Yes, Ed, that’s the photo. And, Robert, I’m sorry for the typo in your name in my first post.
I always was awed by the RCMH — and vivdly remember my first visit there to see “Father of the Bride” as a mere child…on a rainy day. The movie experience certainly was like none I had at the RKO Castle Hill or Loew’s American in the Bronx, and the stage show was awesome (I remember spending as much time looking at the spotlight beams coming from all over the place as watching the Rockettes…priorities to changed as I grew older.)
Finally getting in to see the booth and other workings was a great experience. Having learned how to run 35mm from a projectionist at a small theater on Long Island (Little Neck), seeing how it’s done in RCMH with 6,000 people in the house…with 3 operators…(one calling out the cues — “motor,” etc.) and those massive arc lamps…was memorable. For the documentary, we recorded the sound of a projector running as an effect, and interviewed the operators about changing tastes in movies….having done a bunch of interviews with audience members in the lobby earlier. Actually, I was surprised how quiet the proj was — we had to open the picture head door to get a good background sound effect.
Patricia was very nice to deal with — we had a great meal afterwards in the Rainbow Room, as I recall, courtesy of RCMH.
I have an old RCMH journal which has a photo taken in the “cinema” booth with a caption which says that Robert Enders supervises a staff of projectionists. Are you the fellow on the left…tall with a moustache? The photo shows four men in the vicinity of the ends of the arc lamps of three of the projectors.
(As a teenager, some friends and I had a morbid interest in film projection but we were never able to wangle our way in to see the RCMH booth. I finally managed to do so some years later when working for ABC News I did a documentary on te movies and Patricia Robert arranged a visit to the theater.)
For Ed Solero and REndres —
Yes, Ed, that’s the photo. And, Robert, I’m sorry for the typo in your name in my first post.
I always was awed by the RCMH — and vivdly remember my first visit there to see “Father of the Bride” as a mere child…on a rainy day. The movie experience certainly was like none I had at the RKO Castle Hill or Loew’s American in the Bronx, and the stage show was awesome (I remember spending as much time looking at the spotlight beams coming from all over the place as watching the Rockettes…priorities to changed as I grew older.)
Finally getting in to see the booth and other workings was a great experience. Having learned how to run 35mm from a projectionist at a small theater on Long Island (Little Neck), seeing how it’s done in RCMH with 6,000 people in the house…with 3 operators…(one calling out the cues — “motor,” etc.) and those massive arc lamps…was memorable. For the documentary, we recorded the sound of a projector running as an effect, and interviewed the operators about changing tastes in movies….having done a bunch of interviews with audience members in the lobby earlier. Actually, I was surprised how quiet the proj was — we had to open the picture head door to get a good background sound effect.
Patricia was very nice to deal with — we had a great meal afterwards in the Rainbow Room, as I recall, courtesy of RCMH.
PeterKatz
For REnders —
Here’s an easy question —–
I have an old RCMH journal which has a photo taken in the “cinema” booth with a caption which says that Robert Enders supervises a staff of projectionists. Are you the fellow on the left…tall with a moustache? The photo shows four men in the vicinity of the ends of the arc lamps of three of the projectors.
(As a teenager, some friends and I had a morbid interest in film projection but we were never able to wangle our way in to see the RCMH booth. I finally managed to do so some years later when working for ABC News I did a documentary on te movies and Patricia Robert arranged a visit to the theater.)
PeterKatz