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Jim Nabors will be
honored by national
society May 21

Let's hear it for Jim Nabors, a good guy with loads of talent, who will be awarded the National Society of Arts & Letters Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement May 21 in the Royal Hawaiian's Monarch Room. The society is holding its annual conference here May 17-21. Artist Ramsay is chairing the event. Barbara Branscum, society president, will do the honors at the black-tie banquet. The Royal Hawaiian Band and the Hawaii Youth Opera Chorus are included in the program. Call 537-2787 for banquet tickets priced at $150. Past recipients of the Lifetime award include Dame Judith Anderson, Jose Ferrer, Andre Watts, Al Hirschfeld and Mikhail Baryshnikov ...

Members of the "Cats" cast will do face painting and play cat games with children at Shriner's Hospital tomorrow. That's a nice gesture. The musical is playing at Blaisdell Concert Hall through April 17 ... It's a ways off but the Hawaii Opera Theatre has an "Italian Season" lined up early next year. Verdi's "Rigoletto" opens the season Feb. 10, 12 and 14. Three one-act operas by Puccini, "Il Tabarro," "Suor Angelica" and Gianii Schicchi, will be presented as "Il Trittico" on Feb. 24, 26 and 28. The season closes with "Tosca," also by Puccini, on March 10, 12 and 14. Call 596-7858 for ticket info ...

Islanders remember baseball founder Cartwright

Alexander J. Cartwright, who lived most of his adult life in Honolulu and was an adviser to Hawaiian kings and queens, is credited as "The Founder of Modern Baseball" by the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He was also Honolulu's first fire chief. Cartwright died in 1892, long before his fame was recognized, and is buried in Oahu Cemetery. A group of men, who obviously enjoy baseball, will unveil a plaque to mark Cartwright's achievements at his grave site Sunday, the 185th anniversary of his birth, at 10:30 a.m. Bob Corboy, Lyle Nelson, Jack Sutherland, Ferd Borsch, Lew Matlin, Don Robbs, Jim Leahey and Pal Eldredge are involved in the event. The public is invited. There will be a get-together at O'Toole's after the ceremony. Corboy urges baseball lovers to bring a glove and ball and suit up in their favorite team's uniform, or even just the team's shirt. Sounds like a nice way to have fun on a Sunday morning ...

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