Sunday Herald (Sydney, NSW : 1949 - 1953), Sunday 26 November 1950, page 4


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Life lis Spartan At Mr. Rank's Charm Sclioolf/or mews only)

MR. J. ARTHUR RANK lias started a new charm school-for cinema managers.

'T'HE only one of its kind in the

world, it is installed in a Gaumont Theatre in North London, where 24 bright young men (all from good schools) are undergo-ing a course on how to woo the customers and keep them happy.

After six months at the school on

a pay of £6 a week, the embryo managers are expected to know all about these precepts:

Make the usherette hold the torch down by her side, never point with your hand nearest the patron, prevent usherettes chattering by placing them well apart, save father's suit from melting ice cream by returning all ices unsold within ten minutes to the refrigera-

tor.

Life is Spartan for the trainees, who live, work and sleep on the premises.

The rules include: No female visitors, no alcohol, no gambling, and lights out at 11 p.m.

A DORMITORY mirror inspects -**? them like a sergeant-major. In huge red letters across the glass it demands: Hair tidy? Shaved? Col-lar clean? Tie neat? Uniform pressed and clean? Hands clean? Boots polished?

Candidates start at the bottom stoking the boilers and work their way up through the window pol-ishing and vacuum cleaning stages.

Said Mr. Rank on opening the school last week: "There are two essentials in this business-good pictures and getting the public into

the theatre."

His booklet, which each trainee gets, goes even further.

"Showmen," it says, "are in love with their job. Showmen are good mixers and always wear a smile when things appear at their worst."

To help trainees smile, their dormitory contains a vast portrait of Mr. Rank's poster for the recent*film, "Woman in Question," showing Australian John Mccal-lum with a month-old beard and a slot machine for aspirins.

The survivors, of course, get £7 .a week as assistant managers.