Hawaiian Nights

I vaguely recall seeing this when movies were first being shown on television sometime in the fifties, and recall that it never impressed me as anything more than a slight little comedy with some nice nightclub settings and pretty CONSTANCE MOORE in one of the leading roles. I can barely recall JOHNNY DOWNS at all, but he was the male lead.

However, the only thing that sets this apart for me, in a film memory that goes back pretty far, is the fact that it was the film being shown in September of 1939 at the Riverside theater in Riverside, California when David O. Selznick decided to give GONE WITH THE WIND a sneak preview. At the conclusion of HAWAIIAN NIGHTS, it was announced that a major motion picture was about to be unveiled before an audience expecting to see Gary Cooper in BEAU GESTE.

The manager of the theater, according to reports I've seen, got on stage and told people no one would be allowed into or out of the theater once the film began and they should leave now if they wanted to go home. I doubt many people budged from their seats!! Then, as soon as the lights went out and the GWTW titles began, the audience cheered with delight and history was in the making.

But since then, HAWAIIAN NIGHTS has been merely a blip on anyone's radar screen.

Trivia note: When HAWAIIAN NIGHTS ended, one little boy said to his mother: "Now can we see BEAU GESTE?"