I am very surprised with the numbers you came up with considering you were a DM. The regular theaters pay nowhere near that amount. Specialty screening rooms like Sony, Universal,etc.. can get that high, but well worth it considering you probably will be running video, film, picture and track, etc…. and where is this overtime? I’ve been in the city for 15 years and never once got OT before or after midnight. 25% matching retirement???????? are you crazy. The city is 19% pension and medical combined. You go add that up and see what it comes out to for a pension. As for the medical, it covers me only. Most of the full time workers I know in other fields have a much better pension and better health coverage which a lot of times includes their whole family. Tell me where the greed is there. Now we move onto holiday double time. It’s time and a half for holidays and that doesnt include all holidays. Most people I know get at least that in their profession. I would love to hear the “and on and on stuff”.
Dave,
your comments can be applied to almost any profession. You have dumb schmucks everywhere. If every manager had a shit list, they should have requested someone else. They dont have to accept just whoever is sent. I’m sure there are wacky stories about people in other professions also. Like I said, it happens everywhere, not just unions. These jobs were never phased out because of unqualified operators. They were taken away because theater owners could save money with unqualified people running the booths. That is the only reason. Why do you think that in NYC they have union guys in on thursdays through sundays? Because they dont want anything going wrong with making up prints on thursdays. They also make most of their money on the weekends. If the union guys are so bad, why not have their “film threaders” do it? Look at the uptown now. Are you going to blame the union because of how fucked up the place is getting? And why do the few “high profile houses” use union operators? Because they know what the fuck theyre doing!!
You look at any industry today. What are they doing? Cutting back. Why? To save money. Are they making any improvments for the customers in any way? No. They dont give a shit about their customers. They want to make as much money as they can. With the theaters, they know enough people dont complain about problems with the shows. When they complain, they give a free pass. Now they come back again and buy more candy and popcorn. So don’t tell me about union greed. Take a look at how the theater chains are fucking everybody going to the movies….
Depends on many different things. How many screens, type of theater, etc…Anywhere between $10 and $25 an hour. Responsibilities entail anything that has to do with the presentation of the film. Starting with making up the prints to actually showing them. Maintaining the equipment. Adding and taking off trailers. Troubleshooting problems. There is a lot of different equipment in the booth. I would love to see a concession person change a 7000 Watt xenon bulb that can take your face apart if it explodes. Its happened. There are a lot of things people dont know about that projectionists are responsible for. Most people think we just thread the film and push the button.
The unions arent the ones charging the ridiculous prices to go see the movies. They didnt lower any of the prices when they got rid of the union either. They just lowered their standard of presentation.
This theater WAS a union theater and it is still here. It wasnt until they pulled out the union that the problems began. I didnt hear any complaints before that about presentation issues. Now all of a sudden the complaints start. This isnt just this theater either. Presentation declined when the qualified operators were pulled out.
Any skill can be passed to anyone. The difference is in the training. Not only do you need to be properly trained how to handle film, you need to know how to work the equipment. It’s not a simple job even with a platter and automation. Union training is very thourough. The people running these machines now were taught how to thread the projector and hit the start button and pray that nothing goes wrong. In the meantime, they are scratching print, they dont set maskings properly, they dont focus, they dont check sound levels and worst of all they dont handle film properly. So yes, it can be passed down to someone if they have the proper training. The problem is, you have stupid morons like JHOFFA that dont care about the bad presentations and continue to spend their money without complaining.
Any skill can be passed to anyone. The difference is in the training. Not only do you need to be properly trained how to handle film, you need to know how to work the equipment. It’s not a simple job even with a platter and automation. Union training is very thourough. The people running these machines now were taught how to thread the projector and hit the start button and pray that nothing goes wrong. In the meantime, they are scratching print, they dont set maskings properly, they dont focus, they dont check sound levels and worst of all they dont handle film properly. So yes, it can be passed down to someone if they have the proper training. The problem is, you have stupid morons like JHOFFA that dont care about the bad presentations and continue to spend their money without complaining.
I’m wondering what an idiot like that is basing his comments on. He obviously knows nothing about the projectionists job. Morons like that are the ones that dont complain about the scratched prints and bad presentations. Are you happy spending your 10 bucks or so and another 15 on popcorn knowing that the theater owners removed the projectionist because stupid people like you dont care about real movie presentation? Sounds like it to me.
