The Magic of the Olympia Theater: A Peek behind its Curtain Drama On and Off Stage at Gusman Center

By Jeannie Piazza-Zuniga

"Life gives us what we need, when we need it, and my belief is based on my faith," Ms. Piazza states. So often the author has had moments of sheer magic in her life and she loving tells the incidents in her memoir, "The Magic of the Olympia Theater, A Peek behind its Curtain." As a student-intern at Florida International University, she began her intern program at the Colony Theater and then at the Olympia Theater. Upon graduation, she became a staff member at the Olympia Theater at Gusman Center for the Performing Arts where she enjoyed the stimulation of the dazzling events of the day-to-day Renaissance of the Olympia Theater as it turned a decaying Downtown Miami into a center of cultural excitement and star-studded entertainment from 1983 to 2001. Read her true stories that fill the pages of this memoir told through the loving vision of the author as she pulls aside the curtain for audiences to peek behind to see human side of geniuses who have graced the stage of the Olympia Theater.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 29, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098303754

Book preview

Jeannie Piazza-Zuniga

© January 2016

Print ISBN: 978-1-09830-374-7

eBook ISBN: 978-1-09830-375-4

This book is dedicated to Marlon Zuniga, my husband, my friend and my love, without whose help I could not have accomplished the many joys in my life.

"The only way to do great work,

Is to love what you do."

Steve Jobs

Table of Contents

The Day’s Journey (2001)

The Florida International University Student (1980s)

The Intern (1983)

The Interview (1983)

Assistant to the Managing Director (1984)

Olympia’s Journey Back (1970–1998)

The Box Office (1980–1983)

Ticketmaster Gobbles BASS (1984)The War of Christmas in Miami

Movie Projectors, Moguls and Equipment

Miami International Film Festival (1982–2001)

Who’s Farrakhan? (1984)Facts and Feuds

Eight Singular SensationsStars Return to the Olympia Stage in

Gusman’s Signature Series Program (1984-1990)

Let Freedom Ring!Two-Hundred-Year Celebration of the

U.S. Constitution (1987)

Another Opening: Eight Singular Sensations Series (1987)

Eight Singular Sensations: The Sensational Stars on Parade (1989)

Herbie Hancock, HeadlinerNestor Torres, Opening Act

The Ambassadors of Jazz (1989)Billie Taylor and Ramsey Lewis

The Show Must Go On (1989-1990)Bright Stars under the Domed SkyKevin McCarthy, Marcel Marceau and Carmen McRae

The Stargazer Series (1989)Ray Charles, Cleo Lane, Ben Vereen and Joan Baez

The Russians Are Coming!Glasnost Film Festival and DialogueMay 21–24, 1990

No Glitz, Just Good Entertainment Lou Rawls (1994)

The Grandest Performer of the Olympia Theater: The Mighty Wurlitzer (1990)

Mangione Plays the Olympia Again! (1994)

American Movie Classics Wants in on the Olympia Ghost (1994)

The Birth of the Miami City BalletAndA Princess Enters Our Theater! (1986)

Edward Villella

The New World Symphony OrchestraMichael Tilson Thomas (1988)

Concert Association of Florida, Inc., Judy Drucker:

She’s Just Plain Judy! (1980-1990s)

"Come to Lunchtime Lively Arts at Noon; Stay to Light Up

Downtown at 6 p.m."Dr. Ruth Greenfield (1980s-1990s)

The True Stars:The Community and Gospel Plays (1980s-1990s)

Road Shows and Concessions (1980-1990)

Not a Singular Sensation Remains

About the author

Jeannie Piazza-Zuniga is an author who has written articles for Preservation Magazine, Theatre Historical Society of America and the Miami Herald. She has a BFA in Theater from Florida International University and often attends Miami Writers Institute for creative writing. She’s a member of South Florida Writers Association, The South Florida Organ Society and The Theatre Historical Society of America. She became the Director of Theater Operations at the Olympia Theater after beginning as a student-intern at the Colony Theater and then at Gusman Center for the Performing Arts. She studied music at the New England Conservatory, and has sung with the NE Conservatory Chorus. She continues to sing as a member of the Civic Choral of Greater Miami. She has even sang as member of a classic rock band, The Dreamcatchers, a Miami band. Her acting has been in No Exit, Sweet Charity, West Side Story, and Jesus Christ Super Star. She has played Mother Goose to hundreds of children in Miami through Alphabet Theatre Productions and continues to substitute teach in elementary schools for Dade County Public Schools.

Chapter One

The Day’s Journey (2001)

A journey begins with the first step.

Anonymous

Enough! I’ve given my pound of flesh, I grumbled as I freshened my morning makeup in preparation for the impromptu late afternoon meeting called by the Department of Off-Street Parking, generally referred to as DOSP, the managing arm of the Olympia Theater at Gusman Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida.

