quote: Aaron Mehocic

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A former manager who wanted to open his own theater once told me that his uniforms would be older coat-like pieces like ushers wore in the movie palace of the 1930's - eppalets and all. He even wanted some type of badge or pin to be placed on the uniform for every year of service the employee worked - a bar for 1-4 years, a star for years 5-10, at 10 years one star surrounded by a gold wreath, etc etc... Needless to say, he never got his own theater.

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While I don't think that this would be all that economical or comfortable (particularly during summer months for smaller theaters that sometimes skimp on the A/C in the lobby), I don't see why having a little extra class involved with the staff's uniform is such a bad idea.

If more managers thought with that sort of goal of class in mind, many theaters would be running far more elegantly and would probably receive in return patronage from people who recognize good taste.
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 10-02-2007, 07:48 PM:
 
I think what he was implying that the uniforms weren't the only thing he wanted to go all-out splurging on. If the uniforms were the only thing, then he'd probably be able to get a theater; but the fact that the guy didn't get one probably means he simply had lofty goals of all sorts.

I'm just guessing that the uniforms weren't the only thing that helped the guy not get the business.
 

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Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 10-03-2007, 11:46 AM:
 
I've always been a fan of the uniform...The snazzier the better!
With the exception of neck ties though...I could do without them some days, though I do appreciate a nice silk tie.

My current employers only uniform is dark pants and a uniform polo.
I'd love to get a little fancier than that but they apparently had a revolt when they started with the polos...Folks quitting over it!
I just can't imagine why...
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 10-03-2007, 12:02 PM:
 
Me neither. Our General Manager only asks that the stage crew wear black pants and he provides a black polo shirt that has our logo on the breast pocket side on the front and the words BROOKLYN CENTER - STAFF on the back, so the crew can easily be recognized by people backstage, and also when they walk out on stage to move a piano or such, there is some sort of uniformity and they don't look like a rag-a-muffin bunch from an orphanage.

They whined and moaned and bitched about it -- you would think they were being asked to put on straight jackets. Our sound engineer out-and-out refuses to wear the shirts. Thing is, he is so good and we pay so little (non-profit is the excuse) that the GM relents. To this day he hasn't worn them. He says something about "What are we, fast food employees?" His garb of choice instead is sweat-shirts.

Quite frankly, it baffles me, cause I LOVE the shirts -- top of the list why they work for me -- makes dressing choice totally easy. Plus, I like being identified with the place where I work, given that I put my blood sweat and tears into it for the better part of my adult life.

Everyone's different I guess.

As for our ushers, they wear simple reversible satin vests, black one side, maroon on the other, and no matter which side they wear, the other color shows on the trim and neck, so it gives some contrast. Our logo is over the breast. They are over white shirts and bow-ties with black slacks. Fairly lack luster as performing arts center's go -- no jackets with gold doo-dads, but nice enough. I guess if we had the $$ I would tend like more fancy than less. I guess the uniform reflects what you aspire to.

In other words, patrons probably would be stunned, possibly with brain damage if the found ushers in full regalia with all the gold threaded trimming in a place like.....this:

 

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Posted by Sean McKinnon (Member # 612) on 10-03-2007, 12:30 PM:
 
I always liked plain black slacks, black shoes, white dress shirt, a tie of the employees choice (as long as its appropriate) and a black vest. This way the theatre only has to supply the vest and they can keep them on site and hand them out and collect them each shift so that they dont disappear therefore keeping uniform costs real low. The only costs are the inital order (a few of each size of mens and womens cuts) and occasional dry cleaning. Very economical!
 

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Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 10-03-2007, 12:52 PM:
 
The maroon goes well with the rust on the backs of the seats in the picture.
 

