I originally posted this on the Kritzer thread, but BK kindly asked me if I'd repost it on this one. Of course, I'm only too happy to oblige, and even add a little bit to it.
<<Even though there were worlds of difference between my own childhood and Benjamin Kritzer's fictional one, there were two (count 'em!) two incidents in Benjamin Kritzer which were echoed in my own childhood.
And it brought back a warm memory of a wonderful guy that I thought I'd share...
When I was a kid, I had a paper route, which supplied me with actual spending money, which was very rare given my family's economic situation. And I invariably used to spend a good portion of it at our two neighborhood theaters, the Delft and the Nordic. And I would see every movie at both theaters. Most of 'em I loved. Some of 'em I couldn't understand for the life of me...I was way too young to understand what the heck was going on in Advise and Consent, but I still sat through the entire movie. (Exactly why they'd let an eight-year-old kid get admittance into Advise and Consent is another story...)
Anyway, both theaters were owned by the same manager, who was way too cheap to hire two projectionists. So the movies were timed so that Gene Maki (the projectionist in question) could run across the street to the other theater to do the reel changes. I got to know all the consession girls by name (Sally, Kathleen, and Phyllis), and they remembered what I really liked. And one day, they introduced me to Gene, who was a jolly fat Santa without a beard, but with a cigar. He looked a bit like Burl Ives. And Gene showed me how to load the film, how to spot when the reel changes were, and the differences between lenses. And from time to time, he'd have me come to the theater to "check the print" of a movie before it opened. The theater manager agreed to this, but he was such a cheapskate, he insisted that I still pay regular admission to this...but Gene forgot about that, more often than not.
In a very real way, Gene profoundly influenced my tastes in movies. He bemoaned the fact that black-and-white movies were becoming passe, and was truly troubled by movies like Easy Rider. He also had a 35mm projector in his basement, and owned some prints of various movies. The first time I ever saw Dracula, I saw it in Gene's basement.
I loved that guy. He passed away in 1983, and I travelled 1500 miles to attend his funeral. The last movie he ran was Psycho II.
I won't share the other incident, as (at least for me!) it was the emotional highpoint of the novel, and would be therefore by classified as a major spoiler. And I wouldn't dream of spoiling it for anyone who hasn't read Benjamin Kritzer.>>
Anyway, thanks for Benjamin Kritzer, and thanks for bringing back memories of Gene Maki, BK...!