"the intermittent click-click sound of the cranking"

Films may have been silent a century ago, but the film projectors weren't. Back in 1909, projectionists would stand in the middle of a venue and hand crank 10-minute one-reelers. Some moviegoers would even sit near the projector because they liked the intermittent click-click sound of the cranking.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is re-creating the sights and the sounds of the moviegoing experience 100 years ago with its "A Century Ago: The Films of 1909 -- The Stars Are Born" on Monday evening and "A Century Ago: The First Films of Mary Pickford" on Tuesday. Both events take place at the Linwood Dunn Theater.

Besides Michael Mortilla's live accompaniment to these vintage films, Joe Rinauldo will be hand-cranking the movies on a restored 1909 Nicholas Power Co. Model 6 Cameragraph.

Throughout the silent era, projectionists hand-cranked film. "It was an art of pride," says Rinauldo. "A lot of these itinerant projectionists would travel to towns that didn't have theaters. They would usually travel in a wagon or old truck, bring a piano and would set up tent shows."

And it was a real skill to crank correctly. "The frame rate is kind of a tricky thing," says Rinauldo, who fell in love with old films as a boy.

"The mean speed was around 16 frames a second. One turn of the crank handle is 16 frames with one crank equaling one second. Movie cameramen would hum 'The Anvil Chorus' in their mind to keep their speed even. But often cameramen wouldn't hold their speed and different cameramen would film a scene."

So just as 100 years ago, Rinauldo adjusts his cranking to correct any problems with the frame speed.

Rinauldo will be projecting an eclectic mixture of films both nights, including early films of comic Ben Turpin and stage star Maurice Costello.