By Dave Donnelly
Tuesday, January 21, 1997
Don Robbs, Bob Turnbull
Don Robbs, Bob Turnbull
HE claims he was truly surprised when he showed up at the Hawaiian Regent Sunday evening and found himself the honoree on his 60th birthday. We're talking about Don Robbs, who was variously a newsman and disc jockey at K-POI, a TV anchorman, a TV talk show host, a longtime Easter Seals Telethon host, a radio news director at KHVH and currently G.M. of KHET-TV and play-by-play voice of the UH Rainbow baseball team. People from various aspects of his life gathered at the Hawaiian Regent for the party, which began in true Robbs fashion - as I noted - with "no host cocktails." Wife Michi put together the surprise. Robbs admitted she was absent from the house so much he was wondering if she was fooling around. Les Keiter summed up Robbs' baseball reporting skills by calling him "a pro," a notion seconded by Jim Leahey, who quoted blind Rep. Terrence Tom as saying that Robbs enabled him to "see" the game. High praise, indeed ... Renaissance Robbs
feted at his 60thLEAVE it to Michi Robbs to get everything backward - she'd loaded all the slides used in the show so that they appeared in reverse, including the printed introductions to each section. Emceeing the evening with his dry wit was KHON community affairs director Jack Kellner, Robbs' oldest friend in every sense of the word, and other speakers included Les Murakami, Jim Becker and, on tape, Tom Moffatt. Also on tape from their homes in Washington state were Bob Sevey and Herb Conrad, sounding more like Bob & Ray than Bob and Herb. Others on hand included Dick Grimm, Howard Dashevsky, Riley Wallace, Hugh Yoshida, Don Tyler and Emme Tomimbang. Entertaining were Jimmy Borges and Betty Loo Taylor plus Marlene Sai, who sang the same song she did at the Robbs' wedding 10 years ago, "Waikiki."
PARENTING is serious business, but Bob Turnbull, who with wife Yvonne will hold conferences on the subject in Hawaii, has received his share of laughs over the years, too. Not all were intended. The former "Chaplin of Waikiki Beach" once was an actor in Hollywood and appeared not once or twice, but three times on the TV bloopers portion of the "Tonight" show when it was hosted by Johnny Carson. On one segment, he three-up on Robert Stack during a scene in "The Untouchables." (No, it wasn't part of the script.) Then he literally had his pants fall down during a gunfight with Richard Boone on "Have Gun, Will Travel," again unscripted. And finally, he was supposed to pound on a table, but misjudged where his fist landed and hit a plate of eggs that sloshed up into Betty Jo's face in a "Petticoat Junction" scene. Maybe that's why Bob is into more serious enterprises now. The Turnbulls' parenting sessions are Jan. 31 to Feb. 4 at Kaimuki Christian Church. Call 735-1771. Here’s Bobby!
I BUMPED into Msgr. Charles Kekumano after he'd read the reviews of "Painting Churches," the play in which I'm appearing at Manoa Valley Theatre, and he showed a devilish quality - can I say that? - by asking if I were planning to tour the island and paint churches wherever I went. I explained he'd have to see the play to figure out the meaning of the title, but that I'm not really into painting. Not even the town anymore! ...
DID my ears deceive me or did the minister delivering the dedication at the Bill Clinton inaugural yesterday refer to the First Lady as "Hillary Rodman Clinton"? I swear he did, though there was no sign of Dennis Rodman in the crowd.
TWO separate films feature creatures tonight. KSSK is presenting the premiere of the new John Cleese, Michael Palin, Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Kline film, "Fierce Creatures," at the Kahala Theaters ... And at the Hawaii Theatre Center at 7 tonight there's an encore screening of "A Hot Roof," a Korean black comedy about a group of women who rescue another woman beaten by her husband, only to kill him - accidentally. The film won the Golden Maile Award at the Hawaii International Film Festival last year. Tickets are $7 ... Creature features
