Poor old forum it finished up being a bit of a dump.Last shot was to fit out and run sensorround films . Kit was acouple of big power amps stacked near the main sound rac,these amps powered tall sperker colums in the cinema triggered by a signal on the mono optical sound track the amps would send out huge room shaking frequency to ad to the experience,[this worked great on the Battle of Midway film with guns going off]problem was it was only one frequency so not much scope for development.It died , I think only 3 movies were made with type of sound track.
WHat a top projection room to work in fully soundproofed .A rare setup with a pair of canica vic 8:s and one Kalee made presentation easy if running a70mm print with 35mm ads & trailers.I recall a Saturday dayshift the dimmer for main house lights smoked up ,the only temp fix while show was on was to get afew wire coathangers from the locker room[yes there was a change room probably the old generator before referb &fitting rectfiers]and bridge the blown sections.TRY DOING THAT TO YOUR SOLID STATE AUTOMATED DIMMER,arh those were the days
If only I had the foresight t0 take photos of all the theatres I have worked in, at this point it would have been a great thing to share with others who also have vivid memories of these not forgotten parts of our lives. Saturday day was good watching the rugby games from the rewind room,[grandstand style viewing].As usual for the day Kalee 21 kit fitted with westrex AR9 4trac mag soundheads &westrex lamphouses.
I too worked at the Star as assistant operator,the projectors had been up dated with the usual Kalee 21&B T H lamphouses still on westrex bases,Ithink the slide machine was the one you described,there ws no vent pipe for carbon dust to exit the box,manual feed & jigging knife switches as usual to use second generator.In 1967 when Iwas there it was a 2 session a day house so the operators worked only a 5DAY WEEK.the curtiams fell to bits never repaired so lots of carbons were used on the colour wheel fitted to the slide machine starting 10 mins before slide time. Iwas one night carrying a 5 spool trunk to the box [as the only way into bio was thru the circle and steep at that]as I opened the first door into the box Ilost my grip on the trunk and it rolled end on end to the bottom of the circle,most imbaresing.
Wile I was working in G.U"s eng dpt the twin bros [one of whom died soon before]the installation of a full kit of referbed Kalee projectors & lamphouses around 1976 I was asked to do one shift per week as operator, a one man operation with no automation it was improvision all the way with bits of cardboard,lenghts of string on swithes,dousers& knife switches etc.The films I recall running was a montyPython double .
Ionly worked one shift there as assistant operator so memory is a bit thin.The interior photo shown seem correct,not sure on street shot.I thought it was on Guilford rd.Projectors were Aus . built C&W I think with RCA sound heads.The vision change over mech was original slide flap across port hole.
I worked there 1967/68 there abouts as assistant operator.70mm films I remember My Fair Lady,The great race&Battle of the bulge [Cinerama print from the Plaza in Sydney] which was a real poor presentation as the Astra only had Todd lenses. It looked like c/scope running w/screen lenses.The other weird thing was a film Ithink it was called ‘Across the top’ came from the Palace in pitt st city,a 16mm print complete with 16mm RCA projector & corbon arc.Kel Ball was on hand to set it up.[real poor presentation].Half way thru the first spool the take up shaft failed and there was film all over the floor and a half hour break with house lights half up while we made atemp fix to finish the session.The milk bar a couple of doors up made great burgers.
As assistant operator to Cecil De Lorey IN 1967/68 it was a great theatre to work , Cec was a top teacher ,to much more to mention , although the way I gained entry to the place to start work to this day after all mods over the years has not been changed:.My secret.
as a 15 year old assistant operator with 5 weeks experience I worked 2 casual day shifts at the Enmore in 1967 near the end of its life with heaps of screaming kids in the house.my memory of the projection room was quite spacious fitted with Kalee 21’s. I do recall my pay for a casual shift was $4.00.
hi vernon ,john hurley here it has been some time since the mayfair.I remember you were thr first person to buy the Beatles White album and the sreies 1 rover Ithink you paid $500 for and I thought you were pretty special doing the techs course and working in the Regent workshop with Kel Ball when you were on arvo shift and me having to wait till you turned up late most times to releive me, Harrold was a stickler for smothe rewinding it would take about 15 min to do that and be very careful when putting the spools back in the trunk not to bump the sliding door end make the record jump as the turntable was sitting on top. yes relamping that place was a trick .and in the winter time lighting the gas heaters to keep the place warm,not forgetting the 23 usherettes including 2 dayshift advance session booking girlsin the 3rd ticket box,fri & sat nights an usherette would be stationed at every turn to guide patrons to thier seats as you would re call those evening sessoins would be full houses a rare thing these days.Yes Ido recall Wise comming to town and we screened spool 1 of the original copy of Sound of Music for him then spool 1 of the new copy as Harrold with his quality of film care had acheved a world record for number of screenings of a70mm print which was never beaten . Ashcraft Lamhouses were instaled as with every other 70mm theatre at the time recalling Harrolds yern for carbon burning ecconomy burning butts within mm failure.Well dont have to worry about that or any of the other stuff now ,no carbon arcs no more film no more projectionists (no more presintation)all hard drive stuff.I was so pleased to read your story and to finaly hear from another who remembers their youth as all of our memories have been torn down and replaced with shops or automation. John hurley.
