STAR-BULLETIN FILE
Pualani Mossman, right, is here with Duke Kahanamoku. Mossman was part of a 1937 Matson promotional campaign.
|
|
'Gift of aloha' was face of Matson
Pualani Mossman / 1916-2006
For more than 50 years, Pualani Mossman (Avon) epitomized the image of a Hawaiian hula dancer as the original poster girl for Matson cruises and the Hawaii Visitors Bureau.
But Mossman was more than just a pretty face and entertainer. She was honored among those who fought for Hawaii's statehood, and recognized by civic and community groups for her contributions.
And she continued to be an inspiration well into her 80s to mainland audiences whose hearts were homesick for Waikiki, according to her son, Randy Avon Jr.
Mossman, 89, died in Florida on May 8. She and her late husband, Randy Avon, had lived in Florida since 1951, but Mossman made annual visits to her family in Kailua and the Big Island, her son said.
Island entertainer Kimo Kahoano, who met Mossman on his former KCCN radio show in the 1990s, last year wrote a song, "Pualani," based on his admiration for a woman with whom he made a strong spiritual connection. He also found out they were distant cousins through his grandmother, Helen Boyd, Kahoano said.
"Her sweet smile, gentle demeanor, and love for all that was Hawaiian" impressed him. "You could see her eyes light up, and her face would get wonderfully animated when she got to dance the hula ... Something about her was very, very spiritual. She just had a special, wonderful awareness (of the Hawaiian lifestyle) and everything she said was always positive. We had a special connection."
Kahoano and his son held a private concert for Mossman last year, and introduced the song he wrote for her. It describes the way her husband fell in love with her the first time he saw her dancing in New York. In the second verse, Kahoano described her as "a gift of aloha."
Mossman and her sisters taught hula at the Lalani Hawaiian Village, owned by her father, George P. Mossman, on land now occupied by the Marriott Hotel in Waikiki, according to her son.
She starred in the first color movie made in Hawaii, "Song of the Islands," and showed the film to senior citizens when she visited the islands. She then danced for them, as well as other audiences in Florida until this year, her son said.
In a 1999 Star-Bulletin interview, Mossman recalled "dancing at the opening of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel when all you could see along the beach were the waves and sandy beach," instead of hotels, cars and hookers in Waikiki.
In 1937, Matson Navigation sent her to New York City to be photographed for a national advertising campaign to promote their cruise ship lines. She became known as the "Matson Girl," appearing in national magazines, the article said.
The classic picture of her with a red hibiscus in her hair is still being used to advertise Marriott hotels, her son said. Mossman also starred as a hula dancer at the Lexington Hotel in New York City, appeared in "Hellzapopping" on Broadway.
She is also survived by daughters Pualani Love and Leilani Longbons. Another son, Richard, died four years ago. She has 10 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren.
A Florida memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Baird Case Funeral home in Fort Lauderdale. A service in Honolulu will be held later this month when she is buried at Diamond Head cemetery.