E.K. Fernandez Shows marks centennial
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer
As the story goes, 20-year-old "Eddie" Fernandez sometime in 1903 began traveling around to O'ahu plantation camps at night and entertaining workers by projecting scenic silent films onto bed sheets.
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Fernandez — affectionately known as "Keiki Ki'i Oni'oni," or the moving picture kid — later set up an open-air theater in his back yard and charged admission. He branched out to "talkies," fairs, carnivals, circuses, rodeos, stage shows, burlesque, boxing matches, bullfights and any other attraction he thought would draw a crowd.
Company president Scott Fernandez, left, grandson of founder E.K. Fernandez, and 55-year employee Porpilio "Pop" Tamala stand near the carnival's Pharaoh's Fury ride.
From those humble beginnings sprang an outdoor amusement empire that marks its centennial this year, an integral part of the Hawai'i landscape that some say has touched everyone who grew up in these Islands in the past century.
In other states, numerous traveling tent outfits with Ferris wheels, sideshows and games of skill have always competed for amusement dollars. But here, major outdoor attractions have invariably meant one thing: E.K. Fernandez Shows.
"The name is synonymous with carnival in Hawai'i," said DeSoto Brown, author and Bishop Museum archivist. "Even if you don't know who the guy was, you know the company."
As it has for half a century, E.K. Fernandez will operate the carnival midway at this year's 50th State Fair, which opens Thursday.
Fernandez held his first circus and carnival in Honolulu at 'A'ala Park in 1915. That extravaganza consisted of 20 performers and six acts (star attraction: "Alice Teddy" the skating bear). By the end of World War II, Edwin Kane "E.K." Fernandez, was being called "the Barnum of the Pacific," and E.K. Fernandez Shows had become a regular fixture in communities throughout the Islands, Asia and the U.S. Mainland.
One of the company's earliest posters.
Brown remembers seeing the great showman at the Punahou Carnival in the late 1960s, not long before his death. Even then, he said, Fernandez presented a regal, commanding presence, dressed in his white suit and hat with a lei band.
Although many of the early dates and details associated with his operation have been blurred by time, Brown said the significance of the name E.K. Fernandez is that for a century everyone in Hawai'i has been familiar with it to one degree or another.
"I've taken all my grandkids to E.K. Fernandez carnivals for years," said Fran Maier, 82, of Kailua. "The first time I took them, Scott, who was 6 at the time, rounded the corner and saw the midway lights and shouted, 'Oh — this is the best day of my life!' Kids always love a carnival."
Dates Times General admission
As part of its extended 100th anniversary celebration, the company has launched a two-phase search for former employees as well as customers with favorite photos and stories from the company's past.
50th State Fair at Aloha Stadium
Erstwhile workers will get free admission, gifts, refreshments and unlimited free rides during a VIP Preview Night at the 50th State Fair on Thursday. Folks submitting photos and stories will get the same VIP treatment on opening night at the Hawai'i State Farm Fair.
In typical carnival fashion, random winners from both groups will get to roll the dice on Aug. 3 for a chance at winning $100,000.
"What we're trying to find out is what they remember," said Donna Smith, vice president of the company, who said nearly 1,000 former employees or relatives of deceased workers have contacted the company with their stories.
"My late sister, Wenonah Kai Zwecker, was the 'Headless Girl' in a sideshow attraction when the E.K. Fernandez Circus was in Hilo in 1938 or '39," wrote Henry Kai of Honolulu.
"I was employed in August 1938 as a hula dancer," submitted Annie Ka'a'a, also of Honolulu. Ka'a'a, who is now 90 and still dances the hula, said she can't wait to kick up her heels at the VIP bash on Thursday.
Porpilio Tamala worked for the company more than five decades ago. But Tamala won't be getting a party invitation. He doesn't need one. He still works for the company.
Photo courtesy of Senda Studio, Lihu'e
"I love my job — the whole shebang," said Tamala, 75, affectionately known as "Pop" along the midway, where he is easily the most experienced of the company's 50 full-time and 200 part-time employees.
The All-American Rodeo, circa 1934, was among the different shows E. K. Fernandez brought to Hawai'i.
Tamala was 20 when he followed his childhood dream to join the circus and went to work for E.K. Fernandez. First assignment: elephant cleanup duty. He has since mastered every carnival setup task imaginable, but he's recognized as the operation's tent specialist.
Tamala's tenure has spanned three generation of Fernandez bosses: E.K., who died in 1970; his son Kane Fernandez, who ran the show for more than three decades; and Scott Fernandez, 38, who became president of the company after Kane died in 2001 at age 64.
Each man had a different management style, according to Tamala. E.K. was a brilliant idea man who expected things to be done right, but who wasn't much on details. Kane was the entrepreneur who was expert at delegating authority. Scott is a hands-on boss who knows every aspect of the operation inside-out.
Private family photos
One person who sometimes gets overlooked in the historic shuffle, said Fernandez, is his mother, Linda Fernandez, who owns the operation and was instrumental in building the business with her husband.
Clyde Beatty appeared with lions and tigers in the 1940s. E.K. Fernandez put on his first circus in 1915.
