William is quite correct, a licence is required to operate a motion picture projector in NYC, and is given at the offices of Consumer Affairs, There is a fee to take the exam and once you optain a licence you can renew it by mail for $60 every two years.
Although there are some fire related questions, it is not a fire department test. The test consists of about 25 multible choice questions, and I have been told it would be difficult for the average front-of-the-house employee to pass.
Back in the 50s, when I took my test, the test was much more difficult, and in addition to the written test you were required to take a practical exam as well.
The City of New York is the only area in the state of New York
that requires a licence. Other areas such as Westchester and Long Island do not require a licence.
AlAlvarez made some interesting points about the state of projectionist working in thr industry today. All too sad.
Regal and National Amusements have already warned they will not play any films distributed in this manner, with more theatre owners expected to stand together and refuse to show the films.
I also believe that should such a thing happen in any shape or form, the novelty would soon wear off and people would soon miss the movie going experience in a theatre. I think any studio going along with this policy will soon regret it.
Piracy would flurish.
In my 50+ years in this buisness I have seen many threats to our movie theatres. Uncle Miltie, Pay TV, and DVDs,have all threatened the theatres, but we will survive because people need to get out of the house and nothing beats seeing a movie in a theatre.
Michael, When I wrote that only the south side had 70mm, I was referring to the time when the Mid Plaza Six was built. As I recall, Hicksville North and South both had 70mm, with Cinerama on the South side. However, the last time I worked the Hicksville North and South was the fall of 1983, about a year before it became Mid Plaza six, and by that time the 70mm on the North side had been removed and replaced with 35mm projectors with optical(mono)sound. I wonder if anyone knows when and why the equipment was removed. Perhaps the theate owners moved the 70mm projectors from the north side to another theatre.
Peter, nice reading your post, I enjoyed working the theatre with you. I also remember the owners quite well. I don’t recall which owner, perhaps it was Sid, who would spend every Saturday night in the lobby and would always come up to the booth to say “hello, how are you, do you need anythingâ€
Even after the theatre was carved up, we who worked the booth still called it North and South. In the beginning we had two projectionists on duty at all times, one on the North side 1-2-3 and the other on the South side 4-5-6, I always worked the south side, and yes we did run a lot of 70mm. Later the owners negotiated a new contract and during the winter months, when the theatre was not on a continuous schedule, we had one man running all six cinemas for the single matinee shows. That last summer you may recall saying to me “your always hereâ€, That was because in 1987, which was the last time I worked there, I did 7 days a week working the whole day from noon to midnight. During July and August I had only ONE day off.
Who could ever forget those tiny little cinemas (screening rooms) on the lower level. The booths were like a closet, barley enough room to move around in. I would always wait till just a few minutes to show time to go down there and thread the booth, then I could just thread up, start the show, check the screen and get the heck out of there. We could only run films with a running time of 125 minutes or less in those two cinemas because regular size platters would not fit in those two booths and so smaller than usual platters had to be installed.
I also worked the theatres when it was Twin North and South, I worked the road show of “Grand Prix†on the South side with Bill Herd, I am sure you remember Bill. That is why when the theatre was carved up only the South side (#4 and #6 had 70mm, because in the days of Twin North and South only the South side had 70mm (Cinerama) the North side was 35mm only.
Warren, Thanks for clearing that up, I am glad to hear Cablevision will continue to operate the theatre. Although I may not always appreciate the “talent” booked into the theatre, I will always be greatfull for the magnificent restoration.
Spider-Man 3" took in a record $59 million domestically on opening day Friday, breaking the previous all-time high of $55.8 million for “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” in its first day last summer.
The movie took in an additional $45 million overseas on Friday for a worldwide total of $104 million, a record for single-day grosses worldwide.
The first “Spider-Man” pulled in $114.8 million domestically in its debut weekend in 2002, a record that stood until “Dead Man’s Chest” did $135.6 million last July.
Looks like “Spider-Man 3” will come in around the $135 million to $145 million range for its first weekend.
