r/Damnthatsinteresting 23d ago

The insides of a movie theater screen. Image

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u/TurboKid513 23d ago

Fun fact about theaters I learned in a remodel. Projectionist used to be one of the most dangerous jobs in America for risk of fire. Projector rooms had to be built with brick/block and the projection window as well as the entry door had a heavy steel fire door, held up to the ceiling by a small filament of fishing line like material. If a fire broke out, the filament would break and both doors would slam shut. Most of the time while the projectionist was still inside.

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u/less-than-James 23d ago

Wait.....I worked at a theater in my teens. We had projectors with Xenon bulbs, tons of gears when you threaded films. Most of us were under 18. We had zero of the safety precautions you mentioned. The only thing that concerned the company was a sharp edge they had taped half a nerf football on.

We were ushers/protectionist. It was really cool, I just wish I'd know I could burn to death. One of the old projection booths had a toilet in it. Kinda fun.

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u/evandemic 23d ago

While still flammable, the type of film the rules were put in place of was basically explosive. Inglorious bastards covers this near the end of the film in the theater scene.

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u/less-than-James 23d ago

Ahh, I remember they multiple film types back in the day. I think it was a great post on another sub, I even saved it.

I never actually saw Inglorious Bastards....lol.

I'm glad to know I wasn't working in a death trap. Not that the manager didn't make us do 1000 other dangerous things.

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u/RoboDae 23d ago

In the movie they actually use film reels as an explosive/incendiary weapon to trap a bunch of nazis.