(chirping birds, wave crashing)   Honolulu, the capital city of our American  Territory the Hawaiian Islands, is a beautiful,   modern city set against a background of primitive  beauty in these crossroads of the Pacific.

The   bright roofs, the vivid splashes of color in  the flowering trees, the green mountains veiled   with rainbows combine to make a cloisonne of  unforgettable loveliness.

Palm trees constantly   sway in the soft trade winds, providing the  delightful climate which the islands enjoy.

The Royal Hawaiian Hotel where serenaders delight  in singing old melodies of Hawaiʻi as they wander   through its fragrant garden.

(singing)   Today, on Spectrum Hawaii, Cynthia Yip talks  with DeSoto Brown on location on Waikīkī Beach.

Aloha and thank you for joining us.

55 years  after that first color and sound film was made,   a myriad of images was read, heard and seen  by people who might be enticed to visit the   islands.

We'll look at how those early  images were created.

And joining me is   DeSoto Brown, who is Collection Manager  of moving images at the Bishop Museum,   and who has a personal interest in this  early promotional memorabilia.

DeSoto,   thank you very much for joining us.

First of all, what are moving images?

Well, Cynthia, moving images is a term which  is coming increasingly into use these days to   collectively describe both film and videotape.

And my job at Bishop Museum is to take care of   the collection of historic film and tape.

And that film clip we just saw came from   your collection.

That's absolutely right.

And I noticed that it was particularly was   particularly lyrical, the writing.

Was  that the style during that period?

Yes, it was.

I think it's very  typical of the very kind of flowery,   perhaps unrealistic type of portrayal of the  islands, which was very typical of that time.

Speaking of those early days of tourism, what  brought the tourists here were boats.

And I   often hear of people reminiscing about boat  days.

Why were those times so important?

Boat day was a very important day in Honolulu, and  it refers to the day that a large passenger ship   was coming to town or leaving town.

And in both  cases, it meant a lot of festivities, a lot of   hustle and bustle down at the dock.

It meant that  mail would be coming in or going out, important   people might be arriving or you might be seeing  somebody off.

And so there was a lot of activity,   people selling leis, and a lot of sentiment  attached too, because there was always the   poignancy of someone departing and watching the  ship pull away from the dock with the streamers   hanging off of it.

It really affected people in  a way I think that airplane travel doesn't quite   capture.

It was a different time.

(music)   Haʻaheo e ka ua i nā pali Ke nihi aʻela i ka nahele  E uhai ana paha i ka liko Pua ʻāhihi lehua   o uka  Aloha ʻoe, aloha ʻoe E ke onaona noho i ka lipo  One fond embrace, A hoʻi aʻe   au  Until   we meet again (music)  Until we meet again.

I think an important thing to mention,  too, was the romance of the Matson liners,   because the Matson line was the main ship carrier  that carried passengers between Hawaiʻi and the   West Coast.

And their promotional material was  very distinctive.

The menus, for example, by   people like Frank McIntosh and Eugene Savage are  known even today, and you can also see in Matson's   promotional brochures and pamphlets how they  appeal to a very upper-class type of audience.

What I noticed was a very romantic image that  was portrayed through these Matson brochures and   menus.

Was that really necessary to intensify  an already romantic place such as Hawaiʻi?

Perhaps it wasn't, but it was what was done  nonetheless, and it's very typical of advertising   in that time period and the Hawaiian Islands,  I think, lend themselves to that treatment.

So,   you covered things like the romantic image of  Diamond Head with the moon.

You covered the   romance of Waikīkī, the beautiful Hawaiian woman.

All of these things, even if they might have been   unrealistic, were what was used to sell Hawaiʻi.

What I also noticed from these images was that of   a happy Hawaiian.

You know, being part Hawaiian  yourself, are you at all offended by that?

No, I'm not.

I don't think that it's meant to  be a realistic portrayal of Hawaiian culture or   Hawaiian people.

It's a fantasy, and I don't  think it can be taken as something which was   meant to be realistic.

Certainly, no one has  ever lived a life of total carefree ease,   and even if that was what people wanted  to believe, it wasn't always the case.

