Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Who or what inspired you in this business

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Posted by Timothy Ervin (Member # 733) on 03-13-2005, 08:33 PM:

We have posted how long we have been in the biz, but, who or what has inspired you the most? How did you get in the business and what has made you stay?

Posted by Allison Parsons (Member # 2728) on 03-13-2005, 11:30 PM:

What got me in the biz: I needed a job and I had just turned 16. I liked movies so I thought, 'hey, why not work at a movie theater?'

Why I'm still in the biz: BECAUSE IT'S ADDICTIVE!! and for some reason I can't pull myself out of working at theaters.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-14-2005, 01:28 AM:

At first, I was inspired by the projectors. Being on the "inside" of the operation.

Nowadays, that's still the case; but watching the satisfaction of the people enjoying the movies, and hearing the compliments we receive about the films and the theatre, are what keeps me enthusiastic.

Posted by Chris Brown (Member # 2800) on 03-14-2005, 01:52 AM:

My best friend had worked at the theatre for about 6 months, and I was looking for a job, so it just kinda fit.

And Allison is totally right; after awhile, it becomes incredibly addicting, and you find yourself unable to leave.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 03-14-2005, 02:04 AM:

Okey...now it's my turn to tell my story:

..and I have to go back to the mid 50's...

My father was a school teacher. I was 5 yrs old. I really can't remember how it started, but every time when DAD would have a film to present to class, he'd bring home the B&H Filmosound model 185 16mm home and show us family, including aunts and uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews and friends and have a "movie party" of sorts. He'd show all the films that the school were showing that week over the weekend. Very, very educational films and some entertaining ones along with the bunch. Well, as a 5yr old, I'd never seen such a machine as a machine that can project moving imagery, plus having sound on a movie screen that my DAD rigged up on the wall using a bedsheet.

This machine was the most fascinating thing that I've ever seen! Course, being a bit of a "take it apart and put it back together" sort of kid with his toys, thus having some mechanical drive in me, seeing wheels and spur cogs spinning around pulling that strip of plastic through a machine and moving pictures come out and all of us being entertained by such a device as this.

After this, whenever my school(s) were having films, I would manage to sit close or near the projector-just to see it run.

Okey, now let's move up to 1962. We had just moved out to the country (I was a city kid) and didn't know anybody. I met this boy in my 6th grade class. He told me that his DAD was a theatre projectionist and he knows how to run 35mm film projectors. "35mm film projectors?" I said. Never heard of such of a machine. He then proceded to show me pictures of such machinery that his DAD took with him standing on a stool to thread the machines.

My friend has a massive collection of 8mm films - Castle Films, Disney Films and anything that he can get a hold of. Now, I'm bit with 8mm stuff...(lol). We'd watch his films when I could go over to his house and eat pizza while being entertained by his prized collection.

Okey, now let's head to 1969 - when we graduated from high school. Here is a pict of his first collection of 35mm equipment that he acquired from an old shutdown theatre that was given to him. We were in our front yard and my mother taking the foto:

This was an old Simplex Standard setup. He got the machinery cleaned up and running, but never got the old tunger bulb rectifier to work, yet the lamphouse was in very good condition with a practically new mirror.

That fall, he was offered a job at a drive in where we went to college. He had to turn it down for schooling factors, yet he told me about it and I checked in on it.

Well....you know the rest of the story...35 yrs later.

My friend in this picture is heading off to ShoWest this week..

He has a home theatre setup now with 35mm equipment. I take care of his setup from time to time.

You might say "friends forever" ....

Yes Chris, this job is MASSIVELY ADDICTIVE! I've had other jobs with potential career opportunities, but this occupation has such magnetism to enjoying it that it really "get's into the blood" so to say. When you advance in life with your career that you're acquiring, you'll never forget this field of work.

-thx Monte

Posted by Richard Greco (Member # 2032) on 03-14-2005, 02:25 AM:

Wow Monte....you've gotten wiser as your years racked up...How old is that pic?

