Uptown Theatre

3426 Connecticut Avenue NW,
Washington, DC 20008

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Showing 426 - 450 of 587 comments

rcdt55b
rcdt55b on January 9, 2007 at 2:10 am

Of course there are people like that in the union Dave, but don’t make it sound like it’s the majority. There are people like that in every job. Also, it was automations and platters that screwed the union. The majority of operators in the union today work their best to put on a good show even while management is trying to get rid of them. I’m not saying that the union dont share the blame but dont put it all on them. Besides, my main point was that you get a better presentation with the qualified union guy in the booth. That claim will never change. It keeps being proven too.
Long island movies…….where is this widespread digital they have been talking about for over 10 years? I keep hearing everyone talk about it coming soon…coming soon…its not coming soon. It is in a handlful of theaters that dont use it that often. They still have problems with it. It will never be as good as film either.
Nice mouth…no more for you…yeah nice reply. Go get your numbers straight before telling everyone how greedy us union projectionists are.

dave-bronx™
dave-bronx™ on January 8, 2007 at 8:47 pm

RCDTJ,
I am old-school, having worked in the theatres since the 60s – I’d always had a union man in the booth and if it was up to me there would still be a union man in the booth. I don’t want to do their job, and I don’t want to be bothered teaching people how to run those machines. I agree that the owners were looking to cut costs. My issue is that the union made it easy for the owners to decide that they no longer need a union man. The union didn’t make themselves indispensable. By not forcing the elderly ones, who were clearly in decline, to retire; by continuing to send guys around who have been kicked out of every theatre in town; by not insisting that these guys get themselves together or get out for the good of the membership. Years ago they used to stash these guys away in the porn houses, where the audience was doing everything in the world except watching the movie, so it didn’t matter, but those places were no longer available when they switched to VHS. When we had a crazy man in the booth we would call up to request someone else we were told there was nobody else available, or his seniority gives him the choice, or some other excuse, they were basically saying F.U. to the theatre. The owners probably figured why pay $25./hr for a lousy presentation when they can get the same presentation from the manager or usher for a lot less and maybe train them to do it better. I’ve worked in other cities with other locals where the membership consisted, in large part, of professionals, who put up an excellent presentation, knew how to handle the film and maintain the equipment, and we seldom had to worry about the booth operations. In New York, however, it was always a crap-shoot.

To your other point, you are absolutely correct about the greed of most companies today, which is driving all this. But when UA started all this manager/operator stuff in the Long Island theatres in the mid-90s the greed was not so blatant. When the circuits went bankrupt and then the bean-counters took over is when it really started getting cut-throat.

Michael Furlinger
Michael Furlinger on January 8, 2007 at 4:13 pm

DIGITAL WILL SOON BE ON ITS WAY BIG TIME……….NO MORE PROJECTIONISTS…………..

Michael Furlinger
Michael Furlinger on January 8, 2007 at 4:10 pm

DAVE-BRONK YOU HAVE IT ON THE MONEY!

Michael Furlinger
Michael Furlinger on January 8, 2007 at 4:08 pm

NICE MOUTH………..NO MORE FOR YOU!

rcdt55b
rcdt55b on January 8, 2007 at 3:56 pm

I am very surprised with the numbers you came up with considering you were a DM. The regular theaters pay nowhere near that amount. Specialty screening rooms like Sony, Universal,etc.. can get that high, but well worth it considering you probably will be running video, film, picture and track, etc…. and where is this overtime? I’ve been in the city for 15 years and never once got OT before or after midnight. 25% matching retirement???????? are you crazy. The city is 19% pension and medical combined. You go add that up and see what it comes out to for a pension. As for the medical, it covers me only. Most of the full time workers I know in other fields have a much better pension and better health coverage which a lot of times includes their whole family. Tell me where the greed is there. Now we move onto holiday double time. It’s time and a half for holidays and that doesnt include all holidays. Most people I know get at least that in their profession. I would love to hear the “and on and on stuff”.
Dave,
your comments can be applied to almost any profession. You have dumb schmucks everywhere. If every manager had a shit list, they should have requested someone else. They dont have to accept just whoever is sent. I’m sure there are wacky stories about people in other professions also. Like I said, it happens everywhere, not just unions. These jobs were never phased out because of unqualified operators. They were taken away because theater owners could save money with unqualified people running the booths. That is the only reason. Why do you think that in NYC they have union guys in on thursdays through sundays? Because they dont want anything going wrong with making up prints on thursdays. They also make most of their money on the weekends. If the union guys are so bad, why not have their “film threaders” do it? Look at the uptown now. Are you going to blame the union because of how fucked up the place is getting? And why do the few “high profile houses” use union operators? Because they know what the fuck theyre doing!!

