Hawaii
1969: The year the tall
giraffe had to emulate a duckZOO director Jack Throp called to say the height of the doors in the giraffe's house is being lowered from their present 24 feet to 12 feet so we'll get a better perspective on the size of the animals. It also means that the 16 1/2-foot-tall giraffe must duck when he goes into his house. And it also means that Gov. Burns, instead of having the second-highest doors in the state, will, at 15 feet, have the highest. (Jan. 28, 1969) ...
THE beautiful Lala Tai (younger sister of Dodo, Rere, Mimi, Fafa and Soso) is featured on the cover of the Cosmorama Pictorial, a Hong Kong magazine in English and Chinese. Inside are 12 more pictures of Lala, taken at various scenic points around the world, and a plug for a book written by the "maiden of 17 summers," as the magazine calls her. The book is "Post Marks from Europe." Lala is the daughter of the Robert C. Tais, of Honolulu, and is now a freshman at the University of Maryland in Munich, Germany. (Jan. 28, 1969) ... What's in a name? Or a nationality? Apparently nothing, insofar as the Japanese Jaycees are concerned. The club's president is a Filipino, Toy Arre; the Cherry Blossom Queen Pageant committee chairman is Carl Whitford; head of the West Show is Dick Fu; chairman of the press kickoff program is Rey Reyes; and publicity chairman for the festival is a fellow named Peter Nip. (Jan. 30, 1970) ...
BOB BERGER is back from Guam where he oversaw the first live telecast of the Super Bowl via his TV station there. Berger also tells the tale of the engineer at his transmitter station atop a Guam hillside. Hearing voices late one evening, the engineer climbed to the top of the station -- a former gun turret in less friendly times -- and there was a man in a tuxedo and a woman in an evening gown, sitting down to a candlelight dinner on a table they'd brought along, complete with white tablecloth, crystal and silverware. Not wanting to disturb their solitude, the engineer said not a word and simply returned to his post, mumbling, "Only in Guam." (Jan. 31, 1978) ...
ALL Hawaii was happy for 16-year-old Kelly Hu when she won the Miss Teen USA pageant, but none more so than the gang at the Sohbi Talent Agency. Sohbi also represented Malia Yamamura, who won first runner-up in last year's contest. (Jan. 29, 1985) ... Former UH swimming coach Soichi Sakamoto, who began his career teaching plantation kids how to swim in a Maui irrigation ditch, was recognized on "An American Portrait" last night on Channel 9 -- that's the one-minute salute to rarely celebrated heroes and heroines. (Jan. 29, 1986) ...
ADMAN Jim Loomis was nurturing the hope he could slide through Tuesday without anyone mentioning what day it was. But when he walked into his office, he found the entire staff of 10 all dressed in black and wearing big buttons that read, "I'm not 50 but Jim is." He was then given a black armband and a button that said, "I'm Jim." The good news is that you only have to turn 50 once. (Jan. 29, 1987) ...
RECEIVED a nice note from Scrappy Chillingworth after getting her a copy of a photo taken at the reunion of Don Ho and the Aliis of her singing "Shells" with Don and bassist Manny Lagod. Said Scrappy, "In 25 years, I've never had a picture of Don and me -- to prove it really happened. It was only in my heart." Happy to have helped. (Jan. 26, 1989) ...
YOU may have read Burl Burlingame's Star-Bulletin piece about haggis as it relates to Bobby Burns Day. My friend Bruce Bellingham also has a number of recipes for the Scottish dish. "After the ingredients are sewn into the sheep's stomach," he wrote, "the abdomen of the beast is boiled for three hours. Then it begins to swell. The bloated haggis resembles a disabled dirigible, a wounded medicine ball, a gray goiter. If you don't prick the thing with a needle, disaster may follow." He then recounts the classic Johnny Carson "Karnac" line: "Answer:-- Siss, boom, baa! Question: What's the sound of a sheep exploding?" (Jan. 27, 1997) ...
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings
in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968.
The Week That Was recalls items from Dave's 30 years of columns.Contact Dave by e-mail: ddonnelly@starbulletin.com