Singer Jeff Apaka is asking people to hurry and mail in a vote to get his dad, Alfred Apaka, on a U.S. postage stamp. The deadline is Dec. 31.
Alfred was known as the “Golden Voice of Hawaii” when he sang at the Kaiser Hawaiian Village, which became Hilton Hawaiian Village after Alfred died and industrialist Henry J. Kaiser sold the village to his friend Conrad Hilton.
The handsome singer, a Roosevelt High School 1937 grad who starred in the Village’s Tapa Room, and Kaiser deserve much credit for their roles in building Hawaii’s tourism industry in the ’50s. Alfred’s first big-time professional job was with Don “Mac” McDiarmid’s band in 1938 at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.
Later, McDiarmid became the band teacher at Stevenson Intermediate and Roosevelt High. He taught me how to play the trumpet in the seventh grade. I was in his band classes at Stevenson and then Roosevelt until I graduated in 1949. Mac would tell us youngsters about his days as a bandleader. He said that when he was looking for a singer in 1938, a recent high school graduate was among those auditioning for the job. When he heard Alfred sing, he hired him on the spot. Alfred went on to sing at other Honolulu clubs and hotels, on “Hawaii Calls,” on radio shows starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, and on the “Ed Sullivan Show” twice. About a month after appearing on Dinah Shore’s show, Alfred died Jan. 30, 1960, playing handball at Honolulu’s Central YMCA. He was just 40 years old.
Versatile Earl Kalani Simerson, 86, a Roosevelt ’48 grad, was the fireknife dancer in Alfred’s show at the Niumalu Hotel after he served in the Army during the Korean War. He beat out Kui Lee for the fireknife job at auditions. Lee went on to become one of Hawaii’s greatest composers. Kaiser acquired the Niumalu and built his Hawaiian Village on the property. Simerson, who later lived with Alfred, was also a motorcycle police officer and served as a bodyguard for Alfred as well as Kaiser. He also had a limo business and drove guests to their destinations in Cadillacs. One day he and Alfred were with Kaiser at Portlock when the billionaire was building his estate. He said Kaiser raised his arm, pointed across Kalanianaole Highway and said, “There’s my city.” Simerson said the huge area was mostly swampland and piggeries. Kaiser, the master builder, turned it into Hawaii Kai, one of Hawaii’s largest residential districts.
Simerson praised Alfred highly and feels he should be on a stamp. On the day Alfred died, he told Simerson that he was going to the Y to play handball. Jeff said his dad was scheduled to appear on “Hawaii Calls” at 2 p.m. at the Moana Hotel after playing handball. It was an appearance he would never make … The Armed Forced Network carried “Hawaii Calls” and I would switch it on every week to listen to Alfred and other standout Hawaiian entertainers when I was a copy editor at Stars and Stripes Newspaper in Darmstadt, Germany …
Jeff Apaka is asking people to please write to: U.S. Postal Service, Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee, 475 L’Enfant Plaza SW, Room 3300, Washington, DC 20260-3501 and tell briefly why you think Alfred Apaka should be on a stamp, then sign the letter …
