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Hawaii
SO Forbes magazine says Julia Roberts is the most powerful woman on the planet. Hah! A couple of box office bombshells, and she'll be wishing she were back as Lyle Lovett's sidekick. No, the most influential woman (at least in show business) today is Oprah Winfrey. Even Forbes reports she's worth more money Oprah relaxes
on Mauithan Roberts, and Oprah's TV seal of approval can make a best seller out of the most superficial of books. All this is prelude to the fact that the TV queen has been sequestered at one of the most hospitable of island getaways, the Four Seasons Maui. And was longtime beau Stedman Graham with her, you ask, hungry for information? No way -- apparently he's yesterday's news. Oprah instead was accompanied by four big bodyguards, but before you fly into a fanciful frenzy, all four were women! ...
AFTER two years as local anchor for "All Things Considered" on Hawaii Public Radio, Heidi Chang considered all things and resigned. Her last day will be Aloha Friday, St. Paddy's Day. Says Heidi, "The Year of the Dragon is a good time for a change." She plans to stay in Hawaii and will continue to contribute reports nationally for public radio ... Ruth Engel, who died last week, lived a life many women would dream about -- she was married to a vice admiral in the Navy (the late Ben Engel), lived in a home on Diamond Head Road adjacent to the light house her husband supervised, and had three daughters: Robin, who was Miss Hawaii, Georgia, who became a TV star as Georgette on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and Penny, the girl-next-door. Services were yesterday at Punchbowl Cemetery ...
Christmas magic
MOre than 150 Make-a-Wish kids and their parents got to spend a day in waters off Waikiki Saturday where they enjoyed a whale-watching lunch on board the Navatek. They billed it "Christmas in March" -- for some it'll be the only Christmas they see this year -- and in the role of Santa was the man who could make anything seem possible, Bobby Acoba, the Aaron's bartender/magician known as Mr. Magic. Bobby, whose close-up magical wizardry is among the best I've seen, had the kids enthralled during the cruise ...STAYING at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco a couple of years ago, I noted that every room had its own personal fax machine, and forecast that soon the room amenities would extend to computers. Some hostelries now have that luxury. But localite Ray Bickson, G.M. of the Mark Hotel in New York, has introduced his own luxury service in the hotel's suites. Each one has a mobile phone to which calls to the room are automatically forwarded, wherever the busy guest may be. The Mark is a Rafael Hotel, one in the group of properties controlled by Georg Rafael, first manager of the Hawaiian Regent Hotel and later top exec with Bob Burns of Regent Hotels ...
A ball is a ball
WHEN David Wilson was unable to attend a function for S.F. 49'er receiver Jerry Rice, he found himself in a quandary as he'd promised his 10-year-old son, Aron, he'd get him a Rice autograph. He prevailed on his wife and colleague, Carolyn Tanaka, the former TV reporter, to get one for him. She located Rice, but realized she had nothing for him to sign. Then she remembered that, since it was baseball season, there was a baseball in the car. She felt a bit odd asking him to sign it, but nice guy Rice obliged, putting his signature, as he put it, "on the sweet spot." ...
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: ddonnelly@starbulletin.com