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Frank DeLima can be loud and aggressive when he's doing a show -- think Tita Turner or Mary Tunta -- but off stage, talking one on one, he can be disarming, honest and, well, quite frank. DeLima a minister
of laughterHe once studied to be a priest, and
now he comforts with comedyBy John Berger
jberger@starbulletin.comAsk DeLima what possessed him to commemorate his 25th anniversary in show business with a "Silva Anniversary" album that didn't even have a cover, and he'll say that after several years without a steady showroom job in Waikiki, he couldn't afford anything beyond a CD and a jewel box.
DeLima began selling the bare-bones album last year as a souvenir whenever he performed. It's now available in record stores with a bar-code sticker. If it sells enough, he might do a "second edition" with a cover -- or maybe not.
One thing he won't do is jive about it. He's been one of Hawaii's best-known entertainers for 25 years, but he is still very much a product of his post-WWII, Pauoa Valley, Portuguese Catholic upbringing.
Is DeLima sentimental? Absolutely, and proud of it. The Wisteria restaurant on the corner of Piikoi and South King streets was the first establishment to hire him to do their commercials, but it was one of his favorite hangouts long before that.
"My father loved it here -- especially their shrimp tempura and their local-style beef teriyaki," DeLima said during a recent conversation over lunch in the Wisteria bar. DeLima recalls many happy meals with his parents, family and friends from childhood through Super Bowl XXXVI. He never drives after drinking, even a single drink, he says, and since he lives only a few minutes from the restaurant, considers Wisteria his home away from home and the place he prefers for doing interviews or entertaining friends.
"This is my dining room, my bar, whatever it takes to entertain, and for sentimental reasons. My dad loved it. My mom loves it. My family celebrated all birthdays here, (and) eventually they were the first to give me an opportunity to go on TV."
Where: Palace Showroom, Ohana Reef Towers, 227 Lewers St. Frank DeLima in "Noodle Shop Days"
When: 8:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays
Admission: $19.50
Call: 923-7469
DeLima feels a similar vibe about the Palace (long known as the Polynesian Palace, then as the Yes! Hawaii Showroom) on Lewers Street in Waikiki. He headlined the room for several years in the 1990s before the stagnant local economy and changes in visitor demographics caused the hotel management to switch from local comedy to the international "YES! Hawaii" revue. "YES!" closed shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks last year, and DeLima returned there for a special Valentine's Day show. He opened an ongoing weekend engagement at the Palace last Friday.
"Frannie Kirk told me when we closed the show (several years ago) that although things were not doing too well for me as far as my show, you never know what will happen in the future. She always was thinking about me through the years, and when the Palace became vacant, that opportunity was there."
And so, DeLima is back in Waikiki and embarking on his second quarter-century as Hawaii's master of local-style ethnic comedy. He's featuring many of the popular characters he created during his long-running engagement at the Noodle Shop.
Although he's been known for most of his career as a "local" comedian, DeLima's first engagement at the Palace found him a natural when it came to making visitors feel welcome and part of the fun.
"I was entertaining tourists before I was entertaining locals, and so even though a lot of stuff that I did was heavy pidgin, I always made sure that whoever was in the audience understood what was going on," he said.
He's hoping the emphasis on some of his Noodle Shop classics will appeal to old-time fans and visitors -- and a new generation of Hawaii residents too young to have been a part of the Noodle Shop days 20 years ago. Though he describes himself as being 275 pounds and balding today, "The characters are still in me, and the feeling of the Noodle Shop."
DeLima says he was lucky in finding a manager, Millie Fujinaga, who also managed a hotel (the Waikiki Sand Villa, which housed the small Noodle Shop). With Patrick Downes as his primary writer, DeLima had a solid foundation on which to build. At the Noodle Shop, DeLima became a local superstar, and it was during his 12 years there that many of his most popular characters and song parodies were introduced.
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The creative process didn't stop when his Noodle Shop days ended. DeLima continued to do great work during his engagements at the Queen Kapiolani Hotel, the Polynesian Palace and the Captain's Table. It all adds up to a tremendous repertoire of characters, songs and concepts."For 20 years we changed the show twice a year, and each show has six new characters or skits, and they're all in storage, so I was thinking that only so many people have seen them."
COMEDY HAS BEEN part of DeLima's life since childhood. He grew up in an integrated neighborhood in Pauoa and discovered he had a natural knack for making people laugh. He'd imitate the singers on KOHO (a local Japanese-language radio station) or do impressions of the characters on Japanese television shows.
"As I was growing up, I never did get scolding or punished for imitating because it wasn't offensive to the people in my neighborhood -- not that I was planning to be a comedian, I was planning to be a Catholic priest -- but I enjoyed entertaining and hanging out with my friends."
DeLima attended seminary but decided after being ordained a deacon that he would not go on to the priesthood. He has honored the vows and promises he made as a deacon by remaining single.
"Some guys don't believe that, but I feel that if you promise God something, you're crazy if you go back on your word."
DeLima's Student Enrichment Program also came out of his preparation for the priesthood and work with the Catholic Youth Organization.
A spur-of-the-moment visit to Kahului Elementary School was such a popular success that the next time DeLima played Maui, he found that one of his cousins had scheduled 16 school shows for him -- without telling him. DeLima jumped right in.
"I went to all (16 schools), and I loved it. Now it's 350 schools every two years." For years afterward, DeLima considered the school shows as his way of giving back to community, and absorbed all the expenses he incurred doing it with his earnings as a Waikiki showroom headliner. The loss of his showroom income put the school shows in jeopardy until Chevron stepped in to underwrite the program.
Now he's back in Waikiki and views comedy as ministry, delivering comfort through laughter.
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