Final curtain call for ‘Mr Computicket’

The boy from Benoni who grew up to rub shoulders with the stars and invent a system that would revolutionise the theatre industry has passed away at the age of 92. Percival “Percy” Tucker died in Cape Town after a number of health complications including COVID-19, shortly after the death of his life partner, Graham Dickason.

“I think he died of a broken heart,” says his devastated friend of five decades and former personal assistant, Gail Jaffit Leibman. “It’s terribly sad that after a life surrounded by so many people, he died alone in hospital.”

Tucker was born in Benoni, where his family had settled from Lithuania. When he was seven years old, the Tucker family saw British singer Gracie Fields at a Benoni performance of her South African tour. For him, it was love at first sight, and he was smitten with the theatre. When he was 10, he was alone at home when someone knocked on the door offering complimentary tickets to a play if the family was willing to lend them the furniture for it. Clearly Tucker agreed, because his parents returned home to find men loading their lounge furniture onto a truck. Their furniture was returned after the play finished its run.

“His favourite tag line was that he was BC [born in Benoni] before Charlize [Charlize Theron],” wrote arts and lifestyle writer Robyn Cohen on her website The Cape Robyn. “He and my late mom attended the same school in Benoni. In 2017, Percy took us on a trip there. Heritage was very important to him.”

“When I was bitten by the entertainment bug, he became my mentor and inspiration,” says his cousin, theatre producer Hazel Feldman. “He always had his finger on the pulse. He had an incredible memory until his last day, and knew every detail about every performance or show in South Africa, going back decades. He would travel extensively and when in London or New York, would see 15 shows in five days. What he did with Computicket was incredible. I think I was too young at the time to realise the extent of what he did by inventing such a system.”

“It began as Show Service in 1954,” remembers Jaffit Leibman. “He flew to London, bought the system, and established contracts with every theatre and movie house.” When Computicket opened for business on 16 August 1971 in South Africa, it was the world’s first fully operative computerised, centralised ticket-booking system. “We had contracts in every shopping mall. They would pay us to have booths. And it would be mandatory for all staff to see every show and movie screening so that they would be able to make recommendations,” she says.

“He revolutionised theatre in South Africa. He made it accessible. It was huge for us,” says producer Pieter Toerien, another lifelong friend. “He would joke that he was ‘just a ticket seller’, but he was so much more.”

The two met when Toerien was just 19 and brought his first show to Johannesburg. “I went to Percy for advice on ticketing, and we hit it off right away. He was always there – the ultimate friend. There wasn’t much for visiting actors to do in Johannesburg, and he would happily entertain stars at his flat in Killarney every week. Once, I brought out famous French singer and movie star Maurice Chevalier. He was 82, and insisted on having a walk around Zoo Lake every day. I would take him, but one day, I got flu. Percy immediately offered to do it, and for three days, he would drive across town to take him for his walk.”

Tucker was “very generous”, Jaffit Leibman says. “We had a tea lady in the office. One day, we got a call that she wouldn’t be coming in. When I asked why, the person said she was having a baby. We had no idea she was pregnant! Well, Percy bought her a house and educated her child right through to university. He is now a high-powered periodontist in London. Percy did that a lot, but he always kept schtum about his tzedakah.”

Musical director Bryan Schimmel recalls, “My history with the formidable force of nature that is Percy Tucker goes back to 1983 when I was a student wanting to get into the entertainment industry. I worked part time as a Computicket sales operator during the holidays. He was a bottomless mine of information, and his passion for selling tickets to the arts was infectious. Eleven years later, when A Handful of Keys became an overnight theatrical sensation, Ian von Memerty and I were selected to be the entertainment for Percy’s retirement from Computicket in 1994 and I was thrilled to be asked to play piano and entertain at his 80th birthday. Our industry has lost a visionary, a groundbreaker, a mentor, and a friend.”

Dorianne “Dr D” Weil interviewed Tucker on her show Coffee & Connect, and found him to be “the carrier of so much history. You could really sit at his feet and listen. But not many people knew him or what he did.” Long term friend Brian Van Rheede recalls how Tucker met stars like Percy Baneshik, Jim Stodel, Luciano Pavarotti, Shirley MacLaine, Elton John, Liza Minnelli, Roger Moore, Johnny Mathis, Anthony Perkins, Marlene Dietrich, Basil Rubin, and Goldie Hawn.

Opera singer Aviva Pelham says, “He knew what went into productions. He wasn’t there only for the good times, but also the decades in which the arts have been embattled in South Africa. This was especially true for the ballet company, which I’m sure wouldn’t exist without Percy. Not only would he regularly help it to continue, he also ensured the standard remained high. And he never looked for the limelight. He had huge integrity.”

Besides theatre, “He was mad about sport,” says Toerien. “He was a tennis fanatic, and loved golf. He would often wake up at night to watch sport live in different time zones. And if Federer lost, it was a very bad day! He was also quite religious and embodied so many Jewish values. He would go to shul every week, and it was meaningful that at his funeral, his rabbi knew him so well. He won’t be replaced. There will only ever be one Percy Tucker. And if you have a friend even half as good as him, consider yourself a very lucky person.”

“In pandemic days, we book our tickets to watch livestreamed events and video on demand on the digital stage. There are ticket re-selling platforms, featuring complex transactions between multiple sellers and buyers,” wrote Cohen. “Let’s remember the groundwork and foundation put down by Percy Tucker, Mr Ticket, the ticket seller from Benoni.”