Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Organ at Loew's Jersey.

This is topic Organ at Loew's Jersey. in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=008974

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 11-07-2007, 05:26 AM:

I received an e-mail last night, a Yahoo Groups one, not a private one to me, which says that the organ will be played before the screening of 'The Jazz Singer' on November 10th.

The website (www.loewsjersey.org) still says that the organ is almost ready, but there is a video clip of it being played.

I would liked to have come over, but I couldn't get a flight and hotel room at reasonable cost at such short notice. I've also got some sort of health problem at the moment, for the last few weeks I've been getting severe headaches, dizziness, nausia etc. I'm not sure what's causing it, but changes in air pressure and temperature certainly make it much worse, so flying may not be a good idea at present anyway. I'll try to get over to hear it next year. Is anybody from here going to that screening?

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 11-07-2007, 08:10 AM:

Stephen,

I am sorry to read about your health issues.... How's your blood pressure? Many years of borderline high BP has for the most part ruined my kidneys (Chronic Kidney Failure). I recently changed Doctors because of a change in our insurance and he caught it almost right away. Apparently new doctors are taught that even borderline high BP is bad... the old school of doctors thinks differently about it and that borderline is ok or at least better than it being high... not true! Don't let your health sag.... if your present Doc doesn't do anything for you then get another... preferably young one with a fresh mind and the latest training and ideas.... you may be better off like I now am.

Mark

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 11-07-2007, 08:12 AM:

The organ does indeed now play, and was previewed during the Karloff weekend last month.

Landmark Loews Jersey Theatre

PS.

We still need a reflector mirror for an Ashcroft Super-Corlite carbon arc lamp house...

Posted by Robert Minichino (Member # 3495) on 11-07-2007, 01:30 PM:

I'll be projecting that evening. The organ is indeed up and running and it sounded marvelous for the Karloff weekend that Mitchell mentioned above. I'm sorry to hear that you won't be able to come and hope you feel better soon.

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 11-08-2007, 05:38 PM:

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
I am sorry to read about your health issues.... How's your blood pressure? Many years of borderline high BP has for the most part ruined my kidneys (Chronic Kidney Failure).

That sounds bad Mark; I'm sorry to hear that.

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
I recently changed Doctors because of a change in our
insurance and he caught it almost right away. Apparently new doctors are taught that even borderline high BP is bad... the old school of doctors thinks differently about it and that borderline is ok or at least better than it being high... not true! Don't let your health sag.... if your present Doc doesn't do anything for you then get another... preferably young one with a fresh mind and the latest training and ideas.... you may be better off like I now am.

I really don't like doctors; I'd have to be really ill before I'd even think of going. I've never been one for looking after my health; I prefer to not even think about what goes on inside bodies I did once go to a post-mortem, so I have seen what the various bits look like, but I prefer to keep it all out of sight, and out of mind.

The last time I went to the doctor as about four years ago; I was getting terrible pains in my side. The Doctor was honest; he didn't know what the problem was, and a couple of days later, before he could find out they went away, and haven't come back since. I think we sometimes expect too much of doctors; they're not miracle workers.

I really don't know what this is that I've got now; somebody suggested sinus trouble. It's much worse when I'm at work, my desk position puts me within inches of a raditator so hot that I can't actually keep my hand on it. A co-worker sitting very close to me gets almost none of the heat, so he complains that he is cold, and has a fan heater on under his desk for much of the time. If I open the window then the top half of me is in a cold draught, and the bottom half is still far too hot. I also have to go out to our two other buildings, only a minute or so walk away, but still out in the cold to get there, and none of this helps even walking under those curtain hearer things just inside the doors I can feel it get worse as the heat hits me. I'm trying to arrange to move my desk elsewhere in the office. I've taken a couple of days leave today and tomorrow, and it's been much better today. There's also a lot of noise going on from building work, both inside and outside the building, which doesn't help. Yesterday was my late evening, so I was on a 12 hour shift, and it was really bad.

Now that I've just about retired from the projection room I'll be getting a bit more time to myself. For quite a while I've been working six days, with two of those being at least 12 hours, and sometimes as long as 16; I think a rest will do me good.

