I worked at the Cinerama in 1969 with Nancy Friggle, Nancy LeSeur and a girl whose last name was Salyer, her brother’s name was Bob.
I do not recall the first film I saw here, but I can say it was as early as 1965, in the 7th grade while attending K.O. Knudsen Jr. High, when I lived nearby in an apartment near of Reno and Koval lane, an area known then as “Churchill East”.
There are two films I remember very well that played while I was working there; Franco Zeffirelli’s “Romeo & Juliet” and “Last Summer” with Richard Thomas. I am still moved by this depiction of “Romeo & Juliet” and enjoy reviewing it to this day. The other, nnnnnnnot so much.
The 2nd is a very disturbing film, originally given an X rating, then later it was given an R rating after edits to a scene depicting rape. I am not sure which we played, but I do recall the rape scene as very graphic and was surprised we were showing it. Then again, I was only 16. After seeing this, I was never able to watch “The Walton’s” and see any innocence in Richard Thomas.
I was paid $1.10 per hour and all the popcorn I could eat. I was 16, in 11th grade at Vo-Tech.
Our doorman was named Paul something, I seem to recall it as Germanic, like Dorfmann or Dortmunder, & he was two years older. I’ll remember it later, I’m sure, because it was an odd name.
Our manager was named Mr. Bailey, an overweight, florid-faced, hard-drinking, often gruff man, and his Asst. Mgr. was Mr. Bagwell, a tall, salt & pepper haired man, with an easygoing manner.
The night before his graduation, the doorman filled the trunk of his ‘63 Chevy sedan with ice & beer and we all made numerous trips to the parking lot for a cold one. During the last showing of the night,(Gone With the Wind", Paul and I climbed the scaffold behind the screen carrying two large metal garbage cans. At the point where Brett takes Charlotte in the embrace and kisses here, we dropped the cans within the scaffold and it created a hell of a commotion as they clattered their way to the floor. We were able to escape the building, pretending to police the lot. No one but Paul and I ever knew FOR SURE who did it.
A typical night had us making a large batch of popcorn and placing it in very large plastic bags, then unpacking any recent deliveries of supplies and stocking the candy counter. Also, we would haul up and/or down film cans to the projection booth.
Then police the parking lot, and be ready for the moviegoers, in uniform.
Once all the patrons were seated, and the film had begun, we went to work cleaning the bathrooms and doing maintenance on the lobby.
This meant applying furniture polish to the lobby walls paneling, then cleaning all the mirrored walls
along each side of the entrance, and lastly cleaning the 20' high glass panels & doors that fronted the lobby all across the entrance.
It was a great place to view a movie and had an awesome sound system for its' day.
I can’t recall his name today, but one of the projectionists was also one of my Dad’s sponsors into the I.A.T.S.E. Local 720 Stagehands. Dad retired from the Local after 30 years, a Gold Card Member, with 25 years at the The Tropicana, in the Folies Berger Theatre (that is another story in itself, the room was commissioned by Sammy Davis, Jr. as the “Superstar Theatre” and was a staging and acoustic dream of its' day) as the Head Soundman. I joined the Local in April 1974 and quit working the stage in Aug 1995. Today at age 58, I am drawing my pension which I took 10 years early.
I left Las Vegas in 1998, moving my 2nd wife and 10 yr. old daughter to SW Missouri, seeking a better quality of life than was present in Vegas at the time.
I could never live there again, as it is, but feel I was fortunate to have lived, and worked there, during the best of times possible.
I have learned in my travels since 1998, which includes all 49 States in North America, and Ontario, Canada, is that rather than demolish architecture for new growth, most communities preserve it.
I have seen so many historical sites that would have never survived the culture in Las Vegas, and rue the destruction of the past so prevalent there.
As you can tell by my post, I have a passion, and yet a distaste, for Las Vegas. Well, after all, I did live 34 of my 58 years there. Came of age there in the 1960’s started two families there, and still have family there.
Once it is in your blood, there are two things that never leave; Show Business & Las Vegas!
