I received several interesting comments from readers regarding my columns about the movies “In Harm’s Way” (Aug. 10) and “The Descendants” (Sept. 7).

One of the photos we used in the “In Harm’s Way” story had several local newsmen standing around John Wayne. KHON2 news anchor Joe Moore said that photo had a special meaning to him.

“When I was a younger man in my 20s and 30s, I collected many books about John Wayne’s movie career,” Moore told me. “One of them had that photo in it.

“On a rainy Sunday in 1978, I happened to be looking through some of those books and spotted my friend, Tom Moffatt, in that photo.

“I took the book to a professional photographer and had him make a blowup of the photo, then gave it to Moffatt. He’d never seen it. He had it framed, and displayed it on his office wall in a position of honor right behind his desk. It remained there until he died. Most of his wall space was covered in posters from the many concerts he promoted.”

Party at the Damon house

Kawika Grant of Pearl City wrote that he was an extra in “In Harm’s Way” in a party scene at the Damon house in Moanalua, above Salt Lake.

“I literally howled in delight how you absolutely nailed the feeling of cordiality and openness we all experienced in the making of that film,” he told me.

“The set-ups for the repeated takes — a necessity in those days of no instant replay — left long breaks for mingling, and to the stars’ credit — and my great surprise — they were incredibly generous with their time and interest and friendly banter.

“You described Otto Preminger to perfection — a daunting presence at all times, and yet a man of disarming charm who could draw the best from everyone present.”

It was a social event, and Gabby Pahinui’s combo was the party’s entertainment. “Rather than playing-stopping, playing-stopping he kept the music going nonstop. The dancers kept dancing, the conversations kept flowing, while everywhere on the sidelines, Otto Preminger could be seen smiling at the scene that had emerged.

“It was a magical step back in time,” Grant says. “I have never forgotten it, and your article brought it all back to me in vivid living color today. Thanks for the memories!”

The Walker Estate

Former U.S. Attorney Michael Lilly wrote to tell me his grandparents’ house on the Pali Highway in Nuuanu appeared in the film. His grandfather, Henry Walker, was the president of Amfac at one time.

“The Walker dining room served as a Adm. Nimitz’s office, and the sitting room was his dining room in Otto Preminger’s 1965 war epic ‘In Harm’s Way.’

“I was 18 years old. I stood behind Preminger during some of the filming,” Lilly recalls.

“After a dinner scene in our sitting room, Henry Fonda, who played Nimitz’s character in the film, John Wayne and Burgess Meredith walked from the dining room into the foyer, past the Walkers’ seven-foot bronze statue of Mercury and a grand staircase, and through the library for a meeting in his office.

“The five-minute scene took three days to film,” Lilly says. “At the time ‘In Harms Way’ was being filmed, I was living at our Nuuanu home, occupying the first-floor guest room.

“Entering my room one day, I was amazed to encounter a bigger-than-life John Wayne emerging from my bathroom zipping up his fly.

“Ex-excuse me, Mr. Wayne, I stuttered politely in the presence of my number one movie idol.

“’No, sir,’ replied Wayne in his familiar drawl and with a twinkle in his eye, ‘Ex-cuuuuse me!’”

“During the filming, Wayne and my grandfather, Henry, became very friendly and spent hours together in the library discussing politics and life.

“I later watched Wayne donning his toupee in a costume area set up next door at Temple Emanu-El. It was the first time I realized my movie idol was as bald as my father!”

Cousin Ralph

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the movie “The Descendants,” from the point of view of Linda Rose Herman, who had a minor role as a grief counselor.

Matt Corboy told me he had a minor role in the film too, and had many stories from the three weeks he was in Hawaii shooting it.

In the movie, Corboy greeted George Clooney’s character (Matt King) and family at the Kauai airport. He then took them by Jeep to inspect the spectacular, controversial valley that is the subject of the film.

Should the valley be developed — and the descendants paid their portion of the proceeds — or should it be preserved?

After that, Corboy returned them to their hotel.

“George Clooney is famous for pulling pranks on set all the time,” Corboy says.

“It was the last of many takes where my character, ‘Cousin Ralph’ dropped the family off at a hotel. The director, Alexander Payne, asked me to drive really fast into the shot.

“George Clooney turned to me and said, ‘Matt, you have to really punch it, stomp on that gas pedal!’

“Well, what I didn’t know was that George had secretly put the Jeep in neutral when I wasn’t looking…so when I hit the gas, the Jeep just red lined but didn’t go anywhere.

“I could hear George howling with laughter as I finally jammed the Jeep into gear and drove into the hotel turnaround.

“What I love about Alexander Payne,” Corboy continued, “is that he really strove for authenticity in his movies. He rented a house in Manoa and lived there for six months prior to shooting just so he could absorb the spirit of Hawaii and get a local feel.

“Many scenes we shot, he would ask Kaui Hart Hemmings, who wrote the book, if everyone in the scene looked authentic and real.

“He asked me, ‘Matt Corboy’ (he always called me by my first and last name), ‘you grew up here, would you wear these clothes? Would you talk this way?’

“He really wanted to make sure everything was real. In fact, I showed up to the wardrobe fitting with some newer aloha shirts. He didn’t want any of them. He asked if I had some older shirts.

“I ended up wearing a shirt that I bought in high school, an old Cooke Street aloha shirt,” Corboy said. “He loved it because my dad had the same shirt, so we had doubles of the wardrobe on set!”

Reader requests

Alvin Yee wrote about the Peanut Lady in front of Honolulu Stadium. “There was also a Peanut Lady at the old Sears Store on Young Street. When Sears moved to Ala Moana, she set up shop there too, on the makai side upstairs. I wonder if those two Peanut Ladies are connected! I also wonder who they were.”

Do any readers know?

The Shantays and Gidgets

Todd and Claire Nicely asked about high school social clubs. She was in the “Shantays” and remembers the “Gidgets” in the 1950s and 1960s. Do any readers have stories about school social clubs?

I’m also asking readers about their favorite companies at Ala Moana Center, past or present.

Have a question or suggestion? Contact Bob Sigall, author of the five “The Companies We Keep” books at Sigall@Yahoo.com.