She was born Clarissa Haili, but she will forever be known as "Hilo Hattie." Entertaining island residents and tourists for more than 40 years with her unique comedy style, this month we look back on "Hilo Hattie’s" amazing career.
Haili was born in Honolulu in 1901, the daughter of a practical nurse on the grounds of the Kapiolani Maternity Hospital. She began entertaining at the age of 2, singing to newborns and their mothers at the hospital. Her formal singing career started when she sang with the choir at the Oka Malamala Church on Cooke Street.
Working as a bookbinder for a publishing company for $3 a week, she saved enough money to put herself through Territorial Normal and Training School. In 1923, Haili began teaching at Waipahu Elementary. During her time off she joined the Royal Hawaiian Girls Glee Club and performed at the new Kodak Hula Shows.
Surprisingly, Haili was never taught how to hula. "I never had a hula lesson in my life; I just learned to dance by watching others. I just do what comes naturally. I have so much fun entertaining people and making them laugh," said Haili in a 1972 United Press International interview.
While traveling via ship to a teachers convention in Oregon in 1936, Haili danced her way through Don McDiarmid’s "’When Hilo Hattie Does the Hilo Hop" as a comedy number. The passengers loved the performance, and she scored even more laughs and applause at the convention during her rendition of "The Cockeyed Mayor of Kaunakakai." Her newfound popularity earned her the nickname she would have forever, "Hilo Hattie."
Haili decided to quit teaching in 1939 and joined Harry Owens band in California. When cast in the 1941 movie "Song of the Islands," producers insisted she use the "Hilo Hattie" name, which she adopted as her legal name in the late 1940s.
In 1947, Haili returned to Hawaii and while performing at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, she met musician Carlyle Nelson, a violinist with the Chick Floyd Band. Nelson and Haili struck up a romance during a long musical engagement in Dallas, and the couple married in Las Vegas in 1949.
For a brief time Haili worked as a deejay for KPOA radio with Hal "Aku" Lewis, who frequently filled in for her. In a 1975 Honolulu Advertiser article, Lewis said that if it hadn’t been for Hattie, "there never would have been an Aku."
In 1949 Haili made her television debut on Harry Owens’ television program, exposing her to an even larger audience. Through the years, Haili appeared nationally on episodes of "Schlitz Playhouse of Stars," "Hawaii Five-0," "The Mike Douglas Show" and "The Don Ho Show."
Haili left Owens’ band in 1952 and joined her husband’s new band appearing together at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. While living in Los Angeles, Haili won roles in several movies, such as "City Beneath the Sea," "Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki" and "Suicide Battalion." She also was in the 1960 hit "Blue Hawaii" with Elvis Presley.
After Alfred Apaka’s untimely death in 1960, Haili headlined the Hilton Hawaiian Village’s Tapa Room.
During the mid-1960s the Nelsons moved back to the islands. Haili performed at the Ilikai and Halekulani hotels, as well as luau at the Sheraton Waikiki and Kahala Hilton. In 1971, while attending the Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo, she agreed to allow her name to be used on a new line of clothing that would become the Hilo Hattie retail chain.
In June 1977 Haili suffered a stroke while visiting California and retired from the entertainment business. During the last few years of her life, she lived in her Kaaawa home.
Haili died at St. Francis Hospital on Dec. 12, 1979. Her funeral took place at Kawaiaha‘o Church with the Rev. Abraham Akaka delivering the eulogy. She is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl. Her husband of 30 years died in 2006.
"I think that lady set the best example for all the entertainers in Hawaii. She had nothing but class," said Don Ho upon her death. "I think all of us who are entertainers in Hawaii owe a great deal to her. It is one of our great losses."
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A.J. McWhorter, a collector of film and videotape cataloging Hawaii’s TV history, has worked as a producer, writer and researcher for both local and national media. Email him at flashback@hawaii.rr.com.
