UNATTENDED STOOLS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21136, 19 March 1932, Page 10 (Supplement)

UNATTENDED STOOLS.

RUSE IN LONDON QUEUES.

THEATRE MANAGEMENT'S BAN. A lively controversy has been started among pit and gallery playgoers by the decision of tho Ambassadors' Theatre management in London to prohibit the practice of leaving stools unattended in queues by people who return to them just before the doors open. This edict came into force on February 16. Several regular pit and gallery patrons who have for years adopted the device have pointed out it is tho only way in which playgoers with regular office hours can " hold their own " against people with nothing to do all day who are propared to queue up for hours. x On tho other hand, tho Ambassadors' move is welcomed by the Gallery First Nighters' Club. Mr. Leslie Bloom, the president, said: " Stools are hired out at the rate of 6d an hour, and the gallerygoer who pays from Is 6d to 2s for his seat naturally cannot afford to take these seats for hours at a time.

" What happens too often is that people who would otherwise have booked upper circle or even dress circle seats now find it cheaper to hire these stools and leave them in the queuo until just before the doors open."