Hollywood Bowl


In the summer of 1978, Klipsch out-fitted the Hollywood Bowl with the relatively new MCM concert series, including stage monitors. This was the first large-scale event for the relatively new Klipsch Industrial Series (Pro).

The band, Keepin’ Them off the Streets, was to be centrally featured in the 1979 movie, A Perfect Couple, starring Paul Dooley and Marta Heflin. We believe that our “west coast people” brought this to Bob Moers’ attention as a brand recognition opportunity. Bob agreed. The audience was invited to a free concert in order to get a large crowd for filming. In the movie Klipsch products and logos are “in frame” about every ten minutes, and Klipsch is in the credits, although miss-spelled! Klipsch personnel on hand included Gary Gillum (Chief Engineer) and Spedo Kokinos (Sales Representative). Gary recalls:

“…the sound was exceptional. The Bowl sound guys were impressed. JBL had a small group there to check things out. I think maybe they were surprised. Dave Kelsey was our Pro Sound dealer in that area and is also the one responsible for the “famous” Circus Disco in LA (he had 8 MWM woofers around the dance floor and a flown central cluster of six HF sections). That evening when the music started, a county sound marshal arrived with his SPL meter and checked levels at the back. It was too loud and he had them pull it down. I thought it was OK.”

View all images from the Hollywood Bowl here.