I saw it on Wednesday and thought it was a bit long but had an exciting second half. The two younsters (age 14 and 16) I took to the screening went nuts for it.
I wonder if any of you will agree the effects looked cheesy, and enough already with the girl friend, which really slows the movie down.
Is the Ziegfeld running film or digital?
The Dolan family has taken Cablevision private, does anyone know what that will mean, if anything, for RCMH?
Good news today!
The MTV video awards will NOT be held at RCMH this year.
You will all remember the desecration those people did on our beloved theatre last year.
On another theatre page some of us were discussing poor projection and projectionist with substance abuse problems that ruined shows. I am reminded of a story that took place at the Victory.
In the late 50s I did some projection relief work for the Moses brothers both at the Victory and Lane theatres on Staten Island.
One afternoon, I received a phone call from a very frantic theatre manager at the Victory, while I do not recall her exact words, it went something like this:
“Vito, it’s Josie, Johnny is drunk again and I don’t know what to do. First the news came on, then the cartoon came on and now the news is on again, I don’t know what is coming on next!â€
So I rushed down to the theatre to find Josie surrounded by annoyed patrons and trying to give refunds to a Saturday afternoon crowed of mostly kids.
I rushed up to the booth and found Johnny, who was barely able to stand up, I said to him “OK John your relief is here go rest a while in Josie’s officeâ€. Sadly, that was a situation that happened from tome to time in those lonely projection booths, when the only company a man had were his friends Jim Bean and Johnny Walker.
Well I got things going again, Josie bought me dinner, and there was an extra $5 in my pay packet that week.
Hey …five bucks was a lot in those days.
I just want to tell all of those reading this that Elias Moses, who along with his brother Charles, owned and ran the Victory, Lane and Stand, was a great man to work for; he always looked out for and appreciated loyal employees.
AlAvarez, thanks for that post. I knew for years now, most of the theatres outside the five boroughs and New Jersey have been negotiating new contracts , they allow a shared booth with both union and non-union operators, I did not know that policy had spread to Manhattan. This is very disturbing news indeed, but with the advent of platters and automation and the increased cost to a theatre’s overhead I suppose it was inevitable. When I think of the union operators who demanded platters at the Ziegfeld I must ask myself what were they thinking, they just helped management in the quest to eliminate their jobs. Why did the union back that up?
Somewhere along the line getting a NYC motion picture operators license (which I believe is still required) got much easier. When I took the test it was more difficult then it is today, in addition to the written test you had to pass a practical exam usually held in the booth of one of the members of the union examining board. I suppose the new simpler (multiple-choice) test has made it easier for theatres to employ non-union operators.
As to projectionists with substance abuse problems, let me tell you that problem goes way, way back.It was a lonely job cooped up all day alone, and some guys need a little Jim Beam to keep them company.
I recall stories of reels run out of order, guys passing out, or making changeovers in the middle of a reel.
One of the best was a guy who did not bother to put a take up reel in the lower magazine and simply allowed the entire 2000’ of film run onto the floor. But I’ll save the rest for the book I think I should write :)
Thanks Michael; The morning after it happened I was in touch with some of the folks at National Amusements, many ideas were tossed about to try and avoid that from reoccuring. Splits are very common and are not about to stop, they are very important in the booking process. We have had as many as three splits in one auditorium at a time, and it is simply up to the projectionist to be sure and thread the right movie. It was a mistake to be sure, but not one that I can easily forgive. I will admit it was a tricky split with the R movie showing before and after the PG one, but you just have to pay attention to what you are doing. By the way, the Island 16 has union projectionist.
You are so right about how things can go wrong in the booth, maybe someday I will write a book :)
AlAlvarez: I am having some trouble digesting the notion that
“many Manhattan theatres are no longer union” or that a projectionist could force the installation of a platter due to his/her back problems. My information is that IATSE local 306 still supplies projectionists to all theaters in Manhattan. I wonder if you could tell me where you got that information and if it is credible. I would be shocked to learn that it’s true.
