The Story Of Hawaii Calls - By Webley Edwards

Ron Whitfield · From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA

Just got around to reading the programme from the recent Hawaii Calls show at the Hawaii Theatre in Honolulu, and found this interesting feature -

Every Saturday at 2pm, Honolulu time, the finest star entertainers of Hawaii assemble at a spacious hotel fronting onto the white sands of Waikiki Beach, and send the music of the islands like a welcoming call to the world. And the world listens, and longs to be there with them.
"Letters reach us from all over", says Webley Edwards, who produces and narrates the Hawaii Calls radio show, "from the US Embassy in Addis Ababa; the crew of a freighter docking in Athens, or a fellow who say's he's hearing us on a transistor radio at the site of ancient Babylon".
One day recently, a burly visitor ambled up to Edawards after the broadcast and told him, "A week ago I was shivering in my parka back home in Alaska. I heard those warm Waikiki waves come whispering in on your show, and here I am!"
A similar impulse brings hundreds of thousands of visitors to the islands every year. Of these, some 1500 to 3000 per week make a special point of attending the broadcast. To them, and millions like them around the globe, Web Edwards and the stars of Hawaii Calls are Hawaii.
The show's inexaustible popularity is, by radio standards, unique. Hardly a program of similar vintage is around today. Yet, with no perceptible effort, Hawaii Calls has stayed on the air waves for almost three decades and, during that time, reached more people than any comparable broadcast in history. Week after week, listeners find in it the same durable attractions: the magical music, charm, and Aloha spirit of the islands.

