Tickets and Tokens
I’m sure you’ve heard of people having a box at the theatre, or buying a season ticket for Vauxhall (or one of the other pleasure gardens), or paying to attend a charity ball. But have you ever seen the tickets that were issued for these events? Often, they were actually metal tokens which were inscribed either with a number or the owner’s name. This is a Georgian-era “ticket” for Vauxhall Garden.
There’s a wonderful story from the Annual Register (1822) in which an Italian visitor, Belzoni, recounts the travails of his attempt to attend a very expensive charity performance at the Opera House (a 10 guinea ticket, so roughly a $1000+). The subscription was sold out, but he bought a ticket from a man he knew (Mr. Ebers). When Belzoni arrived at the theatre, he was told the ticket he had had a “wrong ticket” which had been recorded as “lost”, and he was arrested! After protesting, a peer he knew came over and exchanged tickets with him, allowing him to go in while the earl straightened things out. After about half an hour, three Bow Street Runners arrived, arrested him (under the direction of the house manager) and hauled him before the magistrate, Sir Richard Brinie, who was attending the event. No one would listen to his protests that the ticket he now had was from the Earl of Ancram and that the Mr. Ebers who’d sold him the supposedly “wrong” ticket was within. Luckily, the Earl of Ancram saw what was happening, substantiated that Mr. Ebers said he had sold the ticket, and said he would be answerable for it. And finally our poor Italian was free to enjoy the Opera. Though mostly he seems to have spent the remainder of the night walking about, making sure everyone who’d witnessed his ill-treatment knew he had been released and found not to be a ticket thief.
There’s a wonderful story from the Annual Register (1822) in which an Italian visitor, Belzoni, recounts the travails of his attempt to attend a very expensive charity performance at the Opera House (a 10 guinea ticket, so roughly a $1000+). The subscription was sold out, but he bought a ticket from a man he knew (Mr. Ebers). When Belzoni arrived at the theatre, he was told the ticket he had had a “wrong ticket” which had been recorded as “lost”, and he was arrested! After protesting, a peer he knew came over and exchanged tickets with him, allowing him to go in while the earl straightened things out. After about half an hour, three Bow Street Runners arrived, arrested him (under the direction of the house manager) and hauled him before the magistrate, Sir Richard Brinie, who was attending the event. No one would listen to his protests that the ticket he now had was from the Earl of Ancram and that the Mr. Ebers who’d sold him the supposedly “wrong” ticket was within. Luckily, the Earl of Ancram saw what was happening, substantiated that Mr. Ebers said he had sold the ticket, and said he would be answerable for it. And finally our poor Italian was free to enjoy the Opera. Though mostly he seems to have spent the remainder of the night walking about, making sure everyone who’d witnessed his ill-treatment knew he had been released and found not to be a ticket thief.
I've never written a plot around a theatre token, but I can see lots of possibilities. I love little details such as this, as they fire my imagination. How about you? Do you kind the minutia of the day inspiring on occasion?
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