Waikiki spurs fond memories for director

Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner and Sam Giancana. Together. In an outrigger canoe off Wakiki Beach.

Edgy Lee’s new film, “Waikiki: In the Wake of Dreams,” is about the ocean, the people and the music that give it life. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

That’s just one of many vintage scenes highlighted in Edgy Lee’s new film "Waikiki: In the Wake of Dreams." But the 67-minute tribute to the part of O‘ahu that means "spouting waters — a place where natural beauty heals your spirit" — is not really about the myriad of celebrities who relished Waikiki. They weren’t really celebrities when they came here, Lee said, "they were left alone."

Instead, it is about the ocean, the sand, the people and the music who give this area life. And it is a subject close to Lee’s heart.

"I was a colicky baby," she said at press preview yesterday at the Hawai‘i Convention Center, explaining how she got the name "Edgy" and why she feels so close to this area. "My parents used to come to Waikiki Beach and rock me to sleep."

The film had its U.S. premiere in November at the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C.; the formal Hawai‘i premiere will be March 10.

And she knows she’s not the only one with emotional ties to the Islands’ best-known neighborhood. "There’s not a single family who’s not affected by what happens in Waikiki. This is our place, and we better remember that. We can’t blame anybody else but us" for what happens to this land.

Music is an important part of the film. "If you follow the music, you can follow the trends," Lee said. But it’s not just the music that she’s trying to get across. "It’s a way of life, and Waikiki is the gateway," she said. Unfortunately, it’s a "way of life that’s gone. Long gone."

The film and the book that came before it are Lee’s efforts to preserve Waikiki. The saddest part to Lee is that "local people have kind of given up on (Waikiki)."

Many people contributed to the musical score, including Bette Midler, George Winston, Take 6, and most of all, composer Robert Wehrman, a team that Lee hopes will attract national attention when the movie is shown in select cities in "museums rather than theaters."

While the music is evocative, the images are equally compelling. There is one sunset shot of the horizon from the Outrigger Canoe Club beach that literally drew gasps from the audience. The 16 millimeter film (with the exception of 35 mm shot underwater) and steady shooting give it the quality of top PBS productions, incorporating still photographs and voices who bring history to life in the style of an epic Ken Burns documentary.

‘Waikiki: In the Wake of Dreams’ Free public screening, sunset, March 10 Kuhio Beach, Waikiki Sunset: Torch-lighting ceremony; performances by Don and Hoku Ho 7:15 p.m.: Film begins on a 22-by-30-foot screen Details: Screen will face ‘ewa; audience will face diamondhead on the night of a full moon; about 5,000 seats are available.

Lee says she couldn’t cover the history of Waikiki in an hour. "This is just a small slice of the history," she said. "I think that the voices that are present are representative." Her struggle was "telling an authoritative, responsible story and not making it up as you go, and not telling a story that you wish existed. Because it’s quite different from (what) I wish it were," she said.

Each period comes alive with stories and voices of George Kanahele, Benny Kalama, and Steamboat Mokuahi, who all died during the making of the film. Uncle Keola Beamer narrates, and occasionally throws in a memory to give personality to the history.

But in her effort to tell the history, Lee takes a very specific approach, carefully targeting time markers rather than overwhelming her audience with dates for every occurrence. "Too many dates — what’s the point?" she said. "Listen to the music, hear the people. Our films are a quirky combination of a PBS documentary and cinema veritÚ," which means that the effort is not as much about sharing information as it is about conveying a feeling. And "In the Wake of Dreams" manages this flawlessly. She does not inundate the film with voice-over material. She lets the movie breathe. The images and the music often say everything Lee wants to tell.

Lee’s effort to tell stories that many people have not heard is highlighted with film shot by a young Henry Ayau in 1967, showing Duke Kahanamoku with a young Don Ho nearby. In fact, there is lots of entertaining footage of Don Ho, "who looks like he’s 26, with all the chicks around him," she said, laughing.

The vivid images are many: horse races at the track at Kapi‘olani Park, where people also rowed boats in the pond. And there once were plans to build a casino. Children jumping from diving towers into the natatorium’s saltwater pool. Gracie Allen playing the ‘ukulele and singing, "I’m on my way to Honolulu." President Franklin D. Roosevelt preparing to meet with Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Adm. Chester Nimitz. John F. Kennedy riding through Waikiki in the same car that would carry him for the last time through Dallas a few weeks later. And the old surfing footage is nothing less than spectacular.

"What is reflected in the film is representative of all the voices, people and families who made such a contribution to the history," Lee said.

The film also evokes a sense of how much Hawaiians care about this one-mile stretch of sand and sea that is a fantasy destination to the rest of the world and the soul of a few proud kama‘aina.

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