On a busy Saturday afternoon in 1976, people were waiting between double features, eating popcorn and chatting in the lobby of the St. George Theater. We had sold enough tickets to almost fill the center of the ground floor, with the promise of a week when me might actually make — rather than lose — money. Then someone yelled FIRE!
Several hundred people made it to the pavement in under sixty seconds. I can still see the metal stool that the usher had been sitting on, as it flew across the marble foyer and crashed into a glass-paneled door.
There was no fire — it had been a prank. Remarkably, no one was hurt. Our patrons who had fled so quickly looked at each other as they stood out on the pavement, laughed, and clambered back inside. Adrenaline stimulated even more concession stand sales — Coke, fresh buttered popcorn, Jordan Almonds, Charleston Chews. The second feature started, and it was as if nothing had ever happened.
Several hundred people made it to the pavement in under sixty seconds. I can still see the metal stool that the usher had been sitting on, as it flew across the marble foyer and crashed into a glass-paneled door.
There was no fire — it had been a prank. Remarkably, no one was hurt. Our patrons who had fled so quickly looked at each other as they stood out on the pavement, laughed, and clambered back inside. Adrenaline stimulated even more concession stand sales — Coke, fresh buttered popcorn, Jordan Almonds, Charleston Chews. The second feature started, and it was as if nothing had ever happened.
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