The film is best remembered for the song "Sweet Leilani" with words and music by Harry Owens, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1937. Other songs included "Blue Hawaii", "In a Little Hula Heaven", "Nani Ona Pua", "Okolehao", and "Sweet Is the Word for You".
Crosby is cast in a romantic Hawaiian setting as Tony Marvin, a publicity agent for Imperial Pineapple Company. The atmosphere is captured from the start with a Hawaiian song over the opening credits with Tony and his friend Shad, with pet pig "Walford", present at a native wedding ceremony where Tony joins in the song. In the Imperial Pineapple Company boardroom, the President, J. P. Todhunter, defends Tony against charges of neglecting his duty, pointing out that it was Tony who thought of the idea of the "Pineapple Girl" contest. The winner of the contest was promised "three romantic weeks" in Hawaii, and her happy impressions are to be syndicated in the press for publicity.
Unfortunately, Georgia Smith, the girl from Birch Falls who won the Pineapple Girl contest, and her friend Myrtle are bored and intend to return home. The prospect of such adverse publicity enrages J. P., who tells Tony that he must do something to stop the girls from leaving. To give a little romantic colour, Tony sings "Blue Hawaii" outside the girls' bungalow helped by a Hawaiian chorus. When Myrtle opens the door, he mistakes her for Georgia and is therefore unaware that it is Georgia he later meets at the dockside. While helping to repair the heel of her shoe, he accidentally tips her into the water. Drenched and angry, she, equally unaware of his identity, tells how she came to be in Hawaii and says that she could murder the one who got her into the whole mess.
Shortly afterwards, when she and Myrtle are about to board a ship bound for home, a stranger thrusts a black pearl into her hand and asks her to get it through customs. Consequently, they are prevented from leaving and Tony and Shad arrive opportunely to offer help. Apparently the pearl is sacred and must be returned to a shrine on a smaller island from which it has been stolen; if not, according to a native legend, the volcano will erupt and destroy the village. Kimo, a native, says the girls must themselves return the pearl and he takes the four of them in his boat. Tony has arranged the whole business to prevent Georgia from returning home; he has also written, in her name, glowing reports for press handouts. On the trip across to the island Tony and Georgia sing "Blue Hawaii". Meanwhile, J. P. receives a long-distance call from Georgia's fiancé, the dentist Dr. Quimby, who says that he is coming to fetch her. On the island, Georgia offers to hand over the pearl but is told to await the arrival of the high priest.
While they are detained on the island, Shad and Myrtle become well acquainted and enliven the scene with comedy episodes involving Walford the pig. Tony, with Hawaiian chorus, sings "Sweet Leilani" to a little native girl. When the high priest arrives, the pearl is handed over and at a celebration ceremony Georgia sings "In a Little Hula Heaven", with Tony singing and whistling a few lines. Myrtle sings "Okolehao", the name for a potent native drink. While the volcano continues to rumble and smoke, the high priest announces that the pearl must be fake and arrests Georgia. At Tony's instigation, the volcano's activity is manufactured by natives maintaining the fire and flames. Tony helps Georgia escape and the four make for the boat. Tony and Georgia sing "Sweet Is the Word for You".
