By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist

Could it be true that the seats in McKinley High School auditorium no longer squeak? The press release clearly stated that a renovation had been completed.

The last time I sat in McKinley High School Auditorium was when Frank Sinatra did the concert that started his comeback in 1953.

I had to see for myself.

Sure enough, the wooden seats were gone, replaced by elegant tiers of battleship gray upholstered in maroon. Here is cultural restoration of major significance.

So let us recall legendary history of McKinley High School Auditorium as the concert hall of Our Honolulu before the Blaisdell Center became a gleam in the mayor's eye.

Fortunately, Ernest Victorino was at home in Hilo when I called. For 28 years, from 1955, Victorino aimed the arc spotlight on performers at McKinley High School Auditorium. He rolled the Steinway grand piano into place for the Honolulu Symphony.

"I was the stage hand and janitor," he explained. "It was really hot in the summer, so I had to open the windows."

Susan Isa, school secretary, can tell you why the McKinley High School Auditorium played such a major role in the cultural life of Honolulu at the time. "It was the biggest auditorium in town, and it had the best acoustics," she said.

With a full balcony, audiences of 2,387 attended performances of "Fiddler on the Roof" by a traveling company and the "Takarazuka Revue" from Japan.

Victorino admitted it could get a little crowded backstage. "There was a little basement underneath that we turned into dressing rooms," he said.

Isa contends that the auditorium was a big money producer for the state, but Victorino isn't sure. "The rent was dirt cheap," he said. "I think the symphony paid $10 a performance, and outsiders got it for $25 up to $75 per night."

He said women sometimes wore furs to symphony concerts. Liquor was not allowed on the premises, but patrons of the arts could get fruit punch and cookies under the coconut trees outside.

Built in 1927, the auditorium gradually went downhill until the roof of an adjacent classroom collapsed in 1993. Special-education teacher Gaile Sykes led a historic restoration campaign in which McKinley students lobbied successfully at the Legislature.

"We insisted that the auditorium acoustics be preserved," she said.

They are as good as ever, with air conditioning, state-of-the-art lighting and sound systems, and new dressing rooms added. The next big performance will be an alumnae karaoke contest.

I think one more nostalgic Honolulu Symphony concert is in order at the old homestead. It should be a black-tie affair, at least $250 per seat, with guava juice under the palms.

After all, waiting in the wings are Jack Benny, Harry Belafonte and the original Ink Spots, to name just a few.