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Topic: The first movie you ran on your own was...?

John Wilson
Film God

Posts: 5438
From: Sydney, Australia.
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 11-21-1999 02:44 AM

I mean REALLY on your own with no help whatsoever...

Mine was "The Spy Who Loved Me". It was 1978 at the drive in and I was 12 years old. I remember being SOoooo nervous waiting for the changeover to come. Just love that 'heart up in your throat' feeling.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 11-21-1999 02:55 AM

The first movie I ever ran alone was the first movie I ever ran.

"Chris" showed me how to thread the machine and then said "go try that one, I'm going to grab a smoke and I'll be right back."

Never saw him again, to this day. I can't even remember what the film was. Oh well, unbelieveably the show ran smooth.

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Scott Shepard
Film Handler

Posts: 8
From: Los Angeles, California, usa
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 11-21-1999 03:16 AM

The 1st movie I ran on my own was First Blood.

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John Wilson
Film God

Posts: 5438
From: Sydney, Australia.
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 11-21-1999 03:23 AM

So THAT'S where you gained all this wisdom, Brad. I think this is the sort of intensive training given to many floor staff even today.

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Christopher A Kerr
Film Handler

Posts: 43
From: Oakville, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 11-21-1999 11:07 AM

See my new topic "Note to new members". I can relate to having no training. I was shown how to thread a Century SA and a potts platter and given keys to the theatre as my training. I started by myself the next day.

If I remember correctly the shows playing at the time were - Wild Wild West, Notting Hill, Arlington Road, Muppets From Space, Austin Powers 2, and Big Daddy.

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Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 11-21-1999 11:27 AM

The first 16mm film that I ran for a college film screening was "Grosse Pointe Blank" with a Woody Woodpecker cartoon. The training was little more than how to thread the projectors (the wrong way, I might add). The screening went fine, except for the changeovers (the Eiki EX-6100 projectors had a weird changeover that has a two-second delay between when you hit "changeover" and when the changeover actually occurs...I didn't figure this out until the second film that I ran on these machines).

The first 35mm film that I ran was "Amistad"; again, the only training was in the wrong way to thread the Century projectors. The film was on three 6000' reels. The first and third reels went fine. I somehow misthreaded the second reel so that the film bunched up in the soundhead. Fortunately, I caught this quickly and fixed it in under a minute.

First 35mm film with carbon-arc lamps: "Red Violin"; this show was pretty much flawless (since the guy who showed me how to run carbons was actually highly knowledgeable), although at one changeover, I accidentally hit the "curtain" switch instead of the changeover button. Oops.

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Rob Brooks
Film Handler

Posts: 57
From: NY, U.S.A.
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 11-21-1999 11:30 AM

The first film I ran solo was on Thanksgiving Day in 1972. Actually it was 2 movies since back then all theaters had double features and a short. They were always known as the A picture and the B picture. That's why Ronald Reagan was known as a B Picture Actor. So the B picture was "Dollars" with Goldie Hawn. The A picture was "The New Centurions" with George C Scott and Stacy keach. And wouldn't you know at night I couldn't get one of the carbon Peerless lamphouses to light, so I had to stop the show every 20 minutes to run on one machine. It turned out it was a problem with the lamphouse wire. But I sure was relieved it wasn't my fault. I remember walking in with a huge attache case of tools. Not that I knew how to use them.

------------------
Rob

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John Walsh
Film God

Posts: 2490
From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 11-21-1999 12:31 PM

My first film was "Grease" in 1977. But, we got it second run about 2 months later (in Nov, if I remember), and the print was totally beat. I remember thinking; 'This is the way prints come?' The theater I was at had a 50 foot screen, (2) V8's, Ashcraft lamps, 70mm, adjustable top and side masking, it sat 800 people, had a loge. The seat spacing back-to-back was 38". It was a real premium theater. A seperate, "hard ticket" sales office, ladies room had a sink and toliet in each stall. But the company (Consolidated theaters) had invested heavily in, "Hello, Dolly!" and, since 1969, had been running out of bankrupcy. It was strange, because I was surrounded by high quality equipment, but there was no money for anything like maintaince, parts, or even decent quality carbons. One of the owners came around with a box of 25watt light bulbs that we were to use from now on.

