So good of you to keep us infromd on how things are going. It must be frustrating to have to deal with the issues getting things up and running and I thank you for your perserverence. My best to you guys
Yup it was the only movie theatre I can recall on LI that had no curtain controls in the booth. Eventually I believe the lights were controled from the booth however the curtain was never motorised to my knowledge.
When I worked the Floral in the mid 60s managers and front ot the house staff were used to work the curtain and operate the lights from backstage. There were no lighting or curtain conrtols in the booth. A buzzer system was used to signal turning up the house lights snd pull the curtain. A signal was rec’d in the booth earlier to alert us that someone was in fact backstage awaiting our signal.
I am sure the b&w comment on “The Thing” remake was probably a typo
There is a colorised version of the original “Thing” which I absolutly refuse to watch. One of my all time favorite movies, As a 16 year old kid I recall being scared to death seeing that in the summer of ‘51. Carpenter showed his love for the original in that Halloween clip but then went on to remake the movie which I thought was disapointing. I did not care for the original “Who Goes There” story which the remake is based on.
Music Hall management had better Batten down the hatches for that crazy man Charlie Sheen. His shows in Detroit bomed People were shouting “refund!!!” at him and booing him. Post-show interviews with the audience indicate many regrets.
So Charlie Sheen sold out his Music Hall show and another had to be added. Wouild someone tell me what on earth this crazy man is going to do on the great stage?
Also any info on which Cirque du Soleil shows are planned
RCDTJ,First of all I so much appreciate your input on matters such as that, thanks also for clearing that up, I am satisfied that the decision was yours and not the studio. I still wonder why not use a MUTT, is it not more reliable and safer to use than a platter? I am curious about your thoughts.
Just so that and the others here can understand, the reason not to run reel to reel is so as not to disturb the 3-D set up. Would you kindly explain how many of the three 70/35 machines are used
for 3-D; is one set up to back up one of the others required for 3-S? Also what of the standard 35mm projectors can they no longer be used for reel to reel?
REndres I knew you would jump in and add to the screen size issue, many thanks as always
Bill,wish you could have been there as well, puting on a show rather than just threading film and making changeovers was my passion.
Bill: intersting question,perhaps one of our experts can answer that I imagine they were refering to CinemaScops and not Cinerama.
Are you still keeping your fingers and toes crossed for a 50th annniversary film screening of WSS?
I wish you could have been with me at the Syosset all those wonderful weeks where we played the movoe big and loud. There were just times in that picture I just could not keep my hands off the volume control (fader) You would have loved that.
Although I wonder if Bobby Wise ot his mixing staff would have ;)
bangs head on wall
PLATTERR???? Good grief Have they not yet learned that so much more can go wrong running on one of those contraptions than could possibly happen running reel to reel. Even they want back up they couild still run it reel with a MUTT back up.
One of the best things about digital is it means the end of those platter systems
Sorry, just grouchy ole Vito off on one of his tears again
Jeff,What you wrote about the quality of the nitrate image is so true; nothing we have today compares to that B&W image projected on a silver screen with a carbon arc light source. Of course we also had brilliant three strip Technicolor which has also never been duplicated.
I wanted to add a comment on what Jeff wrote regarding Nitrate stock. It was dangerous stuff but as he wrote controllable. Projectionists attended safety classes which included fire training. The booth was unlike today’s we had metal film containers called magazines at top and bottom of the projector to hold the film, there were also safety rollers at the bottom (feed) of the upper magazine and top of the bottom (take up) which the film had to pas thru before entering the projector. In early years the projector was modified to accommodate several fire extinguishers with nozzles aimed at the film gate. The extinguishers automatically trigger if a piece of flammable fabric placed near the gate starts to burn. In the event of a fire the fire rollers and metal magazines would prevent a fire from spreading to the spools of film and igniting them. In addition there were fire shutters attached by a chain to the porthole windows, in the event of a fire the projectionist would pull a cord located at the exit which would release the shutters closing the ports and prevent the fire from spreading into the theatre. There was also a safety link attached between the chain and the shutter which when hot would melt and cause the shutter to fall. The feature was stored in a heavy metal vault which looked like a huge safe (some of those still exist today) when the reels were not in the projector magazine they had to be stored in those vaults. Fire marshals visited the booth often and any projectionist or theatre owner not following fire safety to the letter were fined.
Yes my friends the dangers of nitrate were taken very seriously.
So good of you to keep us infromd on how things are going.
It must be frustrating to have to deal with the issues getting things up and running and I thank you for your perserverence.
My best to you guys
Thanks Patrick I looking forward to it.
CT is a very fun and interesting part of my day.
Plus pictures yet….be still my heart:)
Yup it was the only movie theatre I can recall on LI that had no curtain controls in the booth. Eventually I believe the lights were controled from the booth however the curtain was never motorised to my knowledge.
When I worked the Floral in the mid 60s managers and front ot the house staff were used to work the curtain and operate the lights from backstage. There were no lighting or curtain conrtols in the booth. A buzzer system was used to signal turning up the house lights snd pull the curtain. A signal was rec’d in the booth earlier to alert us that someone was in fact backstage awaiting our signal.
