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Author Topic: Projecting 3-D in 1953 Robert Furmanek Expert Film Handler Posts: 113 From: Clifton, NJ, USA Registered: Jun 2012 posted 03-30-2016 03:46 PM                     The next time you watch a vintage 3-D film on Blu-ray and simply insert the disc and hit play, think about how 3-D films were projected in theaters sixty-three years ago. As Jack Theakston wrote in his excellent article, WHAT KILLED 3-D?: "Projecting dual-strip 3-D is a science. I draw the line between an "art" and a "science" because for all practical purposes, a science is based on rigid fact and standard, whereas "art" utilizes talent and imagination. In order for a dual-strip 35mm presentation to work correctly, standards must be applied and adhered to at every performance." http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/what-killed-3D  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 03-30-2016 04:23 PM                        This sort of checklist would have been familiar to a projectionist in 1953 who was coming to the end of his (or just possibly, her) career and had been around for the transition to sound. Here is one from the 1920s: Interesting that this assumes that there is no automated changeover shutter - the changeover has to be accomplished by manual douser operation by a projectionist at each machine. What with the audio as well, it's not hard to understand why a booth in those days required 3-4 projectionists to put on a show.  |  IP: Logged Robert Furmanek Expert Film Handler Posts: 113 From: Clifton, NJ, USA Registered: Jun 2012 posted 03-30-2016 04:39 PM                     That's a terrific document Leo, thanks for sharing!  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 03-30-2016 05:16 PM                        I must have been fortunate because all the 3D shows I saw in the fifties were flawless and I saw a lot at the Liberty Theatre in Honolulu and the Pearl City Theatre near where I lived. They were all perfectly projected because I did not get eye strain or headaches or any other kinds of discomfort many people had complained about after viewing 3D films in the fifties. -Claude  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 03-30-2016 11:27 PM                        Reading that it sounds like there were separate prints for L and R. Is that correct? It doesn't seem like it would be because you would have to have an intermission between every reel.  |  IP: Logged Stephan Shelley Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 854 From: castro valley, CA, usa Registered: Nov 2014 posted 03-30-2016 11:35 PM                     It was one reel left eye one reel right. This is where 6'000 reels were introduced. Prints were shipped on 6'000 reels in canisters much like 70mm canisters. Two 6'000 reels in each canister. Normally just one intermission. I ran some of this stuff in the 80s. Kiss Me Kate, Dial M for Murder several time, It Came from Outer Space, the two 3 Stooges shorts in 3D. This is with carbon arc lamps. The first reel of Dial M took a full positive trim. You need the full travel if not you lost your light before the end of the reel.  |  IP: Logged Robert Furmanek Expert Film Handler Posts: 113 From: Clifton, NJ, USA Registered: Jun 2012 posted 03-31-2016 08:40 AM                     The prints were shipped on four 23 or 24-inch reels. Parts one and two left and right side. Every feature had a built-in intermission point around the 50 minute mark. Part two of the movie was usually 30 to 40 minutes and any shorts, cartoons or trailers were added after the feature. There's a picture of an original left side shipper and single reel near the bottom of this page: http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/gog Each side with two reels and shipper was 75 pounds so you had 150 pounds for shipping each 3-D feature. Imagine lugging those up to the booth of the old palaces!  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 03-31-2016 10:01 AM                    Inflation adjusted from 1952: $200 --> $1858 $230 --> $2137 $14 --> $130 $5 --> $46  |  IP: Logged Frank Bolkovac Film Handler Posts: 27 From: Monroeville, Pa. USA Registered: Mar 2011 posted 03-31-2016 10:26 AM                     In some of the bigger theaters in major cities, to bypass intermission, they had four projectors and made change-over from two machines too two machines.  |  IP: Logged Jim Cassedy Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1661 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Dec 2006 posted 03-31-2016 12:38 PM                     Like Stephan, I projected a bunch of dual-projector 3D stuff for a couple of 3D festivals or revivals in the late 70's & early 80's. For at least one of them, I was even running double-system sound, so I had to deal with 2projectors and a sound-track follower. - - and carbon arcs! It took some skill, but it wasn't impossible, to get both lamps burning at the same intensity & color temperature. But if you knew what your were doing you got through it OK. quote: shipper was 75 pounds so you had 150 pounds for shipping each 3-D feature. Imagine lugging those up to the booth of the old palaces! Back in the 50's and even into the 70's when I was doing the shows I mentioned above, it was a 'union job' so I didn't have to worry about getting films up to the booth since the contract forbade the operator from actually carrying film cans. ( ! ) (Although that doesn't invalidate your point- - they WERE heavy- - no matter who got stuck lugging them upstairs) I had a DejaVu moment on this last fall when the theater I was at had to hire professional movers to get the 70mm Hateful 8 print up 3 floors the booth. I certainly couldn't do it, and either company policy or child labor laws or somesuch nonsense kept the regular floor-staff theater critters from doing it.  |  IP: Logged Robert Furmanek Expert Film Handler Posts: 113 From: Clifton, NJ, USA Registered: Jun 2012 posted 03-31-2016 12:53 PM                     The Unions demanded two operators in the booth for 3-D in 1953 and if they were running interlock mag for stereo, a third operator. That caused many problems and at least one circuit in LA dropped the stereophonic sound rather than pay for a third man.  |  IP: Logged Rick Raskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1100 From: Manassas Virginia Registered: Jan 2003 posted 03-31-2016 04:37 PM                     Amazing. When I was in the Union one guy could operate twin theaters as long as they had 6000 ft. reels. Carbon arcs were prevalent back then although some houses had xenon. Some booths still had the 3D interlock. The only times I worked with another operator was for nitrate, 70mm or a triple.  |  IP: Logged Ted Uzzle Film Handler Posts: 19 From: Chicago, Il., U.S.A. Registered: Oct 2015 posted 04-14-2016 01:21 AM                     When I went off to college in 1967, I brought a Stereo Realist camera with me, and 3D still photography was my hobby for years. Working my way through college as a projectionist, and for some years after, I never projected a 3D movie. Never seen one, either! --Although there are some shots in "Dial M for Murder" that scream: 3D effect (crane shots over Ray Milland's head, looking down). Anaglyph DVDs, such as "Final Destination 4," coming with the colored glasses, don't work for my tired old eyes. Gotta get my butt in gear, out to IMAX on Navy Pier.  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 04-14-2016 09:29 AM                        quote: Rick Raskin Amazing. When I was in the Union one guy could operate twin theaters as long as they had 6000 ft. reels. I just dealt with the leading edge of the 2-D side of this. For awhile in the mid-70s, I worked at a twin for the Seattle local... two booths, over-the-roof walkway between them, 6,000 ft reels, automated Eprad Co-Operator changeovers. We never had much trouble with the setup, though we didn't always know what was going in the other booth. I rigged a couple of doorbells to the Co-Operators to fix that. two "dings" to indicate the other booth was going into changeover, and continuous "ding-dong" to indicate an alarm. (Drastically testing the limits of my memory here...) When the Seattle Cinerama opened in '62, I think I remember being impressed that a 3-strip show required a master control operator, one operator for each of the 3 projectors, another for the sound unit and, for reasons I don't know, a stage hand down front... all union guys from Local 15 and 154.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 04-14-2016 07:43 PM                     Ted Uzzle of Altec and Theatre Application Notes (TAN) fame?  |  IP: Logged

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