The heart of the cinema

The projection box; a place of mystery and magic. It is from this place, through the frames on film, the optical system of the projector, and a small porthole in the wall, that light flowed towards the screen, and along with the light flowed the images, the individual frames, which together made for an engrossing film.

We have very little information as to where this heart of the cinema was located over the years and exactly how it looked. Initially, this was a sort of a shack on the first storey, most likely taking up the central compartment boxes and – in accordance with the recommendations of the appropriate municipal committee, lined with asbestos to protect against fire risk. The shack was later replaced by a larger room. During an extensive renovation in 1952, the projection box was moved to the second floor.

The projection box must have held: a rewind bench, a storage cabinet with numbered drawers to hold the film reels housed in tin cans, some smaller cinema technology equipment, various instructions, boxes with film copies, the indispensable lab coats, and the milk bottles the projectionists were entitled to; perhaps some trade magazines. And, obviously, the projectors. The one displayed here is an AP-5, manufactured in the 1950s in Łódź by Łódzkie Zakłady Kinotechniczne [Łódź Cinema Technology Works]. It was designed to project 35 mm films in venues up to 1000 seats in capacity. The Old Town Cinema had two such projectors.