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...

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. :-(

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

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

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.

I've haven't worked at this booth since the tape was shot.

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

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

Came upon this vid on RU-vid and sat enthralled for the entire 17 minutes. I love the casual competence. How many times was this sequence repeated in theaters over the last century or so?

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....

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

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

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.

Truly a lost art. Thanks for posting!

Back then when a child you could hear the projector clicking in the background if you sat in the back during the movie and stare and wonder how 1 💡 was producing the image

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!

Might I add my two cents. The finest movie theatre of its day they tore down for a parking lot and its destruction is a metaphor for how far our society has fallen. Look it up on Wikipedia. INDIAN HILLS MOVIE THEATHER in Omaha, Nebraska. Curved screen of 146 degrees, 110 feet long, 35 feet high. It was magic to see a movie there. Lost track of all the great movies I saw there. If you sat in the middle somewhat close it took up all of your peripheral vision. Wish I had a time machine.

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.

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

can you get sun burn from that on your hands?

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.

Ashcraft "Super Core-lite" lamphouses - made to handle 13.6mm rotating positive carbons. Simplex XL with a 4 Star soundhead. Bummer, no mag penthouses in use.

The Bayview (large Milwaukee neighborhood) Avalon Theater will seen be reopening but as a cinema restaurant complete with digital-only projection. The stage has been converted into an 80-seat auditorium and the original main seating area has shrunk to about 250 seats. The theater including balcony once sat 1,800. The balcony is not being altered at this time. The Avalon is an atmospheric theater which opened in 12928 and is said to be the first theater in Wisconsin designed for sound films. The atmosphere features twinkling stars and the appearance of an Italian village. Too bad the 35 mm projection was not retained. When there was an open house for the auction of old equipment I saw a dual lamp house glass slide projector with old carbon rod stubs still inside. And there was a follow spot with carbon rod stubs, too. The projection system when the theater closed in 2000 was 35 mm platter.

I was the projectionist at an 11 cinema theatre in my hometown. We didn't have carbon arc projectors. Ours took really big and scary light bulbs. It would scare the crap out of me having to change those things. We also had a platter system. But I still built the movies on a build table and transferred them to the platter. It was much easier to build it that way. But sometimes I had to build the movie directly to the platter. Eventually my job was done away with because of the digital switch.

ONCEUPON A TIME WHILE IN THE USAF I GOT A JOB AS AN ASSISTANT PROJECTIONIST AT THE BASE THEATRE....MY JOB WAS JUST TO KEEP THE CARBON RODS IN THE PROPER PLACE AT ALL TIMES...

I was a projectionist in the late 40s. The name Sturdevent comes to mind for the Projectors. I’ve “Struck” many a carbon and I can still imagine the changeover dots and smell the acetate adhesive.

OMG Carbon Arc guides and motorized advancers? That's cheating! I ran a pair of 1939 RCA Arc Welders. Just the very basics plus the massive 100-degree transformers that was also in the booth. Roasty-toasty! Advanced the rods myself. I think there was plenty of rod to do another reel for the one he swapped out :) We burned our rods to the bone!

A time in America when one would have a skill and could bring home a pay check. Technology has tossed that out the door

Nice Film Positiv KODAK ORWO FUJI Eastman Colour Etc. 👍

Wonderful, candid footage of a skilled technician. Thank you so much for filming this. Reminds me of the film Cinema Paridiso

Yes I was a carbon arc projectionist in New Zealand during the 60's and early 70's. Loved film. I don't think his splice looked that good though. I also never re-winded a reel of film that way. I always re-winded by hand crank running the film through my hand feeling for nicks in the film. Then repairing the film.

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

This is real old school stuff. My first job was doing this from time to time. In 1988 they were already using xenon bulbs - well past this tech. Building films was the same as here.