Hawaii Calls germinated one morning in 1935. Edwards, an Oregon State University quarterback and radio man who'd migrated to Hawaii, made a business trip to the mainland. In San Francisco, he paid a sociable call on two old friends, Bill Pabst and Mel Venter of the Don Lee Network (then the Pacific Coast portionof CBS).
Pabst and Venter were auditioning a new program coming in from a San Francisco night club, and asked Edwards to help pass judgement.
He heard it, and cautiously inquired, "what is it?". Hawaiian music, he was told.
Edwards grinned a broad, incredulous grin. "They'd never recognise it in Hawaii".
Remote broadcasts from non-studio locations were by this time standard radio operation.
New shortwave facilities had just been set up between Hawaii and the mainland.
"Wouldn't it be great if we could get some real music from Hawaii?" Venter conjectured.
Edwards asked him "If we could send you a half hour of music every week, would you carry it?".
Edwards' Don Lee friends responded with interest. Possibly three or four California stations could be lined up to carry the show.
There was just one catch, the network's program budget was fully committed.; it would offer no financing.
Elated with his project, but not certain how he could launch it, Web Edwards went home to see what he could do.
What to do for musicians? A dozen fine groups were perfoming in the islands. The choice finally settled upon two acts appearing at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel - Louise Akeo and her all girl chorus, and the rich Hawaiian baritone, Joseph Kamakau and his men. Edwards bore the cost of short-wave facilities and, partly as a matter of economics, and because he was already an experienced broadcaster, did the announcing and narration himself. The first Hawaii calls show was beamed to the mainand in July, 1935.
From the first, it was apparent Edwards had scored a success. The music, the entertainers, the relaxed and easy pace of the show, Web's own friendly, enconstrained delivery, created a beguiling image of unaffected charm and romance. Now all he needed was money.
At this point, George Armitage of the old Hawaii Tourist Bureau stepped in. Seeing the show's potential for making mainland listeners Hawaii-concious, he persuaded Honolulu businessmen to donate stopgap assistance. Soon after, Walter Macfarlane, a member of the Territorial Legislature, introduced legislation to subsidize the broadcast. His almost unique povision, still in the State of Hawaii's annual budget, was voted by a substantial majority.
In six months,the show was booked as far as Chicago. Then it went coast to coast. The Canadian network tentatively tested it, and booked it from ocean to ocean. Australia went wild over it. Hawaii Calls was on it's nonstop way.
The shows name came about almost automatically. Because of the uncertainties of early Pacific shortwave transmission, nervous mainland engineers asked that a reassuring 'Hawaii calling San Francisco' preceed broadcasts. This suggested 'Hawaii Calling' which, even before the first Hawaii broadcast, became the world-famous Hawaii Calls.
And, except for a short blackout after Pearl Harbor, it naver failed to go on the air. It was sometimes briefly delayed. Styanding by in San Francisco for just such an emergency, at one point in the show's history, was a University of California student and fledgling announcver.
Thrilled to get the job, he primed himself for the day when he'd tell the entire United States, "Hawaii Calls will be delayed for a few moments. Please stand by.
At last it happened - engineers signalled the Hawaii Calls was having trouble getting through. The youth spoke into the microphone and, for the first time, a network audience heard the voice of a man who would himself become an airwaves institution - Ralph Edwards (no relation to Web).
As broadcast knowhow increased, Web Edwards began to take his show on location to points of interest on the other islands. On one such occassion, the cast and crew assembled in the Volcano House, on the edge of Kilauea crater. With them, schedualed to say a few words about the marvels of radio transmission, was the august broadcasting pioneer, David Sarnoff. During the pre-show run-through, telephone line transmitting the program went dead. Edwards wigwagged for help. In minutes, cowboys from Hawaii's vast Parker Ranch rode out to trace the lines, foot by foot, for the difficulty. At three minutes to air-time, they spotted a break caused by a newly-fallen tree, twisted the wires together with pliers from a saddle kit, and the show went out on schedual.
A later mishap proved a blessing in disguise. En route to the broadcast, the program's sole steel guitarist (presumably; Jake Keliikoa) broke his arm in an accident. Prodded by desperation, Edwards and his musical director, Al Kealoha Perry, summoned the girls together. Unrehearsed, with inborn melody and harmony, the girls improvised the steel guitar parts by humming them. The 'new sound' they created clicked, listeners demanded repeats, and it's now a distinctive, popular feature of many arrangements on the show.
