Bean Poll.

It started several years ago, the committee decided that it would be nice to find out which films on our programme were popular and Muggins was delegated with setting it up - and the concept of the bean pole was born. The instruction sheet was duly printed and laminated, five plastic cups were numbered, and a 500 gm bag of dried beans were purchased.
 
The first film was a children’s film and the thought occurred that dried beans are toxic and so I substituted what I had available, some stainless steel M6 nuts. It caused some amusement at the time but, at least, if a little darling does happen to swallow one, (s)he will  only suffer a mild discomfort at worst and I’ll have to replace the nut. Tonight’s film was Kirk Doulas in “Lust for Life,” a film about the life of Van Gogh in which, ironically, a supporting actor won the Oscar for best actor. Me? I gave it a grudging mark of four, I found that a technical fault causing the music to screech set my nerves on edge while the production style seemed rather dated.
 
The poll has now become a tradition and, if I forget to set it out, there are complaints – which is also a little ironic; in practice, it serves no useful purpose at all other than that it makes our clientele feel that their views are important to us, and it does raise our profile just a little. However, I do collate the results and, if I'm asked can present a little report. What I really need is a crustal ball so that I can predict which films are going to be popular. The best attended film ever was a documentary about the design of a sans serif called "Helvetica." A mind numbing 80 minutes that attracted enthusiasts from all over the Central Lowlands.