Oh those continuous performances!

Hi Julia here!   If you are really old you will remember the delights of continuous performances at the cinema.   One could go in at any time  - and if the movie was really popular one sometimes had to wait in a queue until someone came out or if the performance actually finished.   Of course, this was a good excuse to go in in the dark and to blazes with the movie, hope for back row seats and enjoy a good snog.    Some cinemas obliged with actual double seats - presumably for that very purpose - but if our boy friend had enough money to treat us to an ice cream we soon learned not to choose a choc-ice since all too easily, chocolate  paw marks on the openings of our blouses did not go down well with our mothers.  More generally, we would see what remained of the movie that was going on when we went in, and then eventually, much later, it would be 'Oh this is where we came in' and we'd leave.   But the real bonus of continuous performances were we could stay there and see any really special movie round for the second time - without paying any more.   This was sheer heaven if it was some lovely romantic thing or what have you.   My friends and I were either dancers or we all belonged  to the local  Shakespeare Society  So when Laurence Olivier's Hamlet was showing we would stay swooning and seeing it through  twice. - and on more than one occasion.   Of course, we dancers were more than just inspired by the wonderful  Moira Shearer in  The Red Shoes where even now, with my digital DVD, I can recite the script. Once when were in the South of France I suddenly ask Derek to stop the car.   "That's where Moira Shearer in her stunning Jaques Fath peacock green evening gown, went up the steps to learn that she was getting the ballerina role in The Red Shoes".   Oh yes! my generation made sure we had a lot of fun too -  in  all sorts of ways!