The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1894-05-11
THE FINANCIAL END.
TRIALS OF THE BOX OFFICE MAN AND
THOSE WHO WATCH HIM.

Road Has to Keep His Eyes Open, Says a
Man Who Has Been Through the Mill.
There is something about the wear
and tear of the duties incidental to the
box office that prematurely ages young
man. Stay by him q single day, and
you'll know what it is. When he comes
to the theater in the morning and ar
ranges his tickets in the rack and counts
out his change and the advance sales on
that day, it is with an air of resigna-
tion such as kings and queens used to
wear just before they were carted out
for execution.
There are SO many tickets Of various
kinds and prices prepared for each per-
formance and duly dated and numbered
and marked with big letter or number
for the day of the week. This larger
designation is with the view Of han
ding rapidly. There are drawers con-
tanning the tickets of the following days,
each day by itself, and when an advance
sale is made he puts the money received
for it with the tickets for that day When
the day is over, he puts that tray of
tickets and money in the safe for the
night. The advance money is thus usu-
ally kept Until the day comes around
and then goes into the pile received for
the nights performance.
The popularity of this business is
that everything connected with the box
office is cash. The sales are cash sales,
and if a combination show is in the
house the settlement with the combina-
tiOn treasurer is made in cash at the
close of every performance. Simply put,
therefore, at the close Of the day the
difference between the number of tick
cts on hand in the morning and the
tickets left unsold is represented in the
cash drawer.
AS matter of particular fact, how
ever, there are numerous complications
Incidental to the operation, and the
treasurer of the house and his assistant
the box Office young man before allud-
ed to-become prematurely old and alb
normally smart graphing with them.
On the rural circuits the travelling
manager is obliged to be very wary III
his dealings with the box office man. AS
soon as the theater doors are thrown
open to the public the combination man
ager or treasurer looking after the in
terests of the company playing in the
house makes his appearance and takes
up his stand at the door, where he can
watch both the box office and the ticket
taker. When you enter any tkeater
where combination is playing, you'll
see this wary individual at his post of
duty. He is there on the presumption
that the local people will "do" him if
they can. He knows all the tricks and
wiles of the box office young man and
the doorkeeper and takes nothing for
granted.
He sees that every conner hands in a
ticket of some kind, and that the door
keeper puts that representative of SO
much cash in the padlocked box. The
pasteboard in that tin box represents the
receipts of the house, of which his COM
pany has a certain percentage unless
playing on a certainty. He carries the
key to that box, and if he is fly never
lets the box go out of his sight. There
is another watcher at the gallery door
taking the same precautiOn. Of course
he knows the nice box office young man
wouldn't cheat him-not for the world !
But all the same he is on guard against
possible lapse of conscience.
ION the road" said Billy Keogh,
who has had experience i'll the box Of
flee and as travelling manager and ought
to be pretty we'll up in the tricks of
both, ''the travelling manager goes on
the principle that every box Office is 60
ing to do him up if it can. The first
thing he does is to go to the theater and
get his mail and size up the local
man. And the first thing the local man
does is to get fly and if so it will be
diamond cut diamond. That process
we call 'jollying' begins at once.
1.-The travelling man is always on the
defensive. He can't beat the other man.
All he can do is to prevent the box Office
from beating him. He must be up to
the tricks and as hard as nails. You
know in small towns the local treasurer
gets yearly benefit and the doorkeeper
gets benefit. So these two men will
play travelling companies for the ben.
eft of their friends at every opportunity.
"The collusion between the box Office
and the doorkeeper is perfect. Some
times they are very sensitive about be-
ing watched, and sometimes they pre-
tend to be indignant. The most indig-
nant treasurer / ever met was in a place
where we caught the doorkeeper, who
was ON the landing just above the box
office, sliding tickets down a crack in
the floor into the box Office below.
''Take a popular price house and big
audiences of from 1, 400 to l, 500 people,
and in the rush it is hard to prevent be-
ing done If / can manage to hold
them down to SO or $50 margin, I'm
pretty we'll satisfied. A new pocket reg
lister has come into use that helps keep
run of the admissions You can stand
at the receiver, and with your hand in
your pocket count every person that goes
into the house.
when the ticket seller and the door
keeper are close together, there is the
most danger, for they will communicate
with each other with nod or by signs
or words that the company's represent
ative will not understand. No, 1 don't
think the house itself often profits by
these tricks. 1t is considered rule that
the house is done along with the trav-
cling company, though this is not al