I was an Usher (and then Head Usher – no jokes) who also did many other jobs there in the early to mid 80s, including security detail, popping popcorn, managing the lines and changing the marquee.
At first it was a great High School and College job – but the pay was dismal. In fact, most of my best friends come from working there.
I had left before the metal detectors and the later problems, but with such a large influx of people every weekend, there were always serious issues at hand. On a high traffic Saturday night we could have several blockbuster movies selling out and the only place to
put people while they waited was that big box of a lobby.
If you were there in the early 80’s then you were sure to have heard myself and couple of others yelling “Please move up! Please step up!” until eventually someone in the line would start mooing, then some joker in the front would drop a rope and the whole mass of
people would crowd forward with nowhere to go.
The worst large event I remember there was a semi-riot for a “Friday the 13th” evening show, where the drop the rope trick occurred after people got impatient waiting for us to clean up the trashed theatre. The ushers taking tickets had to jump into the telephone alcove to save themselves and mayhem ensued. Once done, there were almost no
pictures left on the wall and people were trying to stand in the back of the theatre since so many people snuck in during the melee.
The “sneak in” problem got so bad that we ended up using walkie talkies to do counter-surveillance on guys passing off ticket stubs and opening the back doors. We had also developed a long list of nicknames for the regular sneak ins.
There were also many fights, between ushers and people sneaking in or between patrons – and a few of those I was a part of ended up with us finding a dropped weapon. That’s when I decided to move on.
I did love going to movies at Sunrise – believe the first thing I saw there was either “Raiders of the Lost Ark” or “Arthur.” When I worked there, “ET” came and went back THREE TIMES and was almost always a packed show – and a pain to work with the high kid ratio. (I used to get stuck with Saturday and Sunday openings since I was only 16 at the time.)
The most annoying film to work may have been “Reds” which was more than 3 hours long, so the midnight show got out way after 2AM. Also, the high senior citizen contingent for that one led the “Candy Girls” (yes, not politically correct, but what they were called then) to follow many orders with “Yes, I know – EXTRA butter, NO ice.”
While as others relate in these comments there were some serious race issues going on in the area at the time, the people that worked together at Sunrise there were a completely mixed group and for the most part got along very well. Any problems were personality based as far as I know. Plenty of parties, weekend clubbing and meetups at the Cinemas summer mornings where people would jump in cars and head to the beach.
I was an Usher (and then Head Usher – no jokes) who also did many other jobs there in the early to mid 80s, including security detail, popping popcorn, managing the lines and changing the marquee.
At first it was a great High School and College job – but the pay was dismal. In fact, most of my best friends come from working there.
I had left before the metal detectors and the later problems, but with such a large influx of people every weekend, there were always serious issues at hand. On a high traffic Saturday night we could have several blockbuster movies selling out and the only place to
put people while they waited was that big box of a lobby.
If you were there in the early 80’s then you were sure to have heard myself and couple of others yelling “Please move up! Please step up!” until eventually someone in the line would start mooing, then some joker in the front would drop a rope and the whole mass of
people would crowd forward with nowhere to go.
The worst large event I remember there was a semi-riot for a “Friday the 13th” evening show, where the drop the rope trick occurred after people got impatient waiting for us to clean up the trashed theatre. The ushers taking tickets had to jump into the telephone alcove to save themselves and mayhem ensued. Once done, there were almost no
pictures left on the wall and people were trying to stand in the back of the theatre since so many people snuck in during the melee.
The “sneak in” problem got so bad that we ended up using walkie talkies to do counter-surveillance on guys passing off ticket stubs and opening the back doors. We had also developed a long list of nicknames for the regular sneak ins.
There were also many fights, between ushers and people sneaking in or between patrons – and a few of those I was a part of ended up with us finding a dropped weapon. That’s when I decided to move on.
I did love going to movies at Sunrise – believe the first thing I saw there was either “Raiders of the Lost Ark” or “Arthur.” When I worked there, “ET” came and went back THREE TIMES and was almost always a packed show – and a pain to work with the high kid ratio. (I used to get stuck with Saturday and Sunday openings since I was only 16 at the time.)
The most annoying film to work may have been “Reds” which was more than 3 hours long, so the midnight show got out way after 2AM. Also, the high senior citizen contingent for that one led the “Candy Girls” (yes, not politically correct, but what they were called then) to follow many orders with “Yes, I know – EXTRA butter, NO ice.”
While as others relate in these comments there were some serious race issues going on in the area at the time, the people that worked together at Sunrise there were a completely mixed group and for the most part got along very well. Any problems were personality based as far as I know. Plenty of parties, weekend clubbing and meetups at the Cinemas summer mornings where people would jump in cars and head to the beach.