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Author
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Topic: Anyone ever work a haunted theater?
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Vaughn Hamrick
Film Handler
Posts: 21
From: Jacksonville , Florida USA
Registered: Dec 2006
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posted 01-12-2007 04:27 PM
Back during the summer of 1977,I worked at an X rated theater in Jacksonville,Florida called The Roxy.Here is a picture taken in 1984 http://www.flickr.com/photos/lastpictureshow/193717358/.
The theater was built in the 1930's originally called The Dixie and featured live musical acts as well as second and third run movies,at the time,mostly formula gangster and cowboy fare.
During the 50's and 60's as urban sprawl set in and the downtown movie theater business began to wane,the Dixie began running more risque entertainment,including the infamous "sex shows",where a man in a white coat claiming to be a doctor,complete with a buxom woman in a nurse outfit warned folks of the dangers of syphillis,showing gross medical pictures and films for effect.Later,burlesque shows were added and the theater's name was changed to the Roxy Art Theater and during the the 60's and 70's only porn was shown.In 1972 the infamous "Deep Throat" played to a sellout audience.
The place always had a seedy reputation,with stories circulating about gangsters holing up in the projection booth while they were on the lam from the law.
By the time I arrived in '77,the theater had a name for being haunted.Strange voices were said to be heard in various places at times when a witness to such phenomena was alone.The doors to the restrooms,which were on spring loaded hinges that had long been rusted away,were said to open and close of their own accord,very rapidly(this I personally witnessed myself,the patrons to the theater seemed to pay no attention to it)and when a projectionist left the booth,splicers,reels and other tools were said to be re arranged when he returned.
I witnessed some of these things,but mostly I tried to write them off as mundane things.The restroom doors could've possibly been the result of vibrations from a nearby train as the theater was located near railroad tracks,the voices could possibly be attributed to strange acoustics.Other phenomena witnessed by people I have talked to since that time who worked that theater in times past included gunshots that sounded like they came from the balcony complete with an odor of gunpowder and accompanying screams.This of course fueled the theater's reputation as a haven for the seedy.
I was forced to quit working at the Roxy at the end of the summer.School was starting and I was still about 8 months shy of being legal to be in the theater and the porn business was under fire from the churches and anti porn groups at the time.The owner had to let me go.
My last day was spent trying to train the wino that ran the concession stand for the booth which was an exercise in futility.Imagine training a 60 year old wet brain on ancient carbon arc Simplexes.After several hours,I think he managed to learn which was the supply magazine and which was the takeup,before he gave up.
By the time the last reel was showing,and the box office closed,I was the only employee left.When the credits came up,I turned up the house lights in order to give the pervs..eh..patrons the hint that it was time to leave.After I locked the doors as the last of the raincoat brigade left,I had one final duty and that was to go next door to the peepshow arcade and empty the money out.As I was doing so,I heard the last of the reel go through the soundhead,making a "pop" and then the 60 cycle hum over the house speakers.After I deposited the money from the peepshow machines,I was to go back upstairs,clean the Simplexes,rewind the films and re thread the heads.I expected to find the projector running the takeup still going flop,flop,flop.....That's not what I found,though....
When I returned,I found the twin Simplexes cleaned,re threaded and the film re wound and the remaining reels neatly placed on their pegs.Furthermore the 16mm Eiki had been rethreaded and ready for the next projectionist.I left the keys on the box office desk as I exited rather quickly into the night.It would be several years before I entered the Roxy again.
Anyone else experience anything similar?
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