Would you say that this is art  that's portraying real life?

Well, I think that they are not realistic.

I  think that it's a romantic image, and certainly   that's clear.

I think that it's an interesting  comparison to today when you contrast the use of   art in advertising versus the use of photography,  which is what we have now.

Certainly, a photograph   never quite captures that same kind of hazy ideal  romance that art does.

It's a different way of   looking at things, and it's not the way we do it  nowadays, which I think is why this older material   really looks so different to our eyes today.

When we look at these sort of fantasy images,   do you think that these images  perpetuate stereotypes?

Yes, I think to a degree they do.

But I think  you have to understand that it was not this   material was not intended to be a strictly  realistic portrayal of what life was in   Hawaiʻi.

And in fact, people did cover what life  was really like.

Advertising, I think, usually,   doesn't intend to cover that.

And so, it's  understandable that this material looks like this.

It isn't supposed to be totally realistic.

Nothing  really should be discarded, simply because it may   not fit with the way we see ourselves today.

It  should be seen in the light of being a record   of a certain time and the way people thought of  things in that time period.

And I think that's   what this this type of promotional stuff is.

Speaking of realism, let's go to film.

I know   that Hollywood also had a lot of these  so called Hawaiʻi based films, however,   they weren't really.

Tell us more about them.

Well, Hollywood certainly did use Hawaiʻi as a   setting for a number of films, and that's  true even today.

A lot of cases, though,   they didn't really come out here to film.

A  lot of the material wasn't shot on location.

They did it in studio simply because they could  control a lot of the variables that you don't   have when you're on location.

And so a lot of  things which are supposed to be set in Hawaiʻi   actually never left Hollywood.

And you can,  you can tell that they're all in a studio,   but still, it's, it's kind of a fun thing to  look at today, even if it isn't really true.

Do people, the visitors, get this image  that this is really Hawaiʻi, though,   I'm wondering if that was also perpetuated?

I think they probably did have an overly   unrealistic idea of what they were going to  encounter when they got here, simply because   they had been seeing Hollywood films.

But again,  Hollywood portrayed a lot of other locations in a   very similar manner, and they weren't trying to be  true about things.

They were trying to just create   a nice feeling, a nice mood, a nice emotion.

Now and radio was also another medium that   lured visitors to Hawaiʻi and a show that  was heard by millions of people across the   nation and the world, was Hawaii Calls.

The sound of these waves here on the   famous beach at Waikīkī means you're  with us again in Hawaiʻi.

Listen.

And that means welcome again to the islands of  Hawaiʻi, and from all of us here at Waikīkī Beach,   a big aloha.

Aloha.

(clapping) (music)   All right, I hope you heard all the voices  here, because we are a big gathering of real   happy people here on the terraces of the  Big Reef Hotel.

And there are people from   almost everywhere you can think of now  you are with us in this bright picture,   just in time for our Waikīkī beach party with  beautiful Hawaiian girls and handsome men,   hula dancers, gay, lively songs and soft,  romantic melodies, the music of the islands,   as Hawaiʻi Calls.

(music)   Hawaii Calls was a very well-known radio show.

It was heard in its 40 years of existence over   more than 600 radio stations in the United States  and throughout the world.

And from 1935 to 1975   it spread the word about the Hawaiian Islands  and Hawaiian music itself all over the world.

You know, it occurred in the Moana Hotel Banyan  court, and during the broadcast which the public   was invited to come and sit in as an audience, you  might see people like Duke Kahanamoku on stage, or   other people might come on stage.

And you always  saw a lot of very famous Hawaiian entertainers.

I understand that there were approximately  19,000 broadcasts of Hawaii Calls that, you said,   spread the word throughout the world.

Now, what  is it about that that drew people to Hawaiʻi?

Well, I think the allure of radio, particularly  in those days, was that it depended a lot on your   imagination.

You weren't presented any images, so  you had to make up the images in your own mind.

And that's why radio dramas were so popular  and so famous.

So, Hawaiian music conjured   up all these pictures of the romantic type of  thing that we've been talking about.

And that's   what was created in people's minds through  Hawaiian music and through the descriptions   of the islands that they heard over the radio.