Brilliant! It still exists. I found that video as a link in RU-vid without knowing, what theatre it is. My first guess: Gateway. And when I saw the booth, Brenkert colums, Super Core Lites, the switchboard and the booth monitor ontop of the amp rack, I knew. Some 20 years back during a Chicago visit, I was asked to run film there.. As you're a projectionist, union tzpe, and you know certainly how to screen film. Nice to see it again!

A 2000' reel runs about 22 minutes but rarely are reels that full. 16-20 minutes is most common and then there will be some a lot shorter. Sometimes, if you encounter a very short reel and it's not the first reel nor the last, it generally means some major cutting was done by the editors late in the game, when it was impractical to "re-balance" where the reel breaks were. This is about domestic USA films. Foreign films vary. A native Japanese print often puts only 10-12 min on a reel.

Impressive. Dont know much about Carbon Arc Projection. This is going to be extremely rare given that film projection itself is coming to an end. I believe studios plan to stop 35 mm film distribution by end of 2013.I hope this doesn't happen.

Wonderful clip! Great that you went into the auditorium to show the beautiful cinema too! I'm guessing that you wouldn't want to open the lamphouse door when lit! Tim O'Neill, you look like an excellent efficient projectionist-there doesn't seem to be any hesitation or doubt about anything you're doing there! A few other clips I've seen seem to show the projectionist back-tracking/fumbling a fair bit! Agree with other comments about film vs. digital. My cinema attendance has dropped by 95%.

ஒரு படத்தை ஒரு காட்சி நாங்கள் படும்பாடு அதை பாருங்கள்

I've been in some projection booths with manual rewind. I worked in master control for a short while at the old WXGZ-TV 32 in Appleton back in 1987. When we ran 16 mm film -- cartoons for kids show or movies -- on the film chain, we had to manually rewind the reels.

if a real is 20 minutes give or take. and you got say a 2 hour movie. Hes changing reals 6 times in 1 movie. So say his shift is 8 hours give or take his changing reals 24 times in a shift dam.

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.

Not by a long shot - Xenon is 10 times more economical to operate than carbon arc, even though the light from carbon is 10 times better than xenon being more closer to the light spectrum. A bulb can replace 2 cases of positive rods to break even in cost.Then it gains value with running longer. Also, if the bulb fails under warranty, it can be replaced whereas the carbon rod is simply spent and used.

The Gateway theater was one of only two theaters designed by Rapp and Rapp with atmospheric ceilings. The other called the Paramount Theater in Toledo, Ohio was more elaborate and sadly was razed for what else but a parking lot.

I ran a carbon arc follow spot in my highschool projection booth in 1961-3....monster spot light.

I used to sit and watch my brother run the projectors at the old long gone Silver Lake Drive-in back in Michigan years ago. He tried to explain to me what he was doing. I was really only there for the free movies and the food. Now those were the days we thought would never end.....

my father was a carbon arc projectionist in Delhi, India, when i was child i used to go there and really that machines was amazing and i still love those machines, when i was child i want to become a projectionist

Thanks for the video. It certainly brings me back to the Boardwalk movie theaters in Ocean City, NJ. I was fortunate that most of the equipment, back in the 70's and 80's, hadn't changed since the 30's, 40's, and 50's. Tending the Peerless and Strong lamphouses, and the Simplex projectors became a passion until the places were sold in 1989.

I run film like this, reel to reel, carbon arc at an archival house in Palo Alto Ca. One thing we see here that is a no no with archives is dropping film on the floor. Dirt walks it's way up the leader and into the print.

Never ran a Core-Lite. Those carbons are huge. Looks like those could run three reels between change-overs?

Brings back memories of going into Chicago to watch midnight movies in once-grand movie theaters.

