Balcony Door Secret

August 24, 2008 10:02 PM

Do theater balcony doors have secret unlocking mechanisms?

Back in the 1980's, I went to a theater in Missoula Montana with my friend Mark. We walked up the stairs to the balcony area but we saw the doors were closed and locked. At this point something very strange occurred, so strange in fact that I begin to wonder if it's a false memory.

Mark told me that theater balcony doors often have secret bypass mechanisms, which allow those in the know to open the door without a key. Mark reached up to the top of the door and located what I remember to be a hidden wire, which he pulled and sure enough the door opened. We went inside and started watching the movie. I think the manager later saw us and told us to leave...

Mark was not a Montana native, and would have acquired this information somewhere else.

Is this a common practice, or is my memory on par with alien abduction accounts...?

posted by Tube to technology (2 comments total)

Yeah, I've seen those. Not with wires, but a little hidden sliding plate. After all, in case of an emergency where no one can open the door via the panic bars on the inside, someone on the outside has to be able to open the doors somehow.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 10:22 PM on August 24, 2008

It's just you and me Cool Papa Bell, destined to walk the earth alone with our esoteric knowledge of how to get into the balcony seats without the key...
posted by Tube at 9:37 PM on August 27, 2008