WHEN LONDON LAUGHS

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14630, 3 January 1941, Page 2

WHEN LONDON LAUGHS

NEW GAME IN CINEMAS. MATCHING FILM DIALOGUE WITH SIRENS. Most of London’s theatres are closed, but cinemas are still doing good business. Audiences are told when an j\ir raid warning has sounded (the film stops for a few moments for the manager to make the announcement) but few people leave their seats. A new game for these occasions has become popular—the matching of film dialogue, with sirens. Some surprising and amusing coincidences have been noted. Here are a few:

One of those “Crime Does Not Pay’’ films was being shown and the alarm sounded juyt as the police were bursting into a club. The owner of the club turned to his men and exclaimed, “It’s a raid, boys !” The sirens went Woo-woo during “Cafe Hostess” and the hero turned to the villain and said, “Thanks for the warning. ’ ’ “Charley’s Aunt” was half over when the warning announcement was made. Arthur Askey declared from the screen: “But the show must go on I” During “Remember?” Billie Burke says : “They’ll be here any moment now. Wait for my signal. At one performance the sirens went just then. In “Night Train to Munich” the hero ne (Margaret Lockwood) goes to a seaside resort looking for a certain Gus Bennett. She had got to that point in the film when it was being shown at one cinema when the warning went. On resumption. a character in the film said to the girl, “Gus Bennett, lady? Just look for a man with a voice like a warblmg siren.” Here are a few remarks made by screen characters at the sounding of the alarm:

“Mr Smith Goes to Washington” —James Stewart: “This must be the night shift coming on.” “Risky Business”—George Murphy’s secretary: “It's that man “The Blue Bird”—Shirley Temple: *‘l am not afraid.” “Swanee River”—Man in restaurant: “Do you know there’s a war on?”

Bombs and guns were banging outside one cinema when Diana Wynward, the frightened wife of “Gaslight,” looked up nervously and said, “I can hear something up there.”

Bombs were falling on the roof of a Chinese hospital in “Disputed Passage” when the manager told the audience that the sirens had just sounded.

There have been “All Clear” coincidences, too. One of the best happened at where “Swanee River was being shown* The “All Clear’ was announced and to the reassuring accompaniment of the sirens outside the audience heard Andrea Leeds turn to Don Ameche (.who was playing a violin) and say- “i like the sound of that.”