The Last Carbon Arc Projectionist in Chicago

I was a projectionist just like the video shown here. I had this job all through high school and made good money for the mid-1960's. It a blast to see all the new films and at times used to go the the 20th Century Fox Screening Room in Indianapolis and preview films that would be coming out. The theater I worked in was small but had a huge screen 60' X 45'. I always tried to keep the best picture for the audience and did that by cleaning the lenses on the projectors after each reel. Each 35 mm reel would last 15 to 20 minutes so there was not much time to goof. Once you got the routine down it was almost automatic to go through the procedures for each film. The projectors I used were Simplex projector head with a MagnaArc carbon rod arc lamp. After about a year of working in the projection room I could tear down the projector heads as well as the arc lamp and do repairs. I also put in a stereo sound system using the four magnetic strips on the film. The projectors also had mono sound optical. It was a great time in my life and think of it fondly. I still to this day love the movies and especially the technical part of it.

I ran projectors for years, miss putting the movies together and running my old simplex and peerless lamp house. Taking from shipping reels and transferring to show reels. When I started, only had 30 minute reels so you would normally switch the machines 5 times for a 90 min. movie. Loved watching for the cue marks. Now today, 50 years later, when I watch an old movie on TV, I still see the cues. This is a list art. I miss it

Perhaps the fact that these are becoming so rare may make my knowledge useful at some point... I was trained on how to run these old Carbon Arc projectors, and also how to clean, disassemble and repair them. I actually have 2 RCA carbon arc projectors in storage disassembled in pieces. Now that they are becoming so rare maybe someone will eventually seek me out to run one for them! I'm only in my 30's now, I was trained by a master projectionist when I bought the old projectors before they tore down the theater. Who knows, 30 years down the road I may be one of the few people on the planet who will know how to operate and maintain these things! Maybe someone will still want to run them for nostalgic purposes...  

Thanks for doing this video.  I was a projectionist back in the 60's & 70's in Brea, California.  We had Simplex projectors, Peerless Arc houses & Altec Sound.  I wish I had taken pictures.  Thanks again

I was dreaming to see those projectors from behind the scenes since I was a kid, never had the chance. Awesome!

Those old projectors were a true work of art. Built to last for decades, yet they had such elegance.

Gosh how I miss those days as a projectionist.  That has to be my favourite job.  There was nothing like building a movie and watching people enjoy it.  To this day I still look for cigarette burns, even though most theatres are digital.  :-(

My grandfather was a projectionist back when film was hand-cranked to a theater audience. My father was a projectionist all his working life and remembered the screening of Gone with the Wind and the hoop-la. I filled in on weekends and summer vacations during my last year in high-school.Also ushered. Remember those guys and their flashlights?  Another duty was changing the marquee, often during snowstorms  Fifty-cents an hour. I will never forget the Simplex arc machines. Had to be careful the carbon arcs didn't get too close together and weld.  Wonderful memories of my dad and I walking home together after the last show.

I helped with installing a phone system at a plant in Fostoria, Ohio that used to make carbon rods used for projector lamp housings and such.

That's an absolutely beautiful theater... And those machines beautiful relics. Hard to imagine someone just drops in a disc now and xenon is king for light. He'd be sitting down now, not running back and forth between projectors.

Thanks for the video and hello from Australia, I started as an assistant projectionist in 1963 at age 15 and loved it, couldn't wait to get to the theatre, it wasn`t my full time job  but I did it for many years. Sadly colour TV and video recorders, spelt the demise for our local cinemas, my last shift using carbon arcs was at our drive - in which is now a shopping centre. Lots of memories,,, thanks Rex Mower

I worked as a projectionist in the 1960s.......operated a pair of Bauer B8s....this bought back so many memories......oh for the days of Lacing Up and Change Over marks

I used to love running the simplex carbon arc projectors at the local theater and drive in at Gaylord, Michigan.  My first change over was at 11 years old at a friends theater in Dexter, Michigan..  This brings back a lot of memories!

I can smell the projection room as I watch this! I worked in several theatre (in and outdoors) on Long Island and in Los Angeles. I never projected but spent many hours hanging out in the projection room. And, the Griswold Film Splicers (the ones used in every movie house in the world) were invented and made in what's now Theatre Three (stage productions) and the Griswold cabaret (down stairs where the splicers were made) in Port Jefferson Long Island-where I've performed as an actor. In 1997 I co produced and co stared in a film called, Change Over, about the last day at another Long Island movie theatre. We actually got to use the projectors-which had sat idle since the late 70's. Very cool

Truly a lost art.  Thanks for posting!

In the 1950's I worked at drive-in that used Ashcraft lamps very similar to these. They drew 130 DC amps and put a bright image on a 100' screen. They were water cooled with distilled water as were the Century projectors. Today's xenon lamps don't come close and the first digital show I saw was lacking in brightness. Sad....

Those projectors were like steam engines 😁 and the projectionist their engineers.

really clever design to use what's basically a welding rod as a projection lamp

Interesting to see this. Takes me back. I was a projectionist in 1985, two nights a week while I was at college. Carbon rods. I ran a pair of Westrex Kaylee 21s'. That projection room got very hot very quickly, but it was good and I enjoyed it.

I ran carbon arc machines in the late 60's and early 70's at a drive-in theater. This is a smooth projectionist. Practice makes perfect.