Ziegfeld Theatre

AlAvarez, thanks for that post. I knew for years now, most of the theatres outside the five boroughs and New Jersey have been negotiating new contracts , they allow a shared booth with both union and non-union operators, I did not know that policy had spread to Manhattan. This is very disturbing news indeed, but with the advent of platters and automation and the increased cost to a theatre’s overhead I suppose it was inevitable. When I think of the union operators who demanded platters at the Ziegfeld I must ask myself what were they thinking, they just helped management in the quest to eliminate their jobs. Why did the union back that up?
Somewhere along the line getting a NYC motion picture operators license (which I believe is still required) got much easier. When I took the test it was more difficult then it is today, in addition to the written test you had to pass a practical exam usually held in the booth of one of the members of the union examining board. I suppose the new simpler (multiple-choice) test has made it easier for theatres to employ non-union operators.
As to projectionists with substance abuse problems, let me tell you that problem goes way, way back.It was a lonely job cooped up all day alone, and some guys need a little Jim Beam to keep them company.
I recall stories of reels run out of order, guys passing out, or making changeovers in the middle of a reel.
One of the best was a guy who did not bother to put a take up reel in the lower magazine and simply allowed the entire 2000’ of film run onto the floor. But I’ll save the rest for the book I think I should write :)

Local 306 still supplies projectionists like you said, but it depends on what type of Limited contract with the chains as to what hours the operator works. If the theatre has less than some many screens then they can have usher/operator types in the booth. So thats where your presentations get trashed to save money.

Thanks Michael; The morning after it happened I was in touch with some of the folks at National Amusements, many ideas were tossed about to try and avoid that from reoccuring. Splits are very common and are not about to stop, they are very important in the booking process. We have had as many as three splits in one auditorium at a time, and it is simply up to the projectionist to be sure and thread the right movie. It was a mistake to be sure, but not one that I can easily forgive. I will admit it was a tricky split with the R movie showing before and after the PG one, but you just have to pay attention to what you are doing. By the way, the Island 16 has union projectionist.
You are so right about how things can go wrong in the booth, maybe someday I will write a book :)

AlAlvarez: I am having some trouble digesting the notion that
“many Manhattan theatres are no longer union” or that a projectionist could force the installation of a platter due to his/her back problems. My information is that IATSE local 306 still supplies projectionists to all theaters in Manhattan. I wonder if you could tell me where you got that information and if it is credible. I would be shocked to learn that it’s true.
Bill: I have a Rocky story, during a studio preview at the Royal theatre in Hawaii, Stallone himself came up to the booth and asked the projectionist to raise the sound. The projectionist called me to say “guess who just came up to see me in the booth” It was confirmed by other theatre staff who said Sly was as nice as could be, he also said “It’s OK, the sound is never load enough for me, it happens
every where I go"
Pete: We are a dying breed I am afraid, but I love that you are out there presenting movies as they should be. You are a showman!

Theatre and Cinema Enthusiasts:
Tomorrow is the 115th Anniversary of Motion Picture Exhibition when, Woodville Latham, the father of Grey Latham and Otway Latham, formed the Lambda Company at 35 Frankfort Street, New York City, taking the moving picture out of the Kinetoscope (peep-hole viewer) of Thomas Alva Edison and projecting, who cinema history promotes as the first exhibition on screen as Vitascope [Edison 23 April 1896]. Yes, Latham presented Widescreen with an aspect ratio of 1.85 and a film gauge of 51 mm and an aperture of 37 mm by 20 mm. Celebrate, pull your resources -Enjoy!

I wish I or someone else in the audience had the guts to do that at a special pre-release screening of “Rocky” I had won tickets to (from Musicradio WABC 77AM) in 1976 at Loew’s State 2. The entire movie was projected out of focus.

Excellent story, Vito. I nearly got tossed from the Bergen Mall Theatre in Paramus, NJ for trying to do the same thing during a show! As someone who tries to have showmanship during my special presentations, I love reading your war stories of the days gone by.

Vito: I didn’t mean to imply the theater at palisades Mall was a NA chain, I know it wasn’t. It was a Sony theater at the time (now AMC?) Just making about about how simple yet annoying things are allowed to be presented. This wasn’t a shutter out of phase by a few degrees, this was about a ¼ turn off.

According to Variety’s archive, the first week of the 1994 re-release of May Fair Lady did $18,764 at the Ziegfeld. That’s under $2700 a day, divide that by 3 shows a day and you had an average of about 150 a show for the week. Obviously, the night shows were more crowded and the daytime less so. When I saw a weekday matinee of it, there were around 50 people there. Compare that number with the 1989 Lawrence of Arabia re-release which did nearly $80,000 the first week.

William: I am shocked by what you wrote, it sounds as bad as having an usher running the booth. Like any other profession you are bound to get a few incompetents . I suppose with the projectionist position becoming more obsolete, as well as a dying profession, the guys coming in now are not up to the standards we once were,
darn shame. As I wrote, outside of NYC you will find a lot of amateurs in the booth but I expect more professionalism in the union houses.

Jeff: I was writing about National Amusements theatres which Palisades Mall is not. Had an incident like that happened in a NA theatre you would have received both a refund AND a pass to see another film, and the booth problem would have been corrected ASAP.
No other circuit that I know of comes close to National Amusements in proper film presentation. It is of paramount importance to the company, as they have a reputation with many studios and other theatre circuits all of whom respect the dedication to the proper presentation of movies that is a National Amusements priority.

Oh dear, now I suppose this thread will be flooded with folks telling war stories about their movie going experience. I only ask that if you do, you include the good stories as well.
Truth be told, we should not be taking up space on the Ziegfeld page to discuss this, but as my bread and butter career for so many years, you can understand my frustration at what has happened to the great art of projection.

Vito on Wednesday night over at a theatre on the Upper Eastside had a word-of-mouth screening for Fox Searchlight Pictures. The screening ran but the person that had the breakdown the feature had no clue has to what he was doing. Every reel had the wrong head & tail leaders on the wrong reels and masking tape to hold them on. This was a brand new print. The person from the security company told me that this same person also dropped a whole print from the platter too. Fox had a Press screening of the film the next afternoon. The Fox rep told me that that print came from another industry screening room, and that when the security person told me about the screening the night before at the theatre on 86th Street.

No, that linked story is about a fire in a Washington theatre showing the film.