Interesting to see something really old still in use. There is a oil leas in southern Illinois that has the same set up engine type that was installed in 1906 using a flywheel open crankcase engine and a multiple rod line pumping system

Takes me back.... When in my early 20s I worked part-time at a local independent cinema in the Black Country (UK). Kalee 12 machines and Kalee Vulcan arcs. Then at another independent with Kalee 12s again but with AEI Xenon lamps - the retired Brenkert arc housings were in the old rewind room. In the early 1980s I moved to London and, on the strength of this experience, got a job as an operator in a preview theatre in Wardour Street, then the centre of the film production, cutting and dubbing scene in London. Westar 35mm mechs, AEI xenons, but Dolby, double-head 35mm optical and mag, separate 16mm optical and mag, 4-track 35mm mag...there wasn't much I couldn't run... And I think we had the last nitrate licence in London...

Working with carbon arcs was the true test of a showman - in the days when proji's were showmen. Keeping negative and positive carbons trimmed correctly was an art form and keeping them correctly spaced was a fete of concentration on what you were doing. Seamless changeovers from one mec to the other was also part of the projectionists skill, closing and opening tabs on cue and fading up or down the house-lights, stage-lighting and interval music was also part of the showmans job. These days, projectors can be run from the manager's office whilst the proji has become a true machine minder only. How times have changed since my days in the business!

Nice job.Very sorry to hear you're not employed to do it anymore. Great to see a professional at work.I grew up with 8mm & it was outdated at the time by video.You can't beat film.Best of luck & thanks for showing me how these giants worked.

Oh how I miss my days I’m the booth.

Bitwa Warszawska 1920r?

That is so cool!!!! I have a couple of the carbon arc projector lights. They are called Jewell, which I cannot find any information about them. They are black in color and say Supr Arc made in Chicago. Do you know about any of these? Thanks for your time. John

This brought back memories. In1972-1974 I worked at the theater on McConnell AFB in Wichita KS. I sold tickets and ran the projector sometimes. It was nerve racking especially if you forgot to change the carbon rod if too short to make it thru the reel. And if the film breaks, oh my! And don't get distracted by watching the movie, lol. After the Air Force, I never had the chance to visit any projector room again. But for a long time, when going to the movies, I always saw the switch over circles in the upper corner of the screen. They seemed to be invisible to everyone else. Well that was a different day.

When I was young I worked on the full platter tree type of projectors. Those didn’t have to wait for the yellow dots and start up a new one for each reel. The movies were one big long strip. On these, projectionists had 2 projectors per theater. Once one reel gets close yo the end, a quick yellow dot appears, signaling the projectionist yo start the next projector / reel. Then once that starts, they put the next reel back into the initial projector and start it once reel 2 ends, etc. movies would be on 5-6 reels with each being about 2000 ft long

Watch and enjoy this video coz in a few years time the skill and attention of this projectionist together with the use of celluloid film in the cinema will be gone forever. What a shame.

Seems like he should wear hearing protection. Sounds really loud next to those machines.

TOP, TOP, TOP!!! Dit is nou een VAK APART....thuis heb nog 1 van de eerste "soundprojector" waar je je eigen geluidsfilm op kon afspelen, een duur grapje toen des tijds, want een filmpje met een STRIPE RAND kostte toen 21 harde guldens, en had je maar 15 minuten film......reken daar de camera bij, die ook nog zo een 1500 gulden kostte....en dan zelf je filmpje monteren en plakken op een VEEEL kleiner plak en montage apparaat, als deze man gebruikt!! toch was het DE tijd van de opkomst van wat we nu hebben...alles digitaal, en wat je hier ziet?? zoeken, want zulke vaklui kom je niet meer tegen..wel jammer!!

In thailand there are a few outdoor movie teams that still use carbon arc with film for the movie. But they dont use a few set of projectors like that when the reel run out. Instead they hot swap them. Same goes for the carbon arc rod. They swap them while the lamp running

When I was 15 years old it was a simplex 35 mm then from there I joined the union when I was old enough I work for Mann theaters for years

cool projectionist...electric arc is a pure light ad remember old Hollywood...MGM logo..papparapààà paraparapapapparapàààà..tà tà tà tààà tà tà tà tààà...taratatààààààààààààà..... the end..