I'd like to have gone to the show at the Loew's on Saturday, but it was too late to get flights to Newark and back at reasonable cost on the days when I would have wanted to be there, and the hotel nearby had no rooms free on the days I wanted, so I couldn't make it, but I think that's probably just as well, I really doubt that it would be a good idea to fly before this head trouble clears up.

I have lost a bit of weight since my last picture was taken; I'm not sure how much, but I have come down two trouser sizes.

What I'm doing at the moment probably won't make my head any better either. I have a large collection of lamps, something like 600 of them at the last count, everything from fractional Watt ones to multi-kiloWatt metal halides. Last year I managed to acquire a couple of 140W SLI/H linear sodium lamps, not been made for years, never common even here, and probably nobody over there has even seen one. They're a sort of straightened out SOX lamp, and they look like this: web page Most discharge lamps will work on 240V with just a simple inductive choke ballast, usually with a high-Voltage ignitor, but these things won't, the tube Voltage is too high, so they need a leak transformer with a current of 0.9A and an open circuit Voltage of about 420V. I've finally managed to find one of these, so here's what I look like under the two yellow lines of sodium:

That thing is bright; they can put out getting on for 200 lm/W so you get a lot of light for 140W.
This is the first time I've used the camera in my laptop; I'll have to try some other lamp types with it. I wonder if it's sensitive to ultra-violet?

Mitchell and Robert, sorry I can't make it this time, but maybe next year. Glad to hear that the organ is at last working; they'd been working on it for several years when I first came over in '02, so it's taken quite some time. I've never seen the chambers, but I did see some of the parts in a room somewhere under the stage the first time I came over.

Surprisingly the GSTOS website doesn't say much about it either, but there is a picture of the completed console and a short video of it being played last week, the same one that is on the Loew's site, I think. Maybe they want to be sure that any last problems are sorted out before giving it too much publicity.

Getting the organ working is a major development, and should be a real attraction when it is in regular use. Maybe they can do some silent film shows with it sometime soon.

Did they finally manage to get the last parts, the heavy bits, of the DP-70s upstairs?

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 11-08-2007, 07:32 PM:

Stephen,

You an monitor your own BP at home and accurately for not much $$. It could make a difference between hearing that Organ or not. The sad thing is that I did not ignore my BP... I was just told that the way it was was ok.... definately not true and todays new doctors are taught differently about it!

Mark

Posted by Robert Minichino (Member # 3495) on 11-08-2007, 09:02 PM:

There are still some kinks to work out of the organ (more tuning, some valves that don't work or get stuck), but it's very playable and sounds the part.

All the DP-70 parts are upstairs and I'm working on cleaning and assembling them now.

Posted by Martin Brooks (Member # 1269) on 11-15-2007, 09:54 PM:

When was the organ played? I was at the Bride of Frankenstein showing and no one played the organ.

Posted by Robert Minichino (Member # 3495) on 11-15-2007, 10:47 PM:

I believe it was played the prior day before The Black Cat.

Posted by Brad Allen (Member # 470) on 11-16-2007, 01:50 PM:

Stephen, sinus infections can be very nasty and make you wish someone would put you out of your misery. [thumbsdown]

I have them often, and have learned through my own stubbornness, that ignoring it is the worst thing to do. You need meds to get over it, or it will never go away.

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 11-18-2007, 03:32 PM:

Brad, I'm not sure if it is a sinus infection, but whatever it is it seems to be getting worse. It's always much worse when I'm at work than when I'm elsewhere, but this weekend it's been worse than usual at home. I'm not looking forward to returning to work tomorrow, and especially not to the 12 hour shift on Wednesday, or the 14 hours on Monday next week. I really don't want to take this to a Doctor, but the matter may well be taken out of my hands this week, whether I like it, or not.

Anyway, to get back to the subject, it's good to hear that the organ is now playable, and that the new projectors may follow before too long.