When Georgia returns to her hotel the next day she finds Quimby and her uncle Herman awaiting her, and they explain how she has been tricked. Meanwhile, Tony, regretting his actions, has called on J. P. and told him not to publish the articles Tony has written. When he calls for Georgia, he tells her they will be married, but she is angry with him and says she will return home with Quimby and her uncle. When the three are ready to leave, Quimby is tricked by Shad into involvement with the police, which results in Quimby being arrested for assault. However, when Shad tries the same trick on Uncle Herman, he is arrested. Tony boards the ship and in the next cabin to Georgia, whistles, "Sweet Is the Word for You", but she reports him to the purser, and he is put off the ship. Myrtle arrives at the jail with Walford disguised as a dog and pays the fine to release Shad. Tony and Georgia are reunited after an old lady hired by Tony to pose as his mother visits Georgia aboard ship and persuades her that it is Tony she should marry. Over the closing credits, a chorus sings "Blue Hawaii" and "In A Little Hula Heaven".[3]
Frank S. Nugent writing in The New York Times commented: "Regretting that he has but one voice to give, Bing Crosby is surrendering it cheerfully at the Paramount to the uses of the Hawaiian Board of Trade, the pineapple industry and sundry tourist agencies. His Waikiki Wedding places him in a welter of grass skirts, tropical sunsets, Martha Raye and a razorback pig called Walford...It is, at least, a workable idea for a musical comedy, even though the fabric has been stretched so far that it has burst in places...Mr. Crosby is still the pleasantest of our crooners and Miss Ross was all right, too."[4]
Variety had minor doubts about the songs. "A romantic picture, pure and simple, Waikiki Wedding should have no difficulty getting by anywhere. It’s saccharine celluloid, sugar coated by Bing Crosby’s and Shirley Ross’ crooning in a surefire palmetto setting. The prime possible box office deterrent with this pic is that it comes so soon after the release of Crosby’s Pennies from Heaven for Columbia, but this damper should not be drastic. While none of the songs here will hit the top performance brackets, they fit the picture’s theme and the voices of Crosby, Shirley Ross and Martha Raye. They should get at least a minor play on the air. . . (Crosby) also makes the best of his songs, a couple of them spotted in night sailboat scenes that are very well photographed and directed."[5]
Bing Crosby recorded several of the songs for Decca Records.[7] "Sweet Leilani" was top of the charts of the day for ten weeks during a 25-week stay. "Blue Hawaii" reached the No. 5 spot and spent 13 weeks in the charts.[8] Crosby's songs were also included in the Bing's Hollywood series.
Related Research Articles
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1937.
The Big Broadcast of 1938 is a Paramount Pictures musical comedy film starring W. C. Fields and featuring Bob Hope. Directed by Mitchell Leisen, the film is the last in a series of Big Broadcast movies that were variety show anthologies. This film featured the debut of Hope's signature song, "Thanks for the Memory" by Ralph Rainger.
"Lullaby of Broadway" is a popular song with music written by Harry Warren and lyrics by Al Dubin, published in 1935. The lyrics salute the nightlife of Broadway and its denizens, who "don't sleep tight until the dawn."
ʻŌkolehao is a Hawaiian alcoholic spirit whose main ingredient was the root of the ti plant. 'Ōkolehao's forerunner was a fermented ti root beverage or beer. When distillation techniques were introduced by English seamen in 1790, it was distilled into a highly alcoholic spirit.
Leilani may refer to:
"Aloha ʻOe" is a Hawaiian folk song written c. 1878 by Liliʻuokalani, who was then Princess of the Hawaiian Kingdom. It is her most famous song and is a common cultural symbol for Hawaii.
Shirley Ross was an American actress and singer, notable for her duet with Bob Hope, "Thanks for the Memory" from The Big Broadcast of 1938. She appeared in 25 feature films between 1933 and 1945, including singing earlier and wholly different lyrics for the Rodgers and Hart song in Manhattan Melodrama (1934) that later became "Blue Moon."
Harry Robert Owens was an American composer, bandleader and songwriter best known for his song "Sweet Leilani".
"Thanks for the Memory" (1938) is a popular song composed by Ralph Rainger with lyrics by Leo Robin. It was introduced in the 1938 film The Big Broadcast of 1938 by Bob Hope and Shirley Ross, and recorded by Shep Fields and His Orchestra featuring John Serry Sr. on accordion in the film and vocals by Bob Goday on Bluebird Records. Dorothy Lamour's solo recording of the song was also popular, and has led to many mistakenly believing over the years that it was she who sang the tune with Hope in the film.
"Sweet Leilani" is a song featured in the 1937 film, Waikiki Wedding. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and Bing Crosby's record became one of the biggest hits of 1937.