The incident had one further issue: Hawaii Calls is carried by the Mutual Broadcasting System (some 400 affiliated stations); and by special arrangements and individual stations in key areas in the United States; by Cananda's transcontinental network; an Australian net, Mexico, the Far East, the South Pacific, the Carribbean and Mediterranean; by the 200 stations and outlets of the Armed Forces Networks; and by special channels to Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia, including short-wave around the world hook-ups. Thus, the music and friendliness of Hawaii penetrate to almost every corner of the world - even, thanks to Europe's 'freedom stations' to points behind the Iron Curtain.
The program's global record of undiminishing popularity sometimes gives Edwards time to ponder.
"When Jim Michener first came to the Islands to write, I asked him, 'What makes it go on and on? When we try to change the show, people object.' Jim told me, 'Everybody everywhere has some kind of problem. They think, oh, if they could only get away somewhere on an island. They listen to your music, they read my books, and for a while they're on that island, carefree and unassailed'".
On one occassion, well meaning friends almost persuaded Web he ought to change his format.
Radio was in one of it's periodic states of turmoil, and other shows were frantically juggling acts, angles and personalities to survive.
Web refered his dilema to a top network executive in New York, who advised him, "I can pick up any of these phones on my desk and within two hours pack this office with comedians, actors, hot trumpet players, symphony conductors, talking poodles - any act you can name. There's only one thing I can't get - Hawaiian music, by Hawaiians, from Hawaii. Go back home, and keep sending it to us!".
And so, except for modern improvements in broadcast techniques, Hawaii Calls is much the same show today it's always been.
Arrangements and styles of Hawaiian music are apt to undergo imperceptable refinements. To keep in touch with the original inspiration, Web and his cast study early Polynesians renditions. Edwards himself has many hundreds of these, including some of the first primitive efforts recorded in the Islands. Now and again a fan sends a batch of rare items, and Web reportedly goes into seclusion to play and re-play, catalog and compare.
He also has a file of 3000 songs for his artists to draw upon. Perhaps a third of these are too archaic to use. But some two thousand have been heard on the show and, of these, the singers know a thousand by heart.
For Edwards, initial work on Hawaii Calls begins on Sunday. Fleeing the temptations of sun and surf, he takes his briefcase to the Edwards' comfortable 'cabin' at the top of the Waianae mountains. A panoramic view of Oahu island down below and the great stretches of blue ocean leading to Moloka'i. Lana'i, and Maui, lies just beyond his desk.
From intricate lists of titles, Web selects the songs and plots the order in which they will be performed, taking care to establish a balanced sequence of hula, romantic ballad, lively song and chant. He may add an occassinal new number, if it meets the 'island flavor' test. Finally, he sketches in his own introductory and connecting patter.
On Thursday, the cast assembles for rehearsal in Edwards' recording-studio headquarters, located in the colorful Kakaako section midway between downtown Honolulu and Waikiki. Just opposite his offices is a grocery opperated by a neighborly Chinese couple, Mr. and Mrs. Dung. Nearby is a Japanese lady barber. Next door, a termite-exterminating company shares quarters with a flourishing dance studio, wgere more than one bug-ridden householder has lingered to brush up on his hula.
Experience has taught Edwards to set rehearsals for an hour earlier than he actually intends to begin. Parking in the area is a problem and, in any case, 'Hawaiian time' means that if you have a two o'clock appointment, you start to get ready at two.
The cast arrives in comfortable clothes, the girls in muu-muus, the fellows in sports togs from a morning game of golf. Web's great find, the phenomenal low-alto to high soprano singer Haunani Kahalewai, carries a candy bar for an occassional munch. Relatives of the singers drop in, bearing Hawaiian 'crack seed' (spiced dried plums), peanuts boiled in the shell, or pink tainted rice cakes. A friend asks to watch the rehearsal and, in the inevitable Hawaiian manner, the friend brings along a friend, and they both bring "something to eat, in case you get hungry". The feating, apt to go on continuously, gets right under way.
The family cordiality that exists among Edwards, Perry and the entertainers makes their get-togethers as friendly and festive as a luau. In spite of this, or perhaps because of it, they accomplish a tremendous amount in this single afternoon. They work incessantly to capture and lock in the marvelous feeling of spontaneity that distinguishes their performances.