You look at any industry today. What are they doing? Cutting back. Why? To save money. Are they making any improvments for the customers in any way? No. They dont give a shit about their customers. They want to make as much money as they can. With the theaters, they know enough people dont complain about problems with the shows. When they complain, they give a free pass. Now they come back again and buy more candy and popcorn. So don’t tell me about union greed. Take a look at how the theater chains are fucking everybody going to the movies….

dave-bronx™
dave-bronx™ on January 7, 2007 at 11:46 pm

I don’t know about DC, but in New York the union shot themselves in the foot. While they have a number of very good operators who are well worth the money, they are over-shadowed by an inordinate number of schmucks who have no more business being in the booth than the concession attendant. And the union does nothing about them except to move them to another theatre to become someone elses headache. This includes elderly operators (over 80 yrs) who refuse to retire, with failing vision and can no longer focus or frame properly; another beginning Alzheimer’s and I had to go behind him to make sure the keys were flipped on the reel spindles so the reels didn’t fall off the machine in the middle of the show, and that the gate and pad rollers were all closed. There were others who would be passed out drunk in the balcony, another didn’t know how to change a xenon bulb, another loon who smashed up the machines with a lead pipe. I could go on and on. Every manager had a shit-list, and if someone on that list showed up to cover a vacation you knew you were going to be in for an adventure and better have a good supply of refund envelope, emerg tix or passes on hand because you were gonna need them. If the theatres were paying a high wage and got a highly qualified operator, the jobs probably would not have been phased out. In NYC however, with the exception of a few high-profile houses, this was seldom the case.

Michael Furlinger
Michael Furlinger on January 7, 2007 at 7:33 pm

In NY $25 -40 HOUR WITH OT BEFORE AND AFTER MIDNIGHT ..25%MATCHING RETIERMENT ……HEALTH INS …HOLIDAY DOUBLE TIME…..AND ON AND ON

rcdt55b
rcdt55b on January 7, 2007 at 5:35 pm

Depends on many different things. How many screens, type of theater, etc…Anywhere between $10 and $25 an hour. Responsibilities entail anything that has to do with the presentation of the film. Starting with making up the prints to actually showing them. Maintaining the equipment. Adding and taking off trailers. Troubleshooting problems. There is a lot of different equipment in the booth. I would love to see a concession person change a 7000 Watt xenon bulb that can take your face apart if it explodes. Its happened. There are a lot of things people dont know about that projectionists are responsible for. Most people think we just thread the film and push the button.

JohnMessick
JohnMessick on January 7, 2007 at 4:14 pm

Ok, now I am curious. What did or does a union projectionist make an hour? And what responibilities does the job entail?

rcdt55b
rcdt55b on January 7, 2007 at 2:10 pm

The unions arent the ones charging the ridiculous prices to go see the movies. They didnt lower any of the prices when they got rid of the union either. They just lowered their standard of presentation.

Michael Furlinger
Michael Furlinger on January 7, 2007 at 11:58 am

That may be very true but union greed put theater chains in this position as well if not more the mom and pop theaters!

rcdt55b
rcdt55b on January 7, 2007 at 9:35 am

This theater WAS a union theater and it is still here. It wasnt until they pulled out the union that the problems began. I didnt hear any complaints before that about presentation issues. Now all of a sudden the complaints start. This isnt just this theater either. Presentation declined when the qualified operators were pulled out.

