Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-08-31
THE YOUTHS WHO USHER.
Some of the Perquisites and Penalties
 They Encounter.

They Encounter.
 Few people do as much work for so small a wage as theater Ushers The bright boys, who bob down the aisle before you with your stubs, bang the seats down to indicate your place, purvey programs and ice wa ter, get stipend usually amounting to 30 cents a week, or a little more than six cents a night. Since they are on duty from about T:30 to Il, that means a little more than cent an hour. When it comes to seating a full house 1t is the hardest and live Hest kind of work, too, for about half an hour, and involves a good deal of responsibility. People don't like to be disturbed after they are seated and to make mistake, if caught by the watchful manager, means a fine of half the weekly wage. That is, if the hustling usher makes three mis- takes out of the thousands he seats ill the six nights of his weeks ser vice, he ends the week 25 cents ''in the hole" for all his hard work. Some times out of a party of five or six the ticket taker in the rush may have torn off the wrong ends of several tickets and the usher must guess where the seats are.
 Some theaters do not pay any mon ey at all, but give barter, which if reckoned in quoted prices, means a considerably larger pay. It is custom ary in these. theatres to give the ush- CT two orchestra circle tickets for one performance each week, and let him off for that night. The usher does not have his choice of the perform ance he may see with his "best girl' in the luxury of a swell chair, but must take the night the management gives him. By judfcious application i'll advance, and making arrangements with the other ushers he may, how ever, exercise some choice i'll the matter, .t.
 The hard work and small pay haa some compensatiOns, however, else the alert lads who follow the occuDa- ton would not spend their time that way. More have good positions in the day time at which they earn good pay for lads of their age. Only bright young men can fill the bill They usher because they like to see the shows. It occupies the evenings and gives entertainment without cosc. The glamor of the theatre attracts them just as it attracted most of the actors on one side of the footlights and most of the audience,-perhaps better say spectators in day of syn dicate drama and gorgeous senic eff fects-on the other side. In the course of several seasons of work, for some fellow 1t is as long as that, 1 the boys pick up marvellous famiH- arty with the stage and amount of in- | terest about it. An old timer can dis cuss stars and shows with all the ap- 1 pearance of wisdom of a long settled dramatic critic. Often the actors call I on them to run errands and do other ! little personal services. So some have a speaking acquaintance with the l stars that many box habitue wouIu envy The usher knows all the peo- pie on the regular circuits and can tell | in an instant if the company is palm ing off an understudy for the adver- tised star and gets an intuitive sense of when the play show is being cut.
 Occasionally the ushers pick up a little money outside their "salarIesr- in tips. Managers strictly forbid I this, and an offense if discovered
 means discharge. Of course, all sorts of occasions arise on which the usher
 can dispense favors. He can some times give more favorable seats after l the performance has proceeded some I WuySs 11C Idh NuALJ c AAS0Sc5C tV l another part of the house, he can be
 a little readier to serve your party with ice water than others. Theatre programs may be a source of special favor. Sometimes, when the house i is large, these desirable little guides 4 to the actors and the play run out and l late corners must do without. But,
 perhaps, the ushers, as a special fav-
 or. can secure them. They used to
 secrete a good sized wad of programs in the inside pockets of their uniform coats for this purpose, and
 dispense them to late coming friends.
 A watchful manager discovered this
 method of graft, however, and had
 the pockets taken out of the uniforms It is more. difficult to conceal a wad
 of programs in the rear pockets of
 a pair of trousers under tight-fitting coat-HartfOrd Times