Hi Mom! It's Sosie calling.

Sosie called her Mom after hiking up to the cheap seats
where she could see the Hollywood sign, the Griffith Observatory
 and the Hollywood Bowl all at once. A tourist's nirvana.

In the summer of 1935, fifteen-year-old Beverly Brown motored out to California from South Dakota with her sister and mother. She didn't have a license, but helped with the driving anyway. A highlight of the tour was a stop at the Hollywood Bowl. She remembers that well.
Stan and Sosie had the place to themselves on Friday. Sosie got a picture of Stan belting out "Old Man River" on the same stage where so many stars have performed over the years. From the top, you can barely make out Stan's yellow shirt on the photo, but you could have heard his voice clearly in this acoustical gem.

1935 program

Sosie took out her cellphone to call our mother in Alexandria to tell her that the only voices to be heard in the Bowl today were trained by Beverly Brown Rolfsrud. She seemed amused. Later we went to the nearby museum and found a copy of a program used in 1935, when Mom was zipping around LA in the family roadster.

Even in his yellow shirt, it was hard to see the day's

soloist making his way up the stairs. Click to enlarge.