Poor old forum it finished up being a bit of a dump.Last shot was to fit out and run sensorround films . Kit was acouple of big power amps stacked near the main sound rac,these amps powered tall sperker colums in the cinema triggered by a signal on the mono optical sound track the amps would send out huge room shaking frequency to ad to the experience,[this worked great on the Battle of Midway film with guns going off]problem was it was only one frequency so not much scope for development.It died , I think only 3 movies were made with type of sound track.
WHat a top projection room to work in fully soundproofed .A rare setup with a pair of canica vic 8:s and one Kalee made presentation easy if running a70mm print with 35mm ads & trailers.I recall a Saturday dayshift the dimmer for main house lights smoked up ,the only temp fix while show was on was to get afew wire coathangers from the locker room[yes there was a change room probably the old generator before referb &fitting rectfiers]and bridge the blown sections.TRY DOING THAT TO YOUR SOLID STATE AUTOMATED DIMMER,arh those were the days
If only I had the foresight t0 take photos of all the theatres I have worked in, at this point it would have been a great thing to share with others who also have vivid memories of these not forgotten parts of our lives. Saturday day was good watching the rugby games from the rewind room,[grandstand style viewing].As usual for the day Kalee 21 kit fitted with westrex AR9 4trac mag soundheads &westrex lamphouses.
I too worked at the Star as assistant operator,the projectors had been up dated with the usual Kalee 21&B T H lamphouses still on westrex bases,Ithink the slide machine was the one you described,there ws no vent pipe for carbon dust to exit the box,manual feed & jigging knife switches as usual to use second generator.In 1967 when Iwas there it was a 2 session a day house so the operators worked only a 5DAY WEEK.the curtiams fell to bits never repaired so lots of carbons were used on the colour wheel fitted to the slide machine starting 10 mins before slide time. Iwas one night carrying a 5 spool trunk to the box [as the only way into bio was thru the circle and steep at that]as I opened the first door into the box Ilost my grip on the trunk and it rolled end on end to the bottom of the circle,most imbaresing.
Wile I was working in G.U"s eng dpt the twin bros [one of whom died soon before]the installation of a full kit of referbed Kalee projectors & lamphouses around 1976 I was asked to do one shift per week as operator, a one man operation with no automation it was improvision all the way with bits of cardboard,lenghts of string on swithes,dousers& knife switches etc.The films I recall running was a montyPython double .
Ionly worked one shift there as assistant operator so memory is a bit thin.The interior photo shown seem correct,not sure on street shot.I thought it was on Guilford rd.Projectors were Aus . built C&W I think with RCA sound heads.The vision change over mech was original slide flap across port hole.
My only visit to this theatre was to see ‘Summer Holiday'with my school mate.
I worked there 1967/68 there abouts as assistant operator.70mm films I remember My Fair Lady,The great race&Battle of the bulge [Cinerama print from the Plaza in Sydney] which was a real poor presentation as the Astra only had Todd lenses. It looked like c/scope running w/screen lenses.The other weird thing was a film Ithink it was called ‘Across the top’ came from the Palace in pitt st city,a 16mm print complete with 16mm RCA projector & corbon arc.Kel Ball was on hand to set it up.[real poor presentation].Half way thru the first spool the take up shaft failed and there was film all over the floor and a half hour break with house lights half up while we made atemp fix to finish the session.The milk bar a couple of doors up made great burgers.
As assistant operator to Cecil De Lorey IN 1967/68 it was a great theatre to work , Cec was a top teacher ,to much more to mention , although the way I gained entry to the place to start work to this day after all mods over the years has not been changed:.My secret.
as a 15 year old assistant operator with 5 weeks experience I worked 2 casual day shifts at the Enmore in 1967 near the end of its life with heaps of screaming kids in the house.my memory of the projection room was quite spacious fitted with Kalee 21’s. I do recall my pay for a casual shift was $4.00.
hi vernon ,john hurley here it has been some time since the mayfair.I remember you were thr first person to buy the Beatles White album and the sreies 1 rover Ithink you paid $500 for and I thought you were pretty special doing the techs course and working in the Regent workshop with Kel Ball when you were on arvo shift and me having to wait till you turned up late most times to releive me, Harrold was a stickler for smothe rewinding it would take about 15 min to do that and be very careful when putting the spools back in the trunk not to bump the sliding door end make the record jump as the turntable was sitting on top. yes relamping that place was a trick .and in the winter time lighting the gas heaters to keep the place warm,not forgetting the 23 usherettes including 2 dayshift advance session booking girlsin the 3rd ticket box,fri & sat nights an usherette would be stationed at every turn to guide patrons to thier seats as you would re call those evening sessoins would be full houses a rare thing these days.Yes Ido recall Wise comming to town and we screened spool 1 of the original copy of Sound of Music for him then spool 1 of the new copy as Harrold with his quality of film care had acheved a world record for number of screenings of a70mm print which was never beaten . Ashcraft Lamhouses were instaled as with every other 70mm theatre at the time recalling Harrolds yern for carbon burning ecconomy burning butts within mm failure.Well dont have to worry about that or any of the other stuff now ,no carbon arcs no more film no more projectionists (no more presintation)all hard drive stuff.I was so pleased to read your story and to finaly hear from another who remembers their youth as all of our memories have been torn down and replaced with shops or automation. John hurley.