Unfortunately, They will not get it fixed. The problem is film handling. The so called projectionists that they have now do not know how to handle film. Once they got rid of the union, the presentation went downhill. It will continue to suffer until the place closes.
Bellemore has a century head and RCA soundhead. 3000Watt Kniesley lamphouse. Christie platter. Smart ModVI no surrounds. They also run video. Also has century on century backup with 1600Watt lamp. They run a lot of live shows too.
I also worked as a projectionist at this theater in the 90’s. When you worked this theater, you also had to work the triple at the same time. Luckily it was only 30 seconds away by car.LOL.
Mr GG owned the Herricks, Port Washington, Grand Avenue, and I forget what else offhand. Clearview bought them from him and started buying up theaters all over. Then Cablevision bought Clearview. Thats where it stands today.
Ed, thanks for the pics. It WAS a nice conversation you were having with yourself. LOL. I watched them remove the neon sign one day. Originally the sign was completely covered up. Then one day I guess the covering fell off. There stood the sign with all the neon still intact for a few years. Then someone took the neon. Then finally they removed the sign. What a shame. It was about the only thing left to remind you of what it once was.
Ligg, part of the reason the Alan fell through was because of the fact that it was gutted. It wasnt known how gutted it was till they were well into the plans. I find it funny that you mentioned the old Pergament store. That is exactly where they are looking into putting a theater. They are a very small group of indian people. They are looking at possibly 5 or 6 screens there. Remember, this is still early in the process.
The alan had a balcony if I remember. I went there a few times. This theater was SO close to opening again a few years ago. Unfortunately it fell through.
Theaters 1,3 and 5 have Dolby Digital. Theaters 2 and 4 have DTS. Theater 6 has the dreaded Sony SDDS. None of them have EX unless they were installed in the last 2 years.
Ed, you’re correct about the theater entrances on the first floor. Also correct about back 2/3 and front 2/3. Lost Memory, balcony theaters do have 72 seats each.
I am very surprised with the numbers you came up with considering you were a DM. The regular theaters pay nowhere near that amount. Specialty screening rooms like Sony, Universal,etc.. can get that high, but well worth it considering you probably will be running video, film, picture and track, etc…. and where is this overtime? I’ve been in the city for 15 years and never once got OT before or after midnight. 25% matching retirement???????? are you crazy. The city is 19% pension and medical combined. You go add that up and see what it comes out to for a pension. As for the medical, it covers me only. Most of the full time workers I know in other fields have a much better pension and better health coverage which a lot of times includes their whole family. Tell me where the greed is there. Now we move onto holiday double time. It’s time and a half for holidays and that doesnt include all holidays. Most people I know get at least that in their profession. I would love to hear the “and on and on stuff”.
Dave,
your comments can be applied to almost any profession. You have dumb schmucks everywhere. If every manager had a shit list, they should have requested someone else. They dont have to accept just whoever is sent. I’m sure there are wacky stories about people in other professions also. Like I said, it happens everywhere, not just unions. These jobs were never phased out because of unqualified operators. They were taken away because theater owners could save money with unqualified people running the booths. That is the only reason. Why do you think that in NYC they have union guys in on thursdays through sundays? Because they dont want anything going wrong with making up prints on thursdays. They also make most of their money on the weekends. If the union guys are so bad, why not have their “film threaders” do it? Look at the uptown now. Are you going to blame the union because of how fucked up the place is getting? And why do the few “high profile houses” use union operators? Because they know what the fuck theyre doing!!
You look at any industry today. What are they doing? Cutting back. Why? To save money. Are they making any improvments for the customers in any way? No. They dont give a shit about their customers. They want to make as much money as they can. With the theaters, they know enough people dont complain about problems with the shows. When they complain, they give a free pass. Now they come back again and buy more candy and popcorn. So don’t tell me about union greed. Take a look at how the theater chains are fucking everybody going to the movies….
Depends on many different things. How many screens, type of theater, etc…Anywhere between $10 and $25 an hour. Responsibilities entail anything that has to do with the presentation of the film. Starting with making up the prints to actually showing them. Maintaining the equipment. Adding and taking off trailers. Troubleshooting problems. There is a lot of different equipment in the booth. I would love to see a concession person change a 7000 Watt xenon bulb that can take your face apart if it explodes. Its happened. There are a lot of things people dont know about that projectionists are responsible for. Most people think we just thread the film and push the button.
