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Topic: Ever Notice That...
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Gary Crawford
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 979
From: Manassas, VA. USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted July 02, 2015 01:52 PM
I have written to Steve Osborne and Doug Meltzer about my theories on this subject....and before the men in the white coats come to get me, I will write them here. Let collectors consider them carefully. I've long believed that projectors are somehow sentient creatures with feelings and preferences and that they can cause great trouble when they are unhappy. I've always run ST1200HD's in my booth at home, but six or so years ago I purchased my first GS1200. I placed the shiny new prize in the lineup of projectors in the booth, alongside the ST 1200Hd's. Within a day or two, things began happening. After running something on the GS, I would, of course, turn off the machine. The next day, however, I found the GS on again. Later, a plastic reel of a 400ft film I was running on the GS, came apart at the hub. Film everywhere. I could have sworn that there was faint laughter from the two now neglected St1200Hd's. One night I decided to run a film on one of the ST's. Bulb would not come on. I moved the film to the other ST. Belt snapped, or so it seemed.
The last straw was coming to the booth one night to find my expensive GS perched up on the platform, hanging by only one back foot pad and the front pad. Another half inch and it would have been over the edge and fallen five feet down to the floor, its delicate workings unhinged beyond repair. "Attempted suicide?", I thought. No. I think it was attempted murder by ST or ST's unknown. I removed the GS from the booth that day. And strangely, the bulb on the one machine came on when I put a film on it to run, even though I had not changed the bulb. The other St started running properly again with nothing done to it.
They were happy again, all mechanical jealously seemingly melted away.
On the other hand, at this last Syracuse Cinefest I brought one of my other St1200's to the convention because I had promised to sell it to a 16mm collector friend who was delving into Super 8. I checked its operation at home before driving to Syracuse. It ran beautifully. However, in my room at the hotel as I was demonstrating the machine to the prospective buyer, it ran slow for the first two minutes of a 200ft reel and finally came up to speed. Obviously the man didn't want to buy it. So it came back home with me. Why would a machine which worked perfectly 24 hours before suddenly act up like that? When I got home, I hooked it up again and IT RAN PERFECTLY........ Which brings me to the crux of this thread. Is it possible that certain projectors just don't enJOY certain movies? And that they do especially enjoy running certain other movies? Are lost loops, jumpy images and muffled sound tracks just their way of expressing their opinions about what they think is a bad movie? These are questions best not asked aloud. Perhaps Stephen King knows the truth. But I must stop now. The people from the "home" are here to collect me. My trusty friends, the projectors,seem somehow sad to see their old friend put away like an unwanted projector. So be forewarned. If someone offers to sell you a projector from the estate of Gary Crawford in Virginia, USA, you might want to consider well your decision to buy. And I'd keep a closer eye on your own machines, as well. One never knows what they might be capable of.
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