Q. David Bowers Collection, NHF Music Made the Movies Thousands of musicians worked in northern New England theaters during the silent-film era. The music they played ranged from rehearsed orchestral scores to improvisation. Music added emotion to the images and was an essential part of the experience of movie-going. The Strand Symphony Orchestra, Portland, Maine, in 1924. In the Booth Changing technology has changed the job of the projectionist.
Most modern theaters have platter-type projectors.
This system enables one or two projectionists to run many projectors simultaneously. The photo at the right is of Irwin Robbins and his son Theodore in the General Cinemas projection booth in South Portland, Maine. The Robbinses have been projectionists most of their lives. Irwin Robbins and his son Theodore. And yet, more than a few wonderful and meaningful things could not fit into the show for one reason or another.