Bill: I have a Rocky story, during a studio preview at the Royal theatre in Hawaii, Stallone himself came up to the booth and asked the projectionist to raise the sound. The projectionist called me to say “guess who just came up to see me in the booth” It was confirmed by other theatre staff who said Sly was as nice as could be, he also said “It’s OK, the sound is never load enough for me, it happens
every where I go"
Pete: We are a dying breed I am afraid, but I love that you are out there presenting movies as they should be. You are a showman!
Why thank you Bill, that’s nice to hear. Sometimes I wonder if the ramblings of an old man get tiresome to some of the younger folks.
Of course it is lot of fum for me to be able to share memories both good and bad, I am happy they are appreciated. The fact is
50+ years in different aspects of this business has been quite a ride!
Jeff: I understand what you are saying, sitting in a theatre trying to watch a movie that has less than perfect projection can be very irritating. I once marched up to the booth at the former Coronet theatre in NY to focus the picture. Reel one was fine but then we watched a very soft focused reel two. Then the changeover to reel three and we were back to a badly focused projector. I had had enough, The projectionist was still threading the next reel when I walked in and focused the projector, I can still see the look of “what the heck just happened” on his face as I walked out of the booth and down to my seat to enjoy the rest of the movie. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.
William: I am shocked by what you wrote, it sounds as bad as having an usher running the booth. Like any other profession you are bound to get a few incompetents . I suppose with the projectionist position becoming more obsolete, as well as a dying profession, the guys coming in now are not up to the standards we once were,
darn shame. As I wrote, outside of NYC you will find a lot of amateurs in the booth but I expect more professionalism in the union houses.
Jeff: I was writing about National Amusements theatres which Palisades Mall is not. Had an incident like that happened in a NA theatre you would have received both a refund AND a pass to see another film, and the booth problem would have been corrected ASAP.
No other circuit that I know of comes close to National Amusements in proper film presentation. It is of paramount importance to the company, as they have a reputation with many studios and other theatre circuits all of whom respect the dedication to the proper presentation of movies that is a National Amusements priority.
Oh dear, now I suppose this thread will be flooded with folks telling war stories about their movie going experience. I only ask that if you do, you include the good stories as well.
Truth be told, we should not be taking up space on the Ziegfeld page to discuss this, but as my bread and butter career for so many years, you can understand my frustration at what has happened to the great art of projection.
I would just like to clear the air a bit regarding projectionist.
Many of us (myself included) have written about the decline in the art of projection, and how many theatre owners are now using amateurs in the booth to save money.
As far as I know, in the five boroughs of New York, professional union projectionist are still running the show. We still have a strong union, local 306, supplying component, well-trained individuals to operate the booth. On Long Island, for the most part and contrary to what some have written Local 640 has pros in the booth. Once you get out of the city, into Westchester for example, you will find most theatres operating with managers and front-of-the-house staff running the booth. It is also very common in most locations in New Jersey.
In some cases that does not necessary spell disaster. National Amusements for example, has a comprehensive and mandatory training program for all managers, as well as a booth maintenance agreement with outside professional service companies. The booth is expertly maintained and booth personnel are in the booth at all times. In some locations the booth is shared between managers and union projectionists.
By the way, installing platters after the “Backdraft†debacle was ridiculous, it is just as easy, if not easier, to mount the print on a platter out of sequence as it is to project it that way reel-to-reel.
Willam and Jeff make good points, Projectionist no longer put on shows and many have lost pride in the presentation. In addition the new boys coming in now have no idea what that strange litle circle in the upper right hand corner of the frame is. A change-over? few today have never made one. I hate to think Clearview can’t cough up a few extra bucks to ship in those prints.
Getting back to the projectionists, I am sure there are a few old timers around like me who would love to work the Ziegfeld booth, and show 70mm the way we did in the ole days. By the way Jeff, you sounded down on 70mm IMAX, I think it’s rather good because it is projected at high speed as was TODD-AO, and with it’s larger frames runs horizontaly the way VistaVision did. So it’s VistaTodd. :) The only thing missing of course is the mag sound.
