An open house and sunset reception was held Saturday for neighborhood residents of Shangri La, the late Doris Duke’s fabulous Diamond Head property. Deborah Pope, the gracious head
of the Shangri La Center, greeted guests. Doug Tolentino and Pakala Fernandes played and sang island music. Guest Cathy Foy-Mahi and her husband, former Royal Hawaiian Band leader Aaron Mahi, attended. Foy-Mahi sang a couple of numbers as guests enjoyed food and beverages. Pope introduced a famous neighbor, Jim Nabors, to the crowd. Nabors was in a group that included Stan Cadwallader, whom he married Jan. 15 in Seattle, and comedian Ruth Buzzi, a mainstay of the “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” TV series from 1968 to 1973. Among others in the Nabors party were Buzzi’s husband, Kent Perkins, Scott Coors of Coors Brewery, philanthropist Dollie Cole and Sheila Watumull, who lives next door to Nabors and presented the group with lei. Members of the Shangri La staff who helped make the party a success included: Lea Major, Carol Khewhok, Jamie Mejia, Maja Clark and Kent Severson.
Watumull took the Nabors’ party, along with Jany and Charlie Davenport and Jany’s former husband, Bill Cataldo, to dinner Sunday night at Himalayan Kitchen. When Jany and Bill were married, they lived close to the homes of Watumull and Nabors. Jany now lives in Beverly Hills and flew in with her husband for the Shangri La party. Cataldo attended the Shangri La event with daughter Teiana Cataldo …
THE MOVIE “42,” the story of Jackie Robinson battling his way through Major League Baseball’s tightly closed door to black players, is a grand slam. Robinson, played by Chadwick Boseman, is The Man and star of this picture, but The Actor is Harrison Ford as Brooklyn Dodgers GM Branch Rickey, who engineers the breakdown of baseball’s color line. Boseman is very good, but Ford is great and deserves an Oscar supporting-actor nomination. Also a standout in a brief role is Christopher Meloni as the Dodgers’ tough field manager, Leo Durocher.
Rickey signed Robinson to a minor-league contract in 1946, and on April 15, 1947, put him in the Dodgers’ lineup on opening day at Ebbets Field. Retired Star-Bulletin columnist Jim Becker was part of the Associated Press team that covered the historic game.
Robinson’s teammates "didn’t want him," Becker told me. That is made clear in the film. The abuse Robinson takes from opposing teams and crowds is incredible. Pitchers threw at his head, the n-word was used regularly and there were threats. Rickey received even more death threats. The only way Robinson could fight back was with his outstanding play. He won numerous awards and in 1962 was inducted in baseball’s Hall of Fame. In 1997, his 42 number was retired by all major league teams. The 42 was worn by all major-league players Monday as it has been, starting back in 2004, every April 15 …
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Ben Wood, who sold newspapers on Honolulu streets in World War II, writes of people, places and things. Email him at bwood@staradvertiser.com.
