Don Ho "King of Waikiki" (1930-2007)

kDonald Tai Loy "Don" Ho (1930-2007),  Born August 13, 1930, Hawaiian, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch, and German descent. The iconic Hawaiʻi-born entertainer who paved the way for recording, television, and live shows as a star both locally and nationally for Hawaii Entertainers. Don always had a gift of making you feel very special and his focus and way of speaking made you feel like you were the only one in the room with him while on a stage in front of many people. He had so much kindness and conversations would be well led and he talked a bit slowly to make it feel like he was spending so much time with you too even if for a bit. The way Don did things is he made a plan and saw the path that he felt he had no choice to take and he took it as a matter of going out and doing something out of necessity. In a way its like there are other choices, but this is the one that has to be done for what I valued, like he wanted to know more about music and not knowing music himself he taught himself. Don Ho didn't come from a musical background, but he found success through hard work and audience engagement.  His shows were known for their interactive nature, encouraging the crowd to sing along with him. This infectious energy left a lasting impression on visitors, making him a cherished part of many people's Hawaiian vacations.

Don Ho graduated from Kamehameha Schools (Class 1949) and would come to the alumni Lu’aus and there is a picture of him with Marlene Sai (Class 1959), Terry Plunkett (Class 1951), at the 1965 alumni get together. Don would head over to Springfield College in Massachusetts on a football scholarship until had his first winter experience where he wanted to come home. Don would do all sorts of odd jobs of Truck Driver, Taxi Driver, Construction, Bars, while he sort of drifted towards what many others would do and head to college where he would graduate from University of Hawaii Manoa with a Bachelor’s degree in sociology. He completed his Air Force ROTC accession to be commissioned as a pilot and he did become an Airforce Pilot because the Military said they needed young guys in service and before he knew it he was a pilot with the Military Air Transport Service in the Korean War Piloting C-97s. With all the majors getting old Don moved up and would approach that same mentality to his performances as an Entertainer. Don left the Air Force when his mom got sick and began helping his mother manage the workers at the restaurant-lounge “Honey’s” in Kaneohe and that's where he would start getting to know more people and identifying talented folks like Marlene as he would Entertain there. 

Dons motto was “”

Don Ho was known as “Mr Waikiki” because he made his career there and brought Hawaiian music to the masses by making sure the crowds would all sing his songs with him. It wasn’t just a show that he did, but it was a whole bunch of entertainment with lots of engagement the way it used to be and because of that he left his mark on so many visitors' hearts. People would think of his show and what they learned on their trip and think of his voice and the relaxing time of fun with drinking that happened when Don said “Suck em up”. He didn’t like to leave the islands, but knew that promotion and record sales depended on mainland appearances for income from concerts and to make it big in the age of pre-internet like Los Angeles and New York where all the Hollywood action was happening. No matter where he went or how successful he got he was humble and didn’t treat it as anything special and looked forward to coming to his home Hawaii. On the mainland Don Ho was also joked as “Hawaiian Elvis”, but many saw him as more like Dean Martin mixed in with a Hawaiian Star that brought joy to the crowds every night he did a show. He felt an obligation to all his workers who’d be out of a job, so he would work as much as he could, because if he didn’t go for one night he'd be worried about them.

“There is a good, competitive spirit among us entertainers here. I really think it’s healthy. It’s a kind of thing everybody suspects, so everybody tries harder. I think there is room for plenty of entertainers. Waikiki is swinging. I’m happy to see so many performers. I mean, there is enough room for all of us. Who the hell wants to come to my show every night, anyway? For its size, I think Hawaii is No. 1.” - Don Ho

Beyond his entertaining persona, Don Ho fostered a close-knit community around him. He saw himself as a father figure to his staff and young musicians, encouraging them to enter the business. This paternalistic approach stemmed from his own lack of a strong musical background and his desire to create a supportive environment for aspiring artists. When young entertainers went to him they saw it as “The School of Don Ho” or seeing “Uncle Don” and treated him with the eager eyes for the entertainment business or as an actual uncle. However, this role wasn't without challenges. While he readily offered jobs and support, situations like dealing with staff's personal problems, especially dating issues, presented difficulties. He genuinely cared about his "kids" and wanted to guide them, but some situations likely went beyond the scope of a professional relationship. Don Ho really wanted to make a place where it would encourage youngsters to get into the business and treat them all as his kids. He had a bit of a hard time though because while jobs could be handled easily or people he knew that he needed some help he would just call the staff for the check book, but it would be hard when there were dating problems where he really felt like he was their dad. He thought Sam Kapu Jr. (Queen’s Surf) was the next Alfred Apaka, Al Lopaka and the Surfettes would be big, and Robin Wilson would be a Hawaii star. His vision was that senior Entertainers were the Kumu-Entertainers and the support they played would help as a role model in youngsters careers. 

