Do you believe
in omens?WHILE I'm not saying it was windy Friday, there are others who'll vouch that it was. John Radcliffe of the Immigration Service didn't realize just how windy it was until one of his windows suddenly was blown into the room ... Promoter Tom Moffatt went to his office and found that an autographed poster of Julio Iglesias which had been hanging outside his door for years had been blown down and shattered. And as he stepped over the debris, he found it spooky that his first call was from Danny Ben-Av telling him that Julio was going to do a show in Taiwan in January and wondered if Tom would be interested in presenting him in Hawaii. He's mulling the possibilities of whether the poster coming down is a portent that Julio may shatter box office records or just be a total bust ...
CREDIT former Punahou honcho Rod McPhee for being the first to check in with the fact that it was Leo Durocher and not Yogi Berra who said, "Nice guys finish last." I knew that, but a brain warp somehow intruded, causing me to give credit to Berra, whom McPhee often quotes in speeches. "Berra said, 'It's not over 'til it's over," says McPhee, and with that let's hope it's over ...
SPEAKING of Durocher, he of the Brooklyn Bums fame, I know where Guido Salmaggi will be today -- the former Vice Consul of Italy in Hawaii is singing the National Anthem at the VFW Hall in his hometown of Brooklyn ...
Nabor-ly Christmas show
BEFORE the second (annual?) "Merry Christmas with Friends and Nabors" show at the Hawaii Theatre Center Friday night, I was chatting with director and choreographer Tom Hansen. His "Tom Hansen Dancers" were regulars for years on the old Red Skelton TV show, and second in popularity in all probability only to the June Taylor dancers of the Jackie Gleason show. We agreed Taylor's girls were hits mainly for the overhead camera shots of them doing geometric, kaleidoscopic designs on the floor. Hansen did a magnificent job once again with the Nabors show, and it's not an easy chore directing more than 100 performers, many of them kids, in precise movements. Some told him it must be easier the second time around, but he swears it was more difficult. In any case, the show was a great hit, thanks in no small part to Hansen, in addition to Nabors and his co-stars, Emma Veary and Karen Keawehawaii and all those choral and dance groups ...HAWAII Business publisher Kim Jacobsen turned 65 last month and figures senior citizenship is off to a good start. Golfing on Kauai, he birdied a par-5 hole for the first time in his life. Back home, he ran the 3-mile MADD Dash in 27 minutes, his best time ever. And to celebrate his birthday, Kim sky dived 10,000 feet out of an airplane with Ken Anderson of Drop Zone Inc. Finally, after 35 years on the job at Hawaii Business, he's turned over his title to Floyd Takeuchi, the former Star-Bulletin staffer who has been editing the magazine for just over a year ...
News of the jet-set
SCRUPLES owner Fred Piluso is back from a quick trip to Vegas where he was best man for pal Tony Curtis at his wedding to 23-year-old Jill Vandenberg. You may have caught a glimpse of Piluso and his date, Playboy Playmate Ava Fabian, on the "Entertainment Tonight" footage of the nuptials. Piluso then headed off to L.A. to see pal Dennis Farina and film a segment of "Buddy Faro" with him, dine at Spago's with stunt actor Norm Compton and wife Debbie, and have drinks with Tony Bennett and Chuck Heston. Kuhio Avenue has to seem dull after all that ...
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings
in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968.
His columns run Monday through Friday.Contact Dave by e-mail: donnelly@kestrok.com.