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The propaganda films Kealoha Coleman starred in until he was 17 earned him thousands of letters from adoring fans.
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WWII-era Hawaiian heartthrob was the envy of many teens
Kealoha Coleman / 1929-2006
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At the height of World War II, 11-year-old Kealoha Coleman was plucked from Palama Settlement to become a Hawaiian heartthrob.
The propaganda films he starred in locally until he was 17, which featured socially responsible youth buying war bonds and planting victory gardens on mountainsides, played in public schools statewide and earned him thousands of letters from adoring, love-struck fans.
Into his 20s and 30s, he was stopped in malls and on the street by women who had once been infatuated girls.
"The response was just amazing," said filmmaker George Tahara, who went on to make the well-known "Hawaiian Legends" series. "The kids went wild. People were not used to seeing local kids actually act."
Coleman, who went on to travel the world before settling down in Kailua, died March 9 in Reno, Nev. He was 76.
"I'm really proud to be his son," said Joe Mackee, Coleman's stepson. "He never bragged. He was the Casanova conservative."
Coleman was born in 1929, two months before the start of the Great Depression. He caught Tahara's eye when the filmmaker went to Palama Settlement to shoot a documentary for a University of Hawaii class. When World War II started, Tahara was commissioned to do a 15-minute film for the state's war bond committee.
He sought out Coleman to play the lead role.
The first film came out in 1942 and was called "Hawaiian Sacrifice." Coleman played a boy, "Moki," whose father dies in the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The boy and his friends decide to sell native Hawaiian cloaks to buy war bonds. "He plays it to the hilt," Tahara said with a laugh.
Other films followed, one of which was called "Make Way for Victory" and starred Hawaiian entertainer Kui Lee.
The shorts were played in public school auditoriums across the state, and triggered what Tahara called a "phenomenon" as girls drooled over Coleman's looks and boys aspired to mimic his aura of cool.
Tahara is doubtful that any copies of the films exist. He sent all the stills he had of the films to Coleman in Reno a few weeks before he died.
At 17, fearing he would be drafted to fight in World War II, Coleman enlisted in the Merchant Marine and traveled around the world by ship. During a stay in Japan, he learned fluent Japanese. He was later drafted by the Army to fight in the Korean War.
When he returned to the islands, Coleman took up music.
He played the flute, ukulele and guitar in Waikiki clubs and was known as "Nat" -- as in Nat "King" Cole, a nickname he got in the military because he liked to croon, his son said. Later in life, he served as an "entertainment broker," bringing talent from Japan to Hawaii theaters and stages.
Coleman also worked for Pan American Airways, and retired after 30 years in the 1980s. He and his wife then moved to Reno, and Coleman took up limousine driving as a way to supplement his income.
Mackee, whose real name is Joe Coleman-Musacchia, said Coleman regularly drove around celebrities and other bigwigs, who took an instant liking to him. His Japanese also came in handy.
Coleman's wife died in 1995, and Mackee said his father never recovered.
When Mackee was going through Coleman's things after he died, he found boxes of journals that his father had written in daily until he was no longer able. At the end of every entry, Coleman had scribbled a note to his wife: "Good night, my love. I miss you so."
Services for Coleman were held March 22 in Reno at the Walton Funeral Home. He was buried near his wife. Coleman is survived by sons Mackee, Russell Coleman and Mark Daniels; brothers Jerry Watts and Anapuni Coleman; and sister Likelike "Honey" Robello.