Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-06-05

NCCASIONALLY see selling tickets
~ in the box office al d New York
tl"atci. a man who might today have
been the highly paid manager of "a pros
porous chain of theaters in the middle
west had he hot permitted Crouch 10
seize and possess him on certain I'M
portaut occa sion for him. The fact that
he had no means OF knowing OF how inn
portant the occasion was for hlm has
nothing TO DO with the story. Ills
Crouch on the occasion makes TIE mao
OF 1t.
A rich business man from a city in the
middle west had generated within him
what is known as the theatrical bug.
That is to say, he thought he saw d
chance to make some money by starting
a chain of theaters out in his section OF
the country. He visited New York, head
quarters for that sort of thing, with this
idea in his mind. His first move was
to seek to get hold of the services of a
man familiar with the game. He made
inquiries. The treasurer and assistant
manager of u Broadway theater-the box
Office man who figures mainly in this in
cident-was mentioned to him by several
seasoned managers as a man who knew
the theatrical business inside and out
They recommended him for his probity
and his executive ability. But they gem
erously refrained from saying anything
about the mans occasional Crouch" al
though they knew about it.
The middle westerner with the money
and the theatrical plans Strolled to the
Broadway theater to look his man over
The regular ticket seller happened to be
out for lunch, SO the treasurer and as
sistant Ser-the man the WeStfrner
wanted to size up-waS on duty at the
little window. 1t was an off hour, and
nobody was buying tickets The man
from the west asked to have IL look at
the seat chart, and the man in the box
Off coffee
having tangled him, tossed the glass
covered seat chart before the man from
the west with unnecessary violence. lie
answered reasonable questions ;,rumpiIy.
Men in box offices have good deal to
contend with. it is true, and the man
from the west was aware of the fact,
but this man in the box office was alto
gether too 'grouchy' for any use lie
was rude. rough, petulant in his treat
ment of the man who was standing be
fore the little window solely for the
purpose of sizing him up. The man from
the middle west smiled engagngly. de-
cided that he didn't care for any of the
seats left in the rack and strolled away
1t did not take him more than two days
to light upon the young man he wanted
to help him organize the chain of the
aters in the middle west That young
man now is getting salary of 10000
a year, with perks and the chain of
theaters is remarkably prosperous. Pres
emily he will be getting his percentage
of the profits in addition to his decidedly
salary.
The other man, the one whose Crouch
exhibited itself so inopportunely still is
tickets to all Corners in d box
Office in another Broadway lheater at Il
salary of SO per week.
A CERTAIN happy -go-lucky financier
of renown, whose greatest claim to
fame rests upon his achievement in liter
ally taking an important railroad from
the control of less keen financier
over night as it We're, used to send
4 great many kilograms from the main
rotunda of certain big office building
in the financial district of New York
Both of the big telegraph companies
had Geographic plants in the rotunda.
but this hnancier. matter of habit
stuck to one of them until he had sew
eral 'run-ins.' as he termed the wordv
with the young man in
charge at that Geographic counter.