By Dave Donnelly
Thursday, January 9, 1997
Tom Selleck, Danielle Steel
Tom Selleck, Danielle Steel
WE hear a lot about "political correctness" these days, as when I discovered that a black man had been cast as Mr. Snow in a San Francisco production of "Carousel," even if it was geographically and ethnically questionable. It was time to be color blind, we were told. Now we have an example of "political correctness" that makes more sense. After decades of seeing the character of Charlie Chan played by white men - Warner Oland, Sidney Toler, Roland Winter and even, in a spoof, Peter Ustinov - Mirimax Films has signed an Asian actor, Russell Wong, to a three movie deal to revive the series. Wong, who appears in the syndicated TV show "Vanishing Son," hails from Albany, N.Y., and not China or even Honolulu. But the casting move is a bold one and an example of what Spike Lee calls "doing the right thing." ... Asian cast as Chan
in PC moveIF you tuned into the Maury Povich show this morning to see Vinny Marino of Habilitat as I said you could, you learned that his segment was preempted for a feature on the killing of the little 6-year-old beauty queen. No new date has been set for Marino's segment, taped last month ... Good news for Windwardites: To welcome the new year, Kaneohe Public Library is returning to a seven-day-a-week schedule. It had been closed on Sundays for the past year or so ...
TIMING is everything. Just as Apple Computer opened its big MacWorld Expo in San Francisco, attracting some 70,000 Mac nuts, the S.F. Chronicle comes out with a headline in the business section reading, "Apple Stock Takes Another Bruising." And if that wasn't bad enough, Time featured Apple's least favorite competitor, Microsoft's Bill Gates, on its cover. Local Mac lovers remain unwavering. Mike Morton, for example, entered the "What does I.B.M. stand for?" controversy and opines he always thought it meant "Itty Bitty Machines." ...
THOSE of us who've watched "Magnum, P.I." over the years recognized that star Tom Selleck, despite all the car chases, shootings, fistfights, etc., seemed to have a real flare for the comedic aspects of his character. The way he played off John Hillerman, for example. Then he made a series of appearances on "Friends" as the "older man" love interest of Monica, the Courtney Cox character. Now it appears that Selleck is putting another comedic foot forward. CBS has given the green light to Barry Kemp, creator of "Newhart" and "Coach," to create a comedy, starring Selleck, to air in the fall. No word on title, plot or character as yet ... Shifting gears?
LOOKS like things may be revving up again at Hawaii Raceway Park, where action has been merely a sometime thing over the past dozen years. A new operator has been signed to take over the drag strip. Paul Giovanetti, a racer and transmission shop owner, is taking the wheel and is bringing veteran promoter Paul Maddox in as a backup. Maddox, who's been living on the Big Isle of late, puts it succinctly: "Old Gearheads never die. They just move to Kona." The first warm-up session at the 32-year-old park will be Saturday, with motorcycle races gearing up the following Saturday ...
YOU'LL forgive Rep. Cynthia Thielen if you see her winging over the Pacific playing "Millie's Math House" on her laptop computer. It's the favorite game of her 4-year-old granddaughter - no surprise since her son, David Thielen, designs computer games. By the way, the game she loves has no connection to that other game, "Billie's Bath House." ...
AUTHOR Danielle Steel, who's written some 40 best-sellers, is fit to be tied. After years of a "no interviews" policy, she's opened up to Entertainment Weekly claiming that a biography of her has broken up her fourth marriage to handsome John Traina, a San Francisco businessman and socialite. One person certain to find Steel's words of interest is local architect Franklin Gray, who was one of Steel's first beaus. Just think, if the couple had married and had kids, they'd have had Steel-Gray eyes! ... Fits of Steel
