Request help w/historical info on 1958 theater running Simplex projectors!

[Alan Adler]

Greetings. I am a newcomer to the forum, but an old-comer to the fun. Been a filmmaker / collector / archivist for 50 years. I have a few questions for the pros out there. Hope you can help.

I'm finishing a novel with scenes set in a 1958 projection room in a down and out Southern theater running old twin Simplex projectors from the 1930's or 1940's.

My questions involve what might happen when one of the Simplex pair is severely vandalized - solidly trashed with a wrench.

1. My guess is that parts could be ordered that could replace the damaged elements and that the projectionist could do the task.
But given extensive damage would it have made sense to a run-down house to just buy another used Simplex to replace the whole machine?
Or a new 1958 Simplex if it would match the older one in place.
I suppose the choice might even require the working Simplex to be sold and 2 newer Simplex projectors be purchased.

2. What might the ball park cost be for key parts vs. used or even new Simplex projectors be back in 1958?

3. Of key importance is - might there have been some more advanced, more automatic system the theater could purchase -
Somehow find the money to bring in a new automated system.
Perhaps selling the damaged one for scrap or parts - and the good Simplex to someone else to defray the cost.
In my research, however, it doesn’t look like truly advanced systems were available at that time -
(One that might even need less experience to operate because more automated.)
So that means the best they could do to keep running would be to purchase a new or used Simplex to replace the damaged one - a 2 new ones if they had to match.

Here is a sidebar for another scene -

4. Is it possible to take a finger and pull out the loop by hand between take up reel and gate to do something of a “watch this” trick with the moving film, or would that be so dangerous no one would ever try such a thing? I did in as a kid with 8mm - but 35 is more like a ribbon of razor blades.

If the above doesn’t work, might there be some often played trick or “watch this” show off thing that a projectionist might do around the Simplex projectors - still or running - to impress, let’s say a 10-year-old boy up to the projection room for a friendly tour.

Such questions are the life of the writer trying to figure stuff out.

It's important to me that the issues are handled with authenticity.

I do appreciate anyone who can give me any tips at all to wrangle this story into the can.

Thanks so much for your time.
And it looks like you folks have a wonderful and varied forum.
Thanks for being there.

Alan J. Adler
Museum of Mom and Pop Culture

[Emiel de Jong]

I've never ran Simplex projectors, but in general I would say you would never pull with your hands a loop of running film from between the upper spool box (I guess in 1958 in a twin setup there would still have been spool boxes) and the feed sprocket: this distance is very short normally, and therefore there is a huge risk of damaging the film, or your hands. I guess what would impress newcomers in the dark projection room of any age is opening the lamp house door: the room would go from night to day. This would only be quite safe in the old carbon arc days, but we're speaking 1958 anyway. The newer xenon lamps could explode from the cold inrush of air. Of course if the projectionist did something like this he wouldn't care about a slight disturbance for the audience: likely the extra light would shine into the theatre, also when port windows are small, and if he is a little bit a responsable person he would make sure a 10-year old would never look directly at the arc...
As for the damaged machine: if somebody trashes such a machine with a wrench my guess is he would go for the projector head where the fine machined parts are. A theatre in 1958 with not too much money to spare would then buy a replacement used projector head, and probably a new (used) lens: if the lens was still in the machine that would definitely have got the attention of a wrench wielding vandal ;-)
Maybe others with more Simplex knowledge can chime in; in my part of the world Simplexes are quite rare ;-)

[Alan Adler]

Thank you so much, Emiel for your thoughts and info. I did quickly realize handling the moving film issue was a "no-no" - I used to amuse myself extending the running 8mm film loop 62 years ago on my trusty Bell & Howell when I was 10 years old - but when we grow up and put our hands on the bigger machines of life the danger level goes up exponentially! Coincidentally, I did go to the carbon arc display as a "watch this" and I believe it works well in my story to capture a visitor's imagination that he is beholding something of wonder. So, you were right on and confirmed the carbon arc as the most magical of elements.

Replacement of used elements is surely the most economical way to upgrade a damaged machine. I can make that work in my story. I had hoped that the pressure of an automated system being installed would create an arc of concern for the old-school projectionist not ready for modern times - but since it appears there were no major automations available in 1958, short of buying a newer Simplex model - I am now thinking the challenging arc to the projectionist is the challenge to face the damage done - and face another day of work - the grind most all of us know so well - as we rise to the occassion each day to make sense of it all.

Thanks so much again for weighing in - your confirmation of things really helped me a lot. It's been an honor to even be in contact with you folks who actually know the nuts and bolts mechanics of putting on the show.

"Better Projection Pays!"

