The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1905-03-16
BOX OFFICE TRICKS,
THE BERTH OF IHEATER TICKET
SELLER ls NOT A slNEcuRE.
Why the Man Who Sits Behind the
Wicket Must De . Good Judge Of
Human NatuFe-The Art Of "press.
fngO q Lixht House,

To the average theatcr goer the mar
who sits behind the wicket in the boz
Office and sells tickets seems to have
one Of the sinecures of earth. True. ht
has to answer many fool questions ant
deal with many fool persons who are
: often ugly because others with more
foresight have picktI up carly all the
good seats. lie has to handle diplo
: marically the woman who wants dollar
, seats for q, ccnts and with the othel
fellow who wants first row, center,
after the play las begun and that las
Lecn sold far 4 week ahead. But all
:.csc Thugs seelI but Lis share Of the
,uiuor ills of Garth. Outside of them
apparently his job, is what is generally
known as Il SNAP"
l;dt the man in the box office has
oil..r things 10 do besides sell tickets
True. that is where he comes IN con-
TACT with thr general public. and that
is IL that is usually thought about his
duties. But at the same time he Is
serving the public he IS working for
two MASTERS behind the scenes. the
proprietor Of the house and the mana
ger OF the attraction. aud he must
serve them equally, Willie their inter
e..s sometimes conflict sharply. Fur
th-rmorc. lie must serve them as
against the public if need there be. AMI
I: ..:ecps him hustling to hold his job
to do it too.
.hc man behind the wicket is good
man II he can make you buy seat
tl..t costs you more than you intended
to invest to see that particular SHOW
ell attractions in playhouse are
"s.,cws" in the parlance. be they opera,
cs;ledy or vaudeville. Now. most men
think they know what they are going
to get when they visit theater. and
they especially have the price fixed in
their minds. Perhaps. psycholosically
speaking. they are stronger minded
than the house treasurer. Then they
do get what they want. and he never
questions 1t. 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. clever ticket man
can easily get the extra price out Of
them for a higher selling seat.
How does he 90 It? Largely by the
power Of suggestion. He implies that
you want 1t. for instance, when you go
up. In other words. lie puts the Ques-
tion as to what priced seat by asking
you about the higher ones before lie
mentions the lower ones, and when he
does refer 10 the latter. ut your sugges-
ton. he does 1t 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. IL 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 tie mob from tie line. and
the chances are 10 to that you will
take the cue. involuntarily. and pay q
quarter more. when you had no in.en-
ton Of doing so when you approached
the clever man in the box.
That is one way. 1t doesn't require
any falsehood. 1t does require a 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 crs-
toners and act accordingly.
There is great gain in time in sell.
ing without a chart. A man will then
step up and ask for good seat"
about certain place. Running
through his lists. the seller finds him
something very near there. and he Is
satisfied. That one man is finished IN
q few seconds. 1t would take minutes
II the sheets were there. Time is Inn
portant when the orchestra Is playin:
and the curtain about to 60 up.
Still further. the absence Of a chart
enables the seller to dress" his house.
provided the sale Is light. and to keep
out singles" II it is heavy. Singles"
nre seats left alone when the adjoining
pairs have been selected from a chart
'Singles" are hard to sell because very
few persons attend n theater alone. Al
most all seats are sold in pairs. A
treasurer with n bunch of singles" on
his hands. even with house threaten
Ing to sell out. Is up against It." for
often be will lose sales that would
have meant capacity but for the fact
that he cannot place couple In ad-
Joining seats. though he may have sev-
crIl odd ones left.
Dressing house Is the avoidance
Of this condition In one sense. but 1t
applies to light houses generally. When
a show IA not doing well it is up to the
box Office to make the house look full
even though 1t be only partly solid.
He does this by scattering the crowd.
Instead Of selling 4 section solid and
leaving adjoining sections vacant he
sells few here. few there. and thus
the empty spaces are not concentrated.
Men usually dress house from the
center out. They will sell 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 be va
cant except in heavy house anyhow
and do not notice them 50 soon. He
knows his house like book. and he
knows early In the day whether or not
he will have crowd. Hence he acts