Hawaii Calls was a radio program broadcast live from Waikiki Beach from 1935 through 1975 that reached 750 stations world-wide at the height of its popularity. It featured live Hawaiian music by an 11-piece dance orchestra conducted by Harry Owens, the composer of "Sweet Leilani". The show selected the best musicians and singers, with the purpose of showcasing what authentic Hawaiian music is like when played by native performers, but with one major difference—the lyrics were sung in English and intended for white audiences. Hawaiians called this hybrid with English hapa haole (half-white)
The Blue Hawaii is a tropical cocktail made of rum, pineapple juice, Blue Curaçao, sweet and sour mix, and sometimes vodka.
"Blue Hawaii" is a popular song written by Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger for the 1937 Paramount Pictures film Waikiki Wedding, starring Bing Crosby and Shirley Ross. Crosby recorded a version with backing by Lani McIntyre and His Hawaiians, which was released in 1937 as the B-side of "Sweet Leilani." This reached the No. 5 spot in the charts of the day during a 13-week-stay
Rhythm on the Range is a 1936 American Western musical film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Bing Crosby, Frances Farmer, and Bob Burns. Based on a story by Mervin J. Houser, the film is about a cowboy who meets a beautiful young woman while returning from a rodeo in the east, and invites her to stay at his California ranch to experience his simple, honest way of life. Rhythm on the Range was Crosby's only Western film and introduced two western songs, "Empty Saddles" by Billy Hill and "I'm an Old Cowhand " by Johnny Mercer, the latter becoming a national hit song for Crosby. The film played a role in familiarizing its audience with the singing cowboy and Western music on a national level.
She Loves Me Not is a 1934 American comedy film directed by Elliott Nugent and starring Bing Crosby and Miriam Hopkins. Based on the novel She Loves Me Not by Edward Hope and the subsequent play by Howard Lindsay, the film is about a cabaret dancer who witnesses a murder and is forced to hide from gangsters by disguising herself as a male Princeton student. Distributed by Paramount Pictures, the film has been remade twice as True to the Army (1942) and as How to Be Very, Very Popular in (1955), the latter starring Betty Grable. The film is notable for containing one of the first major performances of Bing Crosby, and it helped launch him to future stardom. This was also the last film that Miriam Hopkins made under her contract to Paramount Pictures, which began in the early 1930s upon her arrival in Hollywood. In 1935, the film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song for "Love in Bloom", theme song of comedian Jack Benny.
To You Sweetheart, Aloha is the fourth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams and was released late in the summer of 1959 by Cadence Records. This, his fourth LP for the label, has a Hawaiian theme that coincides with the admission of the 50th of the United States.
Paris Honeymoon is a 1939 American musical film directed by Frank Tuttle and written by Frank Butler and Don Hartman. The film stars Bing Crosby, Franciska Gaal, Akim Tamiroff, Shirley Ross, Edward Everett Horton and Ben Blue. Filming took place in Hollywood from May 23 to July 1938 and the film was released on January 27, 1939, by Paramount Pictures.
Favorite Hawaiian Songs is a compilation album of phonograph records by Bing Crosby released in 1940 featuring songs that were sung in a Hawaiian-type genre. This is the second album release of many of Crosby's Hawaiian hits such as: Blue Hawaii and Sweet Leilani.
Favorite Hawaiian Songs, Volume One is a compilation album of phonograph records by Bing Crosby released in 1946 featuring songs that were sung in a Hawaiian-type genre. This was the fourth Hawaiian-themed album release for Crosby.
Favorite Hawaiian Songs, Volume Two is a compilation album of phonograph records by Bing Crosby released in 1946 featuring songs that were sung in a Hawaiian-type genre. This was the fifth Hawaiian-themed album release for Crosby.
References
↑ Cohn, Lawrence (October 15, 1990). "All-Time Film Rental Champs". Variety. p.M-192. ISSN0042-2738.
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