NOW that would have been a grand opening. The gala opening of the Hawaii Theater downtown made national news with stories about the event in the New York Times, the L.A. Times, USA Today, CNN and Conde Nast Traveler. But what has everyone buzzing at the refurbished downtown facility is one invitee's letter of regrets which arrived the other day. Allison Holland opened the letter with a message stating scheduling wouldn't permit the writer to be in Honolulu for the opening, but doesn't preclude a future visit. It was signed Princess Diana. Holland says she plans to keep in touch, hoping for something akin to a royal visit to the majestic new showcase, particularly since Di now has time on her hands AND while we're on the subject of princesses, Penny Bergman, director of Kennedy Theatre's upcoming "Sakura: The Bandit Princess," is giving up a possible day in the sun to be here for rehearsals. Bergman, a UH Theater and Dance Department alumna, has been director/stage manager for TV's "All My Children" since 1983, and has been nominated for a Best Director Daytime Emmy Award. The awards are today, and Bergman is in town rehearsing the show, which opens at Kennedy Theatre May 31. Bergman is well aware that Susan Lucci, who stars in the show, has been nominated a record 16 times (including this year) and has come up empty every time ...
AND speaking of Emme's, more or less, Emme Tomimbang is basing her next "Emme's Island Moments" TV special on a look at the Hawaii-Philippines connection. With that in mind, co-hosting the show (airing June 9) will be Martin Nievera, a Kaiser High grad who's now a major celebrity in the Philippines. Another former isle resident will be interviewed by Emme in the show - that would be former P.I. First Lady Imelda Marcos, who spent 10 years with her husband Ferdinand in the Makiki Heights home owned by a friend. The show also deals with how Child & Family Service aided victims of the Pinatubo volcanic disaster, and how HEI is in partnership with a Philippine power plant, and how Hawaiian Tel is about to tie in with a Philippine phone company ...
Robert Ord retires as Pacific Army commander next week, where else to settle into civilian life than in Carmel, Calif., near Fort Ord? Now the fort wasn't named for any close kin of the general's, but the townspeople don't know that. He's taking with him quite a going-away gift also - a piece of sugar cane replicating a traditional swagger stick. This one is special: It was personally harvested for Gen. Ord by Bill Paty, chairman of the civilian advisory group to the Army in Hawaii and former manager of the Waialua Sugar Co. ... ONE of the Miss Hawaii contestants looked at the gigantic turnout of people who showed up to undergo tests to see if they could become a bone marrow donor to little Alana Dung, and was at a loss for words. Apparently. She allowed that she was "appalled at all the people here" for the occasion ... What a difference an "A" makes: HMSA's new media campaign has been adapted from ads being run on the mainland by Blue Cross/Blue Shield. To "localize" their campaign, HMSA substituted local people in the TV spots and print ads. One of the faces in a recent newspaper ad was that of surfer Henry Lee. Oops - wipeout! Lee, through his employer, gets his health insurance from HMAA, a competitor of HMSA ...