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 03-14-2005, 02:34 AM:

Hi Richard. That pic was taken in the "Summer of 1969" (Bryan Adams, song..lol), right after we graduated from high school and we went on his first excursion for acquiring old booth equipment. He's acquired much more since then. It was a lot of fun.

I'm going to send down, for the picture warehouse of FT, of this Drive-In that I used to work at and where I began in this crazy business that fall of 1969. Please look for it when it gets posted.

thx-Monte

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 03-14-2005, 03:11 AM:

quote: Allison Parsons
for some reason I can't pull myself out of working at theaters.

You WILL when there is something you need to buy, like a car, a house, or a piece of cheese.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 03-14-2005, 03:35 AM:

quote: Allison Parsons
I can't pull myself out of working at theaters.

...as what Joe said and I agree. But get some learning on tekkie stuff, plus some management skills to stay within the walls of a theatre so you'll have some security with these new added skills, plus a better wage to be able to buy car, house, etc..

-Monte

Posted by Dean Kollet (Member # 1789) on 03-14-2005, 07:00 PM:

I needed beer money, so I got a job @ the local AMC. I worked concession for a few months, stumbled into the booth, got hooked, and convinced them to train me....

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 03-14-2005, 09:37 PM:

quote: Dean Kollet
I needed beer money...

Dean... FINALLY a guy that tells the real reason! [beer]

Posted by Floyd Justin Newton (Member # 1316) on 03-14-2005, 10:01 PM:

A fellow by the name of Al Zarzana in Houston, Texas ran into me
at the Hieghts Theatre, in about 1957, and it all escallated from there. Now... that makes a loooooong [beer]

story short!

Posted by Thomas Dieter (Member # 2507) on 03-14-2005, 10:47 PM:

Well, I have to say that my reason for getting into the business was to attempt to support myself while in school, and just enjoy myself. I started my Sophomore year in High School, fall of 1998, and just enjoyed working as a concessionist, advancing up to Ticket Taker, and then to Doorman(Usher's were more of the person to walk in the theatre and check them every 5-10 mins. Doormen cleaned the theatre after the show).

After about 2 months of working there, I went up to the projection booth to get candy from the candy room, and stood their for about 5 mins just watching the projector run and the film feed out of the platter.

About 2 days later, the manager that hired me was showing me some more things to the doormans duties like changing pop cylinders and such, and he was telling me at the same time, that if I kept up with my work ethic and enthusiasm, I would be one day up in the booth making 8-10$ an hour sitting on my ass doing nothing, while everyone down here is busting theirs just to make minimum wage. That did it right there.

I went home that night and spoke with my mom, told her that I wanted to become a projectionist, and possibly a theatre owner, and she said go for it. My step-father on the other hand wasn't so optimistic. All he could say was, "You don't have the work ethic to do that, and you can't handle such a responsibility" and the list goes on. Needless to say, he wasn't very supportive at all, and every chance he got, he would say something along those lines.

Finally, in the summer of 2000, I went to England, Ireland, and Wales with the People to People Students Ambassadors program for 3 weeks. Came back 3 days before my Birthday, Aug. 1, and went to watch Coyote Ugly. While I was in the managers office letting him know that I was back in town ready to work, the head projectionist came into the office, and as I went to the box office to get my ticket, he said, "Once you have your ticket, I need to talk to you." So I went to the booth and sat down with him, and he said that they were looking to train another projectionist as the fill-in that they had right now wasn't working out. She didn't care for the films, and just took the job for the money really, and he asked me if I wanted to be trained. I said yes. I started training that September, and by the end of September I was on my own. Roger, my trainer, stated that out of everyone that he has seen trained, and train himself, I was the fastest learner, and that I should take pride in that, and the work that I do.

My first day on my own, I went home and told my step-father I was a projectionist, and that I proved him wrong. He has yet to say I couldn't do something since, and I don't think he's going to. My life motto is, if you tell me I can't do something I want to do, just watch, I'll see you when I do achieve it.

