Just Brook Lee
and 500 friends
A goodbye party celebrates
By Tim Ryan
her year as Miss Universe
Star-BulletinMiss Universe Brook Mahealani Lee was honored last night by about 500 people, including 78 pageant contestants in a good-bye dinner party at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Lee's tenure expires May 12 when she crowns the 1998 Miss Universe at the Stan Sheriff Center in a live CBS broadcast.
Lee, wearing a black silk dress with a bright flower pattern, spent more than an hour posing for pictures with keikis and tutus and aunties and men as well as contestants at the "Brook Lee's Paina Hooaikai."
Lee wasn't the only brightly colored attraction. Doug Beter of Rainbow Pigeons brought a trio of dyed birds -- pink, yellow and black and white -- presenting Lee with the pink one named Precious.
The Miss Universe contestants mixed throughout the three-hour event with people who had payed $30 a person for dinner and to have their pictures taken with favorite candidates.
GIFTS: In the Tapa Tower Ballroom at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, used this week as a fitting room to prepare for Friday's Made in Hawaii Fashion Show, tables lined the length of an entire wall filled with free gifts for the delegates.
They included Addidas athletic shoes; Sacha London Footwear; a Planet Hollywood gift bag with a hat and t-shirt; Coty spray cologne, prefume and body lotion; Caboodles makeup gift bag; A $50 Sprint calling card; Clairol hair products gift bag; Tova makeup and perfume gift bag; Hawaiian Tropic gift bag; Phat Farm gift bag, and Jantzen swim suits.
SHOE SIZES: Delegates' shoe sizes range from four to 12 (only one candidate wears a 12), with the most common size between 6-1/2 and 8. Miss Jamaica is the shortest contestant at 5-2; Miss Venezuela, Miss Netherlands, Miss British Virgin Islands, Miss Honduras top the list at 6 feet.TEST: Before a woman can enter a local pageant in Canada leading to the Miss Canada title, she must pass a written exam. The exam tests current events and facts about the country, said Juliana Thiessen, 18, Miss Canada.
OPENING NUMBER: In the opening song-and-dance number of the Miss Universe Pageant, all the delegates will be wearing black slip-like dresses by New York designer Betsey Johnson, who is in Hawaii to help with the fittings.
Miss Universe Event Watch
Today
"Welcome Home Brook Lee Parade of Nations," Tuesday, April 28, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Waikiki. Contestants will ride in a parade from the Hilton Hawaiian Village to Kapiolani Park along Kalakaua Avenue.
Tomorrow
Fund-raising to follow
pageant for Brook LeeMiss Universe lends her support to
By Mike Yuen
Kawananakoa's bid for Congress
Star-BulletinThe day after Brook Lee's reign as Miss Universe ends, she will be the special guest at a $25-per-person congressional campaign fund-raiser for House Republican leader Quentin Kawananakoa.
Colleagues refer to him as the GQ-cover model of the Legislature.
Even supporters of Rep. Gene Ward, also vying for the Republican congressional nomination, allude to Kawananakoa's "young, movie-star good looks," but claim that's the extent of his substance.
In Kawananakoa's letter announcing the fund-raiser, Lee's first name is correctly spelled. But on the ticket, her given name is misspelled twice -- with an "e," another common usage.
Kawananakoa, 35, and Lee are pictured together on the back of the fund-raising ticket. The photograph was taken during last year's Kamehameha Day parade.
"Join Hawaii's own Miss Universe Brooke (sic) Lee at an extraordinary 'Evening For Hawaii' as we begin the campaign road to Congress," Kawananakoa declares on the back of the fund-raising ticket.
The fund-raiser will be held at Dole Ballroom from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on May 13, the day after this year's Miss Universe pageant at the University of Hawaii's Stan Sheriff Center.
Kawananakoa, who was first elected to the state House in 1994, said Lee has been "very supportive" in his campaigns, even waving signs for him and sweeping his campaign headquarters.
"I hope this will be the first of several appearances on behalf of the campaign," Kawananakoa said.
Lee said that when Kawananakoa asked her to appear at his fund-raiser, she easily agreed. "Of course, I'll support him in his candidacy for Congress. We need as many Hawaiians in there as possible," Lee said, referring to Kawananakoa, a descendant of Hawaiian royalty.
"Quentin's been a good friend of our family for many, many years," she added.
Kawananakoa said he and Lee were "brought up" in the Hawaiian civic club movement.
Kawananakoa (Nuuanu) and Ward (Hahaione Valley) are seeking to represent Hawaii's 1st Congressional District (urban Honolulu). The district's incumbent is Democratic U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, who is running for re-election.
Mayor Jeremy Harris, for example, has had Miss Hawaii and queens from isle ethnic beauty pageants at his fund-raisers. But they had auxiliary roles.
They would "spread aloha, smile and pass out goodies," said Sharon Ishii, one of two Harris campaign volunteers who came up with the idea. The women welcomed the requests to appear, she added.
Their appearances were not intended to attract more people to the fund-raisers, Ishii said.
Star-Bulletin reporter Tim Ryan
contributed to this report.