They may spend a quarter of an hour on a single chord sequence. Half the cast are sight-readers, half sing by ear. To maintain balance, they all learn or re-learn every song by heart.
Edwards says "We rehearse it again, so that, when we go on the air, it will sound like it's never been rehearsed".
"Once in a while," he adds with dry humor, "in spite of all we do, it does sound like it's never been rehearsed".
A final run-through and audience-warmup commence on Saturday an hour before the broadcast. The show usually originates from one of three hotels on Waikiki Beach - The Moana, it's staged beneath the big banyan tree, The Reef Terrace, or The Hawaiian Village, on Ale Kai.
Present at these times is Edwards' wife, a soothing, helpful influence who quietly attends to any small last-minute emergencies that arise. Edwards coaches his audience in the art of shouting the elongated 'A-LO-ha!' that opens the show.
And then once again, Hawaii Calls goes out to the world.
Timing may be ticklish. Exuberant Hawaiian entertainers, carried away by sheer joie de vivre, are wont to let their songs run overtime. Just as often, and for much the same reason, a tune planned to moderate pace takes off like a rocket and is over almost before it's begun.
Somehow, without fail, it all adds up to a half-hour show.
For many old friends, the high point arrives when festivities stop momentarily, and the air-way filled with breakers at Waikiki. Then, in a voice radiates warmth and good will, Edwards expresses his abiding wish that, "you were with us, here in Hawaii, this fine day!". Such is his sorcery, such in fact, his sincerity, it's a hard bitten listener who's not convinced that Edwards means him personally.
On a rare occassion, the show gets caught in a tropic squall, a brief flurry of rain materializing out of a blue sky. Or, there may be a spell of 'Kona weather' - an hour or day of drizzle that moves in from the south when the trade winds fade away. At such times, Edwards can sense afficianados in his visiting audience building up to the moment he must deliver his "this fine day" speech.
"And I don't say it, and they always laugh", says Web.
For, if the weather isn't all it should be, he's truthful. He tells listeners, plants must be watered occassinally, even in Hawaii. Thanks, however, to Hawaii's natural bounty, it's seldom he cannot boast of a golden, perfect day.
At the end of a show, the performers toss their lies to the audience, and the autographing session commences. Edwards takes a frank, unfeigned delight in meeting face to face the people he has lured, teased and tempted to the Islands, chats with everybody, and tirelessly signs anything short of a blank check that's put in front of him. With the practiced ear of a pollster, he listens for comments about the tunes visitors would like to hear on the show.
What is the music with which Hawaii Calls beguiles an international audience?
"Originally", Web says, "Island music was little more than rhythm patterns - chants of praise for a god or king. Sea chanteys brought in by visiting whalers were an early influence. So was church music. Hawaiians flabbergasted the first missionaries by adopting their hymns for hula dances!
"Then a Hawaiian king who'd been to Europe, imported a German bandmaster to conduct The Royal Hawaiian Band. Name was Henry Berger. He arrived in 1872, and in the 45 years that followed, he gave Hawaiian music a full-flowing melody and sweetness it's never lost".
The sweetness and plaintiveness of Hawaiian music are made to order for the two instruments most commonly identified with it, the ukulele and the steel guitar.
Many songs of enduring popularity were composed by Hawaiian royalty.
Of these, Queen Liliuokalani's 'Aloha O'e' is doubtless the most widely famed.
Web is quick to admit that a song can be truly Hawaiian as long as it has that certain indefinable 'something'.
Edwards calculates that over the years, more than 600 performers have appeared on the show, and he now finds himself using the talented sons and daughters of early members of the cast.
Four such 'second generation' performers are current regulars - Lani, Nina Kealiiwahamana and Boyce Kaihiihikapuokalani, the daughters and son of early day entertainer Victoria Ii Rodrigues; and Alvin 'Barney' Kalanikau, son of Alvin Kaleiolani Isaacs.
"Sometimes this makes me feel kind of old", Web admits, "But it's a good feeling too. I never hoped, never once dreamed, back in the beginning, the show would have the kind of longetivity it's had. It's been a unique and proidential opportunity to bring the music and the friendliness of the Islands we love out to the rest of the world. I like to think some of that friendliness counteracts a little of the hatred broadcast daily from other points of the globe. Hawaii's pretty close to paradise on earth. We just try to spread it around a little for others to enjoy".

