Every Wednesday evening when "Hawaiian Eye" aired on ABC, the Big Island town of Honokaa would shut down and tune in to watch one of its own on national television.
That was how the rest of the country discovered what the plantation community already knew: Poncie Ponce was a good-natured, regular guy whose wisecracking character Kim (the cabdriver) was a charming reflection of himself.
If it seems hard to remember such a simple time, it’s because "Hawaiian Eye" ran from 1959 to 1963. But for those who knew Ponce, who died July 19 at the age of 80, it remains a pleasant (black-and-white) journey down memory lane.
Ponce was a regular on the first TV series with a story line set in Hawaii. He was even featured in the opening credits, floating in an inner tube and strumming an ukulele — something that always sent his mother and her Honokaa neighbors over the moon with pride.
"I called him the ‘Darling of Hawaii,’" said Paula Ponce Chaltas, one of Ponce’s three daughters. "He really did change the world’s perception of Hawaiian actors and singers."
Ponce didn’t have an enormous acting career. He had only eight parts in film and TV but did appear in the 1968 Elvis Presley film "Speedway" and the 1977 film "The World’s Greatest Lover," which starred Gene Wilder.
The majority of his career was spent singing and playing music on nightclub stages. He could play the piano, the trumpet, the saxophone, the ukulele and — something Chaltas discovered only in recent years — the harmonica.
His vocal talents once prompted FBI head J. Edgar Hoover to summon Ponce for a private a cappella performance, Chaltas said. But it was her father’s card-playing skills that earned him a seat at a poker game with Presley, she said.
Her father lived "a blessed life," she said in a call from Los Angeles.
Ponciano Tabac "Poncie" Ponce was born in 1933 on Maui. He grew up on the Big Island, in Paauhau and Honokaa, before joining the Army during the Korean War.
He spent his whole time in Army stationed in Germany, playing reveille, driving generals around and welding, Chaltas said. After the war he moved to Los Angeles, welding during the day and performing in burlesque joints at night.
His big break came when he was hired as a waiter at a Santa Monica nightclub called Ben Blue’s.
"It was a big nightclub, and their thing was they had singing waiters who would wait on your tables and go up on stage and sing and perform," Chaltas said. "He was a lousy waiter. They had him filling glasses of water because it was the most unobtrusive thing they could think of."
But Ponce’s singing impressed nightclub patron William Orr, the first head of Warner Bros. TV. Orr wanted him specifically for his new show "Hawaiian Eye" and signed him up. Ponce went on to appear in 126 episodes of the series.
"It was one of those lucky-break stories," Chaltas said. "He loved it. He was young. He felt like he had hit the jackpot. It skyrocketed his career."
"Hawaiian Eye" starred Anthony Eisley, Robert Conrad and Connie Stevens, a young singer who forged a lasting relationship with Ponce.
She was one of the first people to call the family with condolences after Ponce died.
"They were like sister and brother," Chaltas said. "They were very close friends, and through the years my parents have gone to her kids’ weddings and baby showers. They came to our birthday parties. We have shared our lives."
After the series ended, Ponce chose a career in singing. It was always his passion — and he never stopped, singing right to the end of his life, Chaltas said.
Ponce died in Los Angeles of congestive heart failure.
"He lived to the fullest," his daughter said. "He worked hard, lived hard. When he closed his eyes at the very end, he had done it all. There was nothing else left to do. If you asked him, he had no regrets."
And that’s a wrap …
Mike Gordon is the Star-Advertiser’s film and television writer. Read his Outtakes Online blog at honolulupulse.com. Reach him at 529-4803 or email mgordon@staradvertiser.com.
