[SFSkol]

I saw The Exorcist over a hundred times in 1973.

One of my first jobs after school was asst manager at our local movie theater. Back then things were very different as to how movies were shown. Movie companies would rent out specific theaters for extended periods, in the case of The Exorcist it was for a month to month contract period and we were the only theater in the county to show it. The studio even paid to have an ambulance waiting outside for the opening weekend to handle all the potential fainters. (There were two, I never found out if they were plants.) We had sold out shows for over a month. To this day I still know most of the dialogue. It was interesting to see how different audience reacted to certain parts. The biggest disgust reaction was to the spinal tap sequence. The spinning head and pea green soup scene either received screams or laughter.