The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1881-12-16
A GROWING NUISANCE.


How Theatrical Managers and Railway
Lines are Plundered by the Army of
Dead-Heads--A Plumbe, Who "Gets in
His Work"
New YORK, December 12,-Pcoplc like
theatrical managers and railroad men, who
have privileges to give away, complain that
dead-heads were never so numerous and
persistent as to-day. A prominent theatre
proprietor told the Times correspondent
yesterday that fully one-scventh OF the at
tendance at the New York theatres repre-
scented no money. 1t is estimated that
nearly 100000 tickets of admission are
taken mp monthly ut the doors
of the 25 theaters Of this city. The
vast army of dead-heads therefore receives
about 100000 free tickets every month,
which is an enormously expensive tax upon
the theatre men. 1t may surprise some
people TO know that the great majority @i
dead-heads are people who are not able to
render the slightest return for their free
tickets Dead-headism IS discouraged by
the respectable class of newspaper men.
As a rule, the only man in the newspaper
offices who controls theatre tickets Is the
dramatic critic, and he generally receives
only two and very rarely four tickets for
performance. The employe who, asked
for theatre tickets on the strength of his
connection with one of the leading
papers here would be discharged as soon
as he was found out, Men who are 'compe-
tent to hold regular positions on tno scat
dailies have to he men of some character
and stamina. They are not naturally dead
beats, neither do they follow journalism Tor
its alleged perquisites. They have nothing
IN common with q very large class ofso-
&C lied newspaper men, whose only claim
10 the name is that they write u weekly let
ter to some weekly paper in the provinces,
or who in some mysterious manner
have obtained the cntree to the
press club rooms. Newspaper men OF
the same ilk are the people who run insane
and perfectly useless periodicals, which
have no circulation to speak OF, nor ralson
d'ctre ofany sort except to gull advertisers
and give few irresponsible people chance
to live by Matchmaking and sponging. OF
course there are trade papers and other pub
LEGATIONS which serve important interests,
but there are so-caled trade papers and
other press products innumerablc thatsarc
backed with no brains WELD no influence
and serve no good purpose, and couldn't
exist were it not for the astonishing inabil.
ity of many people to tell Il journalistic
fraud when they see one Journalists OF
this sort put few fulsome lines about some
theatrical enterprise in their insignificant
sheet, and think they have claim ever
more upon the manager for free seats.
Journalistic dead-beats compose hardly
more than corporal's guard of the grand
army of dead-heads. know OF a plumber
in Brooklyn who has charge of the plumb
ing and gas fixtures in every important
place of amusement in the town. The box
offices honor his order for seats, and he
makes regular practice of claiming two
seats for every performance. He treats his
friends literally, and helps some forty peo-
pie every week to witness Il free show The
most prolific supply of 0cad-headS comes
from the practice of paying people
in tickets for the privilege of putting
Autographs in their windows, or bill
boards in front of their premises.
Four or five tickets month are given for
each billboard privilege. The New York
theatres support 5000 bi!l-boards in tins
city and 900 more in Brooklyn and ,ler-
sey City, and it takes from 5000 to $1,000
tickets month to support the bill-hoards, |
and nearly as much more to keep plcnti |
full supply of Autographs in the shop.win- |
dows Then the bill-postcr must have his |
share, the actor wants tickets for his friends |
and .polce'oilicers, politicians, and hotel |
clerks put i'll their claims; all of which help |
tu.SlNc tllc tutdlFeS u crowded NllG prosper |
Gus appearance.
The railroad people say the theory is that |
there is no such thing rs II complimentary |
pass. lfthcy grant II pass they say it Is |
in consideration of some service or favor
done in the past or expected in the future |
The practice of giving half-farc tickets to |
clcrgymcn has been very generally dscon-
tinued. 1t was found while ago that |
some persons were using their hall-iarc
tickets in their secular capacity as agents
Tor sewing machines and other mcrchan-
disc, Then il was found also that thry
would lend their tickets to wordly-mindcd |
and unregenerate persons, and most
of the railroads concluded to give the
cloth no special privileges The passenger
agents here say tina. most Of the applica-
tons for passes come from people who live
III the West, and that their Western agents
have their hands full in answering such de-
mnuds. The misuse of railroad passes is a
subject that has boen pretty well Ventilated,
and the readers. of the Times are undoubt.
cdly familiar with the nature OF the
black list Theatrical advance agents
usually travel on passes in consideration of |
the patronage which they control.