Posted on: Sunday, April 15, 2001

Education a real-world experience

By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Staff Writer

Ron Bright's most embarrassing moment turned out to be one of the most valuable experiences of his life.

Bright is on Hawai'i's list of Living Treasures. He's a distinguished teacher of drama. The Performing Arts Center at Castle High School is named after him.

Would you believe he worked his way through college by playing piano at the Beretania Follies, Our Honolulu's notorious burlesque theater?

"The job paid $5 a show, two or three shows a night, seven nights a week, $5 for a rehearsal," he explained. "Usually, that came out to $75 a week. It put me through school.

"I worried about telling my family in Hilo. Everybody knew about the Beretania Follies. When I called my mother and told her I had a job, she asked where. I told her. She said, 'Do you have to?' "

That was 1954. For those unfamiliar with burlesque, it's the female art of removing one's clothes on stage to music, with drum beats accentuating the movements.

By today's standards, the final result was prudish. You see more now on the beach.

The Beretania Follies was located in Tin Can Alley, an extension of Maunakea Street off Beretania. It was a ramshackle, frame building with a garish neon sign.

There was one center aisle and the seats must have been left over from Keystone Kop days.

When it rained, Bright said, the water puddled in the foyer and ran down the aisle to the orchestra pit where he and a drummer provided melody and rhythm.

"The water would get up to eight inches," he said. "It didn't bother the drummer because his bass drum stick stuck out of the water. But I couldn't use the piano pedals. I played sitting cross-legged on the piano bench."

Bright said the show opened with a production number danced by aging ingenues in elaborate costumes. Next came a comedy skit by old-time vaudevillians, then a strip tease.

He played three numbers for each performer, starting with an innocent ballad such as "Sweet and Lovely," while the hat and gloves came off. Then a sultry tune like "St. Louis Blues," permitting the dancer to slink here and there while shedding attire. Finally a torrid number like "Tiger Rag" while she performed anatomical exercises.

Since he played by ear, he simply fit the music to the dance. Even today, he can sit at a piano and evoke the true sound of burlesque.

Once he got familiar with the numbers, he played while reading Shakespeare and other homework assignments propped on the piano. He worked on his practice teaching assignments during comedy skits and intermissions.

"The Beretania Follies suited me better than anything else for what I did the rest of my life," he said. That's teaching students the magic of theater. "I learned how to open up a curtain and close it, how to arrange music to fit the costumes and lighting. It was excellent training."