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Box office name?

Tking0012
#1Box office name?
Posted: 12/7/17 at 12:20am

Question: 

How did the place we buy tickets get to be called the box office? 

Was there a time when cardboard boxes were in an office with tickets? 

UncleCharlie
#2Box office name?
Posted: 12/7/17 at 12:54am

Leo Box had a theater and decided there should be a central place to purchase tickets for his shows there as opposed to using roustabouts who used to wander the waterfront trying to entice sailors on shore leave to see the shows. It came to be known as the Box office. That, and the walls were made of cardboard.

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dramamama611
#3Box office name?
Posted: 12/7/17 at 4:23am

Because $ used to be collected in a box. Really.

Google is your friend.


If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it? These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.

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haterobics
#4Box office name?
Posted: 12/7/17 at 12:20pm

Call me by your box office name.

Fosse76
#5Box office name?
Posted: 12/7/17 at 1:32pm

dramamama611 said: "Because $ used to be collected in a box. Really. Google is your friend."

That's a folk myth, at least according to Wikipedia. Wealthy patrons who wanted to buy tickets to a private box had to go to a special office (near the entrance) to get tickets, hence "box office."

 

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dramamama611
#6Box office name?
Posted: 12/8/17 at 11:01am

Huh....another long standing belief challenged.   I'll further investigate!


If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it? These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.

AEA AGMA SM
#7Box office name?
Posted: 12/8/17 at 11:15am

Like many of our theatrical traditions and superstitions I'm going to guess that there is no 100% absolute answer to this question. Look at how many different reasons/origins you'll hear for the term "break a leg."


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