The days are getting rather short now, but maybe sometime in the Spring we could organise a Film-Tech East coast meet at the Loew's; There seem to be quite a few of us who are not too far away. I would find it easier to come if they would advertise their events a bit further in advance, as they did start to do again a year or two ago, but they now seem to have slipped back to quite short notice. Better still would be to make it a Saturday when Peter is doing one of the 'classic' shows at the Lafayette, maybe even a 3-D one, and we could take in both places. Maybe some time around May; after that the Loew's generally closes for the Summer, and by the time it re-opens in Septebmer-ish things are difficult for me Work-wise, I can't take any leave in September, and next Easter we are likely to be moving at work, so that would rule that time out as well. It's not easy to find a time when I could come over now.

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 11-26-2007, 12:41 PM:

No mention on the website at the moment of the organ being used again; Is there anything planned, or are they going to do a bit more work on it first?

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 11-26-2007, 02:33 PM:

It is my understanding that the organ will officially be premiered on Friday December 14th before the screening of "Miracle On 34th Street".

The organ was restored and is played by The Garden State Theatre Organ society. Their web site is GSTOS, where you can find more info on what's happening with the organ.

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 11-26-2007, 02:58 PM:

I had a look at the GSTOS site a couple of weeks ago Mitchell; surprisingly there's not much there about it, there's a link to the same video clip as on the Friends of the Loew's site, but that's about all. I'll keep looking there from time to time, to see if there's any more news.

My retirement from the projection room didn't last long, about a month, and I've been brought back in to cover a few hours this evening because somebody is away. The place is now fully staffed, for the first time in quite a while, so if I do any more in future it will only be on an occasional basis. Thinking of another thread, the recently appointed projectionist is a woman, who previously worked front of house. It seems pretty common for women to be projectionists here, in fact the whole of that thread seemed a bit odd.

I've still got the head problem, and it seems to be getting worse, though it's not too bad today as I've had a couple of days leave from work. Looks like I'm going to have to go to the Doctor tomorrow. Appropriately, the film I'm running at the moment is 'Sicko'. [Frown]

Posted by Bernard Tonks (Member # 809) on 11-27-2007, 05:20 AM:

Sorry to read that you haven’t been well lately Stephen. It could be purely stress related which I suffered from many years ago with continuous headaches and depression. Following routine examinations there was nothing my doctor could do for me, he told me that my condition was mind over matter and the headaches were imaginary. It took me nearly three months to get better, unfortunately stopping smoking previously had not helped and any alcohol just made the situation worse!

I wish you well.

Posted by Gerard S. Cohen (Member # 994) on 11-30-2007, 02:55 PM:

Stephen, I'm sorry to learn of your health problems. I've always been impressed by the long distances you often travel to experience the very best of film presentations, and I wish you speedy recovery and an end to your headaches.

I seldom got headaches, and when on rare instances one developed, one or two Ibuprophen pills would cause it to disappear in at most a couple of hours.

But recently I've been having sinus headaches on the left side,
especially since the steam heat has come on with colder weather.
One night I thought to try the saline spray mist that comes in pocket size (and larger) metal cans in any drug store. They produce a fine mist when inserted into one nostril at a time, and clear the sinus and nasal passages on application, without any drugs, since they consist only of pure salt water and compressed air as propellent. Used over the sink or basin, the relief was most welcome. Sometimes a simple solution works best.

I speak only of my own condition, and don't mean to diagnose yours. I hope you will overcome your distaste for doctors, since as we grow older we often need their expertese.

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 11-30-2007, 04:12 PM:

Thank you Gerard.

I would have been at a film show on Monday evening at he Sheffield Library Theatre, but I wasn't well enough to go this year. This was for an event that's held each year, towards the end of November, and again between Christmas and New Year. The show finishes at about 22:30, and there are no trains to London at that time, so I get the morning coach up from London, spend a few hours in the City, go to the film show in the evening, then wait on the streets of Sheffield until 01:45 the following morning, when the overnight coach leaves for London, arriving at 06:20, just in time for me to get to work afterwards, but I really didn't feel that I could face doing that at the moment. The theatre no longer has any film equipment installed, they bring in a portable 16mm Marc 300 machine for it, but I did manage to buy some 35mm spools that they had left over last year. London to Sheffield is probably about 250km, quite local really; I've met people at Bradford that have come over from New Zealand!