“I think what we’ve done will help our kids here. I feel the kids know they can go to the Mainland to perform. But they’ve been scared for too long. After all, no one really has been able to travel extensively to the Mainland before. Someday, I’ll have to write a book so any kid following me won’t make the same mistakes. When I made my first appearance on the Mainland, at the Club Bora Bora (a now-defunct San Francisco nitery), I wasn’t afraid. But I was among friends, and we were sold out. Even without friends, though, you shouldn’t go if you’re afraid.” - Don Ho

He would go on to hire a whole bunch of people who he saw who really wanted to succeed and put that sort of effort like Duke Ching who was hired by Don Ho back in the 60's for a gig. He also hired Gabby Pahinui as well. Viola Gamberdella was hired as a photographer at HHV in the dome to shoot photos of the tourists. He would also go on to tutor Kalapana and the singer Mackey Feary shared the same birthday and would perform together if they could meet up. Don gave so many musicians, singers, dancers, of yesterday and some today an opportunity to perform on his stage while he was still alive. He loved the people and he loved the islands with all his heart. 

The Don Ho Show would be located at the Polynesian Palace (Reef Towers Hotel)

 

Duke Kahanamoku the Don Ho Show would advertise a show Featuring the Ali’is: Al Akana, Rudy Aquino, Benny Chong, Manny Lagodlagod and Joe Mundo. It would come with a complete dinner with exotic drinks while telling people “Come as you are”. A promoter by the name of Kimo Wilder McVay saw Don at a nightclub called Duke’s and caught the attention of record company officials. He was charismatic, a man with charm, funny and sweet, and was a ladies man, so much so there was one night he asked all the grandmas to stand up and he kissed them all a good night. 

In 1966, Tiny Bubbles, that was a song that Don Performed and it was a song written by Leon Pober and that song took off like a rocket with his album with the same name. The Record had Born Free on side one as the promoters felt it had a way better song to be number one at that time and put Tiny Bubbles on side two, so when Tiny Bubbles took off it really knocked them off their feet. As a single it peaked at #57 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #14 on the Easy Listening charts in March 1967 and would later on be his signature song and did Don end up hating singing that song, because if he didn’t the crowd would ask where is the song “Tiny Bubbles” or the cover of Kui Lee’s “I’ll Remember You”. But surely everyone knew the lyrics and would sing along and that's what made things ingrained into peoples memory was that engagement, because simply selling the act of singing wasn’t enough to be saleable. After his hit the door opened for him to put him in a situation where he was finally able to buy his family the home, so his hard work really had finally paid off.  

By this time he would work every night except Monday to spend time with the Family and for three months out of twelve he would be working on the mainland. When at home Don would try to stay in shape by swimming in his pool at home and lift weights with his son, because he would have public appearances and the cameras added pounds. His family understood the hard work involved and how he cared about those who worked with him and would ensure his family with the $500,000 (1960s) he brought home per year. (calculated for inflation. 5 million dollars a year). When they started charging more at Duke’s there were many people that would be priced out and that was about 50 percent of the clientele. So he knew how there were Spence Weaver’s boys at the Queen’s Surf where he would choose to perform thinking of the people there and the clientele who could go to see him there. Those who couldn’t afford Duke’s could go to the lanai at Queen’s Surf. 

Tiki Culture in Hawaii was already well on its way into carving its own Hawaii-Tiki that was so different from anything the mainland had to offer and that only went further with the music that changed and it really had its Hawaii style in the sound. Don Ho's music became part of pop culture in the United States and he knew that people would come to Hawaii thinking their version of it, but he also knew his songs were getting popular with Tiki and when people left the island they had a completely different idea of it. He knew that Tavana was changing his Polynesian act to fit the region and the Polynesian Revue was evolving with the times and he knew the songs had to evolve to make people go to Hawaii with the idea of Hawaii and then go back with a different take from the Hawaiian perspective. When he played in the mainland he saw peoples patios were being fixed up with their way of doing “Tiki” and they had Mai Tai’s as a popular drink with mainland Aloha Shirts that were called Hawaiian Shirts and they lacked the Hawaiian part. He kept on thinking about what sort of idea he as an Entertainer would want to send as his message to the people what the dream Hawaii was like when they came to the islands and specifically his show.

