The daily sentinel., 1906-06-20
THE WOMAN THEATREGoER

IhEATREGOER.
ne cablegrams telling of the mon.
SseI neneht Tor Ellen Terry cast an
tiIttsIesting sidelight on theatre con-
Gielous g,-s OF London. says the New York
evening Post Many of these wonid
ne lntolerable 10 Americans. and tbey
aIe largely the product Of the English
women theatregoers. . '''''
regular Attendants at the Rririsb
lneatres are for the greauer mar,
women. The theatres are usnauv
very small compared with the Ameri.
eah playhouses. There are the stalls
Whleh occupy one-half of the lower
noor, our parquet. These seats cost
len and six, S2.G0; the extra six.
pence, which seems so absurd to ada
70 the gold ten shilling piece. makes
II haf guinea. Back of these few
rows OF stalls comes the pit. usually
Iohg benches without any dicision
Inns costs half crown. or 60 cents
lhe dress circle analogous to our hal.
cohy' has stall seats at ten and six
with the rear ones slightly cheaper
me balcony is above that. with seats
AZ hNe shillings. while the gallery
SUN higher, costs two shillings. These
seats are simply tiers without backs.
and so narrow that there is no place
ioI the sitter's feet save on the seat
below. ''
The pit and the gallery are the
places usually filled with women
Neither of these have reserved
seats. and il is this which leads to the
formation Of the queque of pittites. as
they are known. In America we have
occasionally, when a famous cast is
announced or when the season tickets
10 the opera are on sale. a long line
oil people, who wait for hours: but
in London, every day in the year be.
tore the doors of theatres, music halls
or concert halls. a queque stands in
lines OF two abreast, often a block
long, from to Z and on matinee
DAYS from II to 1 o'clock. Nine
tenths Of these weary walters are
women, well dressed. refined women.
Tor it is the high class West End
theatres that this practice fiourishes
in its extreme. Nearly every one has
a newspaper or a book which she
reads, holding an umbrella if it is.
raining. These lines before the the
ater doors, of course are a standing
advertisement. Of the same order as
the despised sandwich man. After
entering the theatre there is usually
wait of an hour and half to two
hours while the management hang
out huge signs: Pitt Full, Gallery
Full'' in the hope that 1t may lead to
Stalls Full" House Full" in regu-
lar progression.
The practice of hiring messenger
boys TO hold place until the doors
opened. grew to such proportions and
was so palpable a cruelty that public
protests have been made against the
practice. Some restriction has been
enforced, notably In the case of the
Terry benefit. when there were hun
dreds Of requests for boys to take
their places In line "a hours before
the doors opened The messenger com
pany reduced the number of boys
available to so and insisted that they
should hold places for only eight
hours. 1t has been strong induce
ment against women that they have
no compunction in subiecting these
children, for such most London mes
sengers are. for hours of deadly ia.
tigue. The added cost of messengers
would probably pay for reserved
seat. but the confirmed petite Will
have none of them. Upon being re-
monstrated with by newspapers try
ing to end the system, the average
woman seems to take the greatest
pride in the number of hours she has
spent before the doors of theatres.
quite ignoring the hours of wasted
time and the fatigue, often resulting
in severe illness from exposure.
One hardened petite. who was
comfortably seated on a camp chair
doing fancy work at O'Clock in the
morning on the edge of the pave
ment in 81. Martins Lane. was quite
indignant at the suggestion that all
seats of a theatre should be resery-
ed.
"Why half the time don't care
in the least for the play when ! do
get inside she said. but | have
been going the first nights for years
and have many old friends and ac- !
qualntances that | should never see
except at the pit door. In fact, II
don't know them in any other way |
| keep n book which shows all the
plays have attended the first nights.
and how many hours | waited for the
doors. what number | was in the line.
No end of the regulars have these rec
ords and we compare notes. ! do not
often try for the head fthe queque.
though | know one lady who has
been at the head of the line seventy
times. We are the ones that the sue
cess of the play depends upon, let
me tell you that The only time |
ever tried for first position was for
Miss Terry's first night in Alice Sit
by the Fire. | went at 9 O'Clock In
the morning but there were 25 be
fore me. Miss Terry was lovely; she
sent out tea for us. What do you
think of that? No we Will not have
the pit given up"
It is true Miss Terry sent out tea
TO the queque But as she ruefully
said. What can one do-with hum
dred women sitting on your doorstep
az IL were for ten hours, presumab-