Even though I had plenty of money to carry me through after I had gotten fired from Unimart/Rent City, I was still holding out hope that I would be able to use that money to buy an engagement ring for Bez (which never happened). I was scrambling to find another job. The only problem was that, even though Unimart was the worst job I ever had, I was making a lot of money and I was rather used to that extra dough. I was hoping to find another job in which I would be able to make at least five dollars an hour. Those were very hard to come by. I interviewed at a dry cleaners that paid that much. I was in a group with three other people. Of those three, only one of them had any dry cleaning experience. Another young woman absolutely needed to find a job that day or she was going to get thrown in jail. (She and her boyfriend had written a bunch a bad checks as they drove across the country.) I don't know who got the job or if that woman got thrown in jail, but I know I wasn't chosen.
Since I couldn't find anything that started at five dollars an hour, I started looking at the possibility of minimum wage jobs to carry me through until I found a higher-paying position somewhere. I figured I would just have to subsidize myself with that engagement ring money, trying to spend as little of it as possible. When I was looking through the want ads, I saw that the Chez Artiste movie theatre was hiring for a part-time position. The Chez Artiste was the art house for the United Artists theatre chain. It used to be called the University Hills 3 when it was under the Commonwealth banner and played second-run films. I had gone there once in this incarnation to see "Eight Men Out." It had two regular-sized auditoriums (for a multi-plex) and a small screening room. I saw the movie in the screening room.
I had been to the theatre several times after it became the Chez Artiste. I thought this would be a lot less stressful place to work than where I was before. I went in and filled out the application. One of the things I did was lie by saying I had worked at the movie theatre in Artesia. I figured that with the frequent turnaround in management there, no one would be able to verify whether or not I ever worked there. The manager, Mr. G, came out and interviewed me. Mr. G was an older, bald-headed man I had seen at the theatre several times before, including when I saw "Eight Men Out." He asked me about what happened with my job at Unimart/Rent City. I told him I was working as a collector and they didn't like how I was being too nice to the customers. He said that it was a good job to get fired from.
After the interview, I went home. I sat there and started thinking that if I was going to work a minimum wage job at a movie theatre, I should try to get a job somewhere I really wanted to work, like the Mayan Theatre, or the Esquire Theatre, or the Odgen Theatre. All three were owned by the Landmark Theatre chain. The Mayan and the Esquire were within one half-mile from my apartment. The Ogden was a little further away, but was a short drive and I could walk there if I absolutely had to. I had been to those theatres more often than the Chez Artiste. I called each one and asked if they were doing any hiring. All three said they were.
I had planned to go out that night and apply at all three. I went over to the Mayan first. I filled out the application and lied again about my movie theatre experience. The manager, Mr R, was there and he interviewed me after I had completed the application. I told him I remembered seeing him at the Esquire the final night of "The Last Temptation of Christ." He said he thought he had seen me at the theatre a few times. He also did not seem to have a problem with me having gotten fired as a collector. We seemed to get along really well and the whole time, he was acting like he was going to hire me.
During the interview, this employee named Lez kept coming into the office to ask Mr R questions. At one point, she came in with her paycheck and said, "This is what my paycheck came out to? I got paid more than this when I was 21!" She was complaining in a funny way. Mr. R made comical gestures with his hands for her to be quiet and saying, "Not in front of the applicant!" He then told me about the annual Christmas party that was coming up that weekend, but I wouldn't be hired in time to attend it.
Mr R said they were doing a preview screening of the movie "Apartment Zero" that night and he invited me to stay to watch it if I wanted to. (I guess it was to make up for the Christmas party I wouldn't be attending.) I declined. I felt like that would be taking advantage of a situation and I would have felt really bad to freeload like that if I didn't get hired. He said that he would pass the application over to his assistant manager and she would likely call me up for a second interview and decide whether to put me on the schedule. I felt so optimistic that I would get hired that I didn't even bother to go to the Esquire or the Ogden to apply.
So, here's a little background: The Mayan Theatre first opened in 1930. Through the decades, it experienced a lot of deterioration. In the mid-80s, developers were going to tear it down to build a shopping center. After a great deal of conflict, a grass roots organization was able to save it from the wrecking ball. The Landmark chain bought it and restored it. In addition, they converted the balcony into two separate screens, so there were now three screens. It had proven to be a very successful venture. The Ogden and Esquire were single-screen theatres, although they had converted the balcony of the Esquire into another screen not long before I applied.
A few days later, I got a call from the assistant manager. Her name was Kaz. She asked me to come meet her at the theatre one afternoon. The day I went over there happened to be the day they opened "My Left Foot." The theatre had matinee shows during the week for Christmas break. I came to the box office and told the person working that I was there to see Kaz. She called Kaz and told me she would be right down. Kaz turned out to be a woman close to my age. She wore horn-rimmed style glasses and looked kind of nerdy. I was rather attracted to her.
During the interview, she appeared to be rather humorless and devoid of personality. I still found her attractive, but I didn't get the same sense that I might get hired while I was interviewing with Mr. R. I actually got a vibe that she didn't like me very much. If she was going to be the one to make a decision as to whether I was going to be on the schedule, I was no longer confident that I was going to get hired.
However, Mr R left a message the next day on my machine saying that Kaz had put me on the schedule. I was to work the matinee shift on 12/23/89. I was actually excited to get to come work at one of my favorite places in Denver.
Before I close today's post, I would like to give some update on Mr. G from the Chez Artiste (who never did call me back). He had to come to the Mayan one Thursday night to pick up a print of a film that we ended the run. I gave him the film. I wondered if he recognized me as having applied for a job with him several months earlier. I also saw him on occasion when I went over there to see movies that we weren't playing. The only time I had him come to our theatre to see a movie was when we were playing "Cyrano de Bergerac." A few years after I moved from Denver, Landmark Theatres bought the Chez Artiste. He decided to retire rather than work for us. His last official act as manager of the Chez Artiste was to record the showtimes. He started it, "Thanks for calling United... uh, Landmark's Chez Artist theatre..." I'm surprised somebody didn't just go in and re-do the recording.
But I have a lot to write about in my adventures working for Landmark. Tomorrow, I'll go into detail about my first days on the job.
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