Ushering In the 68th Bowl Season

At times, the Hollywood Bowl--which begins its 68th season tonight with a gala opening concert featuring Soviet conductor Yuri Temirkanov and Soviet-emigre pianist Vladimir Feltsman--is a summer haven in which to enjoy Beethoven, Mozart and Tchaikovsky. At other times, it is a raucous party when patrons are out to have a good time--even when the music is playing.

But it is the sometimes difficult job of the 175 Bowl ushers to ensure that the audience’s enjoyment of the music goes undisturbed. Over the course of 60 concerts this season, more than 750,000 patrons are expected.

“I always tell (the house staff) to do anything to help and serve the patron--as long as it’s not illegal or immoral,” said Bowl House Manager Raoul Pinno, who supervises the ushers.

“This place is quiet whether there’s 5,000 people or 18,000,” said Pinno, who has held his job for 15 years. “Because it’s an open-air theater, it looks like a place to smoke and drink--to party. And (the patrons) do, but when it’s time, the presence of the ushers and the house staff quiets them down. . . . Sometimes we have to be a little harsh, but we remind patrons, as politely as possible that there’s something going on on stage that is wonderful and that they must respect that.”

But while Pinno said that some ugly incidents have occurred when patrons obviously didn’t care to be “reminded” to be quiet during performances, he said those incidents are not worth remembering, but are only good to “remind ushers how careful we have to be.”

As house manager, Pinno is responsible for selecting and training the ushers (80 to 150 work each night) whose job it is to ensure that no patron leaves the Bowl without having fully enjoyed the experience.

When selecting ushers--who are paid “more than minimum (wage)” and include everyone from young teen-agers to senior citizens--Pinno said he looks for qualities such as dedication, responsibility, honesty, an interest in music, and appearance.

And beginning this season, their appearance will be enhanced by brand-new uniforms--consisting of blue Oxford button-down shirts, beige slacks and button-down sweaters, a navy belt and a red striped tie--which were a donation from Chaps by Ralph Lauren.

“In the past (when ushers wore black and white) it was a very theatrical look,” Pinno said. “This is more an outdoors look to go with the outdoors atmosphere (of the Bowl).”

Pinno, who wears a tux or suit at concerts, added that the ushers are vital to the image that the Bowl maintains with the public.

“The ushers are the PRs for the Bowl--they take care of any need that the patron has,” said Pinno, who insisted that ushers are trained to treat all customers--from the movie stars in the front boxes to the ordinary concert-goers in the very top row--as equals.

But although Pinno said that the Bowl has “no celebrities,” he reminisced about Prince Albert’s visit to the Bowl during the 1984 Summer Olympics.

“Everybody was saying, ‘Ooooh that’s the prince,’ and suddenly they all had work to do in his area,” Pinno said, laughing.

While Pinno said that none of his staff fainted from the excitement of being around royalty, he does remember a time when many fainted during a heat wave that caused both ushers and patrons to drop like flies.

“I had ice water in the tower and . . . wet towels for the ushers. But it was so hot that you’d be standing next to someone and they just dropped off--that was weird. We had to carry both other ushers and audience members who were fainting down to the nurse.”

Pinno said that the Bowl always has at least one nurse and an assistant on duty and that he and his supervisors (one for each promenade--all supervisors are required to know CPR) keep in contact with the nurses via walkie-talkie so that any medical problems can be handled as quickly and smoothly as possible.

In fact, the system is so efficient that when a patron sitting in one of the front boxes had a heart attack a few seasons ago, “he was carried out and no one even noticed what was going on,” Pinno said.

While Pinno said the nurses’ services have been used many times, he fondly remembered one occasion, in which a patron who later had twins went into labor while sitting in the Bowl’s audience.

“She was that interested in the music, that she didn’t care if she had her babies here,” Pinno said with a smile.

Probably the strangest experience that he has had in his efforts to keep the Bowl’s patrons happy, Pinno said, was when a man was leaving the parking lot and instead of backing his car out of its spot, drove it forward and hung over edge of a large drop. “He was so shocked that he couldn’t drive,” Pinno said. “I had to drive all the way to Malibu to get him home.”

Pinno said that the Bowl has grown from a house where 6,500 was considered a tremendously busy night, to a stage where an audience of 16,000 “is not that big.”

“It’s grown enormously,” Pinno said. “We always have 7,500 people (in attendance) minimum --and that’s two nights at the Music Center.”

Throughout his reminiscences of his 15 years as Bowl house manager, Pinno stressed that he looked upon his position as more than just a job.

“Really it’s a privilege to be part of the L.A. Philharmonic,” he said. “Wherever you go, people know the L.A. Philharmonic; you get royal treatment all over the world.”