I don’t see how it is a matter of cost.
Does the theatre still have the two 35/70mm Century JJ projectors in the booth?? If so, it’s just a matter of throwing a cover over those damn platters and running reel-to-reel.
The question is has any of the magnetic sound equipment
(pre amps, etc) been removed, is the old system still intact.
Assuming all they did was add a digital projector to the booth along with the platter they installed after the “Backdraft: disaster, they should be set to go. Oh wait, the guys probably forgot how to make a changeover. No problem Professor Vito will teach them. :)
Seriously, does anyone know if the two 35/70 projectors are still
there?
Use the caption:
MOVIES THE WAY THEY WERE MEANT TO BE SEEN!
So many folks have only experienced the classics at the local shoeboxplex. we need to drag em away from their 50" plasma.
I recently ran into a young whipper snapper at a screening who admitted to have never seen a movie in 70mm. Ya gotta feel sorry for the lad.
Alan, we were always experimenting with the Cinerama,
it was my baby. I tried many different lenses and speaker systems, and we were able to project just about every aspect ratio.
When “The Wiz” came to the Cinerama we had not yet installed Dolby, and no magnetic stereo prints were available, the print we received was stereo optical. So Westly decided to create his own optical stereo. We installed stereo solor cells in the two projectors and Wesley took the signal coming from the solor cells and feed it into two seperate amplifiers to create “Wes and Vito’s optical stereo sound. I then challanged Wes to create a matrix that would enable us to have surrounds as well, but the movie bombed and we abanded the idea, but let me tell you, given the time, Wes would have come up with something, he is that smart. By the way, until the Dolby installation, we used the original Cinerama sound system for optical and magnetic sound.
The first Dolby installation was not at the Cinerama but at the Varsity. In those early days Dolby would assist in new installations, but Wesley took the installation manuel home, read it, and said "we don’t need a Dolby tech, I can do this” and with the help of Sol Kam, another great technician, do this they did.
Scroll up to Nov 21 comment I wrote for Michael Coate regarding the sound at Waikiki#3.
Alan, that was the work of my sound engineer, Wesley Inoyue.
He asked me one day, while we were doing the install at the Hilo triplex,if I would let him design a sound system for waikiki #3 and Cinerama. The kid was very talented and was responsible for many excellent sound upgrades in Hawaii. Wesley knows had to make a theatre sound system knock your socks off.
Warren, I wonder if we bumped into one another at that Sinatra show.
My sister,(a bobbysoxer in every sense of the word) and I attended his shows. As for “Singin in the Rain”, I can close my eyes and still see those lines wrapped around RCMH.
Oh Warren, Singing in the Rain at RCMH. To quote Sinatra in one of the “That’s Entertaimnent” movies, “you can wait and you can hope but you will never see the likes of this aagain!”
Splits, as they are called, are a common method of film booking. When two movies have come close to the end of their run they will be tied together to create a split, where the two films share a common screen in one auditorium. The two movies usually alternate showings through the day, a family G rated film might get all the matinees and one evening show and the adult film will follow later in the evening. But generally the two films will be evenly spit throughout the day.
Another reason for setting up a split is when two movies are alternated between two auditoriums, for example a kids movie might play in a larger house during the day and then moved to a smaller auditorium for the late shows when not as many seats are needed. This is also happens on a rainy weekend day where
You want all the kid friendly movies in your largest auditoriums for the matinees.
Yes Peter I recall Rob teling that story, as I recall the projectors were set up in the first mezz. With the average cost of a digital projector as high as it is, although the cost is coming down,this is of course a totally unpactical idea for the average venue. As you know 3-D requires maximum mlight output from the projector as well as a silver screen. However there are digital projectors becoming available with greater light output, up two four times the current pixel count and will not require a silver screen for 3-D.
The digital revotution has been on fire this past year, with great improvements and lower cost. My industry insiders tell me that they now can really see a big push for conversion from film to digital sooner than expected.
William, I don’t remeber how much I paid to take the test but the renewal for me is $60 every two years.
