3.9.4 How To Secure Attention

Where attention has to be secured out of disorder we are justified in making use of stimuli that shock pupils into attention.

One of the best illustrations of this sort of procedure was the method used in the David Belasco theatre in New York to get audiences quiet for the opening of the performances. Mr. Belasco was convinced that the orchestra had become a mere accompaniment to the clatter and noise of the audience and so he did not trust to that means to secure order.

In fact, he discarded the orchestra idea. At the appointed hour for the curtain to rise, his theatre became suddenly dark.

So dark that the blackness was startling. Immediately upon the silence that attended the shock the soft chiming of bells became audible which led the audience to strain in an attempt to catch fully the effect of the chime.

At that point the curtains were drawn and the first lines of the play fell upon the ears of a perfectly quiet audience.

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