At the end of the year, I review my columns and write about some of the things I learned in the past 12 months. Writing this column is a process of discovery for me. It gives me great pleasure to do it.
This year I learned that Paul McCartney wrote a silly love song in Hawaii. I learned that a Hawaii man influenced the writing of some “Star Trek” TV shows. And I discovered a Wahiawa man was scheduled to be on the Titanic in 1912. Let’s take a look at some of the year’s high points for me.
Oahu’s Jasper Holmes influenced ‘Star Trek’
Holmes Hall on the University of Hawaii Manoa campus, I learned, was named for Jasper Holmes, a former dean of engineering there. Holmes was a codebreaker at Pearl Harbor during World War II.
His work helped the U.S. win the Battle of Midway in June 1942, and shot down Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto’s plane in 1943.
He also influenced Gene Roddenberry, the creator of “Star Trek.”
Charles Knapp of Carlsbad, Calif., told me that Holmes, writing under the pseudonym of Alec Hudson, published several books. Knapp gave Roddenberry a copy of one about submarines called “Up Periscope!”
“In the 1970s and ’80s, my then-wife, Brooke, and I played golf with Gene and Majel Roddenberry every Sunday at the Bel Air Country Club” in Los Angeles, Knapp said. “Gene was then into the writing and imagination of ‘Star Trek,’ and Majel was acting in the TV series.”
Roddenberry used several of Holmes’ books as a foundation for “Star Trek” stories, Knapp said.
I love hearing that a person from Hawaii influenced important things beyond our shores.
McCartney wrote ‘Silly Love Songs’ in Hawaii
I was 11 when the Beatles led a musical invasion of the U.S., so I am more than familiar with their great songs. But I didn’t know Paul McCartney wrote a No. 1 hit while here in the islands.
Peggy Aurand said Paul and Linda McCartney rented a home in 1975 at 15 Hanapepe Place in Portlock. It was owned by Bill Crockett. Aurand lived next door.
The McCartneys were enjoying a quiet family vacation, after completing the Australian leg of his “Wings Over the World” tour.
Aurand says Paul wrote “Silly Love Songs” at the home on a piano that looked out over the ocean and China Walls. McCartney said fellow Beatle John Lennon and other critics said he tended to write soapy, silly love songs, and McCartney thought, “What’s wrong with that?”
McCartney wrote other silly love songs with the Beatles, such as “Here, There and Everywhere” and “I Will.” Paul said “Silly Love Songs” was co-written with his wife, Linda.
The song was the No. 1 Billboard song of 1976 and is McCartney’s best-selling single ever.
“Most people don’t tend to show their emotions,” McCartney wrote in his 2021 book “Lyrics.” “But deep down, people are emotional and all I’m really saying in this song is love isn’t silly at all.”
Wahiawa man was nearly aboard the Titanic
His name was Alfred W. Eames Sr. (1851-1914). In the summer of 1912, Eames and his daughter, Bessie, were scheduled to return from Europe to the U.S. on the ill-fated RMS Titanic, whose loss in the Atlantic is considered to be one of the greatest marine disasters ever.
The Hawaiian Star posted the headline on April 18, 1912: “Was Wahiawa man lost?”
“It is reported that pineapple grower Alfred Eames and his daughter Bessie were on the Titanic. W.L. Hopper was quoted as saying that Mr. Eames and his daughter were coming home on the ship.”
The next day, the Hawaiian Star had new information and reported that they were probably safe.
Eames and Bessie returned to Honolulu on May 22, 1912. Eames told the press, “I wanted to return on the Titanic, but my daughter wished to take a French steamer, as a friend was on the passenger list. So, I reluctantly changed my plans. We got the news of the disaster the Monday after it occurred.”
Cows on the University of Hawaii campus
I graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1975, and even though I loved milk, I never saw a single cow on campus. But if I had attended 15 years earlier, it might have been a different story.
Retired engineer Mac McMorrow said, “As a freshman in 1957, I had a chemistry class that met on Saturdays in the big Bilger Hall classroom, which had large doors opening to the field adjoining the UH farm.”
If you remember, UH began as the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in 1907.
“It was always warm in the room, so the doors were normally kept wide open. Suddenly, we heard a few ‘yippee yi-yo kayays’ and the rumble of cattle being driven past our classroom. It was a cattle drive, just like in the TV show ‘Rawhide,’ but without Clint Eastwood!
“One of the biggest cows broke from the herd and trotted over to the side door, poked his head in and inspected the class.
“As the cow was standing there looking at us, a wrangler came over and got the cow back on the trail,” McMorrow concluded. “Soon there was nothing left but a little dust in the air.”
Tree-lined pedestrian mall was once dirt road
One of the most beautiful sights on campus is the monkeypod tree-lined pedestrian mall that runs from Varney Circle to Hamilton Library.
Looking through a book, “Building a Rainbow: A history of the buildings and grounds of the University of Hawaii’s Manoa campus,” I was surprised to find a photo of the old road that the pedestrian mall replaced. It was a long, narrow, rutted dirt street that ran from the back of Hawaii Hall east into what was called “The Farm” — UH’s agricultural center.
It was named McCarthy Road after territorial Gov. Charles McCarthy. The pedestrian McCarthy Mall replaced the dirt road in 1962.
King David Kalakaua aka Dr. Kalakaua?
I’ve known for a while that King David Kalakaua was a lover of technology. But I was surprised to learn he fancied himself a pharmacist and wrote prescriptions for powerful drugs such as opiates.
In the 1880s, King Kalakaua would sit in front of Benson-Smith Drug Store on Fort Street once a month to receive his Hawaiian subjects.
“They came by and described their ailments,” said Roy Blackshear of Keeau. “My father was a pharmacist at Benson Smith.”
“Kalakaua looked into a medical book and wrote out a prescription. The recipient would fill it inside the store.” The king enjoyed helping his citizens with modern medicine.
Henry Berger, ‘Aloha ‘Oe’ and a band competition
I wrote about Henry Berger and the Royal Hawaiian Band in November. The surprise for me was finding that in 1883 the band took part in a competition in San Francisco with bands from across the U.S.
Berger presented Queen Lili‘uokalani’s “Aloha ‘Oe” to the American public for the first time, launching it to immediate popularity on the mainland. The Royal Hawaiian Band received encore after encore in applause and took first place.
Mayor of Coswig intrigued by article
A few days after the article appeared, I heard from the mayor of Coswig, Germany, 60 miles south west of Berlin.
“My name is Axel Clauss,” his email said, “and I am the mayor of the city of Coswig, a town of 12,000 inhabitants. It was with great joy and devotion that I read your article.
“Although Heinrich Berger was born in Berlin, he grew up in Coswig and is a son of my city. His house is right behind my town hall in our market place. My town has a music school that bears his name.”
Clauss is interested in Honolulu and Coswig becoming sister cities, and even met with Mayor Kirk Caldwell in Coswig in 2019. I’ve been in contact with the mayor’s office and will let readers know what develops.
Mayor Clauss will be in Honolulu in the spring. Let me know if you want to hear him speak to a local group about Henry Berger.
Those are some of the things I learned in the past year, and I’m only halfway through my list. I’ll finish it next week. Have a Mele Kalikimaka!
———
Bob Sigall is the author of the five “Companies We Keep” books, full of amazing stories of Hawaii people, places and organizations. Contact him at Sigall@Yahoo.com.