William is quite correct, a licence is required to operate a motion picture projector in NYC, and is given at the offices of Consumer Affairs, There is a fee to take the exam and once you optain a licence you can renew it by mail for $60 every two years.
Although there are some fire related questions, it is not a fire department test. The test consists of about 25 multible choice questions, and I have been told it would be difficult for the average front-of-the-house employee to pass.
Back in the 50s, when I took my test, the test was much more difficult, and in addition to the written test you were required to take a practical exam as well.
The City of New York is the only area in the state of New York
that requires a licence. Other areas such as Westchester and Long Island do not require a licence.
AlAlvarez made some interesting points about the state of projectionist working in thr industry today. All too sad.
Regal and National Amusements have already warned they will not play any films distributed in this manner, with more theatre owners expected to stand together and refuse to show the films.
I also believe that should such a thing happen in any shape or form, the novelty would soon wear off and people would soon miss the movie going experience in a theatre. I think any studio going along with this policy will soon regret it.
Piracy would flurish.
In my 50+ years in this buisness I have seen many threats to our movie theatres. Uncle Miltie, Pay TV, and DVDs,have all threatened the theatres, but we will survive because people need to get out of the house and nothing beats seeing a movie in a theatre.
Michael, When I wrote that only the south side had 70mm, I was referring to the time when the Mid Plaza Six was built. As I recall, Hicksville North and South both had 70mm, with Cinerama on the South side. However, the last time I worked the Hicksville North and South was the fall of 1983, about a year before it became Mid Plaza six, and by that time the 70mm on the North side had been removed and replaced with 35mm projectors with optical(mono)sound. I wonder if anyone knows when and why the equipment was removed. Perhaps the theate owners moved the 70mm projectors from the north side to another theatre.
Peter, nice reading your post, I enjoyed working the theatre with you. I also remember the owners quite well. I don’t recall which owner, perhaps it was Sid, who would spend every Saturday night in the lobby and would always come up to the booth to say “hello, how are you, do you need anythingâ€
Even after the theatre was carved up, we who worked the booth still called it North and South. In the beginning we had two projectionists on duty at all times, one on the North side 1-2-3 and the other on the South side 4-5-6, I always worked the south side, and yes we did run a lot of 70mm. Later the owners negotiated a new contract and during the winter months, when the theatre was not on a continuous schedule, we had one man running all six cinemas for the single matinee shows. That last summer you may recall saying to me “your always hereâ€, That was because in 1987, which was the last time I worked there, I did 7 days a week working the whole day from noon to midnight. During July and August I had only ONE day off.
Who could ever forget those tiny little cinemas (screening rooms) on the lower level. The booths were like a closet, barley enough room to move around in. I would always wait till just a few minutes to show time to go down there and thread the booth, then I could just thread up, start the show, check the screen and get the heck out of there. We could only run films with a running time of 125 minutes or less in those two cinemas because regular size platters would not fit in those two booths and so smaller than usual platters had to be installed.
I also worked the theatres when it was Twin North and South, I worked the road show of “Grand Prix†on the South side with Bill Herd, I am sure you remember Bill. That is why when the theatre was carved up only the South side (#4 and #6 had 70mm, because in the days of Twin North and South only the South side had 70mm (Cinerama) the North side was 35mm only.
Warren, Thanks for clearing that up, I am glad to hear Cablevision will continue to operate the theatre. Although I may not always appreciate the “talent” booked into the theatre, I will always be greatfull for the magnificent restoration.
Well The Ziegfeld has a new box-office champ
Spider-Man 3" took in a record $59 million domestically on opening day Friday, breaking the previous all-time high of $55.8 million for “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” in its first day last summer.
The movie took in an additional $45 million overseas on Friday for a worldwide total of $104 million, a record for single-day grosses worldwide.
The first “Spider-Man” pulled in $114.8 million domestically in its debut weekend in 2002, a record that stood until “Dead Man’s Chest” did $135.6 million last July.
Looks like “Spider-Man 3” will come in around the $135 million to $145 million range for its first weekend.
