‘No running please!’
Angela Morris recalls fun days and nights working as an usherette at her local cinema
In the Sixties, my friend Shirley and I embarked on a plan to save enough money in the hope of taking a trip abroad. We were already working full-time but to realise our dream there was no doubt we would need a second job...
After much scouring of the classifieds, I secured part-time work as an usherette in my local cinema and had great fun showing people to their seats in the dark as they groped their way along the rows. At least I had a torch!
Once the film started, I went down to the freezer room to collect my tray and stock it full of ice-cream tubs, icelollies, choc-ices and cartons of drink plus my float, ready for the interval.
I always preferred servicing the stalls because they were the cheaper seats and a lot of pensioners preferred these, as did the teens. When the lights went up, I’d be standing down at the front of the cinema with my tray full of goodies waiting for the onslaught! Films showing at the time included musicals such as West Side Story and for the brave, there was Psycho and The Birds.
I thoroughly enjoyed working on a Saturday morning. One minute I would be standing outside the auditorium, torch at the ready, then the outer doors would be unlocked and the silence would be shattered as a swarm of children tore into the foyer, squealing and shrieking with excitement. Our cries of ‘no running’ went unheeded as they surged past!
After the Pearl & Dean adverts, the general chatter would die down as the
‘When the lights went up, I’d be standing at the front waiting for the onslaught!’
house lights dimmed and the music heralded the start of the main feature.
As the audience consisted mainly of children, usherettes were permitted to sit on foldaway seats at the rear of the auditorium. From here we could keep a watchful eye out for any little troublemakers, but the children were so in awe and swept along by the Disney magic there were very few incidents.
Live shows also took place and I remember one very special weekend when Gilbert & Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore
was performed. It was very exciting to work all weekend through two matinees and two evening shows.
I would collect my tray loaded with ice-creams and drinks and wait at the auditorium door, where the noise was deafening from the laughter and applause. As the lights went up, I could be found waiting at the top row ready to walk backwards down the stairs, stopping at the end of each row as patrons proffered their money in exchange for ice-cream or a drink. On busy evenings such as these, I even had a ‘runner’ who would make sure my tray was constantly replenished.
They were such enjoyable times, but times change and people move on, as I did – taking a new full-time job in London. Sadly, it was time to say ‘goodbye’ to the cinema and ‘hello’ to an office in the West End. Seeing the world would have to wait…