The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-02-08
THE SCRAMBLE For SEATS.
Theater Ticket Spectators and Anti
SPECTATORS IN Collision.

Theater Ticket Spectators and Anti
SPECTATORS IN Collision.
The people who occupy front seats at the
Emma Abbott engagement next week W i'll
not only have paid a round price for them,
but they VIII have worked for them. There
was the biggest kind OF a scramble at Davis
Bros. yesterday morning from long before
daylight until the doors were opened to
secure checks for the first choice of seats
Between seventy-hve and 100 men and
boys had stood on the sidewalk since early
| Wednesday night chattsring and shiverlng
/ with the cold, and some Of them had been
/ there since W edueSQAy morning. TO be first
il the line and 70 get the first checks Half
! a d zen battles had beel fought by the
/ rival factions trying 70 get first ii line, and
| they were on the verge Of a riot when the
police were sent for An officer was sta
toned ct the door, but he was unable to
keep the crowd back.
Both sides, the spectators who were
really not specializing at all. and
who were there to buy only for
people who had given them orders for
seats, and the sO-called anti-specuiators
who were trying TO buy up the house in
| order to give the public the benefi of tick
cts at 10 cents advance on TIE regular price,
insisted that they were entitled to the first
| checks. After an hour or more Of wrang-
| ling, and neither side being willing
10 give way, Davis Bros give out
the first three checks TO the boys
who beyond doubt were first in
| line. The 'anti-speculatOrS" got the next
seven checks and the spectators the
next ten Or twelve. After that the checks
were thrown out by the handful AID the
| crowd scrambled for them. The sale began
at o'clock and ia the first hour all of the
lRe -, no E.I IL
| tie enti g week
| The disorder tha- attended the rush for
seats and the dissatisfaction on the part of
many patrons Of the theater with the check
system has resulted in the doing away with
the system altogether. aud hereafter it
will be first come, first served. The
check system has been in ue for
the past two seasons. Prior to its adoption
| the I'D first come, first served" system pre-
vailed, which required buyers 70 fall into
line upon arrival at the box Office, and re-
main there until the box sheet opened
| This system Occasioued SO much trouble,
and WAS so unsatisfactory that the check
| system was adopted, and was successful
until yesterday, W en- nothing could have
regulated or pacided the crowd short OF
| giving each of the 100 or more men d
| boys check No. l. The check system
was adopted, because the checks be
ing numbered from one up they
regulated the purchaser, and avoided
! the pushing and quarrellng which
| prevailed under the Old system, and it
afforded the opportunity of calling early at
the box office aud after having secured
cnecV return in tins for the ope ling Of the
street, and not force the buyer to remain il
| line on the sidewalk for two or three hours
in the cold or rain. Davis Bros. say that
the plan has been misconstrued, and with
the approval OF Manager Johnson they will
abandon the check system and return to
the first come, first served"
They say that there is hardly a perform
ance for which they are not asked by any
where from dozen to twenty people sey-
| eral days in advance, to mark off from one
to half dozen seats before the sale begins.
1t is, of course, impossible for this to b.
| done in any way Aside from the fact that
| it would not be Just, Manager johnson ha,
instructed the box sheet managers not t.
reserve seats under any circumstance
until the sale opens. As to the
| SPECTATORS, e box sheet managers say
| that they do not countenancs them, and if
any one will suggest a plan by which spscu-
| latIng can be abolished they will confer a
favor. One mans money, they say, is a
| good as another's in such cases, and who
ever has the priority of position has
| perfect right to bay in his turn.
The next leading attraction following the
| Abbott engagement will be "Adonis Dixey.D
on Feb. 49, and the seats for t. a. perform
ance will be aucuoned at an advance upon
the regular price, 50 t at the man with the
most money Will get the first choice.
Front seats for the Abbott eng cement,
which were held by few, sold ye,terday
afternoon as high as $3-an advance of
81 so on the regular price. Fifty cents and
81 advance were paid all the afternoon for
good seats in the dress circle. The "auti-
! specializing" movement, while it caused a
| good deal of trouble, has, so far, done moth
ing toward breaking up the REGULATING.