Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 21, 1994 TAG: 9401210087
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Carmike Cinemas Inc.'s takeover of the two Roanoke theaters became official today, and the last four unionized movie projector operators in Roanoke lost their jobs. Carmike has told the members of International Association of Theatrical Stagehands and Moving Motion Picture Operators they're no longer needed.
The union members say the pride they take in their work can't be duplicated by someone doubling as a popcorn seller, but they admit technology has made the job a simple task.
"The way they automate the theaters now, you could push a button from anywhere - the concession stand - and start the show," says Allen Reed, who worked for General Cinemas for 19 years.
Carmike's buyout of General Cinemas gives the Columbus, Ga., company 17 screens in the Roanoke Valley, including those at the Salem Valley 8. The union says Carmike has a history of firing its members when it takes over a theater.
A Carmike official did not return a phone call inquiring about the union workers.
But there's more here than a skirmish between a union and a company. The Local 55 of the Moving Motion Picture Operators was one of the first projectionist unions chartered in the United States.
The Roanoke branch formed in 1917.
To be a projectionist, a person used to have to fulfill a union requirement of serving a 500-hour apprenticeship.
"By the time you finished that apprenticeship," says 20-year projectionist Wayne Anders, "you knew just about everything about operating in the booth."
Anders learned, for instance, that he had to go in 15 minutes before the movie and turn on the projector to warm it up.
A trained projector operator can get a film back on track after it gets caught in the machine and tears. Not too long ago, the operator stayed in the booth to watch for problems; these days one person starts the movies in several theaters - and if something goes wrong, he might not find out right away.
"It's kind of a camaraderie around the country among people who do this," says Jim Nelson, business manager of local 55. "If they get a bad reel, they'll call somebody in another city and say, `Hey, who scratched this film?' "
The experienced operators also witnessed a piece of Roanoke's history that has now passed. Only longtime residents would remember the theaters they ran: the American, Jefferson and Lee theaters; the North 11, U.S. 220 and Riverside drive-ins.
"If it was open here in the last 20 years," Anders says, "I probably worked there."
Though the union is losing its last four full-time members, it will not disappear from Roanoke. It's 60 or so members will continue to set up stage lighting and other essentials for productions that pass through the Roanoke Valley. In November, they worked on "Les Miserables" at the Roanoke Civic Center.
by CNB