Post by london777 on Mar 29, 2020 3:32:29 GMT
In post-WWII England they always played the National Anthem after the final showing of the evening. So as the words "The End" came up on the screen (or a bit earlier) there was a mad rush for the exit, leaving a minority standing to attention. My parents compromised. If they could get out fast enough they would, but if they were caught by the opening drum-roll they froze at attention as if bewitched.
There were five cinemas in our town of 30,000 pop. There were usually three programmes (main feature, B-Picture, newsreel and cartoon - no travelogue for us poor Brits) and members of the audience would enter at any point and (usually) leave once they reached the point in the cycle where they came in, though they could if they so wished sit there and see the whole programme up to three times for as little as one shilling and threepence (about US 7 cents). That is why Paramount's "gimmick" with Psycho was so brave, and I think it did initiate a change of habits.
There were five cinemas in our town of 30,000 pop. There were usually three programmes (main feature, B-Picture, newsreel and cartoon - no travelogue for us poor Brits) and members of the audience would enter at any point and (usually) leave once they reached the point in the cycle where they came in, though they could if they so wished sit there and see the whole programme up to three times for as little as one shilling and threepence (about US 7 cents). That is why Paramount's "gimmick" with Psycho was so brave, and I think it did initiate a change of habits.