was a projectionist there 1982-83. I lived a block away, on 1rst and 10th.
Shifts were long and busy from the time you got there, assembled the 3 reels into one, loaded the film, then helped at the bar between the shows. You cleaned-up the theater after the last film, when everyone was gone. You mopped the floor, picked-up the left over trash… man, it was a 12 hour shift, from 12 noon til after midnite, for $5 an hour, cash, with a little bonus sometimes, when Howard was in a good mood.
Jim was tending the bar, invariably drunk by mid-afternoon, his old blue eyes glassy and his mouth foaming at the side. The old black man’s hair was all grey. His drink was vodka. He kept it at hand and poured it in a can of coke.
When everyone was in and sitted, I’d go behind the curtain and make the ‘fire compliance law…’ annoucement; then I rushed to the projector to start the film, and go back to pull the curtain open as the credits atarted to roll… Not a bad job, if for Howard chronically suspicious and caustic nature. I saw all the old Hollywood classics there, in series.
10 years later, funny to say, I became a film composer… www.myspace.com/madloon
was a projectionist there 1982-83. I lived a block away, on 1rst and 10th.
Shifts were long and busy from the time you got there, assembled the 3 reels into one, loaded the film, then helped at the bar between the shows. You cleaned-up the theater after the last film, when everyone was gone. You mopped the floor, picked-up the left over trash… man, it was a 12 hour shift, from 12 noon til after midnite, for $5 an hour, cash, with a little bonus sometimes, when Howard was in a good mood.
Jim was tending the bar, invariably drunk by mid-afternoon, his old blue eyes glassy and his mouth foaming at the side. The old black man’s hair was all grey. His drink was vodka. He kept it at hand and poured it in a can of coke.
When everyone was in and sitted, I’d go behind the curtain and make the ‘fire compliance law…’ annoucement; then I rushed to the projector to start the film, and go back to pull the curtain open as the credits atarted to roll… Not a bad job, if for Howard chronically suspicious and caustic nature. I saw all the old Hollywood classics there, in series.
10 years later, funny to say, I became a film composer… www.myspace.com/madloon