The Boy from Benoni – Mr Computicket

Posted By admin / July 2, 2013 / 10 Comments

The Boy from Benoni – Percy Tucker, alias Mr Computicket, combined art and science, and changed the face of entertainment in South Africa.

Percy Tucker has been honoured world-wide for his contribution to the performing arts.  And rightly so, as he is the founder of the world’s first computerized reservation system.  Computicket has been chosen as one of the Top Ten of Great South African Inventions.

Percy’s unique combination of passionate commitment to the arts together with his commercial vision, business acumen and marketing skills has brought him recognition, love and respect that he never sought, and a richly fulfilling life which he treasures.

YEI was privileged to have the opportunity to interview Percy Tucker at his home in Cape Town, and found Percy to be a fascinating man with disarming modesty, an excellent memory and recollection for names, dates and events and the ability to richly describe his undeniable and unquenchable love of theatre and the performing arts.  At 85, Percy keeps himself active physically and mentally on a daily basis.  Although retired, he works closely with Theatre Managements in South Africa, is trying hard to keep Cape Town Ballet alive, gives lots of lectures to charities and goes to gym twice a week, boxes, and does weights and exercises.

Percy,  let’s start from the beginning – I believe you were born in Benoni,  as was Charlize Theron, and you went to the same school as Charlene, Princess of Monaco and Bobby Locke (there must be something in the Benoni air!).  How did the Boy from Benoni become involved in the world of live arts, entertainment and  showbiz?
I have had a love affair with the theatre since my early childhood.  At the age of 7, in 1935, I was taken to the theatre for the first time to see and hear the legendary singer, Gracie Fields.  I remember it vividly.   The lights in the Criterion Theatre in Benoni dimmed and the orchestra struck up.  The entrance of Gracie Fields was memorable – she was tall, blondish and wearing a long blue dress which sparkled under the spotlight – she was the most glamorous of creatures.  Her clear and resonant voice soared over the auditorium.  I was filled with total happiness and thus began my abiding love of the theatre.  I have been starstruck and stagestruck ever since!

You started Show Service in 1954, the predecessor to Computicket.  How successful was that?
To go back a step, I always knew that I wanted to make my living in show business.  However, I had no talent to sing, dance, act or direct and certainly no talent for lighting.  I was offered the job of Lighting Technician by Taubie Kushlick in 1948.  I managed through minor errors, to get the lights to go off at key moments and was duly fired by Taubie, who said:  “I don’t want you backstage – all you are good for is selling the tickets!”.  Well, the seed was planted!

In 1951, I queued for three days and three nights on the pavement, outside His Majesty’s Theatre in Commissioner Street in Johannesburg to buy 24  7/6 tickets for 8 operas.  When the doors opened on Monday, I was 3^rd in the queue.  When it was my turn to be served, I was astounded to be told that all the 7/6 seats had been reserved for management and friends.  I was so incensed that I leapt up on to the stage and shouted to the thousands  of people that were in the queue that it was a total farce and scam.  I shouted at the General Manager of the African Consolidated Theatres, Jim Stodel, that one day I would open an honest and ethical booking office and show them how it should be run!

I carried on with my profession, Accountancy, and in 1954, Leon Gluckman asked me to be his Business Manager for a production of “King Lear”.  Again, I realized the need for a centralized booking office.  It was three years after my idle threat to Jim Stodel, that I opened Johannesburg’s first professional office devoted to the theatre.  On 16 August 1954, “Show Service” opened at 100 Eloff Street in African City. The business grew and grew over the next 17 years, but I always knew that there had to be a better way of conducting business.

 

You have been called the first business visionary in South Africa to recognize an opportunity arising from networking technology.  When did you have that “aha” moment when you realized that Computicket was the way of tomorrow?
In 1968, I read about the computerization of the theatre industry.  Even though I had never seen a computer in my life, I travelled the world seeking a solution, but to no avail.  However, in 1970, I learnt that a computerized system that had been developed in the UK was closing down and the staff would be out of work.  I left for London immediately, and within 12 days, I had contracted all of the key staff to come out to South Africa to work on establishing a computerized system that would suit the needs of the South African theatre goer.    On 11 June 1971, we showed the new system to the press.   A front page article in “The Star” highlighted “The Benoni Boy’s Space Age ticket scheme that was to become a world first”!  On 16 August 1971, Computicket went live and opened with 4 branches selling for 6 cinemas. Now it sells for thousands of events, is open 24/7 and operates on every technical device currently available.

Can you tell us a little more about the several awards that you have won?
I have been given 3 Lifetime Achievement Awards for my contribution to theatre in South Africa. I also won the Marketing Man of the Year Award as well as 2 Rotary awards including the Paul Harris Fellowship Award for outstanding service to the country in my chosen vocation and for changing the face of the marketing of entertainment.

I am now actively involved with the preservation and collection of theatre archives for the National English Literary Museum in Grahamstown.

You were also instrumental in negotiating the desegregation of theatre audiences in South African theatres.  Can you tell us a little more about what must have been a monumental task?
In 1969, I secured the rights for “Show Boat” – a musical about miscegenation with a black leading man and a black chorus.  Then the trouble started.  The Government didn’t mind a Maori playing the lead because he had Swedish ancestors, but they did not want blacks and whites to be on the same level on the Civic Stage.    We got round that by building a platform, so the blacks sat higher up than the whites!

