Violence in the Ticket Line

I was the 18th person in line but when I got to the Doolittle box office and said I’d accept tickets for a preview, a staff member said: “Here’s our first real customer!”

There were at least two men with money bags, distributing cash to 15 to 20 teen-agers standing in line. These men would frequently whisper in their ears, even as they were speaking to box-office clerks. Shortly afterward, the teen-agers would hand them the tickets.

When will California’s theater establishment recognize that when one must pay a broker an additional $100 for a ticket to a popular show, that is money that might have been spent to buy a ticket to still another show? Worse, that $100 goes to a broker, not to the artists who bring together a production.

When will California theater take a stand to end this situation, as New York has done? Until this happens, tickets should be offered by mail several weeks before the box office opens, with the best seats sold on a first-come, first-served basis--a standard practice in New York.

JOHN HAMILTON

North Hollywood