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Hawaii Dave Donnelly |
Tilting at windmills
in the darkIT was a director's nightmare for John Mount when the light control board at Army Community Theatre stopped working before the curtain went up on opening night of his "Man of La Mancha." The cast had to go on, illuminated by four follow-spots that normally focus on one small space, but in this case had to light up all of the stage. Fortunately, the cast did some lighting up of its own, particularly Bryan Bender in the title role. He not only has a fine voice, but is a wonderful actor who, without overdoing it, made you believe he really saw a windmill as a monster, and a sleazy inn as a Castle. For some reason, Mary Chesnut was pictured on the cover of the program and while she was excellent, her role of Aldonza was clearly secondary to Bender's Don Quixote. Still, even in semi-darkness, the show is a hit and It'll even better with the light board fixed ...
TAKING in the "La Mancha" show was James Berger of Saab Hawaii, which sponsored the show, but alas, his wife Helen, more than worthy of her title of Mrs. Hawaii, was home resting from a vacation. Before the two took off for the mainland, Helen spent a month in Bangkok (where she was named Miss Thailand at the age of 16) and when she returned, even hubby Jim stared in disbelief, as she was more beautiful than ever, if that's possible. She took the opportunity while there to go on a diet and lost 17 pounds, enabling her to look even more svelte ...
Mufi-a gathering
BEST line of many at the fund-raiser for mayoral candidate Mufi Hannemann came from Sam Kapu Jr. He announced that when Mufi becomes mayor, Sam would be named head of security and call his force The Mufi-a ... Good thing Hannemann didn't have to lay out a cent for the entertainers who showed up to do their thing: Don Ho, Danny Kaleikini, Melveen Leed, Amy Hanaiali'i Gilliom, SOS-Las Vegas and lots of comics. Noticeably missing from the gathering was Hannemann's wife, Gail, who is not allowed to be politically active as CEO of the Girl Scout Council of Hawaii ...ONE surprise participant was retired trio head Mary Kaye, who'll be 80 in January. The noted Vegas performer counted among her fans Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Lauren Bacall and the like. Also a surprise drop-in was bounty hunter Dwayne "Dog" Chapman. He was approached throughout the affair by people wanting to shake hands and have their photo taken with him. He recently got an e-mail from a paratrooper's mother in Pennsylvania asking why he didn't "go over to Iraq and Afghanistan and catch the very most wanted criminals." adding she had more faith in the Dog "than I do in our intelligence over there."...
Rusty but not rusty
TAKING in the truncated recreation of TAG's "Art" at the Contemporary Museum's meeting at First Hawaiian Bank Friday was Harriet "Rusty" Thomas, food editor of the Star-Bulletin from 1949-64. The red hair which gave her the nickname is now gray, and she is confined to a wheelchair, but it's nice to see she's still out and about, nearly 40 years after retirement ...
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968. The Week That Was runs Sundays and recalls items from Dave's 30 years of columns. Contact Dave by e-mail: ddonnelly@starbulletin.com
