THEATRES AND CAFES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3870, 15 May 1928, Page 72

THEATRES AND CAFES.

SYDNEY, April 26. The announcement that one of ttie theatrical managements in Sydney proposes —-subject, of course, to official sanction —to permit smoking in its theatres, has not been enthusiastically received, judging from some of the comments it has evoked. Objections could be got over if those with pipes or cigars in their mouths in theatres could be compelled to swallow their own smoke, but the feeling seems to be that, in the round of the clock, men have ample time to smoke without making a little A’esuvius or Alount Etna of places of amusement. The feeling of not a few people in Sydney is that neither the theatre nor the mid-day luncheon room is the place for smoking. It is the same in the lifts. The men folk of Sydney, as a chivalrous concession to women, take off their hats when any of the latter happen to be in a lift with them. AA'hy, incidentally, they do not make the same graceful gesture in the. tram and the trains and on the ferries is a little puzzling. The joke of it, however, is that quite frequently a man will remove his hat in the presence of a lady in the lift, but will still puff away at a pipe or cigarette, and cloud the atmosphere with smoke that is probably a deal more objectionable to her than the sight of a covered head.