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‘The show must go on’ and it does at the Garden Drive-in

June 1, 2009

Projectionist is a ‘reel’ cool job

It was the summer of 1979.

The movie playing was “Blazing Saddles.”

And teenager Dave Hudzik was in the audience.

“I was there with a group of my friends seeing a movie,” he recalled. “I thought, ‘What do I have to do to be a projectionist?’ ”

After approaching the projectionist, who has the important duty of ensuring each movie plays at the Garden Drive-in, Hunlock Creek, each night, Hudzik trained for about a month and learned the ropes.

As it turned out, he was a natural, and so began a career and hobby that has spanned 30 years.

“I just picked it up,” Hudzik, now 47, explained. “I did a lot of research on it, so I kind of knew what I was getting myself into.”

That was 30 years ago, during the days when “every 20 minutes you were changing the reels.”

Things work a bit differently now.

Instead of changing the film reels on the projector five or six times throughout a movie showing, the projectionist comes in more than an hour before a movie showing to transfer five or six reels of film onto one big reel. That way, during the film, the projectionist just has to “babysit” the projector to make sure everything runs smoothly.

Preparing a film for show on a recent Friday evening in a small room near the concession stand, Hudzik puts one reel on a platter and stretches the film through a little machine called a splicer. Then, he connects reels of film together.

“It’s been this way forever,” he said, of the way movies are shipped on so many separate reels.

While not the most lucrative of careers, it’s more of a passion for Hudzik, who loves bringing sights and sounds to customers and is still “interested in the mechanics and logistics of it all.”

As are his colleagues.

“I fell in love doing this,” Dale Reams, of Nanticoke, said. “It’s more like a hobby.”

He’s been doing it more than 20 years and has worked in theaters in Hazleton and Edwardsville, but said the crew at the Hunlock Creek drive-in is “like a family.”

Owned by Doug and Kim Barbacci, of Dallas, the drive-in was opened in 1952 by Arthur Cragle, whose father, Theodore, actually built it, Hudzik said.

“It was built right during the drive-in boom,” he explained.

The 12-acre property holds more than 600 cars, and it’s not unusual to see families gathered on any given weekend night to enjoy a new movie and spend some time together. Prices are $6 for adults and $3 for children.

“People go down by the screen and play ball before the movie starts,” Reams said. “You can sit outside and you don’t have to worry about getting dressed up.”

But, Hudzik and Reams don’t just sit idly watching from behind closed doors.

As projectionists, they also might help sell tickets, work behind the concession stand when it gets busy, make announcements, pick up garbage left behind after a show and even jump-start cars.

“I try to work as much as I can,” said Reams, who doubles as a chiropractor during the day.

“Not too long after Christmas I’m asking when we’re going to open,” he confessed. “Everyone tells me I have a cool life.”

As a projectionist, Reams has to have a keen sense of timing to know the best moment to hit the magical green power button that’ll set the film into motion and turn the light from the lamp house (located inside the projector) on to reflect onto the screen.

He decides the start time between the amount of natural light at that point in the evening and the advertised time for the show, then monitors the picture throughout the night to ensure a quality picture is on display.

Regulars at the theater, of course, are familiar with Reams making his way from the back movie screen to the front one in a hurry each weekend (the Garden Drive-in shows two movies at a time on two separate screens on the property since 2002).

“A lot of people are here every weekend,” Reams said.

And, head projectionist Hudzik knows he’s lucky to have two others on staff for backup (Reams and longtime area projectionist George Bobey, of Freeland).

He remembers times years ago when he was sick and wanted to call off, but there was no one else to do the projection.

“It’s like the old saying, ‘The show must go on,’ ” he said.

And so it does every summer at the Garden Drive-in.

IF YOU GO

What: Garden Drive-in

Where: Route 11, Hunlock Creek

When: Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays this summer

Prices: $6 for adults; $3 for children under 12

More info: Call 735-5933 or visit www.gardendrivein.com.

Mike McGinley, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7127.

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