Edna Ferber refers in her autobiography to “ten-twenty-thirty repertory” theater as a turn-of-the-century popular entertainment of the upper Midwest, but she doesn’t tell us what the numbers mean. J. Richard Waite, in his Ph.D. dissertation (James R. Waite: Pioneer of “The Ten-Twenty-Thirty” Repertory) provides an explanation:
Even before he organized his own company, Waite believed the reason that so many touring companies were having little success was that they were charging too much admission. “James R. Waite, known as ‘The Barnum of Repertoire’, professed to follow the motto of ‘honesty, energy, and ten, twenty, and thirty-cents’.” [William Lawrence Slout, Theatre in a Tent, 1972)] Waite himself described his adoption of the popular prices:
The presidential elections of 1884 had precipitated bad business, and, determining to inaugurate popular prices, I jumped from Lincoln, Nebraska to Michigan and opened at ten, twenty, and thirty-cents. The immediate prospect was not pleasing, but the new schedule was continued, as it has been ever since. Confining the attraction for a few years to the smaller towns, I then began to improve the company and play better places. [New York Dramatic Mirror, 22 May 1897]
The general plan was to charge thirty-cents for the seats downstairs that were closest to the stage, twenty-cents for those back seats downstairs, and ten-cents for the gallery. Waite sometimes held “dime matinees” in which all seats sold for ten-cents, but most often he charged ten and twenty-cents for matinees. In a few cities Waite cut the admission to matinees to five-cents when that business became light. “The curious part of it is that this large and highly talented organization play at such popular-prices. As the manager said, there is nothing cheap about it except the price of admission.” [Portland (Me.) Daily Eastern Argus, 26 December 1894] Waite also varied his admission price by selling a special ten-cent ticket to ladies that admitted them to a thirty-cent seat. He used this advertising ploy particularly for opening nights, and tickets had to be picked up before 6:00 P.M. in order to get the cut rate. (pp. 73-75)