El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-01-31
Theaters AremLeague With
Spectators to Dispose
of the Best Seats.
p EW YORK, Jan. 81 was asked
j tndar Nv n friend Mhathar il is


\ true. as frequently asserted,
that every theater in New York turns
its best seats over to ticket spectators
and makes an extra profit by so do
5nE.
Despite my reluctance to criticise the
playhOuses Of the city, now so admir-
ably managed in most regards, I was
forced to reply that the charge is
strictly true of all the larger, or
broadway houses
And the reason the theaters do it is
much the same reason as that We give
for over tipping the waiter Because
everybody else does"
If some clever man could form
league bound not to deal through
agencies and bring all the theatrical
companies into it, every last legitimate
manager would call him blessed. The
men who are in the box offices and
those, who control the men handing
out tickets want to play the game
fairly. But competition forces each
into the same triclSery as the rest.
IF I don't deal with the spectators,
they'll knock my show" said one man
ager to me recently. Somebody viii
ask them for tickets to my theater.
and the Spectator viii reply, yes, we
carried them, bat the demand fell off
SO that we decided not to bother with
them The houses papered horribly
and don't think the show viii last
longer than this week
All Do it.
So they all do it. Both the Shubert
and the Klaw and Erlanger interests
deplore the practice, yet admit its con-
tnuance. The spectators are now do
ing a legitimate business by keeping
off the streets and renting little cubby
holes in the theatrical district
The price to them is 1925 for the
best seats. The theater and producer
each get twelve and a half cents of
this advance. The Spectator sells his
ticket for $3.50. If the regular price
is $500 the spectators pay $3.50 and
the theater and producer divide the
extra so cents.
When a show is beginning to wane
in favor, the. public does get a Slight
advantage out Of the specializing bust
ness. The box office then turns over
price so low that the public obtains
50 seats for SL5O or even 81. This is
one reason the managers would do
away with the Spectators.
Has a Sure Thing.
The Spectator is no longer specu- /
latOr either. He has quite a sure
thing. He can return what he does not
sell up to z p. m, and these seats
are put on sale at the box offices
The public pays several hundred dol
lars night to the ticket spectators, |
in advance over the regular 81 price
for tickets.
.eeThe Dear FOOI' PIeases.
II. Y. Esmond opened in a second OF
the comedies written by himself at the
Garricl1 theater Monday night. THE
Dear Fool IS great Improvement
over Eliza Comes to Stay" which it
replaces. Both comedies are typiCally
English and any one who revels in the
flavor Of beef and marmalade, tea and
fog, should not miss visit to this
London importation. The acting IS i
delightful
Perhaps the difficulty with this pro-
duct Of Mr.. EsmOnd's pen is a slight
mixing Of the emotions. The heroine, |
If we may call her so, IS a middle aged
widow who makes a fool Of herself. !
This popular phrase describes exactly
what she does. Eva Moore acts Betty
Dunbar IN a most finished manner.
But she Is not especially successful in I
getting I'D sympathy for Betty. One
IS more likely to pass over Betty's es- !
capade with a smile of amused toler-
ance than with an effort to keep back
the tears. Betty is a widow who /
breaks the bonds of restraint and she /
does it with a man IS years her junior, /
a seductive boy.
So sentiment wavers when Betty /
after p hours Of clipping, comes back /
to find one of her two children near /
death and suffering from lack of ma |
But if one does not think too deeply /
about the plot, etc, one does hear /
some delightful dialOg. The two (
children are fresh and pleasant too.
Then there is sir EgbeTt Inglefield, !
the literary barOnet who accepts the |
erring widow even after learning Of |
her one missteD. He is played bv Mr.. I
Esmond himself, and his Willingness to /
Judge the Widows fault by a mans /
code is Interesting to say the least
ssThe Deadlock Has Unusual Motive.
The conflict between love for the l
church and love for wife and children I
is the unusual motive of "The Dead I
lock" a comedy on high plane which (
is filling Maxine Elliotts theater. Mar
garet Turnt--'' 49, --'+alizad this sub .