Aug 24 2016
‘Nobody ever told me…’
This is the same type of film projector that was used in the Cabra Grand, there were actually two of them in the projection room. As a Young Fella I don’t think I ever gave any thought to the man up there showing the films. Well, I never actually knew there was a man up there, I just thought that the film came on because the lights went out and the big curtain opened. Sure didn’t the Lone Ranger know that we were all waiting for him to go galloping across the screen with Tonto. I bet even he didn’t know about the man up there. I would have loved his job because he got to see all the films for free and I bet he even got a free bag of popcorn and one of them tubs of ice cream with the little wooden spoon that we never got. He must have seen everything from up there. I wonder did he ever see all the goings on up on the balcony of a Sunday night with all them big fellas and their moths. ‘Here you, you better not put a ladder in me nylons, I only got a loan of them from me pal’… And did your man up there know the names of the fellas who used to flick their cigarette butts down off the balcony onto the people downstairs? And did he have to wear a uniform like the usher, you know the one like the Showband fellas used to wear? Why did nobody ever tell me about the man up there. I would have loved to go up and ask him to show me what he was doing and how did he know when to change one reel for the next and where did he get the films from and how did he know which ones we all wanted to see?…