Clarice Haili was performing with the Royal Hawaiian Girls Glee Club the night a dancer with the Royal Hawaiian Hotel orchestra fell ill. Band leader Don McDiarmid needed a replacement to perform his new song "When Hilo Hattie Does the Hilo Hop" — and Haili was it.
The audience responded with surprising aplomb to Haili's comic interpretation of the sultry song — which she first attempted at a teacher's convention in Portland, Ore. — and a Waikiki star was born.
Haili would legally change her name to Hilo Hattie for her appearance in the 1941 film "Song of the Islands."
Haili was born in Honolulu in 1901 and, starting in 1923, taught English, social studies and math at Waipahu Elementary.
In 1936, Haili started performing professionally while continuing her teaching job.
After successful tours of Los Angeles (with Al Kealoha Perry and his Singing Surfriders) and New York, she was hired by new Royal Hawaiian music director Harry Owens.
Haili and Owens regularly entertained troops during World War II. When the war ended she took a job as a disc jockey for radio station KPOA and appeared on Owens' Hawaiian music TV show.
In 1950, Haili married her second husband, bandleader Carlyle Nelson. Over the next several years, she toured extensively on the Mainland.
In 1971, Haili and partners Evelyn and Richard Margolis launched Hilo Hattie's, the clothing store through which her name lives on.
Haili retired from performing in 1977 and passed away two years later at the age of 78.
