply don't. Very very few of the female managers are unable to act as projectionists and many of them are quite competent.

Have to say it is rather interesting seeing the gender discrimination thing from the opposite side, as I used to work in a female heavy industry....

David

She has trained a number of booth staff, and generally finds it more probable that female staff will clean and maintain the booth than male managers.
 

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Posted by Allison Parsons (Member # 2728) on 11-15-2006, 05:13 PM:
 
David,

Your wife must work at Cramike hehe
 

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Posted by Charles Greenlee (Member # 3856) on 11-15-2006, 06:45 PM:
 
Sounds like Carmike to me. Comapny that fires people by email. "Whoever said/did that, fire them."
 

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Posted by Sverrir D. Thorarinsson (Member # 3372) on 07-16-2007, 05:58 PM:
 
Gunnar, you're not right about this one, of course there have been female projectionists here in Iceland, just not at this moment.
 

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Posted by Patrick Dunn (Member # 3333) on 07-20-2007, 05:31 PM:
 
We are training a girl to be our next projectionist. But we have had as many as we have had guys on projection.
 

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Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 07-20-2007, 06:41 PM:
 
I've trained three gals in the last month and the nice about training girls compared to guys is that they frikken LISTEN and PAY attention what you're trying to show them since they're more proned to be more careful and attentive than they guys are..
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-20-2007, 07:07 PM:
 
I've had 3 girls work in the projection booth over the past 30 years. They weren't projectionists, but they knew how to thread, make splices, and fix problems like power outages, film breaks and so on. Since I'm around most of the time, I never had to train them how to build or breakdown film, but they had no problem threading IN FRAME every time. And they were all "hot" as a bonus!
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 07-20-2007, 07:09 PM:
 

quote:

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And they were all "hot" as a bonus!

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MIke,

Careful there... I hope your wife doesn't hang out around here... ya don't wanna end up like Richard!

Mark
 

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Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 07-21-2007, 02:13 AM:
 
I'm sure Mike was talking about their skill sets, Mark!



Ummm, I mean, as projectionists, naturally!


 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 07-21-2007, 09:27 AM:
 
Jack...

It just made me think... next trip to do Mike's service I walk into the Auto Parts store and ... there's Mike's wife behind the counter instead of Mike...
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 07-21-2007, 02:28 PM:
 

quote:

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I'm sure Mike was talking about their skill sets, Mark!

[Cool]

Ummm, I mean, as projectionists, naturally!

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quote: Mike Blakesley

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They weren't projectionists

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 07-21-2007, 04:15 PM:
 

quote:

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quote: Mike Blakesley
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They weren't projectionists
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Mike... What have I been missing in Forsyth when I'm there?
 

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Posted by Geena Phillips (Member # 3726) on 09-15-2007, 10:05 PM:
 
Three out of our five projectionists are women. Till one of my girls had to go back to school, it was four out of five.
 

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Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 09-16-2007, 09:51 AM:
 
This probably has run its course. We're long past the point where debates about women or race make any sense as to who can do what.

Yesterday, I watched a 16 year-old girl ace her first solo flight. Her grandfather says she already has some scuba certification, and she's planning to start learning cross-country skiiing this winter.

... and of course, my daughters are just enough below "genius" level to make them teriffic human beings... so there.
 

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Posted by Joshua Waaland (Member # 287) on 09-16-2007, 06:17 PM:
 
I used to work with two other women projectionists at Cinemark. There were only the three of us. I have worked in several other booths and with several other guy projectionists. I had one guy who couldn't grasp it after a month of training. The manager of another theater was a woman and she had a hard time learning the booth and wanted nothing to do with it. She was just scared of it I think. If she would have given it a fair shake she would have done okay.

The two women I worked with at Cinemark still work there and are in the local union. One of them is the union secretary and the other speaks very broken english and is from Russia. Both are very competent, meticulous and good projectionists all-around. I have no doubts in their capabilities whatsoever.
 

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Posted by Thomas Pitt (Member # 4322) on 09-17-2007, 03:25 PM:
 
When I go to a cinema and the movie is being threaded or starting up, I like to glance back at the projection portholes to see what the projectionist is doing. I often see their face at the observation porthole as they check if it's in frame and in focus.

On more than one occasion, I have seen a female projectionist loading up the projector and/or checking the picture quality at the start. With all this talk about equal opportunities in this country, a woman has an equal chance of becoming a projectionist as a man does!

Whether or not people actually WANT to be projectionists, that's a different matter...
 