I read a theory as to why many modern digital remasters of films have a blue cast to them. Films were graded to be projected with carbon arc lamps. Modern projectors most likely use xenon lamps, which give a blue tint to the picture. So the people doing the digital colour timing are just following how it looked when they projected it. You'd think film restorations would be smarter, but I'm not surprised.

My most favorite projector was a simplex in Christy I ran some centuries

It may be more convenient now but to me the old carbon arc projectors and sound systems of the 70’s performed better than those digital systems today by far.

omg that sound of the arc dancing all around sets me on edge so bad. This feels so unsafe and scary like the guys in Los Alamos "tickling the dragon's tail"

A study of a master craftsman at work.

I was a projectionist at a drive-in theater and it had carbon arc lamp housing, different with no bulb.

I dont get it. Running Carbons requires more maintenance, cleaning and can be fussy when running. sure some argue they are brighter but in that case something is amiss when doing the Xenon conversion and can be fixed. I guess its a chance to brag tho, but learning Carbons isnt hard? so no idea

I ran that same projector during my high school years and simplex the rest is history

All I got to say is it was an awesome job and I was Union for years until it was taken away 😢to digital

Hope hes still going love watching old films i watch lots of 16mm films at hope

Thank you! Great video!❤

Emocionado de ver este oficio en vias de extincion enhorabuena!

In my day, we had to rewind those spools by hand! Sweet memories.

Ewww!!! How porn was delivered in the 70s!!!

10:46 - I know that music, but from where???

Do they still put nickel in top reel when rewinding?

J'ai été projectionniste en utilisant des materiels semblables avec les mêmes gestes! Tout une époque révolue qui avait une odeur de pellicule et de vapeurs d'arc. Changement de bobine toutes les 20 minutes et respect d'une séance impeccable. C'était une autre époque.

WoW! The power those machines and that arc took. If my math is right. It's taking around 16,000 watts of power per projector?

I was also operator of the projector in India

Жодна ксенонова лампа не дає такого кольору як вольтова дуга. Я починав якраз "на вуглях". Останій раз показував з дугового проектора десь у 1979. Приємно згадати молодість. Ксенонка воно, звісно, простіше і надійніше, але... Ностальгія

Miss those clattering noise of projector

Dap kien zmien Marco good night

Tim O'Neill просто волшебник. Интересно сейчас там показывают фильмы на плёнке.

My job before I turned 20.

Back when films were lit with fire.

Nice video.

Nostalgie ❤

I also had a cassette storage as seen in the first seconds

My dad was a Master Projectionist... and I learned at a very young age how to thread a machine... at that time? Everything was carbon arc.. although I remember when my dad, myself, and another projectionist/tech, built and installed the very first Carbon Arc to Xenon conversion on the US West coast... This was in late summer 1969, at the Cary Theater at Ft Lewis Washington... That Saturday? was the beginning of the end of Carbon Arc... in the booth..

this was such a clean light -- I used a carbon arc spot back in high school during musicals. It was a timing thing and you had to time it just right so they didn't run out in the middle of a performance.

The old film in fingertips technique for feeling the splices, brings back memories.I used to use the exact same splicer. With that equipment it was a 1 man 1 booth job, platters changed that and the digital messed it all up.And I see the old check your loops at the very end with your fingers, brings back memories.

had these lamp house on Phillips DP70 at the Esquire Theater Melbourne Victoria Australia. Bloody Fantastic with very shinny jaws.

Ce gars a une chance inouïe. Lorsqu'il bobine son film (à grande vitesse) je constate que les taquets d'arrêts (qui empêchent les bobines de glisser sur leurs axes, ne sont pas repliés. J'ai pratiqué le métier de projectionniste pendant plusieurs années, je n'aurais jamais osé faire cela. Imaginez le carnage si une des bobines fichait le camp.