The Greeley tribune., 1905-06-01
BOX OFFICE TRICKS.
Y-E BERTH Of THEATER TICKET
SELLER is NOT A SiNECURS

! wicket Nuht bt u soou
/ Human Nnture-The Art OF "pre>>-
ing" Light House.
To the average theater goer the man
who sits behind the wicket in tie box
, office and sells tickets seems l. nave
| one of the sinecures OF earth. True, he
! has to answer many fool questions aAc
deal with many fool persons WHO are
often ugly because others Will more
foresight have picked up early al! the
good seats. He has to handle d!plo'
matically.t woman who wants dollar
seats for 10 cents and with the other
| fellow who wants first row, center,
| after the play has begun and that has
| been sold for a week ahead. But al!
these things seem but his share OF tie
minor ills of earth. Outside OF them
apparently his job is what is generally
known as a snap
But the man in the box office has
| other things to do besides sell tickets
| True, that is where he comes in con-
tact with the general public, and that
is all that is usually thought about his
serving the public he is working for
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 he must serve them as
against the public if need there be, ana
it keeps him hustling to hold his job
to do il too.
The man behind the wicket is soou
man if he can make you buy 4 seat
that costs you more than you intended
to invest TO see that particular show
| all attractions in a playhouse are
shows in the parlance. be they opera,
comedy or vaudeville. Now, most men
think they know what they are going
| to get when they visit theater, ana
they especially have the price fixed in
their minds. Perhaps, psychologically
| 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
it is an 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 it is rather late and there is some
thing of rush. a clever ticket man
can easily get the extra price out of
them for higher selling seat.
How does he do it: Largely by the
power of suggestion. He implies that
you want it, for instance, when you go
up. In other words. he puts the ques
ton as to what priced seat by asking
you about the higher ones before he
mentions the lower ones, and when he
does refer 20 the latter, at your sugges-
ton. he does it rather apologetically.
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
all the time the line is waiting. those
back of you are scowling, 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 girl is with
you, waiting just outside the rail that
separates the mob from the line. and
the chances are 10 to l that you will
take the cue involuntarily, and pay
tion of doing so when you approached
the clever man in the box.
That is one way. 1t doesn't require
any faisehood. 1t does require 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. He must '.size up" his GUS
toners and act accordingly.
There is Il great gain in time in sell
ing without chart. y man will then
step up and ask for good seat"
about a certain place. Running
through his lists. the seller finds him
something very near there. and he is
satisfied. That one man is finished in
a 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 90 up.
Still further. the absence OF a chart
enables the seller to dress" his house
| provided the sale is light, and to keen
out singles If it is heavy. Singles
are seats left alone when the adjoining
pairs have been selected from a chart.
Singles are hard to sell because very
few persons attend theater alone. AL
most all seats are sold in pairs. A
treasurer with a bunch of singles" on
his hands, even with a house threaten
ing to sell out, is up against it." for
often he will lose sales that would
hSve meant capacity but for the fact
that he cannot place a couple in adj
Joining seats. though he may have sew
eral odd ones left
dressing a house is the avoidance
OF this condition in one sense. but 1t
applies to light houses generally. When
a show is not doing well it is up to the
box office to make the house look full
even though it be only partly solid.