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Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 09-17-2007, 03:36 PM:
 
I have never met a lady operator who was not a detail person; never seen a bad operation. Us guys....that is a different matter, from BAD to GOOD. Louis
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 09-18-2007, 04:23 PM:
 
I've seen both extremes in men and women. I've seen detail-oriented ladies and ones who didn't care very much.
 

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Posted by Sarah Paolucci (Member # 4460) on 09-21-2007, 07:38 PM:
 
I was sixteen years old when I was brought up for projection, more than anything as a form of entertainment for the projectionists- i was pretty much expected to fail. I didn't, but it took a long time for the guys to actually be able to look past my sex (and age) and see me as being just as competent as themselves. It still amazes me how surprised people are when they find out I'm a projectionist... but then again, I've never met another woman projectionist myself
 

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Posted by Aaron Mehocic (Member # 15) on 09-22-2007, 04:40 PM:
 

quote: Sarah Paolucci

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I was brought up for projection, more than anything as a form of entertainment for the projectionists

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quote: Sarah Paolucci

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i was pretty much expected to fail

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Otherwise I'd of had a pretty warped sense of what extracurricular activities are going on in your booth.

Not saying, of course, those kinds of "activities" don't take place in the booth between male and female operators.
 

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Posted by Deborah Longoria (Member # 4455) on 09-24-2007, 05:14 PM:
 
Our newly retired manager of 13 years started out as a projectionist and was treated pretty crappy by the guys she worked with. But, she outlasted all of them and knew how to nurse the best out of our old machines. I just wish I knew a 10th of what she knows!

3 of our team are women and projectionists. since we're a small rural theater, most of our work is crossed over but I'm glad we have them. They are dedicated and while 2 of them are pretty good, 1 of them can make the projectors sing and dance! she started out as a concessionist and was afraid of the machines, (she only stands 5' tall!) but now she's the best we've got!

I really don't think it's a matter of male or female...it's almost like star trek and scotty...if you're really good you've got a rapor with the equipment and it's almost like it talks to you. I know it sounds crazy but that's how I see it.

Thanks
deb
 

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Posted by Kirk Sayers (Member # 4431) on 10-15-2007, 11:55 AM:
 
i worked with a very capable woman in Trenton Ontario Canada, she's now head manager/projectionist for Empire Theatres in Kingston Ont.
 

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Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 10-16-2007, 06:41 PM:
 
Of the 4 women I've trained, the longest any stayed in the booth was 5 months. Two said the work was too hard!!!!! The rest missed socialising and didn't like the isolation. All were young
(21-23). The guys at the same age don't have those issues. Maybe somebody older than these fare better.

[ 10-16-2007, 10:31 PM: Message edited by: Bill Enos ]
 

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Posted by Peter David Bruce (Member # 4447) on 11-19-2007, 09:44 AM:
 
Ive heard theres alot of female projectionists out there.

[ 02-26-2008, 03:02 AM: Message edited by: Peter David Bruce ]
 

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Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 11-19-2007, 10:18 AM:
 
Most of the projectionists at the Chandler cinema where I co program cult films are women. The head projectionist/manager was a woman, and she left recently to go back to the companys theater in Tucson, and was replaced by a guy (who's great), and the other 2 backup projectionists are girls and they do a great job.
 

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Posted by Peter David Bruce (Member # 4447) on 11-19-2007, 02:43 PM:
 
sounds like a good team. and im not saying that in a sadistic way.

[ 11-30-2007, 03:48 PM: Message edited by: Peter David Bruce ]
 

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Posted by Ron Funderburg (Member # 4561) on 11-23-2007, 10:08 PM:
 
I have been in and out of theater work since 1972 (oh lord) and have know, worked with, hired, (and even fired) women projectionist. I have been pleased with most of them (only one didn't work out)and she was let go for any lack of booth skills it was a different problem on nights she didn't work the booth.

I find women to maintain a neater booth and in addition to the cleaner atmosphere they see and hear problems faster than most guys. I had a long stretch of guys that just couldn't look out windows and ensure they were in frame and a projector could be banging or have a rattle and they wouldn't tell you.

Oh the fact they look nicer than the guys is just one more a bonus! Oh that could be a sexist statement lets drop that one!
 

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Posted by Frank Dubrois (Member # 3042) on 11-30-2007, 11:59 AM:
 
They are no better, no worse. It depends on the person and the passion for the job. A woman can care just as much as a man can, and on the flip side, they can be just as lazy.

The start of this post is kind of sexist, even though it wasn't meant to sound so. It would kind of be like me saying, " Wow, they have film and electricity in Iceland? I heard rumors, but didn't know." I find it surprising that people still think like this. I thought civilization was coming along a little better than this.
 

