Bakster
hope you got free tickets
My grandfather and all four of his brothers were in the biz, as had their father before them.
My GGF had built and operated the movie theater in Ada, OK years before.
One Uncle was in the distribution bisiness. Another supplied popcorn for the region from SF to Vancouver, east to Idaho, and all of Nevada. His cadillac proclaimed hin the "Popcorn Kolernel." The youngest of the brothers was the movie maven of Coos Bay, OR.
So, I pretty much could wander into a number of theaters at will. Also spent more than a fair share of unpaid time serving concessions or taking tickets (even sold some tickets, too).
Even had a pretty good p/t gig with UA screening films. They way that worked is that the distributor would have films available. A theater--or in the big cities, a chain--woiuld rent copies of the films, which they would then show. Part of that rental included looping in certain trailers and the like.
UA was concerned at the time (probably still is) that their films would be screened to certain standards. So, I'd get a list every two weeks of all the UA films available. I'd pick one, and a theater, and go buy a ticket. I had to note which trailers were spliced in. I'd also have to note how wel lthe film was masked (were bits cut off, or shown on the surround, and the like). Also the sound quality and volume, how well the reels were synced, and how beat up the print was.
This latter was a pretty big deal when theaters went to "platten" projectors. All the reels were spliced together on a 6-7' platten around a central spindle, then fed off through the projector(s) and back to the central spindle again (much like how an 8-track tabe works). This necessitated a bunch of rollers over which the film ran. If the rolers picked up grit, it scratched the print.
If not using a platten, you needed two projectors. You loaded one real on one projector, then the next on the other. The projectioonist had to watch near the end of the first reel for a circle to appear at (typically) the top right of the screen). This was the cue to start the other projector and sync it to the first. There would be another dot/circle to show the cut off of the first projector. Projectionist then had to spool the first reall off its take up reel and onto a projection reel (for the really old projectors). Then, the next reel could be loaded up. Rinse and repeat.
Xenon lamps replaced carbon arc lamps which made the projectors safer and easier (no having to mind the carbon rods). Plattens replaced separate reels. (Which meant a projectionist could be replaced with a multiplex manager who just had an on/off switch. Which was later automated to link with House lights and the like.
Now, films are all on digital platters, so reels are a ting of the past, too.
Anywho, while an interesting gig (they reimbursed for the ticket and mileage to the theater, and a price per view) it alos meant I had to sit through some stinkers of films. So, yeah, the Dino De Laurentis Dune was interesting, Midsummer's Night's Dream, maybe not so much. Cat People was good, but I was never quite so happy to be at a 1500 matinee and walk out into bright sunshine as after that.