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Tim Reed
Better Projection Pays

Posts: 5246
From: Northampton, PA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 11-21-1999 12:39 PM

My first changeover was on "Teach Me" (appropriately titled) and "The Foursome" double-bill, at the Circle 25 d/i, Lexington, KY, on 9/7/74. I was TWELVE!

I couldn't tell you which picture was which, and at that age, I didn't care. I was more entralled with the big machines than big boobs (although it's the other way around today)!

I guess the first picture I ran all by my lonesome was "Silver Streak", in 1976, at the Leeds Theatre, Winchester, KY. The regular operator stepped out for supper one night, wished me luck, promptly left town and I never saw him again!

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Erick Ojeda
Film Handler

Posts: 26
From: Vineland, NJ
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 11-21-1999 02:26 PM

If I remember correctly, the first movie I have ever ran by myself was Doug's 1st Movie. At the theater I work at, the booth is manager operated, so only new managers are trained how to run the booth. I really didn't have a problem, but the frist movie I did have a problem with was Instinct. There was about 15 minutes left in the film, and the print spiraled around the brain. The film around the brian actually looked like a cone. I was extremely nervous because I never came across this problem, so I gave out passes, and allowed patrons to stay for the next showing, which did run. Man, there were a lot of mad people. lol....

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Daniel J. Durtschi
Film Handler

Posts: 5
From: Spokane, WA, USA
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 11-21-1999 02:40 PM

The first movie that I ever threaded, and ran was Batman. I was working with a Balyntine projecter, and forgot to put some tension on the rollers above and below the sound drum so they could float. Abviously the sound was really deep, slow and hard to hear. The guy that was training me got all nervous and couldn't figure out what was wrong ( thinking that it was something more involved then what it actually was). Well he finally figured it out, and I learned an important lesson. So it was a good experiance for me.

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Aaron Sisemore
Flaming Ribs beat Reeses Peanut Butter Cups any day!

Posts: 3061
From: Rockwall TX USA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 11-21-1999 04:39 PM

The first movie I projected to a paying audience was 'Take This Job And Shove It' back in June 1981 at the Clover Cinema in Cloverdale, CA on Brenkert 60s, Magnarcs, and of course 2000' changeovers. There was a bit of 'practice before that using thrashed prints of such classics as 'Beyond And Back' and 'Guardian Of The Wilderness' and a few hodgepodge trailer reels

History repeats itself, as I am currently doing the sound and projection installs on this very same theatre, although it is now a stadium 4-plex...

Aaron

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Erika Hellgren
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 168
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: Jun 99

posted 11-21-1999 04:59 PM

Well, I don't remember the first movie I ran on my own since I was working at a 12 plex, but the first movie I built up and screened by myself was "Outbreak". I screwed up royally because I think I'd had about 60 seconds tops of build-up training. I got one reel out of frame, and another one backwards. Good thing I screened it.

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Christopher Seo
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 530
From: Los Angeles, CA
Registered: Jun 99

posted 11-21-1999 05:16 PM

I trained at a 12-plex, so I also don't remember which movie it was exactly that I started without having someone check it first. But the first official movie I ran was the movie my theater opened with: the ever-popular "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace"! A group of us projectionists started the movie on five screens at midnight on May 19th. I remember the excitement with which I watched the Fox fanfare and Lucasfilm logo... but then it got pretty tiring, and I had been at the theater probably 15 hours straight already, so I stopped watching.

Mr. Walsh: what is the name and location of that theater? The only Consolidated Theaters I know of is in Hawaii, and I think that company does business on the West Coast under the name Pacific Theaters.

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John Walsh
Film God

Posts: 2490
From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 11-21-1999 05:40 PM

Hey there, Chris...

There are probably several "Consolidated Theaters" around. The theater I worked at was in Greenwich, Connecticut. They also had a few theaters in nearby Stamford. They had run those theaters from about 1949 to 1978, when the place I worked at (and the others nearby) were sold to Trans-Lux Corp. (yep, "Felix the Cat" people.) You could ask around at your company if they were related, but you'll have to talk to a real old timer. The name of the main guy who "ran" us was Melvin Miller. I don't know many other details, because they were sold off just when I got there.

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