REVOLT IN THEATRES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21296, 24 September 1932, Page 2 (Supplement)

REVOLT IN THEATRES

WOMEN ATTENDANTS' TIPS HAPPENINGS IN FRANCE The much-abused " ouvreuses "—the women whose business it is to show people to their seats in most French theatres, concert halls and cinemas—have at last risen in revolt. It is somewhat ironical that it is they who should be protesting, for hitherto it has been felt that the grievance* was with the audience, who are practically compelled to tip them. So intensely has the system been criticised that several enterprising theatre and cinema managers in Paris recently decided to pay the women attendants and to announce that tipping was strictly forbidden. These enlightened pioneers realise that it is very annoying to have to pay tribute before being allowed to occupy a seat for which one has paid. In most cases, however, the payments made to the management by the companies which supply the " ouvreuses " form too important an item to be pensed with. Apparently the oft-repeated grumbles against them have at length exasperated the " openers." They have proclaimed that they, too, are victims of the system, for they are in the hands of the companies which employ them and which confiscate a liberal share of their earnings. The " ouvreuses " have therefore founded a syndicate and mean to agitate for better conditions and for a reduction of the middlemen's takings.