What do they want now?

As I hurriedly placed my desk in order, I grabbed the notepad I never went into a meeting without. I was uncomfortable leaving the theater on a show night; there were so many contractual details that required attention.

Don’t they know that we are in show business, which implies show first and business after? What’s so important that it can’t wait? All these questions scrambled around in my brain.

With a deep breath, I made a last check of my appearance and caught a glimpse of the lines that 18 years of stress had carved into the once-smooth face of a Florida International University student fortunate enough to secure an intern position at the historic Olympia Theater. After a final brush through my long, blond hair, I slipped into the jacket of my navy suit. My resolve to manage whatever emergency DOSP had for me and return immediately to my post in the theater, where on show nights I could always be found, channeled a more urgent pace to my petite five-foot, 115-pound frame.

I darted to the end of the corridor and pressed the button of the 1920s ornate elevator of the Ingraham Building. The doors opened, I stepped in, and it shuttled me to the street floor. I dashed out the decorative brass doors and raced across busy Second Avenue, stopping a moment to admire the side entrance of this beautiful 1920s Olympia building.

Hi guys. How’s it going tonight?

Everything’s running good so far, Artie, the owner of Gold Star Valet, shouted back to me as he moved equipment, setting up for service.

On instinct, I decided to make a last check through the theater with a quick detour down the famous alley where the greatest stars of each generation had walked to their spotlight on center stage. I traced their steps and found myself standing center stage, looking up at the moving clouds and the twinkling stars in the night sky of this magical theater. The dramatic indirect lighting enhanced the veritable essence of an amphitheater in an Andalusian garden in Seville, with colors as prevalent as those in the Spanish and Italian palazzos. I stood, absorbed in its magnificence, recalling the stars of my time here: Wynton Marsalis, Joan Baez, Ray Charles, Herbie Hancock, Luciano Pavarotti, Chuck Mangione and Miami’s pride, Nestor Torres.

The Olympia Theater had become my playground for the day-to-day operations of the theater from the day I arrived in 1983. Paramount Pictures built the theater in 1925 with architect John Eberson. Eberson was a suave, European-born American architect who loved theaters and created a unique architectural theater design called the atmospheric theater. Many magnificent theaters across the country were erected during this time period in preparation of movies developing from silent films into sound—talkies. I loved being at work in the world of Gusman’s Olympia Theater. The theater’s international history of vaudeville, jazz and classical performances and the presentation of future stars of history presented here created a feeling of my walking hand in hand with history itself. I felt excited almost every day at my job.

In the 1920s, the stage spotlight lit the stars: Rudy Vallee crooned mellow tones as women swooned; Sally Rand oscillated with feathers flying, barely covering her body and causing a flurry; and Mae West coaxed her male audience, in her sultry voice, to come up and see me sometime.

Many backstage Johnnies made the attempt, confirmed Al Weiss, the 1926 theater manager, in a visit to my office in the 1980s.

Up through the 1930s and into the 1950s, stage performances thrilled the audiences with live performances by Xavier Cugat, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Rosemary Clooney and the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley.

By 1970, attendance at movies had decreased, and live entertainment had become cost-prohibitive. The Olympia Theater was considered for demolition, and the lot used for parking cars. However, millionaire philanthropist Maurice Gusman, in his wisdom, generosity and love for the theater, bought it that year with the vision that the activities of the theater would revitalize the dying downtown and restore it to a newly achieved cultural freshness but with the glitter of its past.

I love the Olympia Theater, just as Mr. Gusman did and although many have come before me, I am here now, was my sentiment. I faced the difficult challenges of nepotism and exhausted staff who keep promoters happily presenting new talent. I often felt that DOSP did not appreciate our efforts, but the presenters and promoters we served did. Staff and I continued to serve with enthusiasm and dedication to the job.

As I passed through the theater, I heard the sounds of a theater preparing for its audience like the city in the early morning coming to life from its sleep.

The ushers studied their sections and opened boxes of programs to hand to the eager ticket holders. The bartenders iced the champagne bottles and counted cups to enable a later tally of the night’s sales. The theater was alive. I could feel it; I knew it. I walked unnoticed into the front foyer, where the original box office stood surrounded by the elegance of the carved mahogany wall-display boxes used to herald coming attractions. They continue to be used to display posters for events like the Miami International Film Festival, but the replicated box office, fully computerized, sits on the sidewalk directly in front of the theater. As I exited the theater, I waved to the box office staff in their fishbowl environment as they prepared for the lines to form for the night’s event. I walked to the corner to wait for the light to indicate that I could safely cross.

The box office, which is an interesting and vital aspect of the operation of the theater, is the tiniest space in which to work, yet its Moorish design is a startling enhancement to Flagler Street. Our first Gusman Box Office Manager, Jeri, would laughingly say, Someday a bus driver is going to be so shocked by the proximity of his bus to this box office, he will take the turn from Second Avenue onto Flagler and crash right into it.

