Kelly Preston, Elissa Dulce
NO, Mayor Jeremy Harris is not going to be the next McGarrett, despite his towering presence and that sweeping Jack Lord-like hairdo. But there were cameras mounted on cranes outside his third- floor office at City Hall yesterday, shooting through the window. The "Hawaii Five-O" cameras were not snooping into City business, or attempting to catch the mayor in an unguarded moment. They're using the unique City Hall locale as the site of the governor's office in the new series, much the way the old series used a window in Iolani Palace. As for Harris, he wasn't even on the property, he was taking a day off due to the flu . . . Some "Five-O" crew people have been grousing quietly about the "stinky" cigars -- their description -- that star Gary Busey puffs when not on camera . . . ‘Five-0’ peeks in
Harris’ windowJUST as she was preparing to wind up her vacation in Hawaii, Nan Howard, widow of Gridiron Show producer/director Dick Howard, got a blood clot in her lungs and ended up in the hospital. That enabled her to enjoy more time with son Jim Howard, pianist at the Lewers Lounge of the Halekulani, as well as chat by phone with folks like Bill Bachran and Anita Liptak. They, like her, are survivors of the now defunct Press Club newsmaker roasts masterminded by her husband, an exec with Consolidated Amusement, when he wasn't amusing Gridiron Show audiences at politicians' expense . . .
TWO months ago an item here mentioned that former isle musician and musical director Mary Levine had learned she had advanced cancer ("breast, liver, bones -- the works," as she put it) and was here visiting all her old musical and theatrical buddies, possibly for the last time. Levine, who most recently was musical conductor for theater groups in the Northwest, is hanging in there, but apparently her stomach cancer is even further advanced and she's been dropping notes to friends to say goodbye. A class act to the end . . .
IT wasn't exactly "Saturday Night Fever" at Roy's in Hawaii Kai, but Kelly Preston, co-star with Tom Cruise in "Jerry Maguire" and wife of "Fever" star John Travolta, seemed to be feverish last Saturday night. Virtually incognito sans makeup and wearing a baseball cap, Kelly popped into town to spend Easter with her folks, who live here, and what perked her up at Roy's was the vocalizing of 18-year-old Matthew Swalinkovich. He sat in with the regular Roy's group, Bobby Moderow and Mauna Loa, while Kelly and the quartet of girls she was with appeared entranced. Swalinkovich (who might consider a name change if he's going for all the showbiz marbles) performs Friday nights at A Pacific Cafe in Ward Centre . . . Star search?
CONGRATS to San Francisco Chronicle sports columnist Joan Ryan, who surely had no idea when she planned a Big Isle vacation for this week that she'd be awarded first place in the "game story" category of the Associated Press Sports Editors 1996 contest. Ryan won her award for coverage of the men's marathon in the Summer Olympics in Atlanta . . . Incidentally, Alison Sydor, a silver medalist in the Atlanta Olympics, dined two evenings in a row at Matteo's, carbo-loading before boarding her bike for the Team Volvo Cannondale, Hawaiian Mountain Tour . . .
ALSO on the sports front, anyone bringing a can of food for the Hawaii FoodBank to Aloha Stadium on Sunday, April 20, can get in free to watch the San Diego Padres practice before their game with the St. Louis Cardinals . . .
IN the current "Hawaii Five-O" incarnation, cast in the role of secretary to detective Nick Wong (played by Russell Wong) is Carmella Barut, hardly "type" casting, since she played a nurse on "Island Son." So who's playing the emergency room nurse who treats James MacArthur, Hawaii's governor who's been shot? Why, Elissa Dulce, who was a bartender with a heart of gold in Joe Moore's movie, "Goodbye Paradise." A nurse role fits her current image, however -- she's the TV spokesman for Aloha Care, and an actress with great range . . . Type casting?
Contact Dave by e-mail: donnelly@kestrok.com.