Michael Schaffer

[Sean McKinnon]

It is with great sadness that I share the news that my friend and colleague Michael Schaffer, Senior Projection and Sound Engineer with Boston Light & Sound passed away unexpectedly early this morning. Michael was a participant in these forums as well as many other on-line forums related to film projection and truly loved this craft and sharing his knowledge and experience with the wider film community. Michael will be very much missed by those of us at BL&S and his passing is a great loss to our industry.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Very sorry to be reading this. He was a great technician. Our arguments about food are what food is made of. RIP Michael...

[Martin McCaffery]

He did great work at our theatre. Very sorry to hear this.

[Gordon McLeod]

Very sorry to hear this RIP

[Pete Naples]

I'm really sadenned to hear this, whilst I never met him in person, we communicated regularly and had a lot of common interests and outlooks. He will be missed.

[Aaron Garman]

I never had a chance to meet Michael, but fondly remember his posts here over the years. May his memory be eternal. I'll pray for him and his family and friends.

[Don Furr]

Sad to hear this. I met Michael only once when he stopped by my house and offered to equalize the new home screening room. He spent over two hours and didn't charge anything. Nice guy!

[Sam Chavez]

Known Michael for years since he was a tech for a San Diego circuit whose name escapes me. Had a couple of epic drinking bouts (my tab of course, LOL) and began a political debate that lasted and continued on FB until fairly recently. Brilliant mind!

[Benjamin Ruder]

Sorry to hear this! I had him resolve some Kinoton issues for us a couple of years ago. He was just at a colleague's venue recently too. Nice guy and very knowledgeable!

[Jerry G. Axelsson]

So sorry to hear about Michael's passing. He was a great help to me with problematic Kinoton projectors. Rest in peace Michael.

[Leo Enticknap]

Likewise, very sorry to hear of this. I only knew Michael from his posts here: those are enough to know that his loss is a big one.

[Scott Norwood]

I heard about this earlier this week. Our paths crossed from time to time, and he always proved to be a knowledgeable cinema technician with strong opinions about German versus American engineering. This is a sad loss to the industry.

[David Kornfeld]

I knew the man for years, & we would have long arguments & conversations on topics that ranged all over the map. Mikey (as he preferred to be called) was a polyglot: he spoke (at least) five languages fluently, & knew German & European history in great depth. We would talk about Hitler's rise to power (because Germany teaches its citizens about its unpleasant past....ahem), Charlemagne's wars & conquests, music (he loved classical music and played the cello), etymology (which he also knew in depth), and, of course, projection stuff.

When it came to technical areas, he was filled with what I would call "book knowledge," which is not in itself a bad thing, but it can hamper solutions sometimes, especially when experience leads you elsewhere.

As Scott notes above, he would grouse continuously about American vs German engineering (with America losing every time). One day during an installation, he pointed out that something worked well, which was amazing to him, because "it's American engineering, and, as we know, American engineering sucks." I replied, "Yeah? I seem to recall American engineering socking the shit out of your country in 1945." I received one of his wry smiles in return; Mikey, in common with most Germans, had a very wry & dry sense of humour.

He could be off-putting & condescending, but he could take it as well as he could give, which has always been a rare trait. He had a short fuse but his anger quickly passed. He was exceedingly generous with his knowledge, which, as I said, was extensive. I liked the guy, despite his faults. He ate too much & drank too much & theres not much doubt in my mind that those bad habits helped him out through the door of this world more quickly than he may have deserved.

I'll close this with an aphorism he told me, which I use to this day: "In Germany, we have a saying: No dick gets as hard as life."

Rest in peace, Mikey

[Leo Enticknap]

As Scott notes above, he would grouse continuously about American vs German engineering (with America losing every time).

I remember, many years ago, when he wrote on the old forum words to the effect that German engineering is infallible, replying with a photo of the Hindenburg on fire. He replied to the effect that lightning (believed by many to have been the cause of the ignition) was not invented by German engineers.

[Rick Long]

Very sorry to hear (read) this. I had the pleasure of meeting and drinking with him at Dolby Atmos school a number of years ago, and his assistance on getting a couple of FP75E's to play nice was invaluable.
My sincere condolences to his family and friends.