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Author
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Topic: Retiring projectionist after 62 years
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Paul Salley
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 105
From: Liberal, Kansas
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 09-05-2003 07:20 PM
Found these two news articles on long time projectionist Jim Hollister from Barrington, Illinois. Enjoy!
Article One
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Projectionist calls it a wrap
After 62 years at a Barrington theater, Jim Hollister is retiring
By Mitch Martin
Special to the Tribune
August 31, 2003
In a dusty room above the seats of the historic Catlow Theater in Barrington, Jim Hollister has spent 62 years making film sputter across white light.
He has watched as films turned from black and white to color and as the once-thriving theater turned to a landmark struggling to remain open in the face of multiplex competition.
He has witnessed the arc of American cinematic history, but it has not left him a film buff.
Hollister, 78, said he pays attention to the film projector, not the films. The last movie that really caught his attention was Julia Roberts' "Pretty Woman" in 1990.
"That was a pretty good one," Hollister said. "It had a good story."
The movies seem almost beside the point for the lifelong resident of the Barrington area. His interest is in doing a good job. Hollister spent more than 30 years as a printer and a volunteer firefighter, still finding time for the Catlow with a schedule that ranged from weekend shifts to, more recently, almost every night. His only break from the booth was a six-month stretch when he helped a brother-in-law build a house shortly after World War II.
He will retire from the booth Sunday.
"I hope that I've helped provide a good time for the people," Hollister said.
He began at the age of 16 in 1941.
Because Hollister had a slight limp from childhood polio, his bosses knew they wouldn't lose a newly trained projectionist to the draft. The early years of Hollister's career could be dangerous. The nitrate film of the era was highly flammable and noxious when burned. Hollister said he still remembers the sickening feeling when flames began eating away at the image of James Cagney in 1942's "Yankee Doodle Dandy."
"You just shut everything down and figured out the problem," Hollister said.
Technological advancements replaced that equipment. But other changes, like the opening of multiscreen theaters, now threaten to replace the Catlow.Built in 1927 and resembling a medieval great hall, the theater is on the National Register of Historic Places, but city officials have been struggling to find a way to save it. General partner Roberta Rapata said she is selling the theater because it's impossible to make it profitable. She said Hollister has been a source of comfort and stability during difficult times.
"He's a real-life person. I think for him real life beats movies," she said.
Article Two
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Catlow projectionist exits theater after six decades
BY TOM JOHNSTON
STAFF WRITER
It's the end of the reel for Jim Hollister.
The lifelong Barrington resident retired Sunday night after spending 62 years spinning films at the Catlow Theater.
"I'm tired of it, and those steps are getting awful long," Hollister said, referring to the steep and narrow wooden staircase that leads up to the projection room in the antique movie house.
Hollister was busy Aug. 28 training 20-year-old Barrington High School graduate Curtis Lotz how to run the projectors, pointing out the intricacies of a smooth run, before another showing of the somewhat racy independent film "Swimming Pool."
Even if it were more wholesome, Hollister wouldn't be watching it in full. He's seen thousands of movies since he began working the Catlow as a 16-year-old boy.
"I've seen too many of them in my day. The last one I can recall was 'Pretty Woman,' " Hollister said, referring to the 1990 blockbuster smash starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.
Save for the occasional checks on the reels, Hollister spent most of his time sitting alone in a chair reading books or magazines in a muggy room where an unshielded toilet and sink are part of a custodial landscape.
"I don't know what it is about this place," Lotz said. "He hasn't watched a movie for years, and I haven't watched one since I've been here."
Any blips, Hollister would take care of it. At showtime Aug. 28, he gently pressed his fingers on some film to silence a reel that tended to vibrate, a nuisance to the viewers' ears.
But the machines, some of which date back to 1945, do almost all of the work.
"You get machine-tuned," Hollister said. "It's like a car. You can hear if something's wrong with it right away."
Hollister said he never felt lonely behind the scenes flickering on the screen in the 700-seat auditorium.
"It's something nobody else does," Hollister said, describing what he liked about the job. "It's not that complicated or anything. It's something you learn to do, and people respect you for it. It's like being a doctor."
But he knows fewer and fewer people who come through the doors.
"It's a changed world," he said. Hollister was born 78 years ago on a farm near the corner of what's now the intersection of Routes 22 and 59. The Catlow had opened just two years before his birth.
When Hollister was 16, a friend already working at The Catlow encouraged him to come work at the theater. His friend recognized that Hollister's polio would keep him home, while their peers would be called up for military service in World War II.
Hollister performed a variety of jobs at the theater, including shoveling snow off the sidewalks and coal into stoves for heat in the winter. He also sold tickets and waited on customers before learning the ropes of the reels.
Working what would become an eight-day week with four picture showings on Sundays would put $35, with no tips, in Hollister's pockets in those days.
"It's gotten better," he said of his wages, which for 30 years were a supplement to his regular earnings from a job as a full-time printer. Hollister also was a volunteer firefighter in Barrington for 32 years and a village trustee from 1965 to 1969.
The costs for tickets are now $4, an almost exponential increase from the days when a moviegoer could see a couple of flicks for pocket change.
The Catlow Theater is up for sale and has been for a couple years. Several attempts from different parties to buy and preserve the national treasure have failed.
Hollister, at least by way of criticizing the Barrington Park District's plan to knock the 1929 Jewel Tea Co. building down for a park, said it would be a shame if the Catlow isn't preserved.
"Everybody's got horrendous ideas today," he said.
Full retirement will allow Hollister more time with his wife, Abigail, and three grown daughters. He'll also continue his hobby of beekeeping.
Hollister, who carries himself in a noticeably casual manner, said he thinks his wife of 36 years will miss his working at the Catlow more than he will because she enjoyed some perks that came with it.
"I don't think that'll change, Jim," Lotz said, forcing his predecessor to chuckle and smile.
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