Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Looking for Projectionists Who Worked in the 1960s

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Posted by Elena Gorfinkel (Member # 2757) on 10-18-2004, 08:05 PM:

hi all-
wondering if you all could help me out with a specific question.
i'm a phd student in cinema studies at nyu, and am writing a dissertation about sexploitation films in the 1960s. i thought i might be able to leave a message here inquiring if any of you worked as projectionists in grindhouse theaters or drive-ins featuring skin flicks in the 1960s, particularly in urban areas such as new york, chicago, la, san francisco. i would be interested in talking to you further about your experiences working then.

i plan to contact IATSE local 306 in nyc, as well as the other locals in la and long island. (i'm a UAW member myself.)
your help would be much appreciated!

thanks!

elena gorfinkel

[ 10-18-2004, 11:05 PM: Message edited by: Elena Gorfinkel ]

Posted by Greg Davis (Member # 2687) on 10-21-2004, 12:37 AM:

Ah, incriminating evidence you seek. I suggest Phil. Givin a list of people, anyone with a pirate hat is definitely a dealer in the dark arts.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 10-21-2004, 12:44 AM:

Most of the operators I knew from back then(when I was a kid) are all gone now.... sad but true.

Mark @ CLACO

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 10-21-2004, 11:36 AM:

In Los Angeles, when you started in the local. You worked at the Pussycat adult theatres, before you got a chance to work at any of the regular theatres.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 10-21-2004, 11:46 AM:

Sexploitation really hit its stride in the 70s at drive-ins. FWIW, I ran sexploitation at drive-ins all over KY in the early to mid-1970s, if that helps... and got welcomed into the IA by being assigned to a hardcore porn house (35mm) in the late 70s.

Like Mark, just about everyone I knew back then who had operated in the 60s is gone. (EDIT: I do know one fellow who I think has email access, I'll see if I can get your info to him.)

Btw... how does a person come to be in the UAW, by working in film?

Posted by Floyd Justin Newton (Member # 1316) on 10-22-2004, 08:46 AM:

OK...here's one. Retired in the 80's. Doing something else
now, however, projection still in my blood. Contact me at
any time. [Smile]

Posted by Elena Gorfinkel (Member # 2757) on 10-22-2004, 01:54 PM:

Hi All -
Thanks so much for all of your responses! I will get in contact with each of you individually. It's sad that so many of the folks involved back then are gone now, especially from a perspective of trying to reconstruct what the film scene was like then in non-mainstream theaters. I noted that folks posted the Russ Meyer RIP on this board, and Doris Wishman, the veritable queen of sexploitation, died recently as well.

I actually got the idea to contact projectionists, because I remembered reading cases from the 1960s in local papers where when prints of "objectionable" films would be seized by police in the old days of censor boards and obscenity law, the projectionist would get arrested, if the manager or other theater personnel were not on premises, even though they had no relationship to the *making* of the films. I think some unions (IATSE?) protested and passed an ordinance so that projectionists would not have to bear the brunt of police seizures and obscenity prosecution.
Have any of you heard of cases like this? I would be curious to hear your stories about the precariousness of showing material that was risque in its time.

And, to answer Tim's question about the UAW - I'm actually in a union that represents grad student teachers at NYU, but our Local (2110) also reps folks who work at the Museum of Modern Art, the Village Voice, Bank Of India, Columbia U workers, etc. The UAW has repped "white collar" jobs since the 1940s, in addition to the usual automobile & aereospace gigs.

Cheers,
Elena

Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 10-22-2004, 03:21 PM:

I worked some grind houses in DC when I first started with IATSE 224. I remember the manager at one telling me that if I saw the house lights come on, and I didn't do it, to beat feet out the side exit.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 10-22-2004, 04:12 PM:

Elena, oh, I've got some good arrest stories for you! Full of corruption and intrigue. [Wink]

Didn't know that about the UAW.. wish the IA had been as dedicated.

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 10-25-2004, 02:40 AM:

quote: Tim Reed
I ran sexploitation at drive-ins all over KY

Posted by Elena Gorfinkel (Member # 2757) on 10-26-2004, 11:45 AM:

Hi All
I've sent private messages to those of you who have stated that
you worked in a grindhouse theater in the 60s/70s. You can write me back whenever you have the time, I really appreciate it! [Smile]

If all of you would like, are curious and have no objections, I can post the questions here as well to spur further discussion, recollection and anecdotal speculation. Do let me know. And thanks again!

Cheers,
Elena

Posted by Gary Crawford (Member # 2038) on 10-27-2004, 02:23 PM:

I started in 1972, and worked relief in every booth in the area, including X-houses. Even got arrested once, brought out in handcuffs long enough for the local paper to take my picture, then some official said I wasn't to be arrested as I wasn't the owner or manager. But the picture got in the paper. My Mom was so proud.

Email me for some fun anecdotes crawsat@juno.com