Elsa Carl Lee, Gary Busey
SO there were local designers Clarence Lee and wife Elsa Carl Lee in Hong Kong and boarding the escalator at the Shanghai Bank Building. Suddenly actor Jeremy Irons stepped on and Lee broached the fact that he's Elsa's favorite actor. They had a merry chat together all the way to the top, with Irons explaining he was there to do a new film, "China Box," directed by Wayne Wang. Finally, at the conclusion of the long escalator ride, Irons said goodbye, adding graciously that he was in fact in the midst of a shoot for the film. As he descended for a retake, the Lees were left embarrassed but with fond remembrances of Irons' voice and warm handshake ... I know, if Tiger Woods had only come along Lee could have designed a golf bag for the two ... Once upon
Hong Kong escalatorACTOR Gary Busey, in town filming the pilot for a "Hawaii Five-O" continuation series, was holding court with a beauteous companion in Booth No. 2 at Nicholas Nickolas before shooting got under way. The muscular movie star, who starred in "The Buddy Holly Story," obviously has a feel for music, but when he took to the dance floor, his expressive style prompted one observer to quip, "His next flick should be 'White Men Can't Dance.' " ... Nick-Nicks and its spacious view also lured "Happy Gilmore" out of the Kokohead home he's renting. Adam Sandler, forever burned into my memory as Operaman on "Saturday Night Live," stopped by for dinner with a coterie of chums ...
PALS of local business woman Sydney Kenny treated her to lunch to celebrate her big 5-0 birthday Monday, and all wore T-shirts emblazoned with a photo of a very young Sydney. You can imagine her surprise when husband Bob Kenny lured her late that afternoon to Murphy's, where a huge crowd was watching the Arizona-Kentucky game on satellite TV. He nudged her to the back room, where a mob of other friends was there for a real surprise birthday bash. On leaving, dozens of balloons reading "Syd Kenny is 50" graced signs on Merchant Street. Now nobody will let her forget it .
THAT touring group of Iolani drama students who appeared on the NBC "Today" show recently had a farewell to New York party at the View, Manhattan's only revolving restaurant high above Times Square. Iolani alums Greg Zane ('81) and Christine Yasunaga ('89) joined them and choral director John Alexander for dinner. The two are in the cast of "The King and I," and were delighted to hear the Iolani kids would be taking in the show. Also joining the group was Roxanne Taga, who plays the lead of Kim in "Miss Saigon." She'd met Alexander in the latter's classroom during a tour last year and told him to call when he got to New York. Alexander did call and invited Taga to join the group for dinner. She asked if she could bring a friend and he said, "Sure," figuring it would be a roommate or boyfriend. The entire group was surprised when Taga showed up with Frank Wright, who plays the male lead in "Miss Saigon." The Iolani kids had their heads in the clouds -- literally and figuratively -- and showered homemade ti leaf leis, kukui nut leis, chocolate-covered macadamia nut candies, kaki mochi and pineapples on the Broadway performers, who signed autographs, posed for pictures and eventually left laden down with omiyage ... Aloha over Broadway
IN many ways, Ron Knoll, tall, handsome owner of RKMC, the construction management company, personified the title character of Edwin Arlington Robinson's "Richard Cory." He seemed to have it all. In Robinson's poem, "Whenever Richard Cory went downtown, We people on the pavement looked at him: He was a gentleman from sole to crown, Clean favored and imperially slim." The poem goes on to extol Cory's virtues, ending "And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, Went home and put a bullet through his head." Knoll took his own life in his office Monday afternoon, and all of his friends are as puzzled as the people on the pavement in "Richard Cory." ... Tragic story
Contact Dave by e-mail: donnelly@kestrok.com.