Evening star., 1901-02-16

a district that is delivered almost in mass
over to Tammany at each election, where
fore he sits upon his own little rock Of
Gibraltar and snaps his fingers derisively.
Ticket Spectators.
Happy little old Washington where the
sardonic theater speculator fiourisheth not,
nor even abidethi
But even for the porpoise-blooded indi-
vidual who stands in front of most New
York theaters with a lot of paper money
sticking lengthwise through his fingers, and
whole chart filed with the numbers of
choice seats he possesses down near the
orchestra musicians-even for this cal1ous
nuisance there is word or so to be said.
The fellow who sells the seats at large
advance on the scale of prices in front of
the New York theater is usually regarded
with glares that would mean death on
dark night, and under proper auspices, by
the 1o!ks who are compelled to buy seats
from him or turn around and go home
again-yet he is not all to blame. The
theaters themselves, it seems, are deliber-
ately and Sordidly culpable In this matter
or ticket speculation To illustrate:
On Sunday night last there was a pretty
fa1r vaudeville show at one of the leading
Broadway theaters of this sort. The ad
vertisements in the Sunday papers for this
performance stated that all the seats in
the house would be sold at so cents-"no
higher the ads. expressly stated. Now,
there are quite few thousands of people
IN TINS town who find Sunday a dull day,
and who are ready to violate the Sabbath
oy taxing in a show on Sunday night.
A Gigantic Gouge.
Several Of these thousands repaired to
the aforementioned Broadway theater on
sunday night last, and walked themselves
up 10 the box office to purchase 50-cent
tickets. The very first of these-those who
endeavored to get seats as early as
CLOCK IN evening-were coolly Informed
by the frosty chap in the box office that
there wasn't a single seat left in the house
Meanwhile, the spectators took up their
posts outside the theater as early as 6:3O in
the evening. Along toward o'clock the
big crowd came along, and all of them
tried TO get seats at the box office. All of
them We're turned down as fast as they
showed up-"Not a seat left said the
arctic youth behind the little window.
But the spectators, out in front, about
thirty or forty of them, were yelling out:
GOOD seats in the orchestra, 81 80 and
The folks who had started down town for
an evenings amusement at so cents didn't
want to turn back-most of them were
young chaps, with their best girls along,
and 1t wouldn't have done at all for them
to nave turned back, much as they felt
themselves put upon-and so they all, or
nearly all, dug up $150 and 50 each for
their seats to witness a performance that
mad been expressly advertised to cost 80
antS-no higher
A man who felt that 1t would be worth
While, even at some pains, to find out just
Where the responsibility In this affair lay,
contrived to collar one of the speculators,
who had sold out and was therefore good
natured, after the show had begun, and
the man who wanted to find out said this
to the Speculator:
Look here it's a wonder Won people
wouldn't be satisfied with about 100 per
cent profit, instead of being hogs in the
game Why couldn't you have sold those
an re hot rl,t 4
90 cents-why couldn't you have let the
public have 'em for a dollar, say, and've
saved hard feelings?'
All Stand in Together.
THAT replied the speeulator, 'is where
you and almost all the rest of the popula-
ton of New York are camping out That's
nice tender idyll of yours about our buy
ing those seats for 30 cents at the box Of
flee, but it wasn't that way In practice
We paid One-dolar note for every seat
that we sold out in front tonight. How did
we have to? Well, I'll tell you. 1t was the
theater folks who put up the con game.
When they decided to give this Sunday
show and to advertise il at 80 cents to at
tract the-er-wel, suckers-they simply
turned over every seat in the house to the
fellows who sell theater seats in the lob
bies of the hotels. These hotel dealers paid
20 cents each for the seats. They sold them
to us almost soon as they got hold of
them for a dollar. Thus we We're enabled
to sell them at any old figure we chose
because the people wanted to amuse them
selves and see the show. But you want to
distinctly understand, as you can very we'll
see. that we were not originally to blame
in the matter. The theater managers were
the underhand crowd at the outset They
knew perfectly well when they advertised
the show at 80 cents that there wouldn't
be a single individual admitted to the per-
formance at that figure. However. they
wished to preserve themselves from the ac-
cusation of having sold the seats direct to
the spectators. and at the same time they
wanted to make a quarter per seat, and
SO they sold the whole house out to the
middemen who are the hotel sharps
don't know myself, as you say, where the
public who have to buy the seats, break
In under an arrangement like this-the pub
lie are bound to get the worst of it under
all and any circums tanceS-but the public
can't shake their CORY locks at us. We are
merely the accomplices, SO to speak, Of
the managers of the theaters."
Gets n Regular Salary.
The same frank speculator said that at
a famous funny stock house on Broadway,
where 1t is notorious that seats can never
be purchased at the regular 81 rate, even
If the intended purchaser asks for them
a month in advance-at this house, the
specuator said, the lone, lorn speculator
who stands outside and sells the only pur-
chasable seats at So each is paid a weekly |
salary of s25 by the management By sell |
ing the seats at So he contributes never less |
than 81, 600 to the Golfers of the manage |
ment, for the house is crowded every |
night
York theatrical managers to stamp out the |
'speculator evil" may reasonably be ac- |
cepted with enough salt to season pot |
roast for boarding house. c. L. c.