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Posted by Mike Sellars (Member # 4042) on 10-04-2007, 06:58 PM:
 
Our current staff uniform is black slacks, black shoes, green (staff) or maroon (supervisor) company-supplied polo shirts.. projectionists wear the same but black polos (ninja action!). Our manager uniform, however, is slacks, dress shirt, tie, sport coat.... I feel this is ridiculous, at least for my location... we are a beach town! Managers should be able to wear Hawaiian shirts with no tie or coat at least!!!



Mike
 

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Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 10-05-2007, 02:40 AM:
 
Polo/slacks here.
 

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Posted by Aaron Mehocic (Member # 15) on 10-05-2007, 07:35 PM:
 

quote: Chris Slycord

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I think what he was implying that the uniforms weren't the only thing he wanted to go all-out splurging on. If the uniforms were the only thing, then he'd probably be able to get a theater; but the fact that the guy didn't get one probably means he simply had lofty goals of all sorts.

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quote: Frank Angel

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Our sound engineer out-and-out refuses to wear the shirts.

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When doing sound for any show I've never worn the standard black everything that you would expect (and demand) the stage crew to. I've don't think I've ever worked a show with a good head sound guy that did either.

If the guy is really good and he shows up at least half sober then you're way ahead of the game.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 10-07-2007, 03:26 PM:
 
He is very good, very sober and always on time, so no one says boo about it.

I just like the idea of the staff all being recognizable. I personally feel there is something "right" about wearing something that makes me feel part of the crew and part of the organization which I am proud to work for.

When I was the house sound guy here, the mixing position was up in a sound booth where you couldn't be seen or hear the house sound for that matter (talk about absurd), so you didn't have any need to be identifiable. But we did a few cabaret shows on the stage itself. They were very elegant affairs with tables in the center of our stage, a very top-draw catered dinner. The lighting and sound control consoles were on a raised control booth at one end of the "room" and the performance stage was built on the other side. For those events, we all wore tuxes -- lighting, sound, stage crew. It was very impressive. And here's the interesting thing -- I did notice that the crew acted very differently when they were dressed to the nines. Much more reserved; cuss words were down by maybe 50%. Not bad for the price of a tux rental.
 

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Posted by Mike Sellars (Member # 4042) on 10-08-2007, 10:24 AM:
 
When I was a manager with AMC round '04 or so, they had gone from the white shirt-with-epaulets deal to a slacks and polo combo... except for one issue that always glared at me - the supervisors wore khaki slacks! If they did any serious work at all, their pants were filthy!

Mike
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 10-08-2007, 11:14 PM:
 

quote:

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When I was a manager with AMC round '04 or so, they had gone from the white shirt-with-epaulets deal to a slacks and polo combo... except for one issue that always glared at me - the supervisors wore khaki slacks! If they did any serious work at all, their pants were filthy!

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quote:

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When I was a manager with AMC round '04 or so, they had gone from the white shirt-with-epaulets deal to a slacks and polo combo... except for one issue that always glared at me - the supervisors wore khaki slacks! If they did any serious work at all, their pants were filthy!

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I worked for AMC in 2002 when they did the changeover from button-down shirt with epaulettes to the two-tone polos... While the polos were much more comfortable, I rather preferred the professional feel that the button-down shirts gave me. That and they went with the decor of the location... AMC's Quail Springs 24 in Oklahoma City has this almost spaceship theme inside the building, so I thought it fitting that the employees almost looked like pilots or stewards.
 

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Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 10-21-2007, 07:39 PM:
 
I've always been partial to Polo style shirts. They are easy to maintain, look good, are easily embroidered with your custom logo and can be purchased relatively inexpensively when bought in bulk quantities.

For a number of years, the theatres I managed were at the beach in tourist towns. I always pushed to allow our staff to go to a Polo style shirt, to no avail. I also thought it appropriate to allow the staff to wear khaki, or black, shorts but I never could get the corporate level supers on board. Then again, with anything that made sense to improve moral, per cap or cut costs, I could never get them to understand the logic. That's just what happens when you are under corporate governance and 'across the board' decision making based on 'across the board' data.

I'm glad to be gone.
 

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