Posted by Ken Layton (Member # 133) on 03-15-2005, 01:08 AM:

Flashback to 1969, Hillsdale High School in San Mateo, Calif. I was a freshman in my World Geography class. We had movie day and we were watching a travel/promotional film on the Bahamas. The clown who was running the Graflex 16 projector kept running this one water skiing scene with these gorgeous babes forward/backward/forward/backward ad nauseum. Everyone was getting tired of this crap and the bozo running the projector said, "if you can do better than you do it". The poor presentation and bad atitude of that guy is what did it for me. The next day I signed up for AV class to run the 16mm machines. Fast forward to 1972. We had just moved back up here to Olympia, Washington and Andy Crow had just bought the Capitol Theater and Olympic Theater (across the street from each other). I went to the Capitol to watch a movie one day and Andy was taking tickets. I got there early and asked if I could look in the booth. Andy got on the Bogen intercom and talked to the union man on duty, Tex Taylor. Tex said come on up! It was fascinating to watch the carbon arcs and Brenkert projectors. I loved it! Tex could see I was very interested and he soon took me under his wing. I learned alot from him and I sure miss him. He passed away in 1986.

Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 03-15-2005, 02:34 AM:

Art Schruhl was my mentor into this world of projection. He used to supply and run 16mm movies for Las Vegas' summer recreation program, which is how I met him in 1970 when I was finishing 9th grade. His real job was spotlight operator and projectionist for the Folies Bergere at the Tropicana Hotel. I guess he saw something in me and extended an invitation to his booth... bad mistake. I became a fixture in that booth during my high school years. He, along with several others on that crew, taught me their craft and helped sponsor me into their guild. Art was more of a father to me than any combination of my real or step dads.

Art Schruhl, Johnny Johnson, Louie Bradfield, Jay Carlow, Jack Gregg, Don McCullough, Cass Plumpton, Kenny Brown, Bob Schomer (Tropicana); Larry Little, Edgar Wertsbaugh (Cinerama dome); Carl Lowe, Kenny Higgins (Fox Charleston Plaza); Ken West (Sahara); Kinsey Turner (Las Vegas Hilton); Dave Rogers, Marty Izzo, Terry O'Connor, Angelo Molinaro (Caesars Palace); Louie Wutkie (Skyway Drive-in); Woody Jones (Las Vegas Drive-in); Rory O'Connor, Jim Ostrum (Redrock); Bob Cadigan, Neil Nagata, George Ferguson, Ron Olney, Ray Gonzales, Dave Becker (Trans American Video). They all inspired me.

[ 03-20-2005, 01:33 PM: Message edited by: Paul Mayer ]

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 03-15-2005, 11:53 PM:

John Pytlak *MIGHT* be the very reason I got into the movie theater business be way of a chance meeting at a drive-in theater.

We've chatted briefly about this in the past but there's no real way to confirm or deny it. It makes a good story, though, even if it's not true!

I was just a kid in grade school. My Mom and Dad used to have friends in NY state, just across the line from where I live. (Erie, PA.) They used to go to a drive-in movie and take us kids along.

Us kids would spend a lot of time going to "buy popcorn" but *I* always found a way to detour by the projection booth. I remember getting shooed out of the projection booth a many theaters but there's one incident in particular that sticks in my mind.

Most kids in the 70's would head for the playground at intermission time. Not me! I headed straight for the booth door. Well, one time, I got there at JUST the right time. The guy in the booth just happened to be in a good mood and the planets were aligned just right. He let me in to see the projectors!

He showed me how to thread the projector and make a changeover. He gave me a clip of film and a stump of a carbon and sent me on my way.

I got back to the car and I showed Mom and Dad my what I had got. My Dad grabbed me by the arm and dragged me back to the booth because he thought I stole them! I TRIED to tell him that the Projector Man gave them to me but he didn't believe me! When the booth guy said that he actually gave the stuff to me I was off the hook. I took that film and that piece of carbon home and it was my "treasure" for the longest time. I think I showed it to EVERYBODY for the rest of the summer!

Subsequently, John and I were talking and he told me that he used to work that drive-in right about the same time frame. So, there is a distinct possibility that it was John who gave me my first lesson in the booth when I was about 7 or 8 years old!