Was Hawaii Calls a promotional vehicle, also,   as were some of the other images  that we've been talking about.

Yes, it did.

It did serve that function, and  I'm sure that it was supported for that reason,   because tourism at that time was a growing  industry, unlike today, which is it's now our   main industry in the islands.

It was secondary  to agriculture, but certainly was growing,   and therefore it needed to be advertised.

Well, in  the same way that radio did this job, television   has also done the same job for the Hawaiian  Islands, and that's happened through things   like documentaries.

It's happened through variety  shows.

It's happened through fictional dramatic   series, which are even being made even today.

And after such a series goes out of its network   showings, it remains in syndication.

And again,  people are seeing it all over the world.

The HVB   did sponsor, and I believe still does sponsor  Hawaiian musicians to travel around, and that's   a way of spreading the word too.

We're going  to go into a clip from an Australian television   show from 1962 and here are some Hawaiʻi Visitors  Bureau sponsored musicians appearing in a Hawaiian   musical montage and a show called Revue 62.

(music)   You can travel here and there.

You can travel everywhere.

For there's no place like Hawaiʻi.

We have everything and that   you've never seen before.

For there's no place like Hawaiʻi.

There's a saying, old but very true.

When you leave, Hawaiʻi goes with you.

Oh, what beauty you will see and what hospitality.

For there's no place like Hawaiʻi.

Lovely hula hands graceful as a bird in motion.

Gliding like the gulls over the ocean.

Lovely hula hands.

White Hawaiʻi sands, nothing  in this tropic splendor.

Like the lightest touch of your  slender, lovely hula hands.

Joe, how about giving us some  real traditional Hawaiian Music?

(music) Kāua   i ka holoholo kaʻa ʻOni ana ka huila lawe a lilo  Kuʻu aku ʻoe a pau pono Nā huahelu e kau ana   Kāua i ka holoholo kaʻa ʻOni ana ka huila lawe a lilo  Kuʻu aku ʻoe a pau pono Nā huahelu e kau ana   ʻAlawa iho ʻoe ma ka ʻaoʻao Hū ana ka makani hele uluulu  Mea ʻole ka piʻina me ka ihona  Me nā kīkeʻe alanui ʻO ka pā kōnane a ka mahina  Ahuwale nō i ka pae ʻōpua Eia kāua i ka piʻina pau   Haʻina kō wehi e kuʻu lei Ke huli hoʻi nei kāua  Step on the gas, going my way  Ke ʻoni nei ka huila Haʻina kō wehi e kuʻu   lei Ke huli hoʻi nei kāua  Step on the gas, going my way Ke ʻoni nei ka   huila (music)   What I noticed from looking at that film clip  was that the evident impact of Hollywood,   in particular, commercialism sort of a  wiki, wacky woo type of image.

You know,   did Australians really believe that  that was what Hawaiʻi is all about?

I don't think they really believed that it  was very obviously a set.

You can see that   those people at that supposed luau are actually  sitting on a linoleum floor.

It's a suggestion   of the islands.

The backdrop was just painted.

It wasn't supposed to be totally realistic.

What about the Kodak Hula Show?

I think something interesting to   keep in mind about that Kodak Hula Show is that it  was sponsored by Kodak, but not created by them.

The Royal Hawaiian Girls Glee Club, which was  the troupe which performed in it in its original   years, was the creator of the show.

They set it  up.

They decided what they were going to sing and   perform.

So, it was, in fact, a Hawaiian group  that created that entire program.

And the show,   as a historical aside, began in 1937.

It  continued up until World War Two put an   end to it in 1941.

Resumed in 1949 and is  still going strong today.

It is a very long   lived and it can be said to be an institution,  really, in the field of Hawaiian promotion.

Now, what about Aloha week?

I understand  that we also have beginnings back then.

But it started as a promotional vehicle also.

Well, Aloha Week began in 1947 and its its purpose   was really twofold.

First of all, there was the  intention of perpetuating Hawaiian handicrafts,   Hawaiian styles, of Hawaiian culture, really.

But in addition to that, Aloha Week was created   as an event which could be promoted, which took  place at a slow time in the year for tourism.