The unions arent the ones charging the ridiculous prices to go see the movies. They didnt lower any of the prices when they got rid of the union either. They just lowered their standard of presentation.
This theater WAS a union theater and it is still here. It wasnt until they pulled out the union that the problems began. I didnt hear any complaints before that about presentation issues. Now all of a sudden the complaints start. This isnt just this theater either. Presentation declined when the qualified operators were pulled out.
Thats even more ridiculous than hoffa’s statements.
Any skill can be passed to anyone. The difference is in the training. Not only do you need to be properly trained how to handle film, you need to know how to work the equipment. It’s not a simple job even with a platter and automation. Union training is very thourough. The people running these machines now were taught how to thread the projector and hit the start button and pray that nothing goes wrong. In the meantime, they are scratching print, they dont set maskings properly, they dont focus, they dont check sound levels and worst of all they dont handle film properly. So yes, it can be passed down to someone if they have the proper training. The problem is, you have stupid morons like JHOFFA that dont care about the bad presentations and continue to spend their money without complaining.
Any skill can be passed to anyone. The difference is in the training. Not only do you need to be properly trained how to handle film, you need to know how to work the equipment. It’s not a simple job even with a platter and automation. Union training is very thourough. The people running these machines now were taught how to thread the projector and hit the start button and pray that nothing goes wrong. In the meantime, they are scratching print, they dont set maskings properly, they dont focus, they dont check sound levels and worst of all they dont handle film properly. So yes, it can be passed down to someone if they have the proper training. The problem is, you have stupid morons like JHOFFA that dont care about the bad presentations and continue to spend their money without complaining.
I’m wondering what an idiot like that is basing his comments on. He obviously knows nothing about the projectionists job. Morons like that are the ones that dont complain about the scratched prints and bad presentations. Are you happy spending your 10 bucks or so and another 15 on popcorn knowing that the theater owners removed the projectionist because stupid people like you dont care about real movie presentation? Sounds like it to me.
Unfortunately, They will not get it fixed. The problem is film handling. The so called projectionists that they have now do not know how to handle film. Once they got rid of the union, the presentation went downhill. It will continue to suffer until the place closes.
3 theaters upstairs have DTS. The other upstairs theater has Dolby Digital EX. The downstairs theater has analog stereo.
Anyone know if this theater is still available??…..Longislandmovies??? anyone???
I knew I was missing one. LOL. Thanks Ed.
It was a 35/70 Century projector when I worked there. I think was only one.
Both. The union operators became managers so it IS still a union booth.
Yes, they had a Christie 35/70 platter. Bobby is still the BA.
Underwent a large overhaul and all new marquee.
Bellemore has a century head and RCA soundhead. 3000Watt Kniesley lamphouse. Christie platter. Smart ModVI no surrounds. They also run video. Also has century on century backup with 1600Watt lamp. They run a lot of live shows too.
I also worked as a projectionist at this theater in the 90’s. When you worked this theater, you also had to work the triple at the same time. Luckily it was only 30 seconds away by car.LOL.
Looks like they are going Bollywood.
Mr GG owned the Herricks, Port Washington, Grand Avenue, and I forget what else offhand. Clearview bought them from him and started buying up theaters all over. Then Cablevision bought Clearview. Thats where it stands today.
Ed, thanks for the pics. It WAS a nice conversation you were having with yourself. LOL. I watched them remove the neon sign one day. Originally the sign was completely covered up. Then one day I guess the covering fell off. There stood the sign with all the neon still intact for a few years. Then someone took the neon. Then finally they removed the sign. What a shame. It was about the only thing left to remind you of what it once was.
Ligg, part of the reason the Alan fell through was because of the fact that it was gutted. It wasnt known how gutted it was till they were well into the plans. I find it funny that you mentioned the old Pergament store. That is exactly where they are looking into putting a theater. They are a very small group of indian people. They are looking at possibly 5 or 6 screens there. Remember, this is still early in the process.
The alan had a balcony if I remember. I went there a few times. This theater was SO close to opening again a few years ago. Unfortunately it fell through.
Theaters 1,3 and 5 have Dolby Digital. Theaters 2 and 4 have DTS. Theater 6 has the dreaded Sony SDDS. None of them have EX unless they were installed in the last 2 years.
Ed, you’re correct about the theater entrances on the first floor. Also correct about back 2/3 and front 2/3. Lost Memory, balcony theaters do have 72 seats each.