The Lord of the Line

The Lord of the Line, Me and my line gear at 9:00 AM.
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Part I, The Fellowship of the Line
Being the Lord of the Rings fan that I am you’d think I’d be more aware as to what’s going on with the upcoming film, The Return of the King. Well I’m not. In fact I was only peripherally aware that on the day before its Wednesday December 17th premier that select theatres would be holding a special “Trilogy Tuesday”. Thanks to a timely email from friend Jeff Pass on Thursday October 9th I was made fully aware of this fact and damn near at the last minute. On "Trilogy Tuesday" they are showing al three LotR films in order with an hour and half break between each film. This is going to be one majorly long butt-numb-a-thon starting at noon on Tuesday 12/16 and ending at 1:30 AM on Wednesday 12/17. This looks like two days off from the SLJ* for me. Tickets officially went on sale via phone and Internet at noon on Thursday and all theatres nationwide sold out within the hour! Except for the historic Senator Theatre, Baltimore’s premiere showplace for movies. The Senator does not conduct phone or Internet sales and they only take cash. They put tickets on sale today at noon. I was not going to miss out on tickets for this event and the only way to guarantee myself, Jeff, Michael and few other friends tickets was to get there early. Some of the folks in line were “refugees” from DC who were unable to get tickets at the Uptown Theatre. They made the trek to Baltimore to try again. I arrived in line a little after 8:00 AM with two folding chairs (one for Michael), jacket, umbrella (just in case), book, coffee, and of course camera and tripod. I was the 64th person in line and I was assured of tickets at this point. All that was left to do was to wait in line. It was a friendly and literary line and discussions focused mainly on the LotR books and films, yes, even the films by Rankin Bass and Ralph Bakshi. Some folks spent their time sleeping or yacking on cell phones. Familiar faces were seen (hi Stephanie and Renfield) and new friends were made. Now the waiting began in ernest.

Part II, The Two Tickets
Even if everyone in front of me had purchased the limit of ten tickets I would still have gotten my two. The Senator seats nine hundred. There were about a dozen fans who camped out over night, but most showed up early Saturday morning with lawn chairs, blankets, jackets, books, drinks, snacks, and card and board games. Woe to those who showed up after 9:30 as their chances of getting even one ticket were greatly reduced. As noon approached the excitement mounted. There was a mass exodus of people lugging their line gear back to cars before ticket time. With all of the furnishings gone and the time at 11:55 AM the line compressed and started to move, but still stretched for a few hundred yards. Sales began and it was not long before I got my two tickets. Michael, Jaime (our new line friend) and I all had our tickets in hand. Many would be rewarded this day for their efforts and there would be much rejoicing (Yeah!), however, as the supply of tickets dwindled there would come much wailing and nashing of teeth. We hung around for a little while talking with theatre owner Tom Keifaber and waiting for the SOLD OUT sign to go up. It was obvious that there would be at least one hundred and fifty plus people in line who would not be walking away with tickets. I am sure that those folks represented a much larger number of folks who could not come and stand in line to get their own ticket. I would have hated to make that disappointing cell phone call.
"Uhh, hey Jack, yeah I am at the theatre. Well ahh you see I slept in and well uhh I got here late and well it's like this.. I umm didin't get the ten tickets I promised everyone. No, I don't even have tickets for you and me. See, I umm well like I said I slept in late... and I uhh... Jack? Hello? JACK!"
This was definately a case of the early bird gets the tickets and those who hit the snooze button a couple of times may have gained extra sleep, but at a loss of a great movie experience. When the SOLD OUT sign went up at 1:30 PM there was a collective groan of disappointment when the unworthy were turned away empty handed. NO TICKET FOR YOU! There was no anger or riots and folks dispersed peacefully and rapidly. Their quest had come to naught.

Coming in December, Part III, The Return to the Line
My two tickets are secure and they are... my precious. Now it’s time to wait for December 16th when I get to wait in line again because if I want a decent seat I’ll need to be there at least five hours early... if not more.

*SLJ = Shitty Little Job