During the 1950s Arthur Godfrey was one of the most popular personalities on both radio and television.
He was one of the first celebrities to come out strong in favor of Hawaii earning statehood.
This month we look back at Godfrey’s career and his love for the islands.
Godfrey was born in 1903 in New York. The oldest of five children, he quit school at age 14 and worked as a typist. He enlisted in the Navy at age 17 and served on a Navy destroyer as a radio operator. Godfrey’s love for Hawaii began when he learned how to play the ukulele from a Hawaiian shipmate who also told him of his hero Duke Kahanamoku.
"I wanted to play the steel guitar, but he told me to play the ukulele. So I learned to play the uke. This strong love for Hawaii began way back then," Godfrey recalled in a 1964 Honolulu Star-Bulletin interview.
While serving as a CBS radio correspondent during World War II in 1944, Godfrey’s first trip to Hawaii was by accident. Heading to the Philippines to cover the war, he was refused access by Gen. Douglas MacArthur and was stranded in Honolulu.
Godfrey hung out in a new club, The Willows, and sat in each night with local musicians and played the ukulele. He quickly made friends and earned the nickname Minoaka (Smile). "I learned then to take things easy, enjoy the good things and share them with others. … I call this the aloha spirit," said Godfrey.
In 1945, Godfrey covered President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s funeral live on the radio and earned a legion of new fans when he openly wept on air.
The following year his show "Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts" debuted on radio and in 1948 on television. "Arthur Godfrey and His Friends" debuted on television in 1949. Both shows soared in popularity, eventually ranking in the top 10.
By 1950, Godfrey had appeared in Time magazine and it was estimated he was seen or heard by 77 million people each month.
Godfrey never forgot the hospitality he experienced while in Hawaii and often mentioned the islands on his programs. For three consecutive months in 1950, Godfrey gave ukulele lessons twice a week to his television audience. Godfrey’s love for the ukulele helped boost sales of the instrument to 1.5 million in just six months.
In July 1950, Godfrey returned to Hawaii, and an estimated 5,000 people were expected at the airport to see his arrival. A six-hour flight delay from California slowed the crowd, but the Honolulu Advertiser reported it was one of the largest welcomes ever accorded a visiting celebrity.
Godfrey gave public appearances at the Chamber of Commerce and judged an ukulele contest at Kapiolani Park that drew an estimated 20,000 people.
He returned in 1959 after successful cancer surgery and just prior to statehood to film a comeback show with Emma Veary and Mahi Beamer at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Godfrey was an avid flier and enrolled in Hawaiian Airlines’ flight school and appeared in its print ads.
In 1964, during a return visit to the islands, Godfrey’s arrival and motorcade map from the airport to the Royal Hawaiian was printed in the Advertiser. The Honolulu downtown merchants association had banners hoisted above the streets, and employees and customers were asked to greet the motorcade.
Godfrey’s visit was declared Arthur Godfrey Week by Gov. John Burns.
The week of festivities included an American Cancer Society benefit at the Waikiki Shell attended by 4,000 people. Godfrey also planted trees at the new Honolulu International Center and appeared at a dedication of an airport roadway called Arthur Godfrey Circle on July 12, 1964.
In 1968, Godfrey delivered the eulogy for his longtime friend Duke Kahanamoku at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral. The two had made a pact at Duke’s urging: "If I make (dead) first, you put me in. If you make first, I put you in," Godfrey said. Kahanamoku had saved Godfrey from drowning off Queen’s Surf back in 1950 and taught him how to surf and have respect for the sea. "I’ve been at home in the water ever since," Godfrey said.
He retired from the entertainment business in 1971. His last visit to the islands was in 1975. Two years later the lava rock fountain and Arthur Godfrey Circle in front of the airport were demolished to make way for the freeway ramp that we use to enter the airport to this day.
Godfrey died of emphysema March 16, 1983.
He was inducted into the Ukulele Hall of Fame in 2001.
———
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.
