FREE FILMS ON ROAD SAFETY

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25271, 25 August 1947, Page 6

FREE FILMS ON ROAD SAFETY

RUSH TO ENTER THEATRE FOUR HUNDRED TURNED AWAY Nearly 1000 persons sought admission to the Plaza Theatre last evening for the free showing of films on road safety arranged by the Canterbury Junior Chamber of Commerce, but within 10 minutes the house was full and 400 had to be turned away. The crowd began to assemble at 6.30, and quickly grew. To save the doors the theatre had to be opened at 7.30 p.m., a quarter of an hour *before the time advertised.

“The moment we opened the doors the place was full of seething bodies — I have never seen anything like it in my life,” said the manager' of the theatre (Mr D. Moore-Wright). One man fell on the stairs and was knocked half-unconscious, but the crowd surged over the top of him in their rush. The ushers were unable to get into the theatre themselves, and one had the handle torn from her purse when she was caught in the rush. Attendants were besieged with offers of tips, one man offering £1 for admission.

There was still quite a crowd waiting vainly for admission when he left the theatre at 8.15, said Mr W. H. Prescot, a member of the junior chamber’s road safety committee. When a reporter left the theatre at 8.30 p.m. about six persons were still looking through the doors, and one woman asked him if the house was full. “Surely there is room for 601,” she said, when told that a capacity house of 600 was inside.