The San Francisco Civic Auditorium, Motorama & Arthur Fiedler

San Francisco Civic Center Auditorium 

date & photographer unknown

104 years ago this month, in 1913, ground was broken for construction of the San Francisco Civic Center Auditorium.

San Francisco Civic Center Auditorium - 1914

San Francisco Civic Center Auditorium & City Hall - 1930

The auditorium had a huge pipe organ. The Opus 500 was built for the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exhibition in San Francisco.         

Panama Pacific International Exhibition poster - 1915

The organ stood majestically at the World’s Fair and then the Civic Center Auditorium, until the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, when it was damaged and dismantled.     

           

Motorama

I saw various events at the Civic Center Auditorium (now called the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium) on Grove Street in San Francisco. I only remember two, one of which was an annual presentation by General Motors called the Motorama.     

The General Motors Motorama was an auto show staged by GM from 1949 to 1961. These automobile extravaganzas were designed to whet public appetite and boost automobile sales with displays of fancy prototypes, concept vehicles and other special or halo models. Motorama grew out of the Alfred P. Sloan yearly industrial luncheon at the New York City Waldorf Astoria, beginning in 1931. They were almost invariably held in conjunction with the New York Auto Show, that for many years was held traditionally in the first week of January.            

There was a live musical number staged at various times during the day. I remember one year the performance was set in the future with all the gadgets it was imagined we would have. They had no idea how far off but at the same time right on target they were.           

This performance had a man and a woman, each on a small raised stage on opposite sides of the main floor of the auditorium. They sang back and forth to each other with what were supposed to be wrist watch radios. As there was no such thing at the time except for in the Dick Tracy comic book . . .  

 

Dick Tracy USA stamp - 1995

. . . (and DECADES before iPhones) the music and vocal was prerecorded and lipped-synced, of course. I can still hear the song in my mind . . . 

🎵"My heart calling your heart, over"🎵

Arthur Fiedler @ the Civic

The other event I remember because I attended many of them and have fond memories of going to the Auditorium in the late fifties, early 60's to hear Arthur Fiedler as he led the San Francisco Pops Orchestra on wild and thrilling orchestral rides.

Arthur Fiedler 

date & photographer unknown 

Most of the music was in the "Pop" vein of classical music: Ravel's Bolero, or the Tchaikovsky "Pop" works: the 1812 Overture (with no cannons) or the Capriccio Italien (links below) . . . 

Tchaikovsky ~ Capriccio Italien

Arthur Fiedler & The Boston Pops Orchestra 

vinyl LP album cover detail 

 detail photo by Styrous®

. . . and other chestnuts like the William Tell Overture, Orpheus In The Underworld (which evolves into the notorious but energetic Can-Can at the end), the Sorcerer's Apprentice, the Maple Leaf Rag, orchestral covers of Beatles songs, etc. You get the idea!    

He would occasionally break into more serious work; he did perform a pretty spectacular version of the 1924 work for piano and orchestra, Rhapsody in Blue, by George Gershwin: it never failed to bring down the house. One of his concert favorites was Jalousie by Jacob Gade. However, Gade once presented Fiedler with a score for a symphony which Fiedler recalled as "one of the worst pieces of music I ever looked at." More on this Fiedler attitude by his daughter in the "Pop" King entry (link below)     

The San Francisco Civic Auditorium

The physical layout of the audience was unique for a concert venue. In the balcony overlooking the main floor of the San Francisco Civic Auditorium (now named the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium) there were typical, permanent theater seats.     
 

During the Fiedler concerts, however, the main floor was a different story; there were large tables covered in linen table cloths and napkins, candles and maybe even flowers (but I'm not certain about that). I tried to find a shot of the main floor during one of his concerts but couldn't. Drinks and dinner to enjoy during the concert was available. It was tons of fun!  

The auditorium was designed by Bay Area architects John Galen Howard, Frederick Meyer and John W. Reid, Jr. and built in 1915 as part of the Panama–Pacific International Exposition.    

San Francisco Civic Auditorium

photographer unknown

In 1992, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to rename the auditorium after the rock concert impresario Bill Graham, who had died the previous year in a helicopter crash.     

Bill Graham - 1966 

the Fillmore
photo by Michelle Vignes

             

     
       

Viewfinder link:               

                

Arthur Fiedler articles/mentions
Michelle Vignes        

         

Net links:               

                

PBS ~ Evening At the Pops with Arthur Fiedler          

NY Times ~ What’s Lost When Pops Orchestras Tap Pop Culture?

Scotty Moore ~ Civic Auditorium       

         

YouTube links:               

                

Arthur Fiedler & the Boston Pops ~          

      Tchaikovsky ~ Capriccio Italien          

      Rosini ~  William Tell Overture    

      My Fair Lady!
      Sound Of Music Medley         
      Sousa ~ Stars and Stripes Forever               
      The Beatles ~ Eleanor Rigby     
                          ~ Let It Be      
      Gade ~ Jalousie   
      Gershwin / Earl Wild piano ~ Rhapsody in Blue - 1959     

         

     
           

All in all, it was a fun time!

      
   
  

Styrous® ~ Saturday, December 9, 2017       

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