I saw it on Wednesday and thought it was a bit long but had an exciting second half. The two younsters (age 14 and 16) I took to the screening went nuts for it.
I wonder if any of you will agree the effects looked cheesy, and enough already with the girl friend, which really slows the movie down.
Is the Ziegfeld running film or digital?
The Dolan family has taken Cablevision private, does anyone know what that will mean, if anything, for RCMH?
Good news today!
The MTV video awards will NOT be held at RCMH this year.
You will all remember the desecration those people did on our beloved theatre last year.
On another theatre page some of us were discussing poor projection and projectionist with substance abuse problems that ruined shows. I am reminded of a story that took place at the Victory.
In the late 50s I did some projection relief work for the Moses brothers both at the Victory and Lane theatres on Staten Island.
One afternoon, I received a phone call from a very frantic theatre manager at the Victory, while I do not recall her exact words, it went something like this:
“Vito, it’s Josie, Johnny is drunk again and I don’t know what to do. First the news came on, then the cartoon came on and now the news is on again, I don’t know what is coming on next!â€
So I rushed down to the theatre to find Josie surrounded by annoyed patrons and trying to give refunds to a Saturday afternoon crowed of mostly kids.
I rushed up to the booth and found Johnny, who was barely able to stand up, I said to him “OK John your relief is here go rest a while in Josie’s officeâ€. Sadly, that was a situation that happened from tome to time in those lonely projection booths, when the only company a man had were his friends Jim Bean and Johnny Walker.
Well I got things going again, Josie bought me dinner, and there was an extra $5 in my pay packet that week.
Hey …five bucks was a lot in those days.
I just want to tell all of those reading this that Elias Moses, who along with his brother Charles, owned and ran the Victory, Lane and Stand, was a great man to work for; he always looked out for and appreciated loyal employees.
AlAvarez, thanks for that post. I knew for years now, most of the theatres outside the five boroughs and New Jersey have been negotiating new contracts , they allow a shared booth with both union and non-union operators, I did not know that policy had spread to Manhattan. This is very disturbing news indeed, but with the advent of platters and automation and the increased cost to a theatre’s overhead I suppose it was inevitable. When I think of the union operators who demanded platters at the Ziegfeld I must ask myself what were they thinking, they just helped management in the quest to eliminate their jobs. Why did the union back that up?
Somewhere along the line getting a NYC motion picture operators license (which I believe is still required) got much easier. When I took the test it was more difficult then it is today, in addition to the written test you had to pass a practical exam usually held in the booth of one of the members of the union examining board. I suppose the new simpler (multiple-choice) test has made it easier for theatres to employ non-union operators.
As to projectionists with substance abuse problems, let me tell you that problem goes way, way back.It was a lonely job cooped up all day alone, and some guys need a little Jim Beam to keep them company.
I recall stories of reels run out of order, guys passing out, or making changeovers in the middle of a reel.
One of the best was a guy who did not bother to put a take up reel in the lower magazine and simply allowed the entire 2000’ of film run onto the floor. But I’ll save the rest for the book I think I should write :)
Michael, I am not suggesting that the union operator was totally responsible for the mistake.
Thanks Michael; The morning after it happened I was in touch with some of the folks at National Amusements, many ideas were tossed about to try and avoid that from reoccuring. Splits are very common and are not about to stop, they are very important in the booking process. We have had as many as three splits in one auditorium at a time, and it is simply up to the projectionist to be sure and thread the right movie. It was a mistake to be sure, but not one that I can easily forgive. I will admit it was a tricky split with the R movie showing before and after the PG one, but you just have to pay attention to what you are doing. By the way, the Island 16 has union projectionist.
You are so right about how things can go wrong in the booth, maybe someday I will write a book :)
AlAlvarez: I am having some trouble digesting the notion that
“many Manhattan theatres are no longer union” or that a projectionist could force the installation of a platter due to his/her back problems. My information is that IATSE local 306 still supplies projectionists to all theaters in Manhattan. I wonder if you could tell me where you got that information and if it is credible. I would be shocked to learn that it’s true.
