PICTURE THEATRE PRICES

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 1, 27 September 1920, Page 5

PICTURE THEATRE PRICES

Sir,—A6 a mother of a family, I would like to draw your attention to the everincreasing prices of admittance to _ picture shows. First it was 6d. week night, 9d. Saturdays, then 9d. week night, and Is. Id. Saturdays. Now it is Is. Id. every night, and I suppose it will soon be Is. 7d. on Saturday. And so it will go on until we pay 2s. every night (if we are fool enough) and 3s. on Saturday, plus tax. (Another thing is this, that the pictures are not advancing with the prices. Many a time, after paying their extortionate price, I have left the theatre disgusted after witnessing perfect twaddle on the screen. It is a pity some enterprising picture proprietor cannot be found who would cater for people' like myself, whose time as well as pocket is limited. Reduce the length of programme and charge a. little less—l am sure it would pay Mm. There are plenty of men and women who prefer quality before quantity, and who get wearied with a long, uninteresting programme. The como-and-go-quickly policy is more pleasing to the majority of people. There are some, of course, who go and yawn and get sleepy, finding it hard to waken up when something a little more interesting is put on, but they never complain, they are too weary. Another point worth considering is this: Except on a Saturday, there are a large number of empty seats, which cause the theatres to be cold and depressing.' In fact, the gloomy atmosphere, added to the poor productions and high prices, keep many away, although the managers would say their programmes were 60 long, but length does not suit the busy housewife or her husband and family either during the week; they want something where they I can go for an hour or hour and a half and see something, and come away satisfied that their time and money was not wasted.—l am, etc., REASONABLE.