In 1953, I began a four-year career as a projectionist at the then named Varsity Theatre. Harry Canoy was the Chief Projectionist and Walt Porter, whom I believe was the son of the original owner, O. Porter, was the Manager, and our boss.
I well remember the big arc-lamp projectors, and how hot it got in that balcony booth, especially in the summer. That was also about the time that Cinemascope films were just beginning and I remember them putting in a new stage-wide screen and my having to change the big projector lenses to show those movies.
During a previous period, the theatre had been a performance theatre so it had a much deeper stage than most movie theatres and below the stage were numerous small dressing rooms, many of which had large posters on the walls which I now wish I had scavanged. I can still remember some great theatre staff parties on that stage after closing time.
During my tenure as projectionist we almost always ran double features and during that time I estimated later that I saw in excess of 2,500 different movies, not counting how many times I saw each one. My pay at that time was a princely $1.27/hour (with no benefits) except all the popcorn I wanted and all the (free) movies I could watch as long as it didn’t conflict with my work. After we had closed for the night, I can remember crawling out the small window onto the canopy over the entrance to change the marquee billing with movable letters and a long pole…..ah, those were the days.
Murray Smith, July 22, 2014
In 1953, I began a four-year career as a projectionist at the then named Varsity Theatre. Harry Canoy was the Chief Projectionist and Walt Porter, whom I believe was the son of the original owner, O. Porter, was the Manager, and our boss.
I well remember the big arc-lamp projectors, and how hot it got in that balcony booth, especially in the summer. That was also about the time that Cinemascope films were just beginning and I remember them putting in a new stage-wide screen and my having to change the big projector lenses to show those movies.
During a previous period, the theatre had been a performance theatre so it had a much deeper stage than most movie theatres and below the stage were numerous small dressing rooms, many of which had large posters on the walls which I now wish I had scavanged. I can still remember some great theatre staff parties on that stage after closing time.
During my tenure as projectionist we almost always ran double features and during that time I estimated later that I saw in excess of 2,500 different movies, not counting how many times I saw each one. My pay at that time was a princely $1.27/hour (with no benefits) except all the popcorn I wanted and all the (free) movies I could watch as long as it didn’t conflict with my work. After we had closed for the night, I can remember crawling out the small window onto the canopy over the entrance to change the marquee billing with movable letters and a long pole…..ah, those were the days.
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