The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1904-12-28
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DECEMBER 20. 1904.
BOX OFFICE TRICKS.
THE BERTH OLA THEATER TICKET
SELLER IS NOT A StNECURE.

To the average theater gOer the man
who sits behind the wicket in the box
office and sells tickets seems to have
one of the sinecures of earth. True, he
has to answer many fool questions and
deal with many fool persons who are
often ugly because others with more
foresight have picked UP early all tile
good seats. He has to handle dipl0-
matlcally the woman Who wants dollar /
seats for - cents and with the other
fellow who wants first row, center,
after the play has begun and that has
been sold for week ahead But All |
these things seem but his share OF the
minor Ills Of earth. Outside oil them
apparently his job IS what is generally
known rs Il snap
But the man in the box olliee mas
other things to do besides sell tickets
True. that is where he comes III con
tact With the general public, ana that
Is all that Is usually thought about MS
duties But ut the same time lie Is
serving the public he Is working Tor
two masters behind the scenes, the
proprietor of the house and the mana
ger of the attraction, and he must
serve them equally, while their inter
ests sometimes conflict sharply. FUR
thermore, lie must serve them rs
against the public If need there be, una
1t keeps him hustling to hold his Job
to do 1t too.
The man behind the wicket IS II good
mon If he ean make you buy seat
that costs You more thnn YOU intended
TO invest to see that particular SHOW
all attractions in playhouse are
"sboWs" In the parlanCe be they opera,
comedy or vaudeville. Now most men
think they know what they are going
to get when they visit II theater, ana
they especially have the price fixed In
their minds. Perhaps. psychologlcally
speaking. they ARE stronger minded
than the house treasurer. Then they
do get what they want, and he never
questions IT, But the average man is
not The treasurer is trained in Ticket
selling 1t Is his daily routine, while
1t Is IN occasional act ON the mans
part. Hence he Is fortified for the pub
lie. and the latter Is not for him, and
so when the people step up, especially
If 1t IL rather late and there is some
thing of Il rush, Il clever ticket man
enn easily get the extra price out of
them for a higher selling seat.
How does he do Il? Largely by the
power of suggestion. He implies that
you want 1t, for instance. when YOU 20
up. In other words. he puts the ques.
ton MS to whit priced seat by asking
you about the higher ones before he
mentions the lower ones, and when he
does refer TO the latter, ut your sugges-
ton, he does it rather alphabetically.
He has the higher rate tickets In his
hand. and If you do not take them he
reaches to the rack for the others. and
NIL the time the line Is waiting, those
-hack-pf you are seowllng, If not max
Ing remarks. and every one within ear
shot of the window knows that you
have refused the higher seats for the
lower priced ones. This is embarrass
Ing Especially is it so If IL girl is with
you, waiting Just outside the rail- that
separates the mob from the line, and
the chances are 10 to 1 that you will
take the cue, lnvoluntnrily. and pay II
quarter more, when you had no inten-
ton of doing SO when you approached
the clever man In the box.
That Is one way. 1t doesn't require
any falsehood Ii does require Il good
knowledge of human nature Some men
wouldn't "stand for" that. They would
be offended. and it might hurt the
house That is for the treasurer to
beware. lie must size up" his Gus
toners and act accordingly.
There is a great gain In time in sell
Ing without chart. \ man Will then
step up and ask for good seat"
about certain place. Ruuning
through his lists, the seller finds him
something very near there. and he Is
satisfied That one man Is finished In
II few seconds. 1t would take minutes
II the sheets We're there. Time Is i'm
portant when the orchestra Is playing
and the curtain about to go up.
Still further. the absence of chart
enables the seller to dress" his house.
provided the sale is light, ana to keep
out shingles" II 1t is heavy Singles
are seats left alone when the adjoining
pairs have been selected from chart
Shingles are hard to sell because very
few persons attend theater alone Al
most all seats are sold in pairs. \
treasurer with bunch of singles on
his hands. even with house threaten
ing 10 sell ont. is up against it," for
often he will lose sales that would
have meant capacity but for the fact
TINT he cannot place Il couple In ad-
Joining seats, though he may have sey-
eral odd ones left.
Dressing" a house Is the avoidance
OF this condition in one sense. but 1t
applies 10 light houses generally. When
show is not doing We'll II is up TO the
box office to make the house look full
even though ii he only partly solid.
He does this 10y scattering the crowd.
Instead of selling Il section solid and
leaving adjoining sections vacant he
sells few here. Il few there, and thus
the empty spaces are not concentrated.
Men usually dress Il house from the
center out. They will sell Il good part
of the center section. scattering, and
then will work out on the left and
right. This is because seats on the eX-
treme edge of the house are not SO
good. and people expect them to oe va
cant except in Il heavy house anyhow
and do not notice them 50 soon. lie
knows his house like a book. and he
knows early in the day whether or not
he will have crowd. Hence he acts
accordingly. Kansas city Journal
Si-a of the Gambler