The end of an era

[laughingrat]

The End: Why projectionists will soon be no more. Great article on a part of the film experience most of us never think about.

I'm dubious about the excerpt on the last page, about the nitrate film--not that I doubt that it happened, but I thought vinegar syndrome happened to acetate film, not nitrate. Anyone have more/better info?

Comments

[twistedchick]

I can't speak to vinegar syndrome, but I do know that nitrate film was insanely flammable. A few decades ago, a lot of old film that had not been catalogued completely yet was stored in an outbuilding at the George Eastman House in Rochester, where they specialize in preserving old film. In the middle of the winter, as I remember, the building caught fire from the inside and burned to the ground -- taking with it most of the two-reel Charlie Chaplins, a lot of the Buster Keatons, and some of the only copies of the first one-reelers and two-reelers from the first decade of the 1900s and before. What I remember is something about someone leaving a light on in the building, and the heat from that started the fire in the film; of course, I wasn't there so I can't say how it was stored.

[laughingrat]

Oh yeah, very dangerous. I just never thought it smelled like vinegar! :-D That's so sad about the Eastman House. Have you ever seen the clips of nitrate burning under water? Yikes.

[twistedchick]

Eastman House still has miles of film of all ages, and film festivals, and special evenings, and tours and all sorts of stuff. It's well worth a visit if you're ever in Rochester, NY.

And yeah, nitrate under water is scary. Anything that burns under water is scary.

::happy birthday!::

[laughingrat]

Oh, hurrah. And we still have Chaplin and Keaton too, from other storehouses at least. :-D And thanks!