Thanks ED I shuda guessed that :)
Sure are ugly
What are those five hidious black things hanging form the ceiling in two of those wonderful pictures?
I am sure the b&w comment on “The Thing” remake was probably a typo
There is a colorised version of the original “Thing” which I absolutly refuse to watch. One of my all time favorite movies, As a 16 year old kid I recall being scared to death seeing that in the summer of ‘51. Carpenter showed his love for the original in that Halloween clip but then went on to remake the movie which I thought was disapointing. I did not care for the original “Who Goes There” story which the remake is based on.
Music Hall management had better Batten down the hatches for that crazy man Charlie Sheen. His shows in Detroit bomed People were shouting “refund!!!” at him and booing him. Post-show interviews with the audience indicate many regrets.
View link
So Charlie Sheen sold out his Music Hall show and another had to be added. Wouild someone tell me what on earth this crazy man is going to do on the great stage?
Also any info on which Cirque du Soleil shows are planned
Yup Kong we lived that and wear it like a badge of honor.
Sadly we will never see the like of that again
The ad for the Easter show Tinseltoes wrote about
Makes you want to jump in the car and head on over to the
Showplace of the Nation doesn’t it
View link
Sorry to hear about the miscue, to quote Swanson “All those beautiful people out there in the dark"
How big was the crowd
How was it presented, how did they dress the stage, curtain used?
Must have been nice to hear and see that projector humming along again
I hope someone will report on the Kevin Smith screening I believe is on for tonight.
GAZEBO ad
Tinseltoes, you forgot Herman the pidgon :)
View link
RCDTJ,First of all I so much appreciate your input on matters such as that, thanks also for clearing that up, I am satisfied that the decision was yours and not the studio. I still wonder why not use a MUTT, is it not more reliable and safer to use than a platter? I am curious about your thoughts.
Just so that and the others here can understand, the reason not to run reel to reel is so as not to disturb the 3-D set up. Would you kindly explain how many of the three 70/35 machines are used
for 3-D; is one set up to back up one of the others required for 3-S? Also what of the standard 35mm projectors can they no longer be used for reel to reel?
REndres I knew you would jump in and add to the screen size issue, many thanks as always
Bill,wish you could have been there as well, puting on a show rather than just threading film and making changeovers was my passion.
Bill: intersting question,perhaps one of our experts can answer that I imagine they were refering to CinemaScops and not Cinerama.
Are you still keeping your fingers and toes crossed for a 50th annniversary film screening of WSS?
I wish you could have been with me at the Syosset all those wonderful weeks where we played the movoe big and loud. There were just times in that picture I just could not keep my hands off the volume control (fader) You would have loved that.
Although I wonder if Bobby Wise ot his mixing staff would have ;)
bangs head on wall
PLATTERR???? Good grief Have they not yet learned that so much more can go wrong running on one of those contraptions than could possibly happen running reel to reel. Even they want back up they couild still run it reel with a MUTT back up.
One of the best things about digital is it means the end of those platter systems
Sorry, just grouchy ole Vito off on one of his tears again
RCDTJ we can all cross our fingers and toes for film.
Heck lets go nuts and show it on 2k reels
Serously Mr Smith we can still run reel to reel.
Here is the ad to the “Knights of the Round Table”
Tinseltoes posted about
View link
The original ad from that first Roxy christmas show in 1927
View link
The original ad to go with Tinseltoes post on the first
RCMH Christmas show
View link
ok RCDTJ you have our attention spill it, what else do you know?
Come on…you know you want to tell us :)
Simon,the nitrate era Jeff and wrote about used silver screens
now-a-days they are necessary today with the 3-D craze
Jeff,What you wrote about the quality of the nitrate image is so true; nothing we have today compares to that B&W image projected on a silver screen with a carbon arc light source. Of course we also had brilliant three strip Technicolor which has also never been duplicated.
I wanted to add a comment on what Jeff wrote regarding Nitrate stock. It was dangerous stuff but as he wrote controllable. Projectionists attended safety classes which included fire training. The booth was unlike today’s we had metal film containers called magazines at top and bottom of the projector to hold the film, there were also safety rollers at the bottom (feed) of the upper magazine and top of the bottom (take up) which the film had to pas thru before entering the projector. In early years the projector was modified to accommodate several fire extinguishers with nozzles aimed at the film gate. The extinguishers automatically trigger if a piece of flammable fabric placed near the gate starts to burn. In the event of a fire the fire rollers and metal magazines would prevent a fire from spreading to the spools of film and igniting them. In addition there were fire shutters attached by a chain to the porthole windows, in the event of a fire the projectionist would pull a cord located at the exit which would release the shutters closing the ports and prevent the fire from spreading into the theatre. There was also a safety link attached between the chain and the shutter which when hot would melt and cause the shutter to fall. The feature was stored in a heavy metal vault which looked like a huge safe (some of those still exist today) when the reels were not in the projector magazine they had to be stored in those vaults. Fire marshals visited the booth often and any projectionist or theatre owner not following fire safety to the letter were fined.
Yes my friends the dangers of nitrate were taken very seriously.