The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1894-06-20
THE FINANCIAL END.
TRIALS or THE BOX OFFICE MAN AND
THOSE WHO WATCH HIM.

Man Who Has 1scen Through tho MIL
There Is something about the wear
and tear Of tho duties incidental to the
box office that prematuroly ages young
man. Stay by him u single day, and
you'll know what it Is When he comes
to the theater in the morning and ar
ranges his tickets In tho rack and counts
out his change and tho advance sales on
that day, it is with an air Of resignn-
ton such as kings and queens used to
wear just before they were carried out
for execution.
There arc 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 tho day Of the week. This larger
designation is with the view Of han
ding rapidly. There are drawers con-
tanning the tickets of tho following days,
each day by itsolf, and when an advance
sale is made he puts tho 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 usn-
ally kept until the day comes around
and then goes into the pile received for
the nights performance
The peculiarly of this business Is
that everything connected with the box
Office 10 cash. Tho sales are cash sales,
0nd If combination show Is in the
house the settlement With tho combine
ton treasurer is made In cash at the
close Of every performance Simply put,
therefore, at the close of the day the
difference between tho number of tick
cts on hand in the morning and the
tickets left unsold is represented in the
cash drawer.
AS matter of particular fsct how.
ever, there are numerous complications
Incidental to the operation, and the
treasurer Of the house and his assistant
tho box office young man before allud-
cd to-become prematurely old and alb
normally smart graphing with them.
On the rural circuits the travelling
manager Is Obliged to be very wary in
his dealings with the box office man. AS
soon as the theater doors arc thrown
open to the public the combination man.
agcr or treasurer looking after the In
terests OF the company playing In the
house makes his appearance and takes
up his stand ct the door. where he can
watch both the box Office and tho ticket
taker. When you enter any theater
where Il combination is playing, you'll
sec this wary individual at his post OF
duty. He is there on tho presumption
that the local people will "do'' him If
they can He knows all the tricks and
wiles Of tho box office young man and
the doorkeeper and takes nothing for
granted
He sees that every conner hands In q
ticket of some kind, and that the door
keeper puts TINT 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 u certain percentage unless
playing on q certainty. He carries tho
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 hin-not for tho world
But all the same he is Oh guard against
possible lapse of conscience
ION the road" said Billy Keogh.
who has had experience In the box Of
fee and as travelling manager and ought
to be pretty we'll up III tho tricks of
both, ''thc travelling manager goes on
the principle that every box office Is go
ing to do him up if it can. The first
thing he does is to go TO tho theater and
get his mail and size up the local
man. And tho first thing the local man
does is to get fly, and if so it will bo
diamond cut diamond That process
we call 'jollying begins at once
"The travelling nun is always OH the
defensive He can't beat the other man.
All he can do is to prevent the box office
from beating him. Ho must be up to
the tricks and as hard as naila You
know in small towns the local treasurer
gets a yearly benefit and tho doorkeeper
gets benefit So these two men will
play travelling companies for the ben
eft of their friends at every opportunity.
"The collision between the box office
and the doorlzecper 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 q place
where we caught the doorkeeper, who
was on the landing just above the box
office, sliding tickets down u crack in
the floor into the box Office below.
"Talle popular price house and big
audiences Of from 1, 400 to /, 500 people,
and in the rush it is hard to prevent be-
ing done If l can manage to hold
them down to $40 or $25 margin, Pm
pretty well satisfied. A new pocket reg
lister has come into use that helps keep
run of the admissions. You can stand