I still remember the movie. It had Warren Beaty and Goldie Hawn. I think the title was "Money" or something like that. It was the scene where Goldie Hawn pulled a huge wad of cash out of a duffel bag (or something) and was fanning it out and celebrating with it. It was only about 5 or 6 frames long. It might have been a clip out of an old trailer. Many of the details are sketchy but I remember that piece of film pretty well for it happening 30+ years ago!

Like I said... There's virtually no way to prove it but it certainly makes a good story!

If it really WAS you, Thanks John! [Smile]

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 03-16-2005, 01:02 AM:

quote: Randy Stankey
I think the title was "Money" or something like that.

The film was called $Dollars$.......

My Interests go back to 1976. That was when Mid-States theatres opened two locations here in town called the Northpark and Southpark Both locations featured four projectors located in the lobby. So while you are waiting to go into the movie you could stand there and watch the projectionist thread the shows and the movies run.

When I became old enough to get a job or more so my dad said you need to get a job.... I applied at the Northpark in 1982 and worked there for about six months before they had a management change and the company decided to clean house. I was upset because of that and even refused to attend a movie at that theatre for about a year and a half. I then decided to lift the boycot and started attending shows at the theatre soon becoming a frequent as once or twice a week.

After a while the manager at the time asked me if I would be interested in a job. I said sure. So for about a month I worked as usher and concession and a friend of mine was working the projection equipment at the time and he was showing me thing and teaching me threading and everything. After a month went by one of the projectionists just up and quit one day and I said I am ready give me the shift. That's when it all started running through the blood......

Posted by Kyle Caudill (Member # 1252) on 03-16-2005, 02:07 AM:

Hey darryl...wanna move to ca?? [Smile]

Posted by Jared Foley (Member # 3004) on 03-16-2005, 05:29 AM:

My brother worked at a small two screen theatre in town about four or five years ago. I remember looking at the projector before it was threaded and trying to figure out how it worked... looked too confusing for me.
Skip forward to just four months ago, and I was offered a job working with my cousin at a 6 screen in East Alton, IL. Right after I started, Management changed over, and the booth guy was shoved up to middle management, and I asked to be trained in booth. Since then I've read everything I can about the projectors I use, and even those that I don't. I seem to get made fun of when I talk about these things with co-workers, since it seems no one else there even has an interest in films, let alone an enthusiastic interest. Ah well... I love it and that's all that matters I guess.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 03-16-2005, 08:16 AM:

As a kid growing up in the 1980s, I saw many films in my town's theatre (a single-screen 400-seater from the 1920s with curtains, great sound, and which was well managed and always impeccably clean; it closed around 1986/87). I always loved the experience there and, although I didn't know much about film presentation, I was always fascinated by how they were able to switch from one projector to the other during the movie without any noticeable disruption on screen. I was similarly fascinated by the 16mm projectors in school and I showed many bad educational movies on B&H auto-shredders.

In high school, I became interested in film production and the technical side of things and made a couple of 16mm shorts. I became interested in things like optical film sound, lab procedures, and Dolby encoding as a result.

In college, I fell in love with the local theatre (a 1930s single-screen house with 500 seats, curtains, eclectic programming, and a big screen). Eventually, I ended up working there as a projectionist after a management "changeover" (pardon the bad pun) where the new manager lost the former employees and was completely clueless about film in general. I already loved the films, and learned to love the equipment and the idea of putting on a perfect show every time.

Since then, I've been unable to stay away from the exhibition business, and have done occasional part-time work in many projection booths running all formats (16/35/70mm), met many excellent operators, and generally had a good time. I have also acquired the contents of a booth (including a pair of Centurys--just like the ones I ran at that theatre near my college) and will be setting up an apartment screening room in the near future. I have a full-time "real job" which I also love, but I expect to be involved in exhibition in some limited way for years to come.

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 03-16-2005, 09:51 AM:

quote: Kyle Caudill
Hey darryl...wanna move to ca??