Web Edwards

From the album cover of - The Hawaii Calls Show, May 1962

Don Kona Woods · From: Hawaiian Kama'aina

Ron,

I listened to Hawaii Calls every Sunday at 6:00 pm on the Mutual Broadcasting System during the 1950's.

In the early 1960's, I lived in Hawaii and went to see and hear Hawaii Calls every Saturday on the Beach at Waikiki.

That program has a lot of nostalgia to it for a lot of people.

Thanks for the post, Ron.

Aloha, Smile

Don

billchav · From: Houston, TX USA

It appears that I am one of the few that actually listened the Hawaii Calls radio show on short-wave radio in the late 1930's prior to the attack on Pearl and the other bases. I really enjoyed reading the post, it sure brought back old memories. One of my best friends in later years was a seaman during the attack, but was out at sea. He was born in Honolulu and his family was living near Pearl Harbor at the time.
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Steel Guitar Tabs

Norman Markowitz · From: Santa Cruz, California

I'm listening to an LP I just picked up on a recent trip to O'ahu, "Hawaii Calls-Waikiki" Capitol T772. Super album, Does anyone know who plays steel on this album. It really is great. Haunani sounds great, also.The album was done in 1957.

Les Anderson · From: The Great White North

George Keoki Lake · From: Edmonton, AB., Canada

Well Les, I never listened to H.C. in the late thirties, however the short-wave was still going in the mid-forties. I had a record 'cutter' which could record on those old Audiodisc blanks at 78rpm. I managed to record portions of one of the shows, (used about 3 or 4 discs) and captured Alfred Apaka plus of course, David Keli'i. Short wave faded in and out in those days which only added to the romance of the shows.

Hey Ron, Mahalo for the long article which I have printed and inserted into one of my many H.C. lp albums. A lot of great information ! Appreciated.

Brad Bechtel · From: San Francisco, CA

This is a fascinating story, but it belongs in Music, not Steel Without Pedals. Thanks for sharing!
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Wally Pfeifer · From: Illinois, USA

Yeah,--but how many people look at the Music section every day? I very seldom do but I do check "Steel Without Pedals" and "Steel Players" several times a day. Maybe I might be the exception.
Oh Well

Joe Casey · From: Weeki Wachee .Springs FL (population.9)

Wow. As a kid growing up in Sacramento I remember sitting around the radidio listening to Hawaii Calls it was a ritual. On Mondays it was the Firestone Orchestra with Howard Barlow.It wasn't country but Wink

Norman Markowitz · From: Santa Cruz, California

Can anyone answer the question that I posed earlier in this thread. It would be appreciated. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Ron Whitfield · From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA

With the newer 'moved' function, we don't lose the thread to another section, rather it's improved so that more actually get a shot at things that otherwise might get missed.

Hope you and others got something out of it.

Norman, from that era, it was probably Jules Ah See or Barney Isaacs. Pretty easy to tell the difference. Lot's of big chording = Barney.

billchav · From: Houston, TX USA

Les - Joe, I was begining to feel like the Lone Ranger. I thought George probably had listtened.
Norman, I lost a lot of my old music trivia due to "IKE" which included a lot of info on early radio shows from Hawaii. At least I have the memories and thanks to modern electronics I did have a lot ghosted on other hard drives. Ron is probably right in who the steelers were. I intend to continue rebuilding my music trivia library .
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Bill Wynne · From: New Jersey, USA

Billy Tonnesen · From: R.I.P., Buena Park, California

Were there any Transcriptons made of these broadcasts ? I listened to them as a teenager in the early 40's. Could H.C.'s be resurrected maybe on Public Radio ?

Billy Tonnesen · From: R.I.P., Buena Park, California

Please Delete

Bill Wynne · From: New Jersey, USA

Allen Roy · From: Montana, USA

I am doing research for a biography of Webley Edwards of Hawaii Calls fame. A summary of what I'm doing was a feature article of the Honolulu Star bulletin: http://archives.starbulletin.com/2008/08/12/features/story02.html

I got started doing the research about Webley about 2.5 years ago. I happened across "Hawaii Calls" on Wikipedia and listened to the 1949 program that it linked too. I realized that I didn't really even know who Webley Edwards was, even though I'd listened to the program as a kid in the Pacific Northwest for many years. I remember seeing many of those Hawaii Calls vinyl records saying Webley Edwards presents: Hawaii Calls, but I didn't really understand why he was presenting Hawaii Calls. So, I flipped to the Wikipedia page on Webley Edwards and found perhaps 4 paragraphs and then followed some links and found precious little else! I began a search on the web and found that perhaps there were 10 paragraphs of information and that many sites borrowed from other sites so it comes down to about 2 actual sources about Webley.