Bill: I have a Rocky story, during a studio preview at the Royal theatre in Hawaii, Stallone himself came up to the booth and asked the projectionist to raise the sound. The projectionist called me to say “guess who just came up to see me in the booth” It was confirmed by other theatre staff who said Sly was as nice as could be, he also said “It’s OK, the sound is never load enough for me, it happens
every where I go"
Pete: We are a dying breed I am afraid, but I love that you are out there presenting movies as they should be. You are a showman!
Why thank you Bill, that’s nice to hear. Sometimes I wonder if the ramblings of an old man get tiresome to some of the younger folks.
Of course it is lot of fum for me to be able to share memories both good and bad, I am happy they are appreciated. The fact is
50+ years in different aspects of this business has been quite a ride!
Jeff: I understand what you are saying, sitting in a theatre trying to watch a movie that has less than perfect projection can be very irritating. I once marched up to the booth at the former Coronet theatre in NY to focus the picture. Reel one was fine but then we watched a very soft focused reel two. Then the changeover to reel three and we were back to a badly focused projector. I had had enough, The projectionist was still threading the next reel when I walked in and focused the projector, I can still see the look of “what the heck just happened” on his face as I walked out of the booth and down to my seat to enjoy the rest of the movie. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.
William: I am shocked by what you wrote, it sounds as bad as having an usher running the booth. Like any other profession you are bound to get a few incompetents . I suppose with the projectionist position becoming more obsolete, as well as a dying profession, the guys coming in now are not up to the standards we once were,
darn shame. As I wrote, outside of NYC you will find a lot of amateurs in the booth but I expect more professionalism in the union houses.
Jeff: I was writing about National Amusements theatres which Palisades Mall is not. Had an incident like that happened in a NA theatre you would have received both a refund AND a pass to see another film, and the booth problem would have been corrected ASAP.
No other circuit that I know of comes close to National Amusements in proper film presentation. It is of paramount importance to the company, as they have a reputation with many studios and other theatre circuits all of whom respect the dedication to the proper presentation of movies that is a National Amusements priority.
Oh dear, now I suppose this thread will be flooded with folks telling war stories about their movie going experience. I only ask that if you do, you include the good stories as well.
Truth be told, we should not be taking up space on the Ziegfeld page to discuss this, but as my bread and butter career for so many years, you can understand my frustration at what has happened to the great art of projection.
I would just like to clear the air a bit regarding projectionist.
Many of us (myself included) have written about the decline in the art of projection, and how many theatre owners are now using amateurs in the booth to save money.
As far as I know, in the five boroughs of New York, professional union projectionist are still running the show. We still have a strong union, local 306, supplying component, well-trained individuals to operate the booth. On Long Island, for the most part and contrary to what some have written Local 640 has pros in the booth. Once you get out of the city, into Westchester for example, you will find most theatres operating with managers and front-of-the-house staff running the booth. It is also very common in most locations in New Jersey.
In some cases that does not necessary spell disaster. National Amusements for example, has a comprehensive and mandatory training program for all managers, as well as a booth maintenance agreement with outside professional service companies. The booth is expertly maintained and booth personnel are in the booth at all times. In some locations the booth is shared between managers and union projectionists.
By the way, installing platters after the “Backdraft†debacle was ridiculous, it is just as easy, if not easier, to mount the print on a platter out of sequence as it is to project it that way reel-to-reel.
Willam and Jeff make good points, Projectionist no longer put on shows and many have lost pride in the presentation. In addition the new boys coming in now have no idea what that strange litle circle in the upper right hand corner of the frame is. A change-over? few today have never made one. I hate to think Clearview can’t cough up a few extra bucks to ship in those prints.
Getting back to the projectionists, I am sure there are a few old timers around like me who would love to work the Ziegfeld booth, and show 70mm the way we did in the ole days. By the way Jeff, you sounded down on 70mm IMAX, I think it’s rather good because it is projected at high speed as was TODD-AO, and with it’s larger frames runs horizontaly the way VistaVision did. So it’s VistaTodd. :) The only thing missing of course is the mag sound.
