Poet and playwright W.B. Yeats (1865 - 1939) had his say on the matter of "theater-subscriber-book-of-the-month-club" types who are more likely to attend performances because they feel they should, rather than attending for their own reasons of personal enjoyment:
"And the worst of it is that I could not pay my players, or the seamstresses, or the owner of the building, unless I could draw to my plays those who prefer light amusement, or who have no ear for verse and literature, and fortunately they are all very polite."
More about Yates can be read here.
