In Reply to: Bronx movie matrons in white uniforms 1950s posted by Gina on Sunday, February 17th 2008:

The time... Saturday, 1950. The place...The Luxor Theater on 170th St. The town...Bronx 56, NY. There she was. The warden/matron/nurse Ratchet. White dress, white shoes, white hair, black heart. Hated kids, hated movies, hated her apartment, hated her job, hated bluebirds. Carried a 12 pound flashlight/nightstick. Drooled. Smelled. Used guerilla tactics in the dark.

But we kids had our moves also! On the right side of theater, down front near the screen, was a gigantic door. I guess it was for emergencies like if someone would yell "FIRE" in a crowded theater - whether there was one or not. While one kid would purchase a ticket at the box office, his eleven pals would wait outside this door in the alley. After the "Inside" kid would see the matron harassing some innocent munchkin in the back row for laughing too loud at the improper time in a cartoon, he'd make a mad dash for the emergency door and fling it open! Along with a blazing flood of daylight crashing into the theater's darkness would run the waiting mass of criminal trespassers.

Sure, the matron would catch one or two - but with those odds of success, the casualties were expendable.

Rumor has it that the Luxor matron moved to Chicago and married a guy named Rodham. They had a daughter.