Bathing beauties on a fire truck advertised a 1948-49 E.K. Fernandez circus. By the end of World War II, Fernandez was called "the Barnum of the Pacific."
"She is an unbelievable entrepreneur," Fernandez said. "She's blazing the trail right now. She built the company's game operations herself. She's an amazing detail person."
It was his mother who showed him the ropes and taught him about such things as CGS (cost of goods sold) and labor percentage reports by the time he was 12. Earnings from her game operations saved the company from bankruptcy during one particularly bad year in the 1960s, he said.
These days the margin of error is thinner than ever. Fernandez oversees a world of modern attractions where, at just under $200,000, his latest cotton candy trailer cost more than his grandfather's most lavish midway. He speaks of the time, one day soon, when the main attraction tent will be air-conditioned.
"E.K. would have been fascinated by tents without poles," he said, explaining how the modern X-cables can hold up the biggest tents through corner tension.
Where once it would take half a week and raw muscle to set up a Ferris wheel, today's model is assembled in a fraction of the time using its own built-in hydraulics system. Fernandez seems most comfortable standing among the rides and concession stands.
"This is my newest scar," he said, proudly pointing to a minor laceration on his elbow, earned while setting up the Express ride for the 50th State Fair, which runs though June 15.
Ironically, one thing that hasn't changed since the days of his grandfather is the public's demand for constant change.
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"It's what's called 'the escalating zero point,'" he said. "Kane knew it, I know it. People always say, 'Wha'cha got new?' Their appetite for change is insatiable. They always want something different."
Scott Fernandez, 38, grandson of E.K. Fernandez, became president of the company after his father, Kane Fernandez, died in 2001 at age 64.
This year the difference comes in the form of new rides, a Great Ape Encounter & Chimpanzee Show and a bicycle stunt team. Next season it will be something else.
At the same time, the public expects some midway experiences to remain unchanged. People are uncomfortable if a carnival doesn't have a Ferris wheel, says Fernandez. It's expected. The same goes for cotton candy — which ranks among the carnival's supreme money makers, considering that a cone consists of 3 tablespoons of colored sugar and sells for $1.75.
Part of that comfortable sameness is Emeleta "Eme" Ho'opi'i, 62, who has been spinning cotton candy with E.K. Fernandez for 36 years, and on a typical good day twirls through a half-ton of sugar.
Like "Pop" Tamala, Ho'opi'i has no intention of walking away any time soon.
What's the attraction?
"It's the people," she said. "In this job, you meet all kinds — good, bad, funny, fascinating, all kinds. That's what I like most. The people."
Even Ho'opi'i is not immune to the demands for something new and different. So this year, for the first time, in addition to cotton candy, she will be selling deep-fat-fried Twinkies on a stick.
"I won't be eating any, though," she said. "But then, I don't eat cotton candy, either."
• • •
Highlights
• E.K. Fernandez Shows has worn out more than a dozen Ferris wheels over the years — including one Double Decker Sky Wheel. Virtually all of the company's original rides have gone on to the great carnival in the sky. But one small ride at this year's 50th State Fair — Boats — has been around since the '50s.
• In 1956, to the outrage of the Hawaiian Humane Society, E.K. Fernandez brought bullfighting to Honolulu Stadium. The venture was reportedly cut short after so many matadors were gored that someone suggested forming the SPCB (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Bullfighters).
A Fernandez Show poster.
• The Honolulu Zoo's first pachyderm was Daisy the circus elephant, purchased with money raised by public subscription and donated to the zoo in 1916. Daisy distinguished herself by clearing boulders from Kapi'olani Park.
• In 1949 E.K. Fernandez signed an exclusive agreement with the Honolulu Junior Chamber of Commerce to operate the "49th State Fair," even though Hawai'i was still a territory. It was thought that Hawai'i would one day be the 49th state. After Alaska got there first, the name was promptly changed to the "50th State Fair."
• In the mid-20th century, E.K. Fernandez Shows traveled to Japan, China, the Philippines and India. In 1952 Fernandez' All-American Circus played to 1.35 million people in Tokyo in one month alone.
• Rose and Margaret Nearing were a balancing wire act brought to Hawai'i by E.K. Fernandez in 1927. In 1930, the 18-year-old Rose was crowned Miss O'ahu. Margaret went on to make motion pictures in Hollywood. Rose remained in Hawai'i and, in 1933, became Mrs. E.K. Fernandez.
• E.K. Fernandez was a Punahou grad. But his professional association with the school began in 1936 with a carnival that had one ride — a Merry-Go-Round.
Today, the Punahou Carnival is the company's biggest two-day attraction, drawing more than 30,000 people per day.
• Because Mainland circuses and carnivals tended to be summer attractions, E.K. Fernandez invited major names to perform in Hawai'i in the off season. "All the famous names you've ever heard in circus would come here," said Donna Smith, company vice president. "Emmett Kelly the clown, Clyde Beatty the animal tamer, and the Wallendas tightrope act, to name a few."
Correction: According to newspaper accounts from the 1930s, Daisy the elephant was purchased with money raised by public subscription and donated to the zoo in 1916. A previous version of this story incorrectly said the elephant was donated.