Theatre Managements fought racism and apartheid for many years.  I was an Executive member of   Theatre Managements of South Africa from 1956 to 2003.  In 1978, I was one of a three-man committee lobbying the Nationalist Government on behalf of the arts, and was successful in negotiating the desegregation of theatre audiences and actors in all South African Theatres – 12 years prior to the abolition of apartheid.

You have been involved with the majority of  local and international entertainment figures.  To name but a few – Marlene Dietrich, Pieter Toerien,  Shirley Maclaine, Luciano Pavarotti – can you tell us about some of your memorable moments.
I first saw the musical “South Pacific” with Mary Martin on 26 December 1951.  We were invited backstage and in her dressing room, met two young dancers in the show – Mary Martin’s son – Larry Hagman and Sean Connery.

Margot Fonteyn is very special – not only was she one of the greatest dancers of all time, but she was an exceptional human being whose prime characteristics were humility and graciousness. This very special lady came to South Africa several times.  One wonderful magical evening, Margot danced “Swan Lake” on Zoo Lake to accommodate the ten thousand people that were unable to see her at “His Majesty’s”.   It rained just before the ballet started, but after the finish of Act 11, the applause was so great – like a rugby world cup final , that she agreed to do the ballet all over again.

I have been privileged to work with Pieter for over 50 years since he brought Russ Conway to South Africa in 1963 as a very young man.

In 1965, Pieter brought Marlene Dietrich to South Africa and included me in the circle of nightly dinner companions. He allowed me to watch her rehearse and stand backstage to watch her perform for every one of her 2 week performances. This was a very special time in my life – to be so involved with, as Noel Coward called her, ‘legendary lovely Marlene’.

Pieter has produced over 500 shows and has presented virtually every form of entertainment without sponsorship which has included contemporary drama, classical theatre, stand-up comedy, political satire and cabaret, musical revues, ice shows, and brought the major musicals to South Africa.  It is a remarkable achievement of personal dedication, inspiration, commitment, risk-taking, foresight, judgment and instinct.  I value his friendship.

One particularly wonderful  moment in my life was when Elaine Perry invited me to dinner at her Park Avenue apartment New York.  Her guests were:  Composers Frank Loesser and Stephen Sondheim, Author John Steinbeck, Broadway stars – Ethel Merman, Carol Channing, Impresario David Merrick and myself.  After dinner, Stephen and Frank played while Ethel sang.  Nothing could be better than this – I thought I had died and gone to heaven!

The stories are endless – the delight that Frank Sinatra was not as intimidating as I thought, Paul Anka dancing the samba down the aisles, Dolly Parton losing her wig whilst on a game drive, Barry Manilow swearing at Sol Kerzner, how I arrested the singer Connie Francis, how South Africa missed out on seeing the Beatles, Pavarotti nearly knocking down President Mandela with his golf cart, Liberace arriving with toilet paper and baked beans!  And special memories – Shirley Maclaine singing “Happy Birthday” to me on my 65^th birthday and Placido Domingo singing “Happy Birthday” to me on my 70^th!

When you retired in 1994, you wrote your autobiography “Just the Ticket!”  What inspired you to write this book that has become “the history of and invaluable reference book about South African theatre”?
After my retirement party, I was asked to document my memories.  Being a Cancerian, I collect everything – I have over 5000 programmes, 3000 photographs and every conceivable theatre clipping.  I realized that my own life encompassed a pageant of people, places and events, and someone had to record the work of a wonderful group of people who had brought us entertainment in this century.  Over 50 years I came to work with every management and celebrity in every field of theatre, performing arts, music and sporting events. My office had been the focal point for show business in this country.    And so the story had to be told.  In 1997, my autobiography titled “Just the Ticket” was published.  

Barry Ronge said that usually books are written by actors, producers, impresarios or management. To his knowledge, this is the first book to be written by someone who sold the tickets!

As the founder of an incredible brand, you are clearly the epitome of an intrepid entrepreneur .  What do you attribute your success to?
I was extremely lucky that my great passion for the theatre allowed my hobby to become my career.

What were the early difficulties, and how did you overcome them?
It was generally very hard work and very stressful and not without many difficulties, dramas and disappointments.  However, these were far outweighed by the constant challenge and excitement of keeping the arts alive in our complex, constantly changing,  often troubled, but always vibrant culture.  The main stress was the thought that you are controlling an entire industry in an entire country and running every cinema, every theatre and every sporting event  – it was frightening.

Being a very experienced and successful businessman – what advice would you give to new entrepreneurs?
You have to have the passion!  If you don’t love the job, don’t have the passion and don’t wholeheartedly embrace yourself – you’ve got no chance.

What do you believe is the single, most important reason for your success?
Again, it has to be passion and hard work.  It was out of desperation that I felt there had to be a way to create a better service to the customer and to management in terms of selling their tickets in a simpler fashion.  Having people travel for miles to queue up for days and days in order to book a ticket was ridiculous.  Without an audience, a performance is meaningless. My dream was one stop show-biz shopping to ensure that buying tickets for a performance would be as easy as purchasing your groceries in a supermarket. Only a system with a main frame central computer could do this, but having started Computicket some 42 years ago, when there were only a handful of computers in the country, this was a mad dream which luckily for me came true.

Overall, how would you describe your journey?
Introduction to the theatre at an early age led me on a journey of mounting expectations, of twists and turns, a road of fantasy lit by a spirited air of romance or the faint whiff of melancholy – leading to a place where happiness lives.