I've not seen anything like those sprays here. I've spoken to my line manager, and also the health and safety officer at work, the radiator which is so hot that it burns my skin if I touch it, and is only 25cm or so away from me when I'm sitting at my desk certainly makes things worse, as does the cold air blowing around my head when I have to open the window because of it. As I walk under the 'curtain' heaters inside the main entrance doors I can feel a 'pulse' of pain in my head. I've arranged to move away from my desk until this gets cleared up, which has helped somewhat. It goes off overnight, generally starts to come back about mid-morning, and then gets gradually worse during the day. I normally have to work late on one evening per week, and I've managed to get them to let me drop that for the time being as well, but there's a cost implication there, as I don't get paid overtime, but the person who is covering for me does, so it's costing them extra money while I'm not doing it. They are sympathetic, but I think they will soon insist that I go to the Doctor.

It's not really that I dislike Doctors as such, I just don't like the idea of medical treatment; I hate being touched, which they have to do to take pulse etc., I know I'm going to be told that I'm overweight, and my blood pressure is much too high. To be honest, although it's not likely, I suppose that I fear the possibility that I might be told that it's something serious. I know lots of people who have suddenly dropped dead, including another one recently, of about my age, and while the idea of that, in itself, doesn't worry me to much, the idea of knowing about it in advance does somewhat. I'm pretty sure that whatever is wrong with me at the moment isn't serious, but there is a certain worry in the back of my mind. Then it involves thinking about the insides of bodies, which is something I prefer not to think about.

My Doctor doesn't do appointments; you just have to turn up at the surgery and wait your turn. I was going to go a few days ago, but it had been particularly bad the previous day, and I hadn't got to sleep until about four o'clock. After that I overslept, and by the time I got to the surgery the waiting room was packed, including lots of screaming children, and I just couldn't face a long wait with that, so I came out again. I'll probably try again on Monday, it will be almost seven weeks by then. If I get there early I should get seen almost straight away.

Posted by Gerard S. Cohen (Member # 994) on 11-30-2007, 11:02 PM:

I know the crowded waiting-room scene. My sister's MD has his nurse schedule many patients at the same appointment time, and then calls them according to their order of arrival or the urgency of their complaint. So I ask for the first appointment of the day and arrive before the doctor arrives, to reduce waiting time, since my sister is in a wheelchair and I have to schedule her travel with the municipal Access-A-Ride van with hydraulic lift a day in advance. Now we're switching her to a neurologist who works by individual appointment only, next door to my wife's office. He changed my sister's medications with remarkably beneficial effect.

I work with my wife, a pediatrician, and we work by appointment only, encouraging patients to telephone in advance. We can usually schedule an appointment the same or the next day if
the child is sick; for a routine checkup, within a week. I'm not an MD, so I do the billing and have relinquished most other duties to a young bilingual student by training her to handle reception, filing and most office duties. She's now in college (at my alma mater) and can multitask and communicate much better than I can. (I'm a pensioner of 30 years of teaching and 26 of projection, both union, so this is my third career.)

In pediatrics many parents arrive with infants in strollers and other kids in tow, so we have a large waiting room; nontheless we try to minimize waiting to avoid transmitting disease from patient to patient and to give maximum attention to each with a minimum of kid's vocalizing.

So my goal is to keep the waiting room as empty as possible and the waiting time close to zero. But would you believe some people consider a packed waiting room as an indication of a doctor's excellence? (Not so much in pediatrics, where our patients tend to appreciate not having to wait in a roomful of coughing and crying kids.)

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 01-26-2008, 12:02 PM:

Any more news of how the organ is? How often is it likely to be used in future.

I've been 'unretired' from the projection room for just one day, and I'm working a fairly short shift for a Saturday, about ten hours; my health doesn't seem to be improving, but I thought I would be ok to do just an odd late evening, as I would have a late start. Yesterday the main breaker on the supply at the College came out; not unusual, we're heavily overloaded, but this time we brought out something on the other side of the substation, so we had to get the power company, EDF, in to get the supply back on. This didn't happen until late last night, so we all had to go in at about 07:30 this morning to get the UPSs, servers and the telephone system back up, so my short day has turned into a 15 hour one. So far, my head isn't too bad, I just hope it stays that way for the last 4.5 hours or so.