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Author Topic: What is it?? - Misc theatre objects Nate Lehrke Master Film Handler Posts: 396 From: Denver, CO Registered: Oct 2002 posted 05-25-2003 04:04 AM                     We have four of these 20 foot rods with hooks on them. Haven't a clue to the purpose? Do you? My only use:  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 05-25-2003 06:55 AM                        Perhaps it's for hooking onto the latch of a window, roller blind or air vent located towards the top of a very tall room in order to open and close it. One student film society I ran operated in a general-purpose hall which had very high windows with blackout blinds, and there was a pole a bit like yours (which we called the buggery stick) which was used both to open the windows and operate the blinds.  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 05-25-2003 07:46 AM                    It's not insulated so that leaves out the sticks the electric utility workers use to open and close pole-mounted high voltage switches. And the hook is not big enough to remove bad vaudeville acts from the stage. I'd go with Leo's guess.  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 05-25-2003 08:57 AM                        I use to have a pole that looked similiar to the one shown but it had a grip with a lever and we used it to change our marquee letters while standing on the sidewalk.  |  IP: Logged Ray Bernardi Expert Film Handler Posts: 120 From: Antrim, NH, USA Registered: Feb 2003 posted 05-25-2003 09:21 AM                     They look like manual pull rods for a curtain? Perhaps the hook end fit over a pipe and it was used to draw a curtain manually? I've seen rods something like that before and that's what they were used for.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-25-2003 01:24 PM                     Are they "rigged up" or were they manufactured that way? Looks to me like they were rigged up. In other words, the person who made them might have had a specific purpose in mind. A little deductive reasoning from looking at how they are made might give you some clues. My first guess would be a window opener/blind puller. It could be a marquee letter changer but the hook seems to be going the wrong way. My second guess would be that they hang over the top pipe of your screen frame in order to facilitate some kind of manually movable masking. In other words, affix the inboard edges of the black Duvetine (or whatever fabric the masking is made from) to the pipe then affix the other end to the wall. By hanging the hooked end over the top of the screen, a person would be able to open and close the masking by sliding the hooked end of the pipe back and forth in front of the screen. This is what we were going to do with the masking here at the college until we figured out a better way.  |  IP: Logged Gerard S. Cohen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 975 From: Forest Hills, NY, USA Registered: Sep 2001 posted 05-25-2003 01:55 PM                     I first thought, "Why would a theatre need five?" Then I noted the little reverse-hook lip on the end of the larger curve, which suggested to me they were used to add and remove letters to the marquee, which usually has three sides and has several workers changing it at once, which might be done faster with five poles rather than ladders. I'd look for letter sets, possibly obsolete ones, to see if they can be engaged by the hook on the end. Perhaps these tools were once light-bulb changers, with the grasping "fingers" removed and the compound hook added for title use instead.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 05-25-2003 04:29 PM                        At the last cinema I worked we did have a grappling pole for changing light bulbs in the auditoria house lights. But these consisted of 5ft sections which were screwed together in a way which linked the grappling piece at the top to a lever at the bottom. When the pole was in position you pulled the lever to make it grip the light bulb, and then rotated the pole to unscrew it. I discounted this because if such a mechanism (or any evidence of it) were left, I would have expected Nate to mention it. An object for positioning letters on a readograph sounds feasible and would certainly answer Gerard's question as to why Nate has four of them.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 05-25-2003 05:19 PM                     It's one of those mandatory ADA devices. It allows handicapped projectionists in a wheelchair to thread interlock rollers on the ceiling.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 05-25-2003 09:07 PM                        What is this? It is located in the booth about 2 feet above the floor on the wall near a corner: There are no other phones in the theater like this. Even the technician from the phone company was perplexed at this.  |  IP: Logged Daniel Fuentz Expert Film Handler Posts: 230 From: Fresno, CA, USA Registered: Apr 2003 posted 05-25-2003 09:21 PM                     That looks like some sort of antiquated intercom system. I assume there's no dialtone or anything like that when you pick up the reciever. EDIT: Aha! I was right... a search for "Aiphone" reveals they are in fact an intercom manufacturer: http://www.gate-opener.com/aiphone_prod_appl_comm.html  |  IP: Logged Sam Hunter Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 779 From: West Monroe, LA, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 05-25-2003 09:24 PM                     Looks like a paging intercom, notice no pound or asterix buttons.  |  IP: Logged Nate Lehrke Master Film Handler Posts: 396 From: Denver, CO Registered: Oct 2002 posted 05-25-2003 09:36 PM                     As far as I know, we have never had curtains at the theatre, have no windows or blinds (located in basement of a mall) and the angle of the hook won't allow any air vent manipulation. I will have to check the pole more carefully tomorrow for signs of "jimmy-rigging". Joe -- I see the model is AIPHONE so From " AIPHONE Homepage " -- Aiphone is an internationally respected manufacture of intercom and entry security products  |  IP: Logged Nicholas Roznovsky Expert Film Handler Posts: 156 From: College Station, TX, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 05-25-2003 10:21 PM                        quote: Even the technician from the phone company was perplexed at this. Hah! That's Qwest for you! I'm sure they charged you out the wazoo for that enlightened answer as well. One of our locations had an Aiphone system which was installed by a previous owner. I'm not sure when it was installed, but it worked perfectly until we closed that location in 1997. It linked the two box offices and the two booths. No dial tone, you just pressed the button for which one you wanted to call and it rang on the other end. The sound was kind of tinny, but it worked without any problems.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-25-2003 11:17 PM                        Joe--all older theatres seem to have random stuff like that phone. The phones seem to be a '70s thing; before that, it was doorbells (or buzzers) with a button in the back of the auditorium and the bell/buzzer in the booth. Interestingly, the bells/buzzers are usually still connected and functioning, while the phones almost never work. We had a single phone like that (it was an AIPHONE, too) at Chestnut Hill, but it only had six buttons. There was only one of them and it was only in the lower booth. Presumably it would have been connected to the manager's office and the upper booth at one time. Now they just use regular phones with an "intercom" button.  |  IP: Logged

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