No not really.......So when you gonna move back here? [Smile]

Posted by Don Sneed (Member # 955) on 03-16-2005, 10:13 AM:

a 16mm Victor Sound Projector, when I was growing up, we did not have a TV, my dad had this machine with about (20) 1 hr. reels. movies & music film shorts such as MTV video music is today, only this was music from the 40's & early 50's....when I turned 17, I got a job as a union projectionist at a single screen theatre, the rest is history !!

Posted by Rachel Gilardi (Member # 1016) on 03-16-2005, 10:59 AM:

I started as a popcorn scooper when I was 13 and have made my way to supervisor, projectionist, asst. manager, and now GM. I did take a break for about a year but I missed it so I came back. [Smile]

I guess my first boss KIND OF inspired me to stay in the business. I liked the guy but he was the toughest man I ever worked for. After we cleaned theaters he would walk through with a flashlight and point out any kernals or skittles and make you pick them up. Take in mind, when he had the flashlight, no brooms were allowed. I'm still convinced he just did that to look at the girls butts but he made me want to be a manager just to have the control... MWAHAHAHAHA [evil]

No really, I always thought there was another way to go about getting the same results as he did. I wanted to prove that the employees could work hard yet still have fun, I'm still working on that. [Big Grin]

Posted by Kyle Caudill (Member # 1252) on 03-16-2005, 01:50 PM:

quote: Darryl Spicer
No not really.......So when you gonna move back here?

When the time is right...right now its 80 and sunny, so the time is not right [Smile]

I got into the business when it was a summer job in a small time. You took the first job you found. Transferred to another theatre when I went to U of K. One thing led to another now i'm a GM. But Darryl did train me in booth when a spot opened up after an employee chased a customer out of the building with a broom.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-16-2005, 02:30 PM:

quote: Rachel Gilardi
After we cleaned theaters he would walk through with a flashlight and point out any kernals or skittles and make you pick them up.

HAH! I thought I was the only person who did that with his staff. Sometimes they're amazed how much stuff can be found with the flashlight.

Posted by R. Andrew Diercks (Member # 1725) on 03-16-2005, 04:13 PM:

I washed cars for a year before I worked at a theatre. Not enough hours after school to make anything and a good friend of mine worked at our local one screen theatre built in 1924.

I begged the manager for a job several times and he reluctantly hired me. Apparently he did not like me then. I was hired as "strictly summer help". When August rolled around he stated that he was not letting me leave and the rest is history. He and I are great friends now and my friend that got me the job is also a GM for our company. I did go to college and try some other things, but the theatre kept dragging me back.

Posted by Dieter Depypere (Member # 3184) on 05-30-2005, 07:27 AM:

My father was projectionist - sometimes, as a little boy, I watched him at work in the booth... When I grew up, he taught me how to operate the booth properly. At the age of 12 or 14 (dunno exactly) I was able to run the show on my own. Due to school (higher technical college) I hadn't had the chance to be projectionist for about 8 years. Last year in summer I was free so I went back. Quite an addictive job [Wink]

Once you have learned it, you'll never forget it. I am looking forward to the mid of June when there are new shows to come up!

Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 05-30-2005, 08:13 AM:

My mentor was Sid O'Berry, the first TV cameraman at WSM TV in Nashville TN. When I met him, he was working as the film director of an independent TV station in Nashville in 1976 that was about to go on the air. He said he saw something in me that made him want to show me the right way to do things with film inspection.

Sid had 40+ years handling film. His father owned a theatre in Ellenton, SC back in the 1930's before the town was bought up by the Aiken SC nuclear plant site. Sid was the projectionist there.

Sid got me started at the drive-in in Nashville, too. Showed me the ropes of changeovers, then went outside and watched the movie with his wife Frieda while I handled the show. I loved the work.

Stayed in the 16mm world, mainly, until 1999. Now its 35mm all the way.

Sid passed away in 1990 after a long bout with lung cancer. I'll never forget him, his still picture work, his scrapbooks of thousands of famous country music people pictures that he took while at WSM.

I carry on his legacy. It's a big load to carry.

