Chief (Mike Williams)

Mike Williams interviewed by Richard Wallace

Projectionist Mike Williams describes his relationship with his chief projectionist at the ABC (Olympia) Cardiff, Frank Saunders.

We used to sit and talk, Frank Saunders and I. He was the chief and I was a lowly rewind boy, and he used to tell me about the days he projected silent films with a pianist. Now I feel now, it’s silly really, but I feel I've touched the silent days because I talked to that man ‘cause he talked to me and you knew what he was telling you was the truth. He took me through silent films, he took me through sound on disc on films, he took … He had what he called his treasure chest which was a wooden chest which he used to keep all his mementoes in. And he had so many mementoes of different cinemas that he’d worked in. He knew so much about the cinemas. He was just such an iconic guy, he knew everything about cinema, brilliant man.

Title

Chief (Mike Williams)

Subject

chief projectionist

Description

Projectionist Mike Williams describes his relationship with his chief projectionist at the ABC (Olympia) Cardiff, Frank Saunders.

Creator

The Projection Project

Source

Interview with Mike Williams

Publisher

The University of Warwick

Date

04/12/2015

Contributor

Richard Wallace
Mike Williams

Relation

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/7970

Format

.mp3

Language

English

Type

Sound recording
interview extract

Coverage

1956-1964

Interviewer

Richard Wallace

Interviewee

Mike Williams

Date of Interview

25/08/2015

Location

Cardiff

Transcription

We used to sit and talk, Frank Saunders and I. He was the chief and I was a lowly rewind boy, and he used to tell me about the days he projected silent films with a pianist. Now I feel now, it’s silly really, but I feel I've touched the silent days because I talked to that man ‘cause he talked to me and you knew what he was telling you was the truth. He took me through silent films, he took me through sound on disc on films, he took … He had what he called his treasure chest which was a wooden chest which he used to keep all his mementoes in. And he had so many mementoes of different cinemas that he’d worked in. He knew so much about the cinemas. He was just such an iconic guy, he knew everything about cinema, brilliant man.

Original Format

One-to-one interview

Duration

00:00:47

Bit Rate/Frequency

320kbps

Cinema

ABC (Olympia) Cinema, 67 Queen Street, Cardiff

Citation

The Projection Project, “Chief (Mike Williams),” Cinema Projectionist, accessed March 29, 2024, https://cinemaprojectionist.co.uk/items/show/385.

Output Formats