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Left: This unusual ticket
price must have made
life difficult for the poor
cashier trying to give
change.
( Said as “Two and five
pence ha’penny” .)

At the other end of the
spectrum from the city
Picture Palaces was the
country picture show in or if the rush to return was so chaotic that the
the local hall. Often the usher didn't have time to collect the pass outs.
ticket box at these was a
cupboard near the front An interesting one in this category is for the
door or, as in a few I Metro Twin Drive In, Chullora (NSW) which
knew in the Adelaide is noted as an “Emergency Pass Out." We can
Hills, in the space under only speculate as to what the emergency could
the stairs leading up to have been.
the bio box. It amazed
me, when looking
through the tickets in the
archive, that some of
these venues issued
tickets with their names on them and allocated
seating (for halls with sometimes only about
200 seats.) Examples are "Institute Pictures" in
Iron Knob, Oakbank Hall, "Avon Theatre"
Stirling (the Institute) and Mannum Institute.
There are also a number of "admit one" tickets
issued from rolls. The amounts are interesting
- it must have slowed down the queues while Even some of the smaller shows had allocated
the ticket seller arranged change for prices such seating.
as 2/5½. (Who can even pronounce that amount
these days?)
As would be expected for
For the big releases of the something intended to have very
late 1950s/1960s short term use, the design of
tickets were issued with most pass outs was basic,
special artwork and the although some do show
name of the movie as imaginative graphics. They were
well as the theatre. Such printed in sets with different colours
tickets for movies like South or letters to differentiate between sessions or
Pacific and My Fair Lady days. �
probably still exist in a lot of
homes, possibly attached to s o u v e n i r
programs for the movie. Credits:

Images from the CATHS archive.
Tickets also from the collections of Shane
Moore, Brian Pearson and Gerry Kennedy.

Acknowledgements:
CinemaRecord 52 Padua from the Inside
(Brian Scott).
Picture Palaces and Flea Pits (Simon Brand 1983).
The Picture Palaces of Melbourne (Trevor Walters
As well as tickets, people seem to have retained 2003). Above: A different colour pass out for every day
Pass Outs. Many of these were souvenired and of the week - the numbers presumably indicate
saved. It is unclear whether the movie was so the day of the week and it must be assumed after
bad that the patron didn't return after interval, seven days, they restart again at one.

CINEMARECORD # 96 21