It’s finally curtains for movie-theater matrons.
The city has officially repealed the last vestige of a municipal job that hasn’t been filled since the Johnson administration.
The matrons — a staple in movie theaters from 1930s to the 1960s — made sure children behaved, ruling with an iron fist as they chased out truants, shushed gigglers, and rushed their young charges into designated sections, usually a back row or aisle seat.
They were clad from head to toe in white — and armed with flashlights and a no-nonsense attitude.
A 1936 city ordinance, repealed in 1995, required that theaters hire matrons. The latest move eliminates a 1943 provision that codified the Department of Health’s examination and licensing of the matrons.
Applicants were asked a series of questions, including: “Are you in good health?” and “Are you addicted to the use of alcohol?”
Applicants could be rejected for a range of health conditions, including if they lacked personal cleanliness, were overweight or underweight, and if they had a marked abdominal hernia, according to a 1936 memo to Mayor Fiorello La Guardia from Health Commissioner John Rice.
Sometimes they became real-life heroes. In September 1936, Manhattan matron Mary McCord staved off a panic among 400 children during a blaze at the Eagle Theatre on Third Avenue.