I don’t see how it is a matter of cost.
Does the theatre still have the two 35/70mm Century JJ projectors in the booth?? If so, it’s just a matter of throwing a cover over those damn platters and running reel-to-reel.
The question is has any of the magnetic sound equipment
(pre amps, etc) been removed, is the old system still intact.
Assuming all they did was add a digital projector to the booth along with the platter they installed after the “Backdraft: disaster, they should be set to go. Oh wait, the guys probably forgot how to make a changeover. No problem Professor Vito will teach them. :)
Seriously, does anyone know if the two 35/70 projectors are still
there?
Use the caption:
MOVIES THE WAY THEY WERE MEANT TO BE SEEN!
So many folks have only experienced the classics at the local shoeboxplex. we need to drag em away from their 50" plasma.
I recently ran into a young whipper snapper at a screening who admitted to have never seen a movie in 70mm. Ya gotta feel sorry for the lad.
Alan, we were always experimenting with the Cinerama,
it was my baby. I tried many different lenses and speaker systems, and we were able to project just about every aspect ratio.
When “The Wiz” came to the Cinerama we had not yet installed Dolby, and no magnetic stereo prints were available, the print we received was stereo optical. So Westly decided to create his own optical stereo. We installed stereo solor cells in the two projectors and Wesley took the signal coming from the solor cells and feed it into two seperate amplifiers to create “Wes and Vito’s optical stereo sound. I then challanged Wes to create a matrix that would enable us to have surrounds as well, but the movie bombed and we abanded the idea, but let me tell you, given the time, Wes would have come up with something, he is that smart. By the way, until the Dolby installation, we used the original Cinerama sound system for optical and magnetic sound.
The first Dolby installation was not at the Cinerama but at the Varsity. In those early days Dolby would assist in new installations, but Wesley took the installation manuel home, read it, and said "we don’t need a Dolby tech, I can do this” and with the help of Sol Kam, another great technician, do this they did.
Scroll up to Nov 21 comment I wrote for Michael Coate regarding the sound at Waikiki#3.
Alan, that was the work of my sound engineer, Wesley Inoyue.
He asked me one day, while we were doing the install at the Hilo triplex,if I would let him design a sound system for waikiki #3 and Cinerama. The kid was very talented and was responsible for many excellent sound upgrades in Hawaii. Wesley knows had to make a theatre sound system knock your socks off.
Warren, I wonder if we bumped into one another at that Sinatra show.
My sister,(a bobbysoxer in every sense of the word) and I attended his shows. As for “Singin in the Rain”, I can close my eyes and still see those lines wrapped around RCMH.
Oh Warren, Singing in the Rain at RCMH. To quote Sinatra in one of the “That’s Entertaimnent” movies, “you can wait and you can hope but you will never see the likes of this aagain!”
Splits, as they are called, are a common method of film booking. When two movies have come close to the end of their run they will be tied together to create a split, where the two films share a common screen in one auditorium. The two movies usually alternate showings through the day, a family G rated film might get all the matinees and one evening show and the adult film will follow later in the evening. But generally the two films will be evenly spit throughout the day.
Another reason for setting up a split is when two movies are alternated between two auditoriums, for example a kids movie might play in a larger house during the day and then moved to a smaller auditorium for the late shows when not as many seats are needed. This is also happens on a rainy weekend day where
You want all the kid friendly movies in your largest auditoriums for the matinees.
Yes Peter I recall Rob teling that story, as I recall the projectors were set up in the first mezz. With the average cost of a digital projector as high as it is, although the cost is coming down,this is of course a totally unpactical idea for the average venue. As you know 3-D requires maximum mlight output from the projector as well as a silver screen. However there are digital projectors becoming available with greater light output, up two four times the current pixel count and will not require a silver screen for 3-D.
The digital revotution has been on fire this past year, with great improvements and lower cost. My industry insiders tell me that they now can really see a big push for conversion from film to digital sooner than expected.