Sterling Mossman was one of Hawaii’s most popular entertainers during the 1950s and 1960s. He also served with the Honolulu Police Department. This month we look back at Mossman, the cop who moonlighted as an entertainer.
Mossman was born in 1920 in Honolulu. His mother, Bina, was one of the first women to serve in the Territorial Legislature. She also came from an entertainment background and performed with her own glee club for President Franklin D. Roosevelt. His father, Richard Mossman, served as a territorial representative.
In a 1956 Honolulu Advertiser interview, Sterling Mossman said, "I guess singing and dancing comes naturally to our family. My mother, Bina, was the first woman to form an entertainment group of women only, way back in 1916. Later on I went on radio with my mother. But while I was growing up, it seemed like I was always before an audience. To me it wasn’t work, just fun."
Mossman’s public singing debut was at the age of 5, when he sang "Cecelia" at one of the monthly St. Andrew’s Church gatherings organized by his parents. He learned hula from his sister, Mapuana, who performed at the opening of the Lexington Hotel’s Hawaiian Room in New York.
By age 8, Mossman was dancing at many social outings with his sister. When he was 11, he appeared on Ray Kinney’s radio program on KGMB in 1931 for an entire month as a guest singer.
After graduating from Saint Louis School, where he was a standout in football, basketball and track, Mossman was educated in California at Armstrong College and the University of California.
While in college he entertained celebrities including George Burns, Gracie Allen and Benny Goodman by appearing in the Hawaiian Hut, a Hollywood nightclub.
Mossman returned to Hawaii in 1940 working at Hawaiian Pineapple as a timekeeper. Just six weeks prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mossman joined the Honolulu Police Department. While at HPD, Mossman became part of the glee club, which was formed to help promote public relations between HPD and the community. The glee club entertained serviceman during the war at training centers and aboard ships.
In 1943 Mossman married Virginia Enos, and they had two sons.
Mossman left HPD in 1944 and served two years in the Navy, where he also performed many shows. In 1946 he rejoined HPD as a sergeant in the dispatch bureau. Mossman transferred to the crime prevention bureau in 1949 and later served as a detective. Mossman worked in almost every division of HPD, including homicide.
At various times, Mossman served as director, vice president and president of the Hawaii Government Employees Association.
He appeared in the 1952 movie "Big Jim McLain" with his good friend John Wayne.
Mossman headlined at some of Waikiki’s top hotels: Niumalu, the Royal Hawaiian and the Moana. On May 29, 1958, Mossman was booked for the opening night of the Barefoot Bar at The Queen’s Surf nightclub. He would go on to headline the venue for nearly a dozen years.
His grueling schedule had him working a 7:45 a.m.-to-4:30 p.m. shift for HPD, heading home for dinner and a short nap, and then performing two shows at the Barefoot Bar ending at 1 a.m.
In January 1962, Mossman resigned from HPD and became the early-morning show deejay for KGU. The radio program aired Monday through Saturday. He continued to work nights at the Barefoot Bar, sleeping an hour early in the morning and having a five-hour rest in the afternoon.
He made music for Decca Records. Some songs recorded for the label include "Hula Cop Hop," "Keep Your Eyes on the Hands," "Luau" and "Don’t Dig That Poi."
Mossman produced the Hawaiian Show at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York and the 1965 Aloha Week festivities. He appeared in episodes of "Hawaiian Eye" as well as in the "Hawaii Five-O" pilot episode with his Barefoot Band.
Mossman’s long headlining run at The Queen’s Surf ended after the city refused to renew its lease and the establishment closed on Dec. 31, 1969. The Queen’s Surf was torn down in 1971.
During the 1970s Mossman kept himself busy and used his contacts in the entertainment world to organize benefits for the March of Dimes and for both the Cancer and Heart funds. He was the local organizer and emcee for the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon. In 1984 a reunited Barefoot Bar gang, with Mossman, performed on the University of Hawaii campus.
Mossman died of cancer at age 66 on Feb. 21, 1986, at Kaiser Hospital.
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.