[Frank Cox]

A rather exciting real-life episode that you might be able to use in your novel is something that happened to me a lot of years ago. The theatre I was at had a xenon lamphouse so I didn't have to sit in the projection room throughout the show (good thing in view of this event) but it was a cooking hot day in August. There was no air conditioning in the projection room so you can imagine how hot it was in there (tiny little room, no windows). I was in the middle of a Saturday afternoon matinee and was avoiding the heat in the projection room by standing in the lobby when there was a flash of lightning and a huge bang in the projection room. I saw the light illuminate the stairs and I'm not sure if the bang shook the building but it sure managed to shake me.

I raced up the stairs and discovered that the transformer in the rectifier had blown right out of the side of the case leaving a lot of smoke and a hole in the wall. Damn good thing I hadn't been standing there at the time.

I guess it was just the heat of the day and the heat that was trapped in the room that caused the transformer to somehow melt and explode.

Most exciting thing I've ever had happen in a projection room, let me assure you.


Edit: it occurs to me that there's a long-running thread in the "old" forum called "Rant on Stupid Customers" that's chock full of theatre stories, many of which might be usable or at least inspirational for your project as well.

[Alan Adler]

Great story, Frank. I love the "real and true adventure" angle your response took. I can see the moment and it is already cooking in my mind. I hope more readers will share their real stories with us on the forum. Aside from the story, itself, it's the tone, excitement and authenticity of real events that I need to incorporate in my writing as I weave my fictional tale. I need a solid foundation of authenticity to support the truly extraordinary events that follow. Thanks!

[Leo Enticknap]

About 25 years ago, when I was living in England, the manager of a cinema near me arrived for work one morning to find one of the projectors (a Philips DP-70/Norelco AA) in the restroom, surrounded by fragments of what had once been a toilet bowl, with a huge hole in the ceiling above it. Woodworm had gotten in to the floorboards, and they simply gave way in the middle of the night. It's not known precisely when the collapse happened, but there could possibly have been fatalities if it had been just an hour or so earlier.

Imagine having to write the obituary for someone who was sitting on the throne when a 1,000lb projector landed on them!

[Alan Adler]

Thanks, Leo. That is one fantastic story! I gotta use that with your okay - maybe the old projectionist tells that story in my book - but someone was on the receiving end. I gotta say, "What a way to go!" for a cinema lover if some poor soul had actually been sitting on the porcelain throne when that DP-70 fell from the sky. I love it! Alan

[Gordon McLeod]

years ago a GK21 elephant foot machine went through a booth floor into a storeroom

[Alan Adler]

That must have been like a meteorite crashing!

[Randy Stankey]

If you REALLY want to bung up a Simplex projector, or any projector that recirculates oil, mix some valve grinding compound with the oil.

It's something that a saboteur, lurking in the shadows, could do in a few minutes without being noticed which would cause catastrophic damage to the entire mechanism such that the entire projector would have to be rebuilt if not scrapped, all together.

Imagine a projection room in a busy theater on a Saturday night, in the middle of the show when the whole projector goes haywire and unceremoniously grinds to a screeching halt! I doubt that a projector, sabotaged like that, would make it through a whole program, much less the first reel of film.

Every single gear, shaft, bearing and seal would have to be replaced. The intermittent, heart of the projector, would be damaged beyond all hope of repair. In today's money, a rebuilt intermittent would cost $2,000+ to replace the old one. Back in the day, especially in a struggling business, it would have been a death blow.

Depending on how much trouble one would want to cause, they could sabotage one or both machines. Destroying both puts the theater out of business until both machines are replaced. Destroying only one forces the operator to run in single-reel mode where he has to stop the show every twenty minutes to change film. He could, conceivably, splice film onto a larger reel but that means that, if he's using a carbon arc lamp house, he'll have to stop to replace the carbons when they burn out.

Now, a good projectionist would look at the oil level inside the projector (via the sight glass) and would probably notice if the oil was contaminated but, on a busy Saturday night, who checks every projector every time? If the projector ran right and the oil was good on Friday, why should it go bad in 24 hours? Checking projectors and changing oil is something that usually done on a Monday. Right?

No matter which way it is done, such sabotage would reduce a theater to chaos.

As for a "Hey! Watch this!" moment, I have two ideas.

First, let's go with the scene from the movie, Cinema Paradiso.

The theater is sold out to the rafters and there are more people clamoring to get in. Alfredo, the projectionist, might be a gruff, old guy but he's got a good heart and he wants everybody to be able to see the movie.

In a "Watch this!" moment, Alfredo puts a piece of glass (presumably a half-silver mirror) in front of the projector and reflects the picture out the projection booth window, onto a wall in the town square while the boy, Toto, looks on in amazement. The whole town applauds Alfredo for letting them see the movie.

The other "Watch This!" moment comes from something I actually witnessed.

I was being taught to run carbons on a Super Cinex lamp house. The guy teaching me wanted to show me that he could change carbons without stopping the show.

He opened up the lamp house, grabbed the back of the clamp and loosened the set screw with his bare hand. He held the tail of the carbon with one hand and racked the mechanism back with the other. He slipped a joinable carbon rod in place, slipped the end back into the clamp and tapped it tight with his screwdriver. He tightened the clamp, readjusted the mechanism and closed up the lamp, all without extinguishing the arc.

