Pops : Symphony Hopes Cab Calloway Can Lift Pops

The San Diego Symphony hopes to do better this weekend with its second pops program than it did in its disappointing first attempt with seasonal music at Christmas.

Singer and band leader Cab Calloway will be featured in a pair of jazz and blues-oriented concerts at 8 p.m. today and Saturday at Symphony Hall. Known as “the hi-de-ho man,” the scat singer will perform his signature tune “Minnie the Moocher” and standards such as “Get Happy,” “Learning the Blues,” “Stormy Weather” and “September Song.”

Pops concerts, because of their wide appeal, normally sell more tickets than classical music concerts.

In past years, the symphony has made money on the combination of music and concessions sold during its summer pops season. The symphony sold out virtually all of its holiday pops concerts in 1985.

But in December, the orchestra suffered a reversal, selling fewer than half of the seats for five concerts of seasonal music, symphony officials say. Even with the extroverted Mitch Miller on the podium, getting the audience into the act, crowds remained surprisingly sparse.

“The show did not produce what we had initially hoped for,” said symphony spokesman Les Smith. “You’re looking at 11,000 seats right there. We thought there would be an adequate audience for that many (seats).”

The original plan, Smith said, had been to play just two concerts. But the feeling among symphony planners was that five concerts was not an unreasonable figure.

“We looked at it and we thought, ‘Gee, we thought we could do five concerts comfortably,’ ” Smith said.

But only 4,485 tickets were sold, although a number were given away for charitable uses. While 4,485 sales would have been turn-away business for two concerts, a source close to the symphony said that with five concerts it amounted to a $67,000 loss.

Smith and symphony executive director Wes Brustad would not comment on the reported $67,000 loss.

“We live with what we did,” Smith said. “We didn’t look at (the) Mitch Miller (concerts) as a financial disaster.”

Smith attributed the attendance to a combination of factors, including a limited staff and marketing budget.

“We’re working on an extremely reduced advertising budget this year,” he said. “That was one of the concessions made this year (in a $2-million budget cut). The major promotional focus, he said, was on selling the classical season. Smith also noted that the orchestra had little momentum; it had been playing only one month and prior to that, there had been a 16-month vacuum since the symphony had last played.

The Christmas pops experience taught the symphony a lesson, Smith said. “We don’t plan on expanding our numbers in the future. In effect, we’ll let our ticket sales (determine) whether to expand.”