I worked at the Cinerama in 1969 with Nancy Friggle, Nancy LeSeur and a girl whose last name was Salyer, her brother’s name was Bob.
I do not recall the first film I saw here, but I can say it was as early as 1965, in the 7th grade while attending K.O. Knudsen Jr. High, when I lived nearby in an apartment near of Reno and Koval lane, an area known then as “Churchill East”.
There are two films I remember very well that played while I was working there; Franco Zeffirelli’s “Romeo & Juliet” and “Last Summer” with Richard Thomas. I am still moved by this depiction of “Romeo & Juliet” and enjoy reviewing it to this day. The other, nnnnnnnot so much.
The 2nd is a very disturbing film, originally given an X rating, then later it was given an R rating after edits to a scene depicting rape. I am not sure which we played, but I do recall the rape scene as very graphic and was surprised we were showing it. Then again, I was only 16. After seeing this, I was never able to watch “The Walton’s” and see any innocence in Richard Thomas.
I was paid $1.10 per hour and all the popcorn I could eat. I was 16, in 11th grade at Vo-Tech.
Our doorman was named Paul something, I seem to recall it as Germanic, like Dorfmann or Dortmunder, & he was two years older. I’ll remember it later, I’m sure, because it was an odd name.
Our manager was named Mr. Bailey, an overweight, florid-faced, hard-drinking, often gruff man, and his Asst. Mgr. was Mr. Bagwell, a tall, salt & pepper haired man, with an easygoing manner.
The night before his graduation, the doorman filled the trunk of his ‘63 Chevy sedan with ice & beer and we all made numerous trips to the parking lot for a cold one. During the last showing of the night,(Gone With the Wind", Paul and I climbed the scaffold behind the screen carrying two large metal garbage cans. At the point where Brett takes Charlotte in the embrace and kisses here, we dropped the cans within the scaffold and it created a hell of a commotion as they clattered their way to the floor. We were able to escape the building, pretending to police the lot. No one but Paul and I ever knew FOR SURE who did it.
A typical night had us making a large batch of popcorn and placing it in very large plastic bags, then unpacking any recent deliveries of supplies and stocking the candy counter. Also, we would haul up and/or down film cans to the projection booth.
Then police the parking lot, and be ready for the moviegoers, in uniform.
Once all the patrons were seated, and the film had begun, we went to work cleaning the bathrooms and doing maintenance on the lobby.
This meant applying furniture polish to the lobby walls paneling, then cleaning all the mirrored walls along each side of the entrance, and lastly cleaning the 20' high glass panels & doors that fronted the lobby all across the entrance.
It was a great place to view a movie and had an awesome sound system for its' day.
I can’t recall his name today, but one of the projectionists was also one of my Dad’s sponsors into the I.A.T.S.E. Local 720 Stagehands. Dad retired from the Local after 30 years, a Gold Card Member, with 25 years at the The Tropicana, in the Folies Berger Theatre (that is another story in itself, the room was commissioned by Sammy Davis, Jr. as the “Superstar Theatre” and was a staging and acoustic dream of its' day) as the Head Soundman. I joined the Local in April 1974 and quit working the stage in Aug 1995. Today at age 58, I am drawing my pension which I took 10 years early.
I left Las Vegas in 1998, moving my 2nd wife and 10 yr. old daughter to SW Missouri, seeking a better quality of life than was present in Vegas at the time.
I could never live there again, as it is, but feel I was fortunate to have lived, and worked there, during the best of times possible.
I have learned in my travels since 1998, which includes all 49 States in North America, and Ontario, Canada, is that rather than demolish architecture for new growth, most communities preserve it.
I have seen so many historical sites that would have never survived the culture in Las Vegas, and rue the destruction of the past so prevalent there.
As you can tell by my post, I have a passion, and yet a distaste, for Las Vegas. Well, after all, I did live 34 of my 58 years there. Came of age there in the 1960’s started two families there, and still have family there.
Once it is in your blood, there are two things that never leave; Show Business & Las Vegas!
Break a leg!!!