That Hollywood Bowl magic

But Uphold has not forgotten his roots: When the demands of his medical career require him to leave a concert at intermission, he climbs up to the back rows and taps patrons from the less expensive seats to come down and occupy the box. "That's where I started," he says. "And going from the bottom to the top and back down again tells me that I'm still in shape."

His wife, Judi, observes: "They used to think he was half-mad, some kind of a crazy guy, but he used to say, 'I used to sit back there and wonder who was up front.' "

Although the Hollywood Bowl got a new, larger and acoustically improved orchestra shell in 2004, the three longtime patrons say the feel of the outdoor venue hasn't really changed. And all praise the large screens that allow patrons in the back rows a better view of the action onstage.

But a few things were different at the Bowl in the '40s and '50s; for Uphold, the biggest change upon returning to the Bowl after med school was that the reflecting pool, as well as the fountains that danced at intermission, had been removed, in 1972. "It was part of the entertainment, but it wreaked havoc with the musicians," he says. "And I think everybody remembers when the Beatles came to the Bowl and everybody went into the pools, it became a security issue," he says, referring to the concert the Fab Four gave for 18,000 screaming fans in 1964. "The time had come, I think."

Janacek remembers that there were more technical glitches in the old days when it came to special effects. "I don't remember the year, it must have been in the '50s -- it was a Tchaikovsky night, and the orchestra was on a platform out over the pool, so they were out of the shell," she recalls. "They had the USC marching band, and two cannons on each side of the stage. And the band was marching and everyone was clapping, and they shot off the cannons. And up went the smoke and the soot, and it covered the orchestra; they were still playing, but they were all coughing -- it was horrible. I'll tell you something, they never had cannons again."

What the three find most rewarding these days is playing a role in bringing new audiences to the Bowl. As an adult, Janacek would buy up a whole row of inexpensive seats near the back and dole them out to her extended family and friends, kids in tow. "It was about appreciation -- my whole life was about music appreciation," she says. "Nobody was ever headed for being a professional, but I wanted them to know, when you see someone doing something, how hard it was for them to have done it."

Uphold says his proudest moment was when his daughters, aspiring singer Rory and Cassen, now in their early 20s, first wanted to go to the Bowl on their own, in their late teens. "It was a proud moment, because obviously, the baton had been passed," he says.

And, for her part, Williamson says she discovered something new at the Bowl -- the lure of the back rows. "My niece came out from New York, and we scalped our tickets and sat way up high to see a country-western singer, Bonnie Raitt," and I loved it," she says. "And I want to tell you, that was magical, sitting way up there, where the seats are way up high. . . . "

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diane.haithman@latimes.com