Boxoffice-July.1995

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BEHIND THE SCENES Wagner has been interested in George motion picture projection since he was a small child. His fascination for the projected image began in 1919, when at age five he saw the silent film "Tlie Birth of a Nation" projected onto a sheet in the basement ofa local schoolhouse. Even then, at that early age, Wagner found himself mesmerized more by the activities of the projectionist than by the film itself Shortly thereafter, the Hagerstown, Md., native began selling boxes of salve for a mail order company and sold enough of the product to qualify for a small projector as a reward. "I sold 12 boxes of Wliite Cloverine salve for 25 cents a box, or maybe someone bought it all from me like my mother," he laughs. Regardless of how he managed to sell the required number ofboxes, the result was the same. He received the little projector that would initiate his love affair with the magic ofmotion picture exliibition, a love that lasts to this very day. "The projector's light source was carbide, Wagner recalls. "A litde light was provided by the carbide which fonned a gas and made a light. It was pretty primitive, He to be sure." recollects that the macliine came with a loop offUm that lasted about two seconds. The small projector was not very sturdy and broke shortly after he got it. However, he maintained his enthusiasm for showing motion pictures, and by age 15 he had obtained his next projector, an Acme "suitcase" unit that was capable of running George Wagner in his element. about 1,000 feet of 35mm film. He used to show telephone company advertising films to the children in his neighborhood. Wagner would project tliem through a window ofhis house onto a screen he had built in the yard. It did not matter what type of film he showed, he recalls. In 1929 the neighborhood youngsters were thrilled to see any film, even if it was a plug for the phone company. There was no charge for the use of the fUms; all he had to do was tell the company how many people had been in the audience. Projecting motion pictures was a relatively new technology when Wagner first saw it demonstrated in 1919. Thomas Edison had introduced his Kinetoscope only 25 years earlier. But Wagner was fascinated by the concept and wanted to be the man showing the movies. By the age of 17, he had befriended tlie regular projectionists at Hagerstown's Maryland Theatre, and they would surreptitiously admit him to the projection booth in violation of union ruins. "I'd walk through the apartment that was in front of the theatre, up the fire escape, and knock and they would let me in." He had also become a frequent visitor to the booths of two of Hagerstown's other motion picttire hotises of the time, the Colonial Theatre and the Academy of Music. Getting to know the managers and doormen at these theatres eventually made gaining access to their booths much easier Projectionist union rules prohibited him from beginning an official apprenticeship until reaching the age of 21 . However, he learned a great deal during those in-between years as he continued his clandestine treks up the fire escapes and back stairs of tlie various theatres. In 1935, at age 21, he began a three-year ai> prenticeship under the tutelage of the Maryland Theafre's operators. He was at first permitted only to obseive the men .is MASTER of the movement By Lawrence R. Loy they worked. Next came being allowed to put the film in the machine and eventually to "trim the lamps." Finally, after months of performing only the most rudimentar\' tasks, he was permitted to make the everimportant "changeovers." After completing his apprenticeship, George worked part-time in local theatres while also working in a service station. He remembers that he would make as much in one evening as a projectionist as he could in an entire week at the service station. Eventually he obtained his firet ftill-time position as one of t^vo operators at die Academy of Music. He kept tiiat position, along with filling in at otlier theatres, until 1942 when he was drafted into the Army. As a child, Wagner began selling boxes of salve for a mail order company to qualify for a small projector as a reward. "I sold 12 boxes of White Cloverine salve for 25 cents a box, or maybe someone bought it all from me like my mother," he laughs. Not even a world war could put a danij^er on his enthusiasm for his craft. World War 1 1 put many motion picture cancers on hold, hut it only pnnidcd VVagntM' with new locn- A movie palace projectionist recalls over six decades of exhibition history as seen from the booth 2« HOXOM'ICK
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Boxoffice-July.1995

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