Hello everyone! I was the only Union film projectionist at the Lewis & Clark Theatre when I quit my job on May 31, 1996, before moving to Southern California the following day. The Theatre was originally opened in 1956 by the Sterling Recreation Organization (SRO) as a very large single-screen auditorium. The first film shown there was “War and Peace”. There were over 2000 seats in the auditorium and the screen was 60-ft. wide. I remember seeing several films there shortly after that time. In 1972, I began to train as a film projectionist there and remember that the operation was of a very high quality throughout the theatre. There was a lot of very good equipment in the projection room which was capable of stereo sound presentation. Later, after working at several theatres throughout the greater Seattle area, I began to work at the Lewis & Clark Theatre. By this time, as of 1975, it had three auditoriums. They very carefully had divided the large auditorium by using the front half for the main screen (still 60-ft.). They installed 70-mm. capability there. The back half was two side-by-side auditoriums of about 325 seats each. Automation and xenon-bulb projection equipment made it practical for one projectionist to do all three. Later, without stopping operation for even one day, they added four more auditoriums across the “back”. By this time it was 1982 and the operation under SRO’s management was very good indeed. The theatres were clean and well maintained. We had three Union projectionists who took care of all shifts in the house. One person could easily run all seven. We could show 70-mm. in two of them, and we could “simul-twin” several selected pairs of auditoriums. Moving film around to take advantage of the best use of the varying numbers of seats was relatively easy there. The newer four auditoriums had seats ranging in number from 225 to about 400 each. The theatre had very thick concrete ceilings to prevent noise from over-flying airplanes (from SEA-TAC airport) from bothering the customers. Also, the sound separation between auditoriums was nearly 100 percent under all conditions. In other words, it was very high class all the way! At some point, Dolby stereo had been installed in all seven theatres. DTS (Digital Theatre Sound) was first used there for the showings of “Jurassic Park”. Still later, SDDS was installed in the large 1100 seat original auditorium. About 15 years ago (more or less!) the operation was taken over by Cineplex-Odeon of Canada. From that point, the operation declined gradually, although it was still pretty good when I left. Economic pressures in the industry led to them using management personnel in the projection room more and more, until there was only one Union position left, and it wasn’t quite full-time in terms of the theatre operation. We also were responsible for setting up the films for the neighboring Southcenter Theatre, another SRO house featuring 70-mm. capability and good operation. I have an extensive listing of films shown at the Lewis & Clark up until the termination of my employment there. — Mike Bridgham
Hello everyone! I was the only Union film projectionist at the Lewis & Clark Theatre when I quit my job on May 31, 1996, before moving to Southern California the following day. The Theatre was originally opened in 1956 by the Sterling Recreation Organization (SRO) as a very large single-screen auditorium. The first film shown there was “War and Peace”. There were over 2000 seats in the auditorium and the screen was 60-ft. wide. I remember seeing several films there shortly after that time. In 1972, I began to train as a film projectionist there and remember that the operation was of a very high quality throughout the theatre. There was a lot of very good equipment in the projection room which was capable of stereo sound presentation. Later, after working at several theatres throughout the greater Seattle area, I began to work at the Lewis & Clark Theatre. By this time, as of 1975, it had three auditoriums. They very carefully had divided the large auditorium by using the front half for the main screen (still 60-ft.). They installed 70-mm. capability there. The back half was two side-by-side auditoriums of about 325 seats each. Automation and xenon-bulb projection equipment made it practical for one projectionist to do all three. Later, without stopping operation for even one day, they added four more auditoriums across the “back”. By this time it was 1982 and the operation under SRO’s management was very good indeed. The theatres were clean and well maintained. We had three Union projectionists who took care of all shifts in the house. One person could easily run all seven. We could show 70-mm. in two of them, and we could “simul-twin” several selected pairs of auditoriums. Moving film around to take advantage of the best use of the varying numbers of seats was relatively easy there. The newer four auditoriums had seats ranging in number from 225 to about 400 each. The theatre had very thick concrete ceilings to prevent noise from over-flying airplanes (from SEA-TAC airport) from bothering the customers. Also, the sound separation between auditoriums was nearly 100 percent under all conditions. In other words, it was very high class all the way! At some point, Dolby stereo had been installed in all seven theatres. DTS (Digital Theatre Sound) was first used there for the showings of “Jurassic Park”. Still later, SDDS was installed in the large 1100 seat original auditorium. About 15 years ago (more or less!) the operation was taken over by Cineplex-Odeon of Canada. From that point, the operation declined gradually, although it was still pretty good when I left. Economic pressures in the industry led to them using management personnel in the projection room more and more, until there was only one Union position left, and it wasn’t quite full-time in terms of the theatre operation. We also were responsible for setting up the films for the neighboring Southcenter Theatre, another SRO house featuring 70-mm. capability and good operation. I have an extensive listing of films shown at the Lewis & Clark up until the termination of my employment there. — Mike Bridgham