Page 19 - CR-96
P. 19

TICKETS PLEASE



                             By Royce Harris





           he Oxford Dictionary describes ephemera  The first step in the experience was often the  queues which could stretch out of the theatre
       T as “things of only short lived relevance”.  ticket box or booking office. For the City  and along the street. Box plans were usually
       Cinema related ephemera includes posters and  theatres,  seats,  especially  in  the  open six days in advance at the theatre or
       lobby cards, programs and magazines such as  Dress  Circle  or  Lounge,     by phone.
       Screen News and Film Chat which were sold  were  booked  in
       in theatres, and tickets and pass outs. Given the  advance at                The  ticket  boxes  were  often  placed
       length of time that some people retain theatre                                centrally  at  the  front  of  the  theatre.
       programs  and  tickets  as  mementos,  that                                    Decorating these could form part of
       description must be questioned.                                                 the  overall  merchandising  display.
                                                                                        There  are  photos  of  Paramount's
       It wasn't only the show that                                                     Capitol Theatre in Melbourne in
       they  were  seeing  but  the                                                      the  1930s  and  1940s  where  the
       whole  experience  of  a  big                                                     advertising seems to envelop the
       night  out  in  the  luxury  of  a                                                ticket  box  to  such  an  extent  it's
       grand  cinema  palace,  or  the                                             hard  to  see  the  space  where  you  could
       ultra modern Art Deco cinemas                                           actually buy a ticket. These box offices were
       of  the  1930s,  that  made  the                                 t h e  initially  functional  spaces,  but  their  design
       occasion   memorable   and                                 theatre  or  a  reached a peak in the Art Deco cinemas of the
       enjoyable.                                            booking  office,  often  1930s. Hoyts' Windsor (Vic) had a large round
                                                       by  phone,  and  collected  glass ball which was very prominent inside the
                                                  beforehand to avoid joining the long  entry doors, even when the theatre was closed.
              The elaborate ticket box took pride of place even in promotional material.  The Rivoli, Camberwell opening program.  Ross King collection.



















































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