Hawai'i has been a launching pad before
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Editor
When Touchstone Pictures' "Pearl Harbor" has its world premiere tomorrow aboard the USS John C. Stennis in Pearl Harbor, a new high-water mark will be set for movie launchings here.
But most Islanders will have to resort to media reports to find out exactly what happens because the party is strictly for VIPs only.
Premieres and other film hoopla have always fascinated Hawai'i's public.
One of the biggest, on Feb. 19, 1968, was not for a film but for a TV series: The world premiere of what was to evolve into a CBS hit, "Hawaii Five-0" was accorded movie-type importance in a Waikiki screening at the New Royal Theatre (long gone now), with actor Jack Lord and producer Leonard Freeman holding court. Just before the 10 p.m. screening, Perry Lafferty, CBS vice president for programming, announced to the crowd that the series would join the network's fall lineup.
The Royal Theatre also was chosen for the first public screening in 1978, though not a world premiere, of Paramount's "Grease," which ultimately became the No. 1 film musical of all time. Co-stars John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John were in the audience, along with producer Allan Carr. But few knew that; there were no pre- or post-show ceremonies.
Paramount's "Blue Hawaii," one of Elvis Presley's most enduring movies, largely filmed in the Islands, had its world premiere in three Island theaters — the King, Palace and Wai'alae Drive In, all defunct now — on Nov. 8, 1961, well before its Mainland release during the Thanksgiving holiday. But there was no red-carpet hoopla, and Presley did not attend.
He didn't show up, either, for the world premiere of another of his filmed-in-Hawai'i capers: "Girls, Girls, Girls." The memorable footnote for this film: First lady Vicky Cayetano and her piano-playing sister, Ginny Tiu, are the pig-tailed duo who portray the daughters of a fisherman.
One of the most star-lit film affairs was the press junket, akin in spirit but not scope to "Pearl Harbor," in which United Artists previewed and hyped "Revenge of the Pink Panther," the Inspector Clouseau comedy starring Peter Sellers. The screening was July 1-2, 1978, on the North Shore, with the movie shown at the Holiday Theatre in La'ie and a press junket at the Kuilima Hyatt Resort in Kahuku (now the Hilton Turtle Bay).
The dignitaries included actors Sellers, Dyan Cannon, Burt Kwouk and Herbert Lom; producer-director Blake Edwards and his wife, Julie Andrews; and composer Henry Mancini.
"Waterworld," Universal Pictures' $175 million bomb, had its world premiere at Kahilu Theatre in upcountry Waimea, on the Big Island, a quiet thank-you to the community, on July 27, 1995. Kevin Costner was invited to attend, but didn't.
"Hawaii," the sprawling film based on the James Michener novel, didn't make its world debut here, but its first Island screening was on Oct. 17, 1966, at the Kuhio Theatre, with Jocelyn Lagarde, who played Queen Malama, in attendance. For trivia buffs, this is the movie in which Bette Midler played a missionary. The week's screenings, benefiting the Friends of 'Iolani Palace, cost just $4 a ticket, with regular screening prices at $2.50 and $2.
"Air Force One" didn't debut here, but Harrison Ford, William H. Macy and other cast and crew, plus world media, were flown to Honolulu for a press junket in July 1997 at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel because Ford was already in the Islands, filming "6 Days/7 Nights."
Advertiser assistant features editor Esme Infante Nii contributed to this report.
