Actress Mitzi Gaynor will be the star attraction for two events on Kaua'i the first weekend of October. The first is a private grand opening reception to celebrate the reopening of the St. Regis Princeville Resort after an extensive renovation.

On Oct. 4, the Kaua'i Visitors Bureau is presenting "An Afternoon with Mitzi Gaynor" at the Kaua'i Marriott Resort & Beach Club, during which time Gaynor, 78, will reflect on the filming of "South Pacific" and her career. The event, which is public, will benefit the Kaua'i Museum. Admission is $20.

The Kaua'i Visitors Bureau also is planning more Hawai'i tie-ins as a national tour of the "South Pacific" musical visits some 24 cities over the next year.

Many of the West Coast cities where the tour will go are important sources of visitors to Hawai'i.

The tour began yesterday in San Francisco and will proceed across the country with shows scheduled in 18 states, concluding next Aug. 8.

Sunsets, romance and natural beauty still draw visitors to Kaua'i each year in search of the mythic "South Pacific" made famous by Hollywood five decades ago.

The musical remains a marketing draw for Hawai'i, and events being planned for the 50th anniversary of the film are like a "million-dollar economic stimulus package" for the island's tourism industry, said Sue Kanoho, executive director of the Kaua'i Visitors Bureau.

"It's timeless," added state tourism liaison Marsha Wienert. "You get the same reaction when you watch that film today that you did then. You can't buy that kind of emotional marketing."

Wienert said the scenery, cross-cultural romances, and World War II backdrop of the musical create an atmosphere that fosters a desire to visit the Islands.

While the exact economic impact of the movie can't be quantified, Kanoho and Wienert don't need the statistics to tell them that the nostalgic film still makes members of the audience think: "I wish I was able to be there."

Tourism officials do have hard numbers to show that Kaua'i needs the boost during a difficult year for tourism. As of July, Kaua'i's year-to-date visitor arrivals were down 14.2 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Kanoho notes that today's visitors to Kaua'i's north shore can still see largely unchanged natural beauty that includes Hanalei Bay, Lumaha'i Beach, and Mount Makana — the mythical island of Bali Hai.

"The Kaua'i Movie Book," written by Chris Cook and published in 1996, includes some of the business side of the movie, filmed in 1957-58, including:

• The location crew that came to Kaua'i from Hollywood numbered 185.

• In the pre-DVD extras world, the studio shot numerous TV and radio features on the making of the movie.

• Choreographer LeRoy Prinz told the Kaua'i Chamber of Commerce: " 'South Pacific' will, we feel ... open Hollywood's eyes to the artistic advantages of making pictures ... on Kaua'i."

• 20th Century Fox set a budget of $5 million for the production — unheard of for a musical film at that time — and $1 million for publicity alone.

One of those ready to compare then and now with some veracity is semi-retired O'ahu schoolteacher Lee Thomas.

In 1957, Thomas was teaching English at 'Iolani School when a friend talked him into showing up for a cattle-call audition to choose a group of film sailors to appear with Mitzi Gaynor in a musical based on the popular Broadway show.

Thomas and friend showed up at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel's grove to find a long line of men auditioning. After two callbacks, he found himself in a group of about a dozen who got parts in the movie and would be flown to Kaua'i, where they mingled with the actors, crews and local people who worked on the film.

Thomas — who was 24 and single — got the time off from school and recalls living in the Coco Palms hotel for 3 1/2 weeks of filming.

"It was kind of a heady experience," Thomas said.

Thomas earned $100 a week to play one of the sailors. That compared to Thomas' annual salary at Iolani of $1,850, which included an apartment.

Thomas recalled the crew explaining that they went for a type or a look, not the best dancer or even the best singer.

He said the voice in the film was dubbed over his own: "You don't even need to know how to sing well."

His big moment in the movie was a full-screen shot during "There is Nothing Like a Dame," singing that he was "hungry as the wolf felt when he met Red Riding Hood."

Now 76, Thomas fondly remembers that time, although his primary claim to fame has been a teaching career that spans more than half a century, a long marriage, three children and five grandchildren.

Kaua'i's Kanoho said people still call to get directions to that beach "where she (Gaynor) washed that man right out of her hair — it says a lot that 50 years later, it's still in people's minds."

Thomas is flying over to Kaua'i next month for the 50th festivities, where he'll see Gaynor on her first visit to the island since taking part in the filming.

"Our cast and crew had a fabulous time filming there on location, and it was undoubtedly the most beautiful setting I've ever had the pleasure to work in," Gaynor said.

And while the trip may be boosting tourism, Thomas looks forward to the event as another chapter in his flirtation with film fame.