About this same time I mentioned Hawaii Calls to my wife (who is only 6 years younger than I) and she didn't know what I was talking about. I then began asking around my friends and associates (I live in Montana) and none of them knew what Hawaii Calls was!!! I have come to realize that people older than 60 or 70 are probably the only ones who know about Hawaii Calls and they are getting fewer and fewer everyday. I realized that it won't be long and the memory of HCs would be long gone. So, I decided to start doing research on Webley to see what I could find out. I've been learning quite a bit; collecting articles, chapters of books, newspaper clippings, etc. I've found his living relatives and talked with most of them. I set up a Webley Edwards family history on Ancestry.com and with help some of his relatives have traced family back to the Mayflower. I've been talking with Nina Kehalihiwahumana and her brother Boyce who were both regulars on HCs. I found his physical therapist who cared for him after his first stroke up till he died. I also talked a couple times to Bill Bigelow who tried to bring the program back in the 90s.

I've learned many things that are not in any biography. But I still have MUCH to learn.

I am also doing a history of Hawaii Calls, because it's hard to separate Webley from HC. I'm here on this forum to contact those who are also interested in Hawaii Calls. I'd love to talk with some of you who posted about hearing HCs on the radio. And who have some memoribila about HCs

Also, I'm certain that there are many snap shots of Hawaii Calls taken by visitors to the program out there in thousands of old family photo albums. If your parents, grandparent, great-grandparents, or weird ol uncle Hal, visited Hawaii during WWII and after (during the 50s and 60s), chances are they visited the program. Also, I'm certain that there are many home movies of the program. And scripts of the programs. etc.

I'm not collecting this stuff, but would like the information that can be gleaned from them about the program. What ever may be used in a biography will be properly sourced.

You can go to the following link to hear HCs from Dec 29, 1949. It was recorded on the mainland from over shortwave radio. http://www.angelfire.com/ky2/cumberlandgapbc/491229HawaiiCalls.mp3

So thanks;
Allen Roy
Bozeman, MT

Allen Roy · From: Montana, USA

Allen Roy · From: Montana, USA

Good talking with you Bill. I look forward to more reminiscing with you.

Allen

Don Kona Woods · From: Hawaiian Kama'aina

The question of who were the steel guitar players for the Hawaii Calls program seem to continuously appear on different forums.

Starting in the 1950's there were always two Hawaiian steel guitar players connected to the program.

The following is a list of the players with dates associated with their playing.

Hawaii Calls Steel Players:

October 14, 1935-37 - Freddie Tavares

1937-52 – David Keli’i

1952- 1958 – Jules Ah See and Jake Keli’ikoa

1959- June 1960 – Jules Ah See and Barney Isaacs
Jules dies

June 1960-1962 – Barney Isaacs and Danny Stewart

1962-1969 – Barney Isaacs and Eddie Pang

1970-pau – Barney Isaacs and Joe Custino

I do know that Mel Abe substituted on occasion, and there may be others.

Aloha, Smile

Don

Ron Whitfield · From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA

Don, our friend Ronald Kanahele said that when David Kelii would need to have someone stand in for him, the only person he would allow to do so was Ronald's uncle, Benny Rogers.
So there's another name on the short list.

Allen Roy · From: Montana, USA

Great info. Thanks. That'll be another part of the history of Hawaii Calls to go with the biography...

Thanks...

Allen Roy
Bozeman, MT.

basilh · From: United Kingdom

Blake Hawkins · From: Florida

Allen, you might also do some research on the Mutual
Broadcasting System. They carried "Hawaii Calls" for several years.
Perhaps someone has some transcriptions of those
broadcasts.
Blake

Butch Pytko · From: Orlando, Florida, USA

Ah yes, I never get tired of reading the history of Hawaii Calls. I was there in the 1965-68 time period, saw many Hawaii Calls shows, met Barney Isaacs & Eddie Pang. The part about the famous Thursday rehearsals at Webley Edwards studio reminds me how I got myself invited to one. Just when I thought nothing could possibly top a live show, I found myself sitting there at a rehearsal next to Barney Isaacs, watching his phenomenal playing! I felt like I was sitting literally on stage viewing & hearing a private Hawaii Calls show!