The first TV show that was set in Hawaii is celebrating its 55th anniversary this year.

Gov. John Burns wanted to create a statewide police force that reported directly to the governor to combat serious crime, but the state Legislature said no. Policing is a county issue.

Instead, Burns gave the idea to Leonard Freeman, who based a TV show in Hawaii so he could see his mother-in-law, who lived here, more often. “Hawaii Five-0” ran for 12 seasons, a record for crime dramas at the time.

Priest with a Bible

I took a visiting friend from Los Angeles sightseeing in 1977. At Halona Blowhole, “Hawaii Five-0” was filming. We stopped to watch.

My friend, Robin Van Zak, and I stood where we could look down on a lower viewing area that no longer exists. A priest wearing black with a white collar was there, holding a Bible. It was between takes.

Van Zak recognized him. “Hey, Steve” (Boyd), she called out to him. “Are you a good guy or a bad guy?”

He smiled up at us, then looked down at his Bible. He opened it, and a small space was cut out and a pistol fit inside. He looked back up at us and smiled again.

A few months later, the show (Sept. 15, 1977, Season 10, Episode 1) aired, and it was just as we saw it. Boyd played a member of an IRA splinter group disguised as a priest raising money to buy weapons for Ireland, until Jack Lord caught him and James MacArthur, “Danno,” booked him.

I asked my readers what experiences they had with the show or the cast.

‘Hawaii Five-0’ extra

“In 1971, in a University of Hawaii Manoa summer archaeology field class, we surveyed and excavated a lava tube at Makapuu Beach,” Mike Gormley of Bainbridge Island, Wash., told me.

“The lava tube was next to the old dirt upper parking lot. One day a fellow drove up and peppered us with questions about our archaeology dig.

“After a bit, he disclosed that they were doing a ‘Hawaii Five-0’ episode involving archaeology and murder. Would we be interested in being extras?

“For sure, we told him! So, the next week, we showed up at Halona Blowhole as the opening scene took place at that small beach below, called Halona Beach Cove. I knew it then as Secret Beach.

“After introductions, we wound down the steep path to the beach and cave and set up our ‘official’ archaeology site with string lines, trowels, whisk brooms and shovels.

“We wore the same clothes we worked in. I wore slippers and a bathing suit. One of us, a pretty Hawaiian woman, actually got a speaking part.

“She ran out of the cave calling breathlessly, ‘Doctor, I think we found something!’” Turned out to be human skeletal remains.

“It took three days, it was hot, with a lot of standing around, but we got three fabulous lunch meals from the catering service.

“It was really fun rubbing shoulders with people we watched on TV, and we got paid!

“Months later we all met at our teaching assistant’s home to watch the big event on CBS TV — we saw ourselves for about 10 seconds of a 30-minute show! Very brief but totally fun.”

James MacArthur

Marian Yee said, “I began my acting career in 1972 as an extra on the original ‘Hawaii Five-0.’

“The ‘Five-0’ scene was shot at a repurposed chapel that ran parallel to Diamond Head Road on the old Fort Ruger Army headquarters. Kapiolani Community College was built around 1996 on this property.

“This was a very familiar stomping ground, where, as a child in the late 1950s, I ran around its stone guard station and cannon fixtures and watched young soldiers in training at Battery Harlow.

“In this episode I was one of about 70 boys and girls at a dance hall party that Jack Lord and James MacArthur interrupted to scout the place.

“In the filming, which had about five to seven takes, I was struck by the overpowering presence of Jack Lord, who was 6 feet tall with a booming voice.

“James MacArthur appeared strikingly shorter than Jack Lord. The internet says MacArthur was 5’7,” but in my opinion he was really around 5’5” because I am 5’2” and he was not much taller than me when I stood next to him.

“I will forever remember MacArthur’s light blue eyes. They were so gentle and kind, which is his disarming appeal. It drew you in. His boyish good looks sustained even as he aged.”

Jack Lord

“I used to teach at the ARC School located at 3989 Diamond Head Road,” Rene Berthiaume recalled. “When I started in 1970, it was known as the Hawaii Association for Retarded Children.

“At that time, ‘Hawaii Five-0’ was filmed next door to our school. At least once a year, at Christmastime, Jack Lord would come over and talk, joke and take pictures with the developmentally disabled people in our program. They all watched ‘Five-O’ and loved Jack Lord.

“Everyone looked forward to his visits. This was never done as a photo opportunity or for promotion of any kind, but just something that he seemed to enjoy as much as we (students and staff) did.

“In addition, when ‘Hawaii Five-0’ moved the film studio, Jack came over and presented, as a donation, the ‘Five-0’ ‘Honey Wagon.’ This was a big truck and trailer used as dressing rooms for the actors when they were out filming. I remember driving it around the parking lot just for the fun of it.

“We did not really have much use for it, and we sold it to raise money for the program. However, it was really good of Jack Lord to take such an interest in us.”

Honey

Linda Sakuma told me that Jack Lord came in once to check out her parents’ shop, located where Walmart is now on Keeaumoku Street.

“They wanted to use our shop in a ‘Hawaii Five-0’ episode but later changed their mind. Jack Lord made Mom’s heart skip a beat because he called her ‘honey.’”

Horde of excited female employees

Joe Coconate in Austin, Texas, said he also met Jack Lord. “It was in the very early ’70s when I was working at the McInerny store at Kahala Mall, where California Pizza Kitchen is now located.

“I worked in the men’s clothing department on the second level of the store and noticed a tall man and a woman coming up the spiral staircase.

“He wore a large white hat, while she had on an extra-large floppy hat which reminded me of Dumbo’s ears. The couple looked quite elegant.

“Before I recognized the man as being Jack Lord, a horde of excited female employees came and gushed over him. He and Marie Lord were very personable, smiling and talking with these fans.

“One of them pulled out an Instamatic camera and asked me to take a photo of them. I remember Jack had a big smile and seemed to be happy having his photo taken with his admirers.

“The original ‘Hawaii Five-0’ series stands out as being a great show, not to mention good advertisement for Hawaii.”

Mannix?

Former neurosurgeon Max Urata wrote: “‘Hawaii Five-0’ with Jack Lord was shooting near my home, so my wife took my two young children to see the show being made.

“There were many people watching, and when Lord showed up a local kid called out, ‘Hey, there’s Mannix!’ (Another popular TV cop at the time).

“If looks could kill, that kid would have dropped dead right there. Jack Lord was not pleased.”

Do you have a story about “Hawaii Five-0”? If so, send me an email.

Bob Sigall writes the Rearview Mirror column every Friday. Send him your comments or suggestions to Sigall@Yahoo.com.