Posted by Dennis Udovich (Member # 1066) on 05-30-2005, 08:26 PM:

I grew up in the business. My dad was a union projectionist working at different indoor single screens and an outdoor theatre in Sheboygan. So I always got to see free movies. In my younger years, in the summer, my dad took my brother, sister and I along to the drive-in for a tripe feature on the weekend. I'd also tag along in the morning when he would go to repair broken and ripped out speakers. I knew I wanted to be in the business. With television killing the movie business in the 50's, my dad always told me to stay out. He said, "It's a dying business." Well, the more he wanted me to stay out of it, the more I wanted to be in it. I applied for an usher job while in high school at the downtown theatre. My dad told the manager not to hire me. Since I had a motorcycle, I would go to the drive-in most every night. (Hey I got in free, my dad worked their.) I think the manager got sick of me hanging around, he offered me a job. So I worked in the concession stand selling popcorn and hot dogs. Once the late show started and the concession stand closed, I'd hang in the booth with the "other" projectionists when my dad wasn't working. They all knew me and soon started to show me how to run the projectors. The day (night) came when I approached Dad that I knew how to run the show. At that point he never had a problem with me being in the business. I think he was proud. The next four years I was in the Army during Viet Nam as a post commander's clerk. Oh Ya, I ran the military theatre too. Never been out of the business.

Posted by Jeremy Fuentes (Member # 2135) on 05-31-2005, 10:46 AM:

My inspiration was mainly the girls that worked at and went to the movies.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 05-31-2005, 03:21 PM:

I've been taking photos since I was only 7. Started developing them myself at the age of 10. Was yearbook photography editor in high school, doing all the film processing too. Electronics was also a hobby since the age of 7. Started doing self-taught radio and TV repair around the age of 12, and at a TV repair shop after high school. My career objective in high school was to be an electronics engineer, likely for a consumer electronics company.

I commuted to college with a high school classmate who's father leased and ran the local drive-in. Driving to school at the end of my freshman year in May 1967, he asked if I would be interested in working as their projectionist, using my background in photography and electronics. I really enjoyed the next three years working there and at a local "hardtop" too. Also filled in at the Buffalo IATSE 233 local, becoming good friends with the business agent, Ken Kavanaugh. He is the one who really encouraged me to apply to Kodak, where my first project was designing a 100-seat screening room. (I also applied to AT&T, Sylvania, and Wurlitzer). Thirty-five years later (June 8 is my 35th anniversary at Kodak), I still enjoy "show business". [thumbsup]

My most exciting achievements were receiving the Academy Technical Achievement Award from Renee Zellweger for developing the LAD system, and the EPA Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award in Washington DC on Earth Day 2003 for my work in developing solvent-free film cleaning technology.

Posted by Jeremy Jorgenson (Member # 2989) on 05-31-2005, 11:56 PM:

WOW!

tough post to follow... my girlfriend in high school had a manager at the store she worked at that was also the GM of a local 2 plex... she convinced me to apply & I got the job. I eventually made my way up to projection. 12 years, 6 theatres (and theatre chains) and 4* film formats later, I'm still doing it.

(* well, three at theatres - 35, 8/70 & 15/70... one at school - 16)

Posted by Robert E. Allen (Member # 1351) on 06-01-2005, 02:36 PM:

I was born into the business. My father started cranking out silent films in a "6 by 8 sweatbox suspended from the ceiling of an opera house" in Michigan. He married and moved to the West Coast. He became an I.A. member in '37. I followed in his footsteps and became an usher in '45 then a member of I.A. local 577 in San Bernardino, CA in '50. I remained primarily in the business for the next 25 years owning and operating theatres in Solvang, CA (now the Bit'o'Denmark restaurant), Portland, OR and Kathlamet, WA. Most recently I became a manager for Regal Entertainment Group in Poulsbo, WA but have been forced to resign because of a physical problem I didn't know I had when I hired on. I am looking forward to owning and operating a private theatre (film club) sometime in the future. Right now I am Resident Manager of an adult care facility.