And back then, that was the month of October.

So,  although Aloha Week does serve the purpose of the   continuation of Hawaiian culture, it also does  have an economic reason for existing as well.

What else did Aloha week inspire and influence?

Well, Aloha Week certainly benefited tourism,   but another economic impact that it had was on the  garment industry locally.

You see at that time,   not that many local people, or not so many  wore local aloha wear garments.

And one of   the heavily promoted aspects of Aloha week  was to push the sales of locally produced   muʻumuʻu's and aloha shirts.

At that time,  people did not wear those clothes to work,   and it was a big exception during that one week  period to wear an aloha shirt to work.

Certainly,   nowadays, things have changed to the point where  very few men wear anything but an aloha shirt.

The   tie has almost completely become extinct in the  business world, and that can be traced back to the   beginnings of Aloha Week, more than 40 years ago.

You and I've been to bolster tourist train.

When   an income tax inspector on vacation comes out  to Waikīkī for relaxation.

I just relax and get   my taxes paid, doing my bit to help the tourist  train.

When a big shot from the East who likes to   gamble.

Possesses thoughts that are inclined  to ramble.

I use my heart as groundwork for   my spade.

Doing my bit to help the tourist train.

If an old maiden should beg for my assistance.

In   some stuffy cause I'd scream resistance.

And say  to a Hades with the ladies, I'm doing my bit to   bolster touris train.

Now, wouldn't you know the  girls are all accusing.

Poor little me of tactics   they're all using.

But daddy dear you needn't  be afraid.

I'm doing my bit to bolster tourist   train.

Doing my bit to help the tourist trade.

Would you say that Aloha Week, then, has had a   pretty positive influence you mentioned,  on the industry, as far as aloha wear,   but also on tourism but what about just  perpetuating the Hawaiian culture itself?

I think Aloha Week does serve a purpose in  perpetuating the Hawaiian culture.

And I think   it's important to note that it did start with  that, with that idea in mind.

And I think it's   it has continued to successfully do that.

Looking back now on the images,   and particularly of Hawaiian women we saw  recently, as you mentioned this Aloha Week,   we saw the Kodak hula girls.

We saw the  early images of them in sort of this fantasy   motif.

How would you say that has evolved?

Well, things have changed in advertising,   certainly.

Nowadays, things are not quite  so romanticized.

And as I mentioned earlier,   that's partly due to the reliance of photography  now, because we don't use artwork in promotional   material or advertising, and certainly photography  is always going to give you a more realistic look.

Another thing that's changed is there's less of  a reliance on, shall we say, just the image of   the Hawaiian woman.

So, nowadays you'll tend to  see in advertising pictures of groups of people,   men and women or couples.

That, again, is just  something which is part of a larger trend.

And   to look at the older material, you can really date  it, because there's always the hula girl next to   the palm tree with Diamond Head in the background.

We don't quite get into that so much these days.

What is it that draws you to collecting all this?

I collect promotional material because I think   it's beautiful.

Certainly, it's not a strictly  realistic portrayal of life as it was.

And that's   okay, because art isn't supposed to be a strictly  realistic portrayal of life at any time.

I think   that there is a lot of beauty in this, in this  artistic view of Hawaiʻi, even if it's not true to   life, and I think other people appreciate it too,  even if they may find aspects of it not true.

So where are we going today?

We looked  at these fantasy images.

We're looking   at more realism.

And today, where is  advertising promotion of Hawaiʻi going?

Well, I don't think the romantic ideal is ever  going to go away.

I think the exotic and appealing   and alluring aspects of the Hawaiian Islands are  always going to be played up, the physical beauty,   the interesting people, that stuff's never  going to go away.

Certainly, the techniques have   changed, and they will continue to change as time  passes.

But the underlying, the underlying beauty,   the underlying things that we've seen before,  already, they're going to continue.

I think.

Thank you very much for sharing your  information with us, and, of course,   all your memorabilia, everything that we've  seen, as far as these fantasy images from   your personal collection.

Thank you for having me.

Aloha and thank you for  joining us from Waikīkī Beach.