The light blinked with the walk signal, and I continued on my trek to DOSP. As I walked, I thought about how the city was changing. Downtown Miami was undergoing a slow but visible transformation. Many merchants had installed upscale storefront designs to attract those tourists who dared venture away from Bayside Marketplace into the downtown area in search of bargains. On the bay at Flagler, the waterfront had lost its library building, which had been designed to match the architectural style of the old courthouse. I knew that the Miami Public Library was scheduled to be built in a modern style on West Flagler Street, but I felt the library should have been kept where it was, as a children’s library, with beautiful gardens designed around it to attract families. It saddened me when it became demolished.

The development of Bayside Marketplace was a stimulating addition to our city, attracting many tourists and serving as a glittering place to take out-of-town guests. The Latin music on the bay was distinctively Miami.

My walk took me past a Cuban cafeteria where, 18 years ago, a thin Cuban employee of DOSP had stood drinking his cortadito and intermittently puffing on his cigario. I recalled he stopped me with a question that haunts me to this day:

Do you know the kinda people you’re working fuh? (pause) Anyway, how’d you get the job?

I smiled, shook my head and shrugged my shoulders in an I don’t know response. The political activities of the theater and their connection with the semi-autonomous function of DOSP had eluded me, as I studied theater, not politics.

I knew little of the political headlines and nothing of the department gossip. I was busy studying, rehearsing, performing and washing clothes, grocery shopping, cooking and being a wife. I had enough to keep me busy.

The man, however, frighten me with the sinister tone of his remarks. Others had also cynically questioned me with How did you get your job? The intrigue made me wonder if there might be a problem somewhere. I had come into the organization as an unpaid intern, so I put the question aside while I did my job; however, it did haunt me. What frightened me the most was the day I heard that a techie was coming after me with a gun at the next day’s meeting. I told Darrell, the managing director at Gusman, who told me not to worry. Nonetheless, I did worry; fortunately, nothing happened. My friends cautioned me to keep away from the street people roaming around downtown. The street people’s plight made me sad for them, and I felt empathy for them but never fear about my own safety around them. They slept in doorways, protecting themselves from the sun in the day and often the rain at night. None of them ever harassed me, as I always had a smile for a greeting. Only once, after a luncheon with the third managing director on my watch, did I see any signs of violence from one of them. She tossed a handful of coins into the hat of a man sitting in the doorway of a building near the theater, stating, Don’t spend it on wine or liquor. Anger obviously swelled in him as he lunged forward onto his knees, picked the money out of the hat and threw it back at her with specific instructions as to what might be done with it. He was insulted. I felt embarrassed. At no other time did I ever see any hostility from the street people in my presence.

When I first began my internship, the Second Avenue corridor, from the theater to Garage #3 where I parked my car, was so deserted that I fantasized I was on a barren street in the movie set of a science fiction drama. As an intern, I worked only until six in the evening, at which time the street was desolate of people. Shops closed for the night, with steel hurricane shutters clanging shut, creating a steel canyon along the avenue. It eliminated doorways for sleeping, so the street people headed for the park on the southeast corner of Second Avenue and Second Street. This day, as I walked past the park, it was a basketball court sponsored by Nike, with future plans by the city of a tall apartment building.

As I continued walking, flashes of so many moments of my career at the Olympia Theater came into my mind. I could only think, How blessed I am to have this fabulous career! This thought caused me to remember, in a steady stream, the many genius artists I had met, tended to and came to know as fathers, mothers, teachers and friends during my 18-year journey at Gusman Center. Then I thought back to FIU professor Dr. Therold Todd, who approved my internship program, which eventually led me to my current position of Director of Theater Operations at Gusman Center for the Performing Arts.

Chapter Two

The Florida International University Student (1980s)

Chance favors only the prepared mind!

Louis Pasteur

Come in, Jeannie, Professor Todd called to me, as a distressed student stormed out, leaving me to face Dr. Todd. Todd was a distinctive character, with tortoiseshell glasses that slid down his nose and a straggly beard of complementary colors to match his wild headdress of hair streaked with mixes of gray, black and brown all askew.

His droning tone and bland personality put me to sleep in the first five minutes of his theater history class. However, I could also achieve sleep seconds after the lights turned off in the three o’clock film class. I loved film, so I would try to get sufficient sleep the night before to enjoy the film and save my grade.

Well, Dr. Todd. How are you? I inquired.

Yes. Yes, just fine, Jeannie. I thought of you recently, he said as he leaned back in a full stretch to reach for something. Someone called for an intern for one of the theaters downtown. Let me see, where is that note? he asked himself as he fumbled through a mountain of papers, scripts, notes and books piled high on his desk.

He dug deep into the pile and pulled out several pieces of paper with scribbled notes