twenty minutes past five
But she always remembered that Henry was supposed to be irresponsible , and that a penny in hand is worth two in prospect ; so that she sang away , and tried to dispel her thoughts of the kitchen by thinking about the Orpheum . It was in early December that she conceived the Bargain Matinee , which was n't the ordinary cut-price performance , but the adaptation of an old trick of the department stores . The Tuesday and Friday matinees were the poorest attended , so that Anna suggested -- and Henry ordered -- that beginning at half past four on Tuesdays and Fridays , the fifty-cent seats were reduced at the rate of a cent a minute . In other words , the Orpheum challenged the public to buy its entertainment by the clock ; a person who came a quarter hour late saved fifteen cents , and the bargain-hunter who could find a vacant seat at twenty minutes past five could see the last two reels for nothing . It did n't bring in a tremendous revenue , but it caught the popular fancy , and it was worth another thirty dollars a week . And Anna discovered , too , that the unfinished second story of the theatre had possibilities . She had it plastered and gaily papered , she put up a frieze of animals from Noah 's ark ; she bought toys and games and a huge sand-box -- and for a nominal fee , a mother could leave her angel child or squalling brat , as the case might be , in charge of a kindergarten assistant , and watch the feature film without nervousness or bad conscience .