The Washington times., 1928-11-17
GLEANlNGS.
AND
SCREENINGS
BY ANDREW X. KELLEY


enough to book attractions where
the public demand for seats is
created in such volume, long
lines form seeking approach to
the ticket windows.
The certain amount of waiting
and inconvenience which this
system involves leads to grum-
bling and some-like two indig-
nant playgoers on the other end
of our phone Thursday-dissent
to the dramatic departments.
One protest, poured into
patient ear, said only one VIM
dow was open to care for the
crowds seeking "Rosalie" tick
cts at the National Theater.
The other excited remonstrant
said he had been unable to pur-
chase second balcony tickets Tor
desired evening. Both re-
uuested that this department.
start what the headline writers
prefer to call "probe.
Two windows were open and
doing brisk business when the
probe got officially under way.
business Manager Cochran as
sured me the lines had been
divided to facilitate the hand
ling of tickets for the current
TYLER aIl-star Macbeth" and the
incoming "Rosalie." The bal
COW protest resolved itself into
insistance on tickets within the
first three rows for Monday
night when these pasteboards
had already been taken by
earlier purchasers. Seats in
back of the first thre rows
were urged as a substitute but
the proposal was rejected. So
the probe ended like most Wash
ington Investigations which. de-
velop a little testimony and
not much in the way of results.
There is the New York alter
native of turning the desirable
seats over to the spectators
but / doubt much whether
Washingtonians would prefer it.
In this voteless town we do adj
here in the main to the old
fashioned system of direct deal
ing with the theater customer
and | think its advantages out
weigh the premium plan which
must be endured on Broadway
in order to get seats for the
hit attractions. A Thursday
morning advance sale in Wash
ington means that when. the
windows are open tickets for
approximately 90 per cent of the
theater capacity are in the racks
and available for the first cash
customers. Necessarily there
must be some waiting in line.
In New York one deals with
spectators or the ticket agencies,
which extract a modest or an
exhorbitant premium, dependent
upon the attraction and the
honesty of the theater's middle
man. Hit attractions or those
in first demand will never be
found in the cut-rate agencies,
which sell below the box-office
price. The regular playgoer in
New York and, in fact, the so-
phisticated visitor to Broadway,
never thinks of getting theater
tickets for the good plays at the
box office. AS a matter of
fact, he knows from bitter ex.
perience the attempt is generally
met by the bored insolence of
treasurer or assistant ticket
seller. who imagines one little
soft in the head for trying to
buy tickets at the box office.
New York seems to prefer it
this way. There is continual re-
bellion by a vocal minority,
which demands that the system
be ended, but neither State nor
Federal law nor city ordinance
seems to have been effective in
the elimination of the ticket
speculator. Accordingly, most
producers deal with him and the
public accepts the system as
part of the price for seeing the
shows which are worth while.
The mail order sale has so
many disadvantages from the
standpoint of the amusement
seeker as we'll as the theater
that it is impractical. Telephone
orders developed cancellations
and window arguments over
reservations. Thus we arrive
back to the direct box-office
sale, and whether it's petty an
noyances are outweighed by its
advantages. ! think they are.
Many people object on principle
to paying over the established
price to a middleman; others
desire the savings and satisfac-
tion of the cash-and-carry plan.
So the lines form.
One of the encouraging fea-
lures of what might be called a
problem is that courtesy is
given and accepted in the Wash
ington box office relation. At
least, rarely is complaint
heard of other than polite treat
ment in the window contact with
the Capitals ticket sellers. Com
pared with New York, this is
a boon that should never be per-
mitted to pass.
"Just let the theater going
uublic alone and it will solve
the problem of getting tickets
for what it wants to see," saidI
one road-hardened advance agent
who dropped into the editorial