As was noted in a write-up in the Scranton Times in early September of that year describing the concert season planned by the Keystone Concert Circuit managed by Chauncey Hand:"There is a reason for Mr. Hand's presentation of such a large galaxy of stars. He now has a new music hall in the new Central High School auditorium, wherein he may take his attractions, knowing that the conditions for a successful musicale are right, and that the music presented under such ideal conditions will be most effective and illuminating. By far the most handsome and palatial hall in the city, concertgoers will find that their dream of a modern up-to-date, comfortable house with the stage in full view of every seat has come true. The stage is wide and deep enough for an orchestra of a hundred men, and the acoustics are declared to be perfect, which can not be said of any other hall in the city."
The opening attraction at the auditorium on Thursday, October 4, 1923, was Frederick Gunster, tenor, and Alexander Brachocki, pianist, both professional musicians working out of New York who were Central graduates. According to Dr. David E. Jones, music critic of the Scranton Tribune, the two men excelled that evening. And so did the theater:"It is a spacious, comfortable room, beautifully decorated, wide entrances, and a roomy stage, and a low gallery brought forward close to the platform, giving the listener that comfy feeling wherever he may be seated. No hall in the city has been designed with such fine perception to the needs of music, and the near future will prove it to be the Home of Music in Scranton."
The hall was soon in demand and began housing the best-known performers. On October 8, John Philip Sousa brought his enormously popular band there to a full house of "typical Sousa audiences, lovers of a music that stimulates, inspires and provokes."
Shortly thereafter, the theater hosted its most important classical artist to date and one of the most talented of the era, the Russian composer and pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff. He had previously played Scranton at the Watres Armory when, according to the Scranton Times, "Scranton experienced one of the coldest nights of the winter, the mercury registering fourteen below, and the frigid weather kept many music lovers of the valley from the concert." The writer opined, "On the occasion of this, his second visit to Scranton, the great master will be heard to the best advantage..."
Apparently, he was, for according to Dr. Jones:"There is no question but that he a pianist, of the first magnitude; he possesses what advanced pianists call the 'grand sweep' which means that his virtuosity and his powers of interpretation are consummate. In Bach or Mendelssohn, Chopin or Liszt, Rachmaninoff remains a strong, dominating personality, a power which enables him to intensify the imagination of the composer."
That night, Rachmaninoff also played several of his own compositions, including the Preludes in C Sharp Minor and in G minor.
Through the ensuing years, famous artists continued to perform at Central. They included such classical performers as Fritz Kreisler, Benjamino Gigli, Marian Anderson, Jose Iturbi and Mary Jordan, and groups like the New York Symphony, the San Carlo Grand Opera Company and the Anna Pavlowa Dance company. Popular entertainers also appeared, including Paul Whiteman (who played Gershwin's recently composed "Rhapsody in Blue"), Vincent Lopez, Nelson Eddy and many Welsh choruses.
Local groups appeared and the high school held public performances. In fact, on November 2, 1923, a month after the hall debuted, the school offered an evening of students presenting recitations and musical selections. Featured was a male quartet composed of Louis Jacobs, Theodore Jones, Ben Frantz and Edward Calleton who were "remarkable for their tone quality." That Theodore Jones turned out to be somebody to watch. He returned in February of 1927 and 1928 to offer solo concerts now using his stage name Allan Jones. Later he went on to appear on stage, screen, radio and television. He starred in the first film version of "Showboat" and even got to play opposite the Marx Brothers in the classic comedies "A Night at the Opera" and "A Day at the Races."
The auditorium at Central continued to function as an occasional concert hall into the 1940s, although its utilization declined after the Masonic Temple (now the Scranton Cultural Center) opened its doors in 1929 and Scranton School District use increased through the following decades. Because of citywide population losses and attendant declining enrollment, city school officials closed Central in June of 1991.
