8mm Forum: Columbo In The Projection Room

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Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on January 08, 2014, 04:39 AM:

Members who have never worked in a dual changeover projection box may have wondered how the projectionist knows a reel change is imminent, I don't mean the cues which everybody is aware of, but something ahead of that to warn on the impending reel change.

There were glass windows in the top spool box, but an audible warning was more handy if no one was standing alongside the projector. This was usually a bell. In the Kalee projectors the bell ran for a few seconds when the outgoing spool reached a certain pre-determined speed, usually about two minutes ahead. The Westrex also had a bell, but this was connected to a swinging arm which had a little revolving ball which ran on the film. When a certain amount of film was left the arm swung clear and rang a bell.

There has been talk on this Forum about projection boxes in films, but none perhaps better than one which actually featured both projectors in its story.

I refer to the Columbo episode from 1973 called "Double Exposure". In this a murder was committed and a cast-iron alibi was offered. This was that the film was being continually shown from projector to projector. We saw a trick the projectionist used, when he was rewinding a spool he inserted a nickel some 100 feet from the end of the film and then rewound on to the beginning.

When the spools were reaching their end the nickel fell out and caused a clatter on the floor, loud enough to be heard even if the projectionist was not alongside the outgoing projector.

Later on when Columbo was doing his look-around he discovered that there were no coins either on the floor, or in the reel ends. The murderer had been projecting the film but had not been aware of the little nickel trick!

I always thought this was made up for the TV movie, but I later learnt that this was used quite often in cinema projection.

Posted by Paul Mason (Member # 4015) on January 08, 2014, 06:42 AM:

Maurice,
That was an excellent Columbo indeed. Movie projection also features in the 1975 episode "Forgotten Lady" starring Janet Leigh. Janet relied on an alibi of watching herself in the movie "Walking My Baby Back Home" being shown on her 16mm projector. She also managed to splice the film after it broke in record time

Posted by Allan Broadfield (Member # 2298) on January 08, 2014, 11:42 AM:

Hi, Maurice, I worked as a projectionist in several cinemas local and west end from 1959 to 1965 and I've heard of these devices to indicate the ends of reels, but have never worked in a box that used any of them as far as I can recall. Mind you, in those that I did work in, it was a little like being in the army, with the chiefs attitudes a little like frustrated sergeant majors, who expected you to stick by that machine come hell or high water!

Posted by Janice Glesser (Member # 2758) on January 08, 2014, 12:36 PM:

Screen caps from the "Forgotten Lady" episode were posted in this thread http://8mmforum.film-tech.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=001619;p=7#000166

Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on January 08, 2014, 12:45 PM:

Colombo is one of my favorite tv shows !

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on January 08, 2014, 03:01 PM:

Allan

In the "Good Old Days" we had six in the box, two on duty and one within calling distance. In 1952 I was also projecting nitrate so regulations were much tighter. The BTH Supa projectors which the Odeon circuit favoured had a little glass window which showed the last few minutes of a reel.

But we always stood by the machine as each one ran. The fire regulation was that the spool box could not be opened during a run, if this did happen the projector would shut down. After nitrate finally disappeared the regulations were lifted slightly to allow film to be stored in the box, whereas before only a limited amount at any time could be there, the remainder being stored in fireproof bins in the rewind room. With the relaxed regulations the safety switch was removed and it became a habit to open the spool box door to "peer in" to check on progress.

Gradually the projection team got smaller and the old ferocious Chiefs retired. Then came single manning, only one projectionist on duty at a time. But we still did the same work, making up and breaking down shows whilst still running the machines on change-overs. This was why the bells were so important.

Then came the multiplex, but that was still single-manning.

But, I loved it all.

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