So... Consider this...
In a doomsday scenario, where one projector is out of commission and the operator must keep the show running, even on one projector, he could still prevail if he knows his stuff.

He could use a combination of splicing the film onto large reels and strategically placed intermissions to run an entire show without a whole lot of trouble.

When the carbon rod(s) burn down, he could replace them, live, without extinguishing the lamp.

I don't know exactly how the plot of your story is being written but a recovery like that could be written as the projectionist saving the day, all the while, giving the middle finger to the would-be saboteur.

What do you think?

[Alan Adler]

Hi Randy. I think you have a great mind for mayhem! Just what any good writer needs to conjure the worst thing that could happen scenarios. Though my story does track a bit differently, I love the hand held carbon story. That is definitely a "watch this" pro trick. Was the scene of projecting outdoors in Paradiso, my memory fails me. That is very dramatic and powerful. Thanks for sharing. I do have a question for you while I have you. What is the sequence for firing up the Simplex? Do you start the projector, then throw the light switch for the carbon arc - or vice versa? Thanks, again. Alan

[Randy Stankey]

What is the sequence for firing up the Simplex?

It might depend on the system you have... Automation / Manual... Xenon / carbon... Changeover / platter... but generally, the sequence is usually the same.

Shut the lamp house dowser (main shutter on lamp house) and the one on the projector then check and clean the machine. Set controls to neutral / center position if necessary.
Thread up, double check your work and turn the machine by hand to be sure it's right.
If you're running manual changeovers, roll the film down, by hand, by spinning the flywheel on the motor until your start frame is in the projection gate.
A minute before it's time to start, fire up the lamp with the dowser shut. Make sure your arc is stable or your xenon is burning the way you want it to be. Double check your sound system to be sure it's ready to go.
At show time, open the lamp house dowser, start the motor, wait for the machine to get up to projection speed. (Approx. 7 to 8 seconds.)
On cue, simultaneously open the projector dowser and cut in the sound. You're on-screen!
Check frame, focus and sound. Adjust as necessary. If you're doing your job right, you should only have to make minor tweaks.
Stay at the helm for a minute to be sure that everything is running the way you like it to.

When it's time to change over, the process is substantially the same but, this time you are cutting in one machine and, simultaneously cutting out the other. The sound and dowser controls are duplicated at both stations and they toggle. When you open one, the other shuts. (For simplicity of explanation, both control boxes are inversely wired.)

Machine #2 will be ready to go, as described above.
A couple of minutes before the end of the reel on machine #1, a bell will ring. It's hooked on a clutch attached to the payout reel of the running projector. When it gets to pre-determined time, it will go, "Dink...dink...dink..."
Last minute check of machine #2. Fire up lamp. Check arc. Open lamp house dowser. Projector dowser should be already shut.
Stand by projector #2. Watch for the "motor-start cue." Start the motor on cue.
Seven or eight seconds later, you'll see the "changeover cue." Machine #1 cuts out. Machine #2 cuts in. Done well, the audience won't notice that anything happened.
Check frame, focus and sound. When you're satisfied, go to machine #1 and shut it down. Return to machine #2 to double check and monitor for a minute.

When you're satisfied that the show is running the way you like, remove the film from machine #1, put it in the rewinder.
Thread up the next reel and get ready for the next changeover. When the first reel is done rewinding, put it back in its storage locker.

Go to the lamp house on machine #1 and check the carbons to be sure you have enough for the next reel. Clean and check as needed.

Before you close up, take the coffee pot out of the back of the lamp house and pour yourself a cup. You'll have about 15 to 20 minutes to drink it before you have to do it all over again.

If you want to write in a disaster scenario, make it so that the saboteur rigs the incoming projector to fail.

If your outgoing machine fails, it might be possible to cut over early. Part of the movie gets skipped but the show stays on-screen.

If your incoming machine fails, there is no fallback. You'll have to go dark for, at least, the amount of time that it takes to shut down both machines, transfer film from #2 to #1 and restart.

Both situations are undesirable but an incoming failure would cause much more commotion than an outgoing one.

[Randy Stankey]

Cinema Paradiso - movie on a building wall scene

[Alan Adler]

Ah, I remember that scene now. And Randy, thank you so, so much for that brillant check sheet for running the Simplex. I am putting a 1930's E-7 in the 1958 projection booth. Just old enough to give them some extra trouble I think. You've been fantastic with this info. I am flying ahead on my novel thanks to you! Alan

[Randy Stankey]

Glad it helped!

Smashing a projector with a wrench or hammer is certainly one way of doing it but I have always liked the emotional impact of a sudden disaster.

Think like that airplane scene in Doctor Satangelove where the bomber crew goes into “Mayday mode” after the Russian missile narrowly misses taking out the plane.