This was not written by me, but was found in a 1935 Projectionist Diary, but is just as true today as it was then:
THE OPERATOR’S CREED
Remember yours is one of the most highly skilled jobs in this modern wonder age and technical developments succeed one another with bewildering rapidity.
Concentrated within the spool – box is the consummate artistry of playwrights, actors, producers and camera-men. You are the last and the most important link in a great chain.
According to your diligence and craftsmanship, so has this artistry, this anxious care, this enormous expense, been wasted or justified.
Yours is the task of taking thousands of your fellow men and women away from the cares of an often drab and colourless existence, transporting them on your magic carpet to a land of make-believe and sending them away refreshed to tackle the world of reality with renewed zest and high courage.
To achieve this you have to master a formidable list of highly technical subjects, you have to be resourceful in emergency, calm in danger, and unremitting in sacrificing your time and, if need be, your person in the interests of the public you serve.
A noble and inspiring calling that is surely, if slowly, receiving the recognition it deserves.