Michael Furlinger
Michael Furlinger on January 7, 2007 at 9:06 am

If this theater was a union theater it would be closed!

rcdt55b
rcdt55b on January 7, 2007 at 9:05 am

Thats even more ridiculous than hoffa’s statements.

Michael Furlinger
Michael Furlinger on January 7, 2007 at 8:23 am

UNIONS ARE THE REASON MANY OF THESE SMALLER THEATERS ARE GONE!

rcdt55b
rcdt55b on January 7, 2007 at 8:06 am

Any skill can be passed to anyone. The difference is in the training. Not only do you need to be properly trained how to handle film, you need to know how to work the equipment. It’s not a simple job even with a platter and automation. Union training is very thourough. The people running these machines now were taught how to thread the projector and hit the start button and pray that nothing goes wrong. In the meantime, they are scratching print, they dont set maskings properly, they dont focus, they dont check sound levels and worst of all they dont handle film properly. So yes, it can be passed down to someone if they have the proper training. The problem is, you have stupid morons like JHOFFA that dont care about the bad presentations and continue to spend their money without complaining.

rcdt55b
rcdt55b on January 7, 2007 at 8:04 am

Any skill can be passed to anyone. The difference is in the training. Not only do you need to be properly trained how to handle film, you need to know how to work the equipment. It’s not a simple job even with a platter and automation. Union training is very thourough. The people running these machines now were taught how to thread the projector and hit the start button and pray that nothing goes wrong. In the meantime, they are scratching print, they dont set maskings properly, they dont focus, they dont check sound levels and worst of all they dont handle film properly. So yes, it can be passed down to someone if they have the proper training. The problem is, you have stupid morons like JHOFFA that dont care about the bad presentations and continue to spend their money without complaining.

Scott
Scott on January 7, 2007 at 6:27 am

At the rist of throwing more gas on the fire, could someone explain why a union projectionist can work a projector and handle film properly and a non-union projectionist cannot? Seems like that is a skill that could be passed to someone regardless of whether they belong to a union.

bufffilmbuff
bufffilmbuff on January 7, 2007 at 5:03 am

Any more word about if and when AMC is going to close the Uptown? I saw DREAMGIRLS last weekend there myself and noticed the scratched print…. something that wouldn’t have happened with a real projectionist and would have never been tolerated in the past. It is a great and rare venue, it is too bad the people who own it do not appreciate it.

JohnMessick
JohnMessick on January 6, 2007 at 11:09 pm

Norelco.. I was wondering how long it would take for you to response to jhoffa post, and it wasn’t long. Well said indeed.

rcdt55b
rcdt55b on January 6, 2007 at 6:30 am

I’m wondering what an idiot like that is basing his comments on. He obviously knows nothing about the projectionists job. Morons like that are the ones that dont complain about the scratched prints and bad presentations. Are you happy spending your 10 bucks or so and another 15 on popcorn knowing that the theater owners removed the projectionist because stupid people like you dont care about real movie presentation? Sounds like it to me.

carolgrau
carolgrau on January 6, 2007 at 5:20 am

Boy what an idiot you are, What planet are you from? pensions and medial ha ha ha. The only pensions and meds. we ever got was the ones we paid for ourselves. Theatre owners are by far the cheapest owners out there, I know my own dad was one.Companies today want to hog all the profits for themselves and to hell with the employees. So really there are no bennifits anymore. So go watch your interupted movie asshole, and know if a union projectionist was in the booth you would most likely watch a perfect movie.
Norelco

Jhoffa
Jhoffa on January 5, 2007 at 12:03 pm

I for one am happy to know that I am no longer subsidizing the cushy pensions and medical plans of the union projectionists. This will only increase my pleasure at tonight’s showing of Dreamgirls.

JSA
JSA on January 2, 2007 at 2:59 pm

JodarMovieFan,

The Cinerama Dome at Arclight in Hollywood has DP. It is very impressive on their giant curved screen. A large percentage of their features last year were screened in digital format. As far as I can tell, among the few recent non-digital presentations at the Dome were “A Scanner Darkly” and “Flags of Our Fathers”.

Regards,

JSA