Summer in Hawaii in 1941 Video

I found a video titled "Summer in Hawaii in 1941" on Youtube. The url is: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvnWuJbblvg) It's an early home movie. There's no audio and the quality of the video is fair at best, but it's such a great snapshot of life on Oahu in 1941.

The description on YouTube explains that the home movie was shot by a military wife. Since there is no description of what you're seeing, I'll walk you through it.

It begins with Hilo Hattie doing her comic hula. I'm guessing that it was filmed at the original site of the Kodak Hula Show in Waikiki.

Hilo Hattie's real name was Clarissa "Clara" Haili (married name Nelson). Hilo Hattie was a singer, dancer, actress, comedian, and was a featured performer with Royal Hawaiian Orchestra; she toured the world with them and performed in their radio and TV show which was broadcast from Hawaii. Besides being a performer Clara Haili was also a school teacher at Waipahu Elementary. She's buried in the Punchbowl Cemetery (Clara H. Nelson, Section U, Grave 653-A, interred on Dec. 17, 1979). (Clara was the wife of a veteran.) For more information about Hilo Hattie, check out wikipedia. It http://www.wikipedia.org/ has a short article on her. For a more extensive profile, go to http://www.roctober.com/roctober/hilohattie.html

The next scenes are workers trimming trees, then children playing, views of East Oahu in the area of Hawaii Kai, Rabbit Island and the Blow Hole. Then you see the Kamehameha Day Parade, which is in honor of Kamehameha I (the Great) who united the Hawaiian Islands. (Kamehameha Day is June 11. It's a legal holiday in Hawaii. The statue of Kamehameha is draped with lei which are put on by volunteers in cherry pickers.)

In the parade you view the Royal Court, (you see "Kamehameha" in the red and yellow feather cape and helmet.) There are several men's and women's Hawaii Civic Organizations, bands, and riders. (The women in black Victorian dresses, hats and gloves, wearing brilliant yellow-orange ilima lei are the Daughters of Kaahumanu.

There are several shots of a woman wearing a white hat. I think the videographer was focusing on it because the band is a feather lei.

The end of the video includes views of Diamond Head, the fishing fleet, and Fort Armstrong.

PHOTO: The statue of Kamehameha the Great in Honolulu. On Kamehameha Day the statue is draped withe lei. A few days before the parade, volunteers decorate the statue. THey make the lei and drape the statue using cherry pickers. The statue was created in 1883 by Thomas R. Gould. It was moved to the present location in Honolulu in 1912.