Waikiki started to become bigger and tall buildings would come up around The Waikikian where the feeling of things started from that and the Tahitian Lanai. Arthur Lyman used to perform to give that feeling of Hawaiian-Jazz that was so essential to the feeling of Old Waikiki and the Hawaii-Tiki. Don Ho was the popular culture guru to make Hawaii always the it place and have people coming back for more. But now, Lyman is gone (The Hawaiian Jazz Man), Martin Denny is gone (Father of Exotica), Duke is gone (Ambassador of Aloha), Don Ho is gone (Mr Waikiki), the Waikikian gone, and the Queen’s Surf gone the people that were able to make a vibrant culture of Hawaii and have it be the face of what the mainlander experienced would be a way for them to absorb the differences Hawaii had to offer and that was the Hawaii Experience. Overtime Hawaii hasn’t taken those sorts of chances by changing things up and offering new things and making and creating as well as navigating the local crowd to bring things to a golden time, which is crazy, because it seemed like that growth in the people and in Hawaii would keep on going with people having an authentic love for Hawaiians and the creative fields they were exploring and embrace the local lifestyle and all that jazz, but now it is starting to look like everything else with a safe business investment of land properties and that's a real waste with the creative progress Hawaii has made and the legacy Don Ho has left with how he showed people how to conquer the mainland.

Don was the face of Hawaii Hollywood along with many notable others that would go to “Conquer the Mainland” as they put it. Don would go on his trips and always bring back new ideas for the local market so that it could compete with whatever was on the mainland and do so in chunks. Don Ho wasn't just a performer; he was a strategic thinker. He recognized himself, and others, as the "faces of Hawaii in Hollywood" and tasked himself with "conquering the mainland" as many other locals did back in the day. However, this mission wasn't about blind imitation. He understood the potential threat to Hawaiian culture and actively sought ways to adapt mainland trends for the local market. So he was well aware about how home was being affected and he kind of kept that in the back of his mind as he was doing business, because he was always thinking about all sorts of things and comparing them to back home in Hawaii to see what he could learn out there and help Hawaii survive going forward in the world of entertainment. The lounges that had a sit around and suck em up atmosphere stuck with the whole "Exotica" genre and Jungle feel. Polynesian and Latin merged as the standard that wasn’t very Hawaii, but that just meant there was room in Hawaii for a Polynesian and Pop with a higher beats per minute like: 80–99 BPM, 100–115 BPM, 116–140 BPM. But, for Don it was that restaurant-lounge mix that had that very social aspect about it and that would have his songs going at a slow and singable like Tiny Bubbles that was 104 BPM, but sometimes he would slower the beats in his head and play it slower or let the audience catch up and it was a back and forth exchange through the music. Don didn’t like watching videos of himself or hearing himself on the microphone singing because he didn’t like being seen as a singer and actually he didn't even like the sound of his own voice. Although many will say that the man knew what he was doing. That's how he got so far in people's memories by adapting all the time like that, but he didn’t usually bring up things like that because he was busy trying to chase these little things called Spin-offs. 

Spin-offs in this day and age are like the modern day Passive-Income strategy, but spin off sounds so much better as it implies it's based on a larger project. They were important in the entertainment business, because people had to have multiple streams of income going in and singing alone wouldn’t do it, the song deals wouldn’t do it and merchandise would just be the starting line of it all. The royalties would play a role and so would the annuities with contracts of making money off of that fame that was so rare in that time with monoculture, because if people knew Don Ho the whole world would be aware of Don Ho. This would mean huge money from the mainland and even more globally, but that was back then, with the internet the game has changed. Talking about todays way of living the dream of a being a star in the limelight it's about Internet fame where it's more about being part of the right network and gathering a strong online fan base than gaining it from the ground up offline live show engagement. But knowing Don his friend would tell me that he knows that he would find a new way to deal with such new problems because that was Don. Thinking about it he would probably just stream it if he were living today and have people pulled on his stage for online people to see and insist on the kisses and get the conversations from the green room and share stories and good wishes over a bottle of champagne. Part of his mission was “Keeping Hawaii Competitive”, he viewed his trips to the mainland that was one fourth of the year as a must. They weren't just about promotion; they were fact-finding goldeneye missions like a Hawaii Trend spotting Spy, he constantly observed trends and brought back new ideas to keep Hawaii's entertainment scene competitive. He championed Hawaii and making sure Hawaii was always making something new was central to his vision; it was almost like he was preparing to make a “School of Don Ho”.

Don Ho Statue Dedication (Bronze) at the International Market Place was held on Sunday August 13, 2017,  1:30 PM on Level 1 at the Banyan Court. The 500 pound Statue was commissioned by Taubman Properties and was depicted by sculptor Kim Duffett and it unveiled beneath the historic banyan tree at the Kalakaua Avenue entrance. There were many that criticized the statue as an art piece that didn’t look much like his body, but still appreciated that such a work was allowed to be at the International Market Place. The historical event was coordinated with Cha Thompson. Don would say “If they ever make a statue of me, make sure I’m 6-2, 175 pounds, with lots of hair”. Music was played through the afternoon and evening by: Nathan Aweau (Don’s Bassist), Kimo Kahoano, Henry Kapono, Nina Keali‘iwahamana, Karen Keawehawai'i, Melveen Leed, and Marlene Sai performed. Haumea Ho (Don Hoʻs widow) danced beautifully for the crowds.