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Posted by Rob Baker (Member # 4546) on 12-04-2007, 01:25 PM:
 
We have 2 women working at the Lyric as projectionists. They've both been working here for at least 3 years.

Further, when I was hired to run films, I was replacing an out-going female projectionist and our head projectionist was a woman, too.

Ugh, their everywhere!
 

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Posted by Peter David Bruce (Member # 4447) on 12-05-2007, 01:06 PM:
 
women in projection seems alot more common-place over in the US as to how it is over here in the UK.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-05-2007, 03:13 PM:
 
In the past few years I've always had at least one or two of our concession people trained to thread the projector if I can't get it done for whatever reason. It's always been the boys who want to learn...but last night one of the girls told me she wants to learn. So she'll be the first female to thread our projector in at least 20 years.
 

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Posted by Jim Bedford (Member # 4) on 12-06-2007, 08:59 AM:
 
Our two projectionists are women. Of our seven or eight film threaders and button pushers, two are men.
 

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Posted by Joyce Martinez (Member # 4582) on 12-09-2007, 08:13 PM:
 
Hello everyone, i am a projectionist and I am also a woman. I love everything about it and apparently management thinks so too as they're gonna promote me to booth manager. So I guess women can be projectionists I take pride in what I do, and my reward is when I start a show and walk into the theatre and I hear clapping as the show is about to start, its great knowing I helped do that.
 

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Posted by Luci Reeve (Member # 3651) on 12-23-2007, 04:59 PM:
 
Everyone has the ability, I think it is more a matter of interest. More guys like working with the machines and are fearless about it. Along the same lines as lady mechanics. If someone likes to work with their hands and figure things out I ask them if they would like to become a projectionist. I've gotten some really good ones that way, male and female.
 

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Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 12-23-2007, 05:41 PM:
 
It's surely not unusual to dee a woman working as a projectionist.

The Kalee brochure for the 34mm 'Cinestage' presentation of 'Around the World in 80 Days' at the Astoria in London is here web page and it shows a woman standing between the two modified Kalee 21 projectors.

I don't know if she was actually a projectionist there at the time, or if she was just posed for the picture; does anybody else know? However, presumably it wasn't unheard of to see women in projection rooms at that time, or they wouldn't have put one in the picture.
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 12-27-2007, 03:39 AM:
 
There were loads of them during the war, replacing male counterparts who were called up. At a family wedding a few years ago I got talking to a lady in her 80s who had worked as a projectionist in a cinema in Swindon, and who (along with many of her colleagues) was made redundant in 1946 when all the soldiers were demobbed and wanted their jobs back. This caused quite a bit of tension, and not just in the cinema industry, as women who had gained a previously unknown amount of social and financial independence by going out to work (as portrayed, for example, in Millions Like Us), were effectively expected to disappear back into the kitchen.

I later had a look at some of the trade papers covering this period during a free afternoon in the BFI library. There are several articles and editorials in The Cine-Technician (house magazine of the trade union that covered projectionists at the time, the ACT) from around the middle of 1945 to early 1947 which cover the issue of women projectionists. The ACT's president, George Elvin, was a staunch communist (or at least he became one after failing to win a parliamentary seat for Labour in the 1945 election) who seems to have been torn between wanting to promote equality on the one hand and being anxious to reintegrate the men coming back from national service on the other. I'd be interested to know how many wartime women projectionists stayed in the profession long-term.
 

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Posted by Raymond Christie (Member # 4080) on 01-04-2008, 09:43 PM:
 
Our head projectionist is a female and the person training under her is a female.
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 01-14-2008, 04:43 AM:
 
Here's one.
 

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Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 01-14-2008, 06:21 AM:
 
Look at the projection rake at that place!
 

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Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 01-14-2008, 06:33 AM:
 
I have 6 female projectionist that work for me. At my old theatre when I left I had 3.
 

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Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 01-14-2008, 06:55 AM:
 

quote: Leo Enticknap

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Here's one.

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quote: Stephen Furley

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Just out of interest Leo, what's on the rest of the reel? There were usually four or five stories in each edition.

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quote: Frank Angel

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The copyright question is interesting. Were those films produced with government funds for free distribution to the public?

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quote: Leo Enticknap

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After the National Coal Board was formally dissolved in 1994, copyright in their film output passed to the British Film Institute. I really should have asked their permission before putting that clip on YouTube (and now will do retrospectively), which I don't think they'd refuse, given that the picture quality isn't good enough for anyone to rip off as commercial footage and none of the NCB Film Unit's output is published on DVD or anywhere else.

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quote: Stephen Furley

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I hope they agree, it's quite an interesting piece, but I wonder if the inclusion of the clip from the feature film will cause complications?

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