IT was Winston Churchill, I believe, who wrote about a riddle wrapped in an enigma. But it was at the Waikiki 3 Theater Saturday that there was a failure within a disaster. The top selling movie currently out, "Titanic," scarcely had got underway when the film came to an abrupt halt, long before the appearance of any iceberg. The audience sat and sat, twiddling fingers and wondering what was going on. Apparently there was a mishap with the projector and no one on hand to fix it. To make matters worse, it was over 20 minutes before a Consolidated rep informed patrons of what was going on. It was perhaps the first time the Golden Globe winner and Oscar favorite played to less than a packed house, as half the audience up and departed, demanding a refund. To make matters worse, if that's possible, a line of people was pounding on the front entrance of the door waiting in the rain for an extra half-hour before the next showing could get underway ... That may explain why, when I saw "Titanic" at the Wallace Theaters at Restaurant Row on Sunday, a chap greeted the crowd like a host. He said, should anything go wrong, to notify him and he'd see it was fixed forthwith. I don't go to movies much, but that was a new one on me. 'Titanic' bungle at screening
Hi Ho, Matey
WHILE she's never been married, Miss Chinatown Hawaii for 1998, Jodie Mei Lynn Ching, is licensed to be a Third Mate. She's a graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and can sail as a Third Mate on vessels of unlimited tonnage. In addition, she's on the National Dean's List at HPU where she's working on a Master's in Business Administration. Both Jodie and her predecessor, Lori Chiu Ngin Young, who's also Miss Chinatown USA, will be in San Francisco for this year's national pageant on Feb. 7, part of S.F.'s Chinese New Year Festival and Parade to welcome the Year of the Tiger. Hawaii will be well represented there. Also traveling to attend the pageant are local princesses Kathy Mei Lynn Mow and Linda Yuk Ang Au as well as Miss Popularity, Kimberly Yuk Ung Chun ...
THEN there's author Linda Ching, who was inspired by Chinese New Year to create her book, "Story of the Stone." She plans to donate $10 to the Chinese Chamber of Commerce for each book she sells from Jan. 23 to Feb. 28. The donation applies to books sold through Linda Ching Productions (591-2060) and she'll kick off the fund-raiser by autographing copies purchased at the Chinese Cultural Plaza Friday and Saturday from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. ...
Thinning ranks
YESTERDAY'S editorial section in the Star-Bulletin contained a piece on "Three Leaders," all of whom died in the past week. The three, developer Tom Gentry, former Maui Mayor Hannibal Tavares and the first Catholic priest of Hawaiian ancestry, Msgr. Charles Kekumano. Aside from their obvious leadership skills in their respective fields, the three had one other thing in common that while unknown to most people, hit home to me. All three owned units in the condominium in which I live and I used to run into them from time to time. Msgr. Kekumano, in fact, was my next door neighbor. I'll miss seeing his twinkling eye and ready smile when encountering him at the elevator. And I have to agree with those who say if we're going to have entertainers like Israel Kamakawiwo'ole lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda, where do we draw the line? Not to take anything away from "Iz," but certainly someone who's contributed as much to the islands as the monsignor deserves as much ...
Contact Dave by e-mail: donnelly@kestrok.com.