And Some Outside Just Wanted to Go Home

Could there be such a thing as an unwilling movie fan?

Younger siblings of film fanatics, perhaps. Sons and daughters of movie-house owners, possibly.

But among the spectators being forced to wait outside the Shrine Auditorium on a muggy Monday were about 150 elementary schoolchildren--students of the 32nd Street magnet school, opposite the Shrine and USC--and they were angry. But unlike dozens of other hopeful stargazers, they weren’t upset about not being let into the packed grandstands.

They just wanted to get home. “When are these old buses gonna move ?” screamed Alicia Ginades, 9.

The problem was that all the hoopla surrounding Oscar’s show was making it difficult for the school buses to depart. Final rehearsals and preparations for the awards ceremonies were taking place, and the buses were temporarily blocked by catering trucks and all these people with cameras and stuff wandering around.

“What’s going on here, anyway?” demanded an indignant Kerry Holman, 7. “They trying to catch a burglar?”

“They’re voting for who the best movie in the world is,” replied Hector Mendez, 9. “That’s why all those people are dressed up over there.”

The assembled children, making a ruckus in front of the school, had a clear view of the comings and goings of limousines, microwave-emitting trucks, fancy cars and lots of people, some dressed in formal wear.

“I wish they’d all just go away,” said Alicia--who obviously had something pretty important to get to at home--as she pointed her finger at the milling fans at the Shrine’s rear entrance. “They’re making it bad here.”

“What are the Oscars?” Kerry asked. “Are they like clowns or something? Can you buy one at a toy store?”

When told she couldn’t, she replied: “Then they aren’t worth nothing.”

There were more upset fans at the Shrine’s front gate--but these were adults, incensed at the early (and unannounced) closing of the arrival grandstands and at having to stand in the 90-degree weather all day for glimpses of the arrivals. The front-gate area was blocked off from the unloading zone by the grandstand and red banners, so that even a tall person couldn’t see anything.