New Organization

To my readers,

This photo is of Mabel Thomas working the switchboards while she's in full gas mask regalia. Like Mabel, sometime it's cumbersome for me to multi-task, so I'm simplifying my life.

Blogs change. Since I have begun this blog, I have taken on other writing obligations, so, I'm going to consolidate some of them. What that means for this blog, is that I will be posting weekly (not two or three times a week as I do now) and the blogs will be longer. There also may be a repetition of information that I have posted before so I can get all the columns in line with each other.

Thanks for understanding.
Aloha,
Dee

Hilo Hattie

When you mention Hilo Hattie to “old timers,” many will smile and recall her signature comic hula, “The Cockeyed Mayor of Kaunakakai.” There is little connection to Clara Inter, the Waipahu Elementary School teacher. But she was both.

The dry facts are these: Hilo Hattie was born Clarissa "Clara" Haili on October 28, 1901. She married Theodore Inter in 1930; they were divorced in 1946. In 1950, she married bandleader Carlyle Nelson.

In the midst of her life, Clara legally became “Hilo Hattie” in 1941, danced her comic hula to sold out audiences all over the mainland, and her radio show performances were heard in most of the English-speaking world.

So, what did she do during the war? Let’s backtrack a bit.
In 1936 Clara performed with the Royal Hawaiian Girls Glee Club at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, the Waialae Country Club, and on occasion she danced at the then-new Kodak Hula Show. She continued teaching during the day and entertaining at night. In the mid-1930’s she went to a teacher’s convention in Portland, Oregon. On the ship home, Clara first performed a new song by Don McDiarmid’s called, “When Hilo Hattie Does the Hilo Hop.”

The story goes that McDiarmid wrote the song for a sultry young dancer, and that two years later, when he took over at the Royal, that dancer was slated to perform, but feel ill right before show time. That night Clara was performing with the Girls’ Glee Club, and McDiarmid reluctantly asked her to step in. She did ---and was called back for five encores. With that, Clara became “Hilo Hattie” and her signature over-sized muumuu, lauhala hat and her rascal comic hula.
Her next mainland trip was in 1939 where she performed at the St. Regis Hotel in New York to a sold out engagement. Life was good for Clara; then she came home to the news that the Territory’s Board of Education was giving her an ultimatum. S he had to choose between teaching and performing. She opted for teaching, and went back to school to complete her teaching degree—those were here intentions.

But the war was brewing. In 1940, Harry Owens, hired Clara to perform with his orchestra and took her to Los Angeles, where he got her in the movies. In fact, it was when she was signed to perform in Song of the Islands, that Harry Owens insisted she legally change her name and officially become Hilo Hattie.

Owens and Clara were headed home when war broke out. The two were asked to stay in San Francisco to entertain at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, where many sailors were departing for the Pacific. And for the duration of the war, they had a 26-week contract at the hotel and their show was broadcast to over 600 radio stations and Armed Forces Radio. Owens and Hattie spent all their “spare time” on the road doing benefit shows for the Red Cross, USO, hospitals and military bases.
And what about that Hilo Hattie clothing line? Well, in 1971, while she was at the, the Merry Monarch Festival, Evelyn and Richard Margolis of Kaluna Hawaii Sportswear approached her for permission to design a line of 'Hilo Hattie' clothing. Kaluna, already a million dollar business, purchased a manufacturing plant in Hilo, bought the rights to Hilo Hattie’s name, and, as they say, “The rest is history.”

Clara H. Nelson, “Hilo Hattie,” and her husband spent their last years in their home in Kaaawa. In 1978 she was presented with the first Sidney Grayson Award, for lifetime achievement at the Na Hoku Hanohano Awards. The next year, at age 77, Hilo Hattie died She is buried in the Punchbowl Cemetery (Clara H. Nelson, Section U, Grave 653-A, interred on Dec. 17, 1979).

Hilo Hattie, the well-loved aunty with a lauhala hat tied on her head.

Patton's List, Sources

I am so grateful when readers contact me with questions, corrections or comments. When it comes to publishing such delicate and personal information accuracy is key.

A reader emailed me regarding Patton's list. I want to share some of the references I used for that blog.

While I used the National Archives for research, I am assuming that the USS Arizona library also contains a copy of this document.

Again, please know, I am sensitive to publishing information about individuals and want to make sure it is accurate.

“Hostage Plan Revealed”
June Watanabe
Honolulu Star Bulletin, February 27, 1984 p 1


In May 1983, while doing research at the National Archives for the USS Arizona Memorial, Michael Slackman, historian for the memorial, discovered a document titled, “A General Staff Study/Plan: Initial Seizure of Orange Nationals.” (“Orange” was the term used for Japan before World War II.) The document was prepared by George S. Patton while he was stationed in Hawaii as the Chief of Military Intelligence. The plan, drawn up as ordered by Major General Hugh Drum, was discarded and considered obsolete even before the war started.

The plan listed 128 men to be “seized.” The plan called for making the telephones of the targeted men inoperative through use of busy signals. Then, 80 soldiers were to board trucks and arrest the civilians who lived in the Honolulu area. Other arrangements were made for picking up eight diplomats at the Japanese Consulate.

