Leesa Clark Stone had a “whirlwind courtship” with the late Rap Reiplinger, who initially skipped a blind date with her. Turns out, she would become the only love of his life.
“I want to grow old with you … I want you for the rest of my life,” he told her in an intimate moment.
Stone (now married to Rich Stone of Nashville) was a broadcast journalist when the stand-up comic was launching his career in the ’70s, first as a solo artist and eventually as a member of the iconic Booga Booga trio.
In a just-out personal and revealing biography, “Paradise to Paradise: The Rap Reiplinger Story,” Stone writes: “He opened up a whole new world of experiences for me and managed to make every day a special event during our whirlwind courtship. … When your boyfriend is a comedian, you have to sift through jokes to find the truth sometimes. But looking at the expression on his face, I knew he was serious.”
Years after his passing, Stone conducted interviews and interactions with about 50 folks who knew Reiplinger in his heyday, mostly as a personal quest to find answers surrounding his 1984 death. When found, he had been missing for a week, under uncertain, perhaps suspicious circumstances.
Over five years, Stone cast a wide net; her research included examining scores of newspaper clippings, collecting anecdotes from doting fans and colleagues of Reiplinger and exploring precious resources from within the Reiplinger ohana, including photos and documents, since she married into the family.
“I didn’t know this was going to be a book when I started this journey,” said Stone. “In the process, I remembered what an interesting life Rap led during a pivotal moment in island history with the Hawaiian Renaissance.”
Her unparalleled insider perspective thus provides a candid, colorful portrait of the ups and downs of Reiplinger’s artistic and personal lives, from the high of his staggeringly extraordinary popular nightclub gigs to the somber, sorrowful low of the era when he was consumed by drugs.
In diary-like prose, she shares numerous details about his mood, his manner, his tone.
Their mode of transportation was his dad’s old-model, vintage unknown, oversized, brown four-door vehicle with bench seats akin to a “boat,” which he had named Gladys. “Dating in a car like that, you had two options as a front-seat passenger,” Stone reveals. “You could sit by the door or lined up with the rearview mirror next to the driver. By our third date, Rap looked at me over by the door and launched into an impression of a lecherous old man: ‘Come on over here, honey. You don’t have to be afraid of ole Uncle Rap.’”
He’d often pull over to a curb, dash into someone’s yard, and swipe flowers for her.
Stone wed the beloved comic genius on Oct. 23, 1983, a marriage that would last only three months. His body was found in Maunawili on Jan. 25, 1984. He was age 33.
“When the coroner determined the date of death,” says Stone, “it was Jan. 19, the same day Rap disappeared. His death certificate, however, would list Jan. 25, the day we found him.”
She spent three years writing the manuscript. “Finally finishing (the book) just a couple of months ago felt like birthing a baby,” said Stone, “with the longest gestation period ever. I dedicated the book to his fans — my wish is that they will find humor, hope and healing in Rap’s story, as I did writing it.”
Like Rap, she said “this book has a lot of layers and facets.”
Wayne Harada is a veteran entertainment columnist. Reach him at 266-0926 or wayneharada@gmail.com.
