Kauai couldn’t help falling in love with Elvis Presley 50 years ago when the release of "Blue Hawaii," the first major motion picture depicting the Garden Isle as itself, helped it earn its own starring role among world-class destinations.
Hundreds of fans are expected to turn out Saturday for "Kauai Remembers Blue Hawaii," a commemorative event sponsored by the Kauai Visitors Bureau and the County of Kauai. The event at the Kauai Marriott Resort at Kalapaki Beach will celebrate the anniversary and the effect the movie and Presley had on isle tourism. It will feature an Elvis impersonator, a screening of the movie and a tribute to the late Grace Guslander, the hotelier who ran Coco Palms Resort, where the singer held his cinematic wedding to co-star Joan Blackman at the coconut tree-framed lagoon.
"We’re expecting 300 people, but the event could draw 500 or more," said Sue Kanoho, Kauai Visitors Bureau executive director. "This is bigger than I thought. As I talk to people, they keep coming up with more stories about ‘Blue Hawaii’ or Elvis. Our visitors are really excited, too."
Kauai resident Mary Daubert, who was 10 years old when she played one of Presley’s flower girls, said she’ll be there.
"I wouldn’t miss it," Daubert said. "I’ll always remember the movie as a high point in my life."
While Daubert’s theatrical career after the movie was limited to high school plays, she said its payoff for Kauai was longer lasting.
"It really put Kauai on the big screen," said Daubert, who is now Kauai County’s public information officer.
"Blue Hawaii," the singer’s eighth movie and his biggest commercial success, was filmed on Oahu and Kauai in 1961 and debuted on Kauai in 1962. The soundtrack spent 79 weeks on Billboard’s pop album chart, including 20 weeks in the No. 1 spot. Kauai’s Coco Palms was immortalized in the film’s final 20 minutes when Presley and Blackman ride to their wedding in a flower-filled, double-hulled canoe.
"Elvis movies were always very influential," said Kevin Kern, public relations director for Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc., which is based at the Memphis, Tenn., mansion known as Graceland. "Having an Elvis movie in Hawaii was basically an hour-and-twenty-minute advertisement. He loved to be a tourist in Hawaii and did a lot to invite people there."
"Blue Hawaii" was extremely valuable to Kauai’s image as a visitor destination, said Kauai Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr.
"The fond memories of ‘Blue Hawaii’ and Elvis Presley have a special connection with Kauai and our people, and we are thrilled to see its golden anniversary celebrated," Carvalho said.
While Kauai has been a film location for about 60 major movies and TV shows, Kanoho said that filmmakers typically have used its natural beauty to portray other locations. "South Pacific," "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Jurassic Park, "The Thorn Birds," "Six Days, Seven Nights," "Tropic Thunder," "Avatar" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tide" are among the films that disguised Kauai, she said.
"‘Blue Hawaii’ is that rare exception when a major movie directly associated Kauai with the incredible tropical splendor that audiences were seeing on screen," Kanoho said. "Elvis Presley fans everywhere were suddenly aware of this beautiful paradise, and they wanted to come and see Kauai for themselves."
Larry Rivera, who runs The Original Blue Hawaii Wedding, is still capitalizing decades later on the film’s influence.
"Just this morning I took two busloads of tourists from the cruise ships to the lagoon at Coco Palms. They were mesmerized," said Rivera, who will perform a song for the commemorative event and share some of his memories.
Rivera, a singer and songwriter, who worked at Coco Palms, said he developed a friendship with Presley during the movie’s filming.
"We’d talk about Hawaii and about music," Rivera said. "He loved one of my songs, ‘I Search for Love.’ He and Patti Page sang backup one night when we were playing at Coco Palms. I sang the lead; I wouldn’t let him sing it."
Rivera shares this story and others when visitors come to see Coco Palms or ask him to coordinate their movie-themed weddings on the lagoon. The hotel closed in 1992 due to damage from Hurricane Iniki, but the lagoon is still in use.
"It’s amazing years later how many people still have a connection to Elvis," Kanoho said. "To this day, people still want to go to the lagoon and see where Elvis got married."
Sales also are going strong for another event celebrating the connections between Elvis and Hawaii. Thousands of fans are expected to visit Oahu Jan. 10-15 for the 40th anniversary of the icon’s "Aloha from Hawaii" concert, Kern said.
"Tourism has rebounded along with the economy, and our sales are on pace," he said. "Elvis had a strong connection with the state. Fans are excited to celebrate Elvis in Hawaii, one of his favorite destinations. People want to see some of the locations from his films."