Once arrested, the men were to be held at the Schofield Barracks hospital. Among the men named and what positions they held after the war are: Wilfred Tsukiyama, first Chief Justice of the Hawaii State Supreme Court; Masaji Marumoto, Assistant Justice. Tomekichi “Tom” Okino, Circuit Court Judge of the Big Island; Benjamin Tashiro, Circuit Court Judge of Kauai; Toshio Ansai, Maui County Councilman and State Legislator; Noboru Miyake, State Senator from Kauai; Thomas Sakakihara, Big Island District Judge, Territorial Legislator; Y. Baron Goto, Vice-Chancellor of East-West Center; Ernest Hunt, the only Caucasian Buddhist priest in Hawaii; Fredrick Makino, founder of Hawaii Hochi.



APPENDIX: Patton’s list

Plan: by George S. Patton, Assistant Chief of Staff for G2, Hawaiian Department. (1935 and 1937)

The secret routing sheet attached to that document and the document itself were declared obsolete by the Hawaiian Army Department Chief of Staff in May 1940 and it was relegated to the Headquarters Depository.

128 Japanese names were listed. Two were Caucasian: A. Bornhold and Ernest Hunt.

All were community leaders.

Medical: Harry Kurisaki, Iga Mori, Isoto Dewa, Chinami Hasegawa, Tokue Takahashi, Kinji Uchida, Tomizo Katsunuma, Kiyoshi Hosoi, James Kuninobu, Toshitsugu Monuki, Rijuichi Ippongsugi, Robert Kimura, Noboru Asahina, George Nakagawa, Napoleon Nakamura, Richard Arizuma, Bunpachi Fujioka, Saburo Hayashi, Masao Kubo, Ernest Kuwahara, Eiji Yoshimura, Howard Honda, Haruto Kanno, Tsutomo Nitta, Satoru Hirae.

Business men: Manzuchi Hashimoto, Takaichi Miyamoto, George Otani, Tsunetaro Harada, Uichi Yamane, Chusaburo Haruki, Shoichi Kawasaki, Sukeichi Koide, Tokuji Onodera, Andy Yamashiro, Matsutaro Yamashiro, Tadashi Ashino, Hiroshi Morohashi, Yoshito Onoh, Tamotsu Matsumura, Katsumi Tsukino, Juro Fujikawa, Sajiro Nakai, Totaro Matsui, Sadato Morifuji, Daiso Sumida, Taketo Iwahara, Miyozuchi Komeya, Taichi Sato, Mankichi Goto, Genasku Nakamura, Shunichi Nekomoto, George Oda, Matsujiro Otani, Seizo Yamamoto, Peter Fukunaga, Tamaichi Tanaka, Charles Hasabe, Seiji Iwasa, Kichitoro Sekiya, Tomoji Matsumura, Nobuichi Kobayashi, Noboru Miyake, Kuwaichi Nonin.

Religion: Zenkyo Komagata, Misao Isobe, Masato Kawasaki, Shigemaru Miyao, Nishu Kobayashi, Gikyo Kuchiba, Koin Watanabe, Sensho Fukuda, Sengaku Tanaka, Tomiji Kimura, Tooru Matsudaira, Takie Okumura, Umetaro Okumura, Nissho Takao, Jitsuyei Tanjo, Yoshimi Tatsuguchi, A. Bornhold, Ernest Hunt, Matagoro Mikuni, Satoru Takeda, Jitsuyuki Goshi, Hatsuhiko Kaokutsu, Hiseki Miyasaki, Shoshun Ouchi, Katsuon Takumei.

Education: George Kunitomo, Armand Takimoto, Genjin Tatsutani, Takeo Hirozawa, Buntetsu Miyamoto, Y. Baron Goto, Gashu Higa, Shobun Ohtani.

Japanese Diplomats: Masayoshi Asaga, Shichiro Iiyama, Tadaki Iizuka, Masayuki Kotoshirodo, Yasumasa Murata, Takichi Sakai, Teijiro Tamura, Tsunehiro Yamazaki.

Law and Government: Wilfred Tsukiyama, Masaji Marumoto, Robert Murakami, Tomekichi Okino, Thomas Sakaihara, Norbori Miyake, Tomichi Ouye, Benjamin Tashiro, Andy Yamashiro, Juichi Doi, Thomas Sakakihara, Toshio Ansai, George Kamei.

Publishing: Tetsuo Toyama, Masao Sogawa, Jiro Hayakawa, Senchu Tsuchiya, Yasutaro Soga, Shinatsu Kurihara, Fredrick Makino, Saburo Hayashi, Thomas Kawahara.

NOTE: Another reader told me that the photo used of Patton at the beginning of that blog was of him in Europe, not Hawaii. Yes, that is true, and I hope it did not cause confusion. The photo of Patton with his Polo Team was taken in Hawaii, the prominent photo of him was much later. I posted the photo because to most people this is the image of the iconic general. Thank you, reader for pointing this out.