The Kenny Rogers-Pink Floyd Connection
Working at a movie theater was my best retail experience. I wrote about how I grew disenchanted when the assistant manager tried to frame me for recycling dirty, used popcorn containers. However I wouldn’t have stayed in the job for 17 months if I wasn’t enjoying myself.
The recent passing of Kenny Rogers jolted a memory that I had almost forgotten. In the golden days of movie houses, there used to be organists who played music between showings. Later on, there would be “ad cards” accompanied by reel-to-reel recorded music. By the time I started at the United Artists (UA) Squire triplex in Great Neck, interstitial music was provided via cassette tape, on equipment housed between theaters one and two on the main level (the projectionist went upstairs via ladder to get to theater three).
United Artists predominantly programmed 70s soft rock. Which was fine but mind-numbing for high school and college students. Ushers cleaning seats would sing along once or twice. But in general, after you’ve heard Ambrosia’s “How Much I Feel” 20 or 30 times a month, you’re pretty much over it.
On a sweltering Thursday, the projectionist called downstairs to ask the manager to bring him more water. Thinking this was my chance to visit “the Nest” above theater three, I volunteered. However he had moved to the primary position between screens one…
