Signal-Copiahan. (Hazlehurst, Copiah County, Miss.) 1885-1888, 1886-10-21

underwent the most extraordinary dis
comforts 20 secure complimentary
seats on u first night. travelling and
toiling and impcrtuning. while there
were plenty of tickets to be had ut tho
regular price.
There is but one way of explaining
this mania The first nighters at u
New York theater are in sense re.
garlcd rs the jury who gives the yer-
diet to the country on the play. Tho
press is largely represented on such
occasions, and there are always out-of-
town managers and influential town
people on the list whose opinion and
favor are worth having. 10 be includ-
cd among these invited guests tickles
a shallow pride. 1t is customary for
tho thcatcrs to send two seats to each
one of the newspapers for first night
performances. This makes list of
from fifty to sixty seats. l have fro
qucntly been offered rs high rs S25 for
my two seats on first night, when
they could be bought at the box office
for 50. l have somewhere innumcra-
BILE letters (from men and women, 9th
crwisc independently, gathered in an
experience of over twenty years, beg
ging the use OF my seats on first
night.
And here let me give little person.
al experience concerning these first
night seats. In all the "iirst.class"
uptown thcatcrs the seats allotted TO
the press on first nights are the same
from year to year; thus, for example. |
have occupied X l and 5 in the parquet
at what is now the Star Theater for iif.
teen years, and know exactly on Il
first night what papers are reprcsont-
ed and who represents them by look
ing at the proper seats. 1t is GUS
tomary for the theatcr TO send the
tickets for this performance. but
the dramatic critic pays very little at.
tcntion To them. FOR he has the cntrce
Of the house, and knows just where his
seats are. 1t very often happens that
these tickets were stolen in transitn
and sold, the unsuspecting victims be-
lieving that the possession OF the ticket
secures the seat. But the dramatic
critic only has TO go to the ,hcater
ut night TO discover the thief or the r.
ccivcr, and he is invariably invited out
or pulled out.
There is one side of the dead-head
system that has never been written
about, and that is the dramatic editor :
side. suppose he has more cause to
hate and despisc il than anybody else.
for II is the curse of his life. There
never was man dcputcd 10 take
charge of the amusement column of Il
daily paper who did not very soon find
out that he was the slave of tickets
4 general notion prevails that he car
rics in his pocket constantly tickets for
all the thcatcrS. and that his special
privilege in life is to write orders for
boxes and complimcntarics.
On some newspapers he is expected
TO supply the cditOr-in-chief with pri-
va,c boxes at half IN hours notice.
and keep the staff in amuscnicnts The
business department OF some Of these
papers do not hesitate to ask him to
Get seats for their best advertisers. IL
he wishes TO preserve any thing like an
Independent spirit in his criticisms
il is impossible. and believe that
this iniquitous dcad-head business
has done more than any thing else To
Kill the fearlessncSs and impartiality
OF current dramatic and musical
reviews. | was shown not long ago
in one of our thcatcrs the requests
coming through the dramatic editor
of daily paper for twenty-eight seats
in three days. The managers are pro-
verbally generous in their favors to
the press, but il is with the expectation
of favors in return. Matters are not
so bad in the newspaper offices as they
were some years ago. When l took
charge of the amusement department
of the World under Mr.. Pulitzer nc
adopted the course of never going to a
theater without paying for ii. don't
think he went very often, for he was
too busy man. but when he did he
gave his check for box and always
refused to accept il as favor, and al
my suggestion he put n printed order
over my desk notifying every body in
the establishment that / was posi-
lively forbidden to write orders or sup.
ply tickets. This cleared the atn.cs.
pherc good deal. 1t was very differ.
ent under the old regime Of the World,
when Mr.. Hurlbert and every body un-
der him had certain pride in thei'
dead-head capacities.
scarcely hope that the systom will
ever be entirely eradicated. The dead.
head. like the ticket speculator, will
continue to defy ordinance and good
taste, and together they will go down
to future generations bound by a com
mon iniquity.-Nym Crinkie. IN N. y.
| World.
Ashamed OF r,,S rdme.
"See that fellow standing over
there?" said citizen OF Little Rock.