The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-01-09
GREAT RUSH FOR SEATS TICKETS WERE ALL SOLD IN
 TWO HOURS. Viola Allen Proves Drawing Card at Montgomery Theatre for Fri
 day Night-Many are
 Disappointed.

In just two hours and thirty minutes | from the tims the box office was opene 1. l for the sale of seats for Friday night, | every seat had been sold. The attraction | Is Viola Allen, In "In the Palace of the King
 Whether it is Miss Aliens famous beauty or Mir Crawfords famous novel, | a combination that is extremely difficult for enc to lose out on-a fearful crush at the box office of the Montgomery Theatre testified unmistakably how eager Montgomerians were to see the combina- tion. A long line of frantic men strug- glff1g to be next at the coveted win dow, five policemen trying to get things
 into something like order, mashed m nats ss
 and collars and coats almost tom om-- these were few Of .he incidents in the
 sale yesterday morning.
 The sale opened at 9 o'clock. but as
 early as o'clock in the morning there
 was line of men waiting patiently for
 the doors to open. It was pretty chilly
 in the early January morning, but these
 men did not seem to think Of that fact-
 they wanted to see Viola Allen and choice
 seats they were going to have no matter
 how many unpleasant things stood in the
 way of the triumphant march to the box
 office. The upper or peanut gallery
 was not included in yesterdays sale. A
 portion of this gallery may be reserved
 
 have been times, however. when this gallery was crowded with the most aris- tocratic white people of Montgomery. a notable instance being the combination of Booth and Barret in '"The Moor of Venice years ago. At the Mansfield, Jefferson and other big sales in the last few years ten tickets were sold to one person. but yesterday only six tickets could be bought by an individual. The wisdom of this is obvious in the light of the speculation in tickets in the past. The Messrs. >Hirscher and Brother de- serve great credit for the smooth. bus | iness-llke manner with which they con
 ducted yesterdays remarkable sale of seats
 The sale was arranged at the box office of the theatre instead of the theatre of- the great crowd of ticket buyers could enter the theatre building from North | Perry Street, purchase tickets and pass out by way of the Monroe Street exit. A. B. Hirscher, one of the managers Of | the theatre, said that the majority of | persons who came to the box office dur l ing the remarkable sale bought the limit
 six tickets He said he ,saso was d of the he
 punches for parties and not for specula- tive purposes. If there had been specu-
 lation on the tickets MT. Hirscher said
 he had not heard of it.
 in Montgomery and vicinity who will be disappointed in their desire to see Miss Allen in her new play. MT. Hirscher yeS- terday afternoon displayed large batch of letters and telegrams he had received from out-of-town customers who wanted tickets. Many of them were accompanied by drafts, checks and many orders. Some of these letters and telegrams were received by Hirscher Brothers Tuesday, but they were not considered until after the sale yesterday morning and no tick cts were left.
 We are compelled to follow the rule of giving Montgomery patrons the pref | erence." aid Mir. Hrscher in an inter- view. While we regret that our out-of- | town customers could not be accommo- ders until our regular sale was over. | Then there were no seats to be had. | A gentleman from Selma appeared at 1 the box office soon after the sale with a commission to purchase tickets for a party of twenty-five persons, but he could not get seat. sell more than fifty tickets of admis- sion for standing room on the lower | floor of the theatre and twenty-five standing room tickets for the gallery. We are compelled to limit standing protect patrons who have purchased seate. They have secured their seats | and they are entitled to all the comfort 1 we can give them"
 | If the temperature does not fall Fri
 day, 1t is probable that the space occu- pied by the stoves on the lower floor of
 the theatre will be used for seats and in | this case about thirty seats will be avail- | able. MT. Hirscher said he could not make any announcement concerning those seats or any other additional arrange
 ment until Ee has conference with the pany who will reach Montgomery Friday morning.