Leslie Howard's Rules of Theatre Etiquette

[Leslie Howard as Oliver Blayds-Conway in The Truth About Blayds
by A. A. Milne, Booth Theatre, New York, March 14 to June 1922,
108 Performances]

Leslie Howard's Rules of Theatre Etiquette:

1. Don't ask the box office man if it's a good play.
2. Don't have any faith in dramatic critics, the star system, press agents, photographs in the newspapers, or articles by actors.
3. Don't try to buy tickets for a play an hour before the performance. You will either see a bad show or pay much too much for a good one.
4. Don't attempt to explain the play to your neighbor during the performance. If it is not understood, come again.
5. Don't venture out if you have a bad cough or cold. Stay in bed.
6. Don't, if you know you are well, let the rest of the audience persuade you that you have any bronchial trouble.
7. Don't, when the play is advertised for 8:30, come at 9:45 and then say you couldn't make head or tail of it.
8. Don't, I beg you on bended knees, come in late on first nights, talk loudly after the curtain is up, wear top hats in the aisles, scramble over innocent spectators, bang the seats down, or indulge in any other of the bad manners of the theatre. Unless you happen to be friends of the management—in which case these things will be quite in order.

Howard, Leslie. "A Prominent Actor Views the Audience." The New York Times, December 28, 1929.  The New York Times Company, New York.

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