10 Things

10 THINGS YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT HARADA

  1. He made his acting debut — and finale — in 1959, when he played a minor role in “Malihini Moon” at Farrington High School. He could’ve been Randall Duk Kim or Cliffton Hall, if he continued.
  2. A deejay’s job might have been his calling, if he had continued a lunch-hour ritual while at Farrington: As part of his Radio Workshop class, Harada co-hosted a noontime radio show, spinning hit songs for students. He was inspired by Tom Moffatt.
  3. He’s not been big on fan clubs or idol worship, but Harada was president of a Tom Moffatt fan club called The Record Squad while in high school — he was Record Squader No. 13.
  4. If you blinked, you might have missed him, but Harada had a bit part — or his picture did — in a vintage “Hawaii Five-O” episode.
  5. Harada was typecast as a reporter in a filmed-in-Hawai’i episode of “I Dream of Jeannie,” the sitcom with Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman.
  6. His first Page 1 bylined story in The Advertiser was on Frankie Lymon, who was in town to sing “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” at the old Civic Auditorium in 1959.
  7. Harada was locked up with Dino, Desi and Billy, an early boy group, when fans swarmed a music store run by Von Hamm Young at Kapi’olani Boulevard and Cooke Street.
  8. Harada’s Advertiser review of The Monkees was reprinted, word for word, in a two-page trade magazine ad heralding the group’s first-ever public appearance — at the Honolulu International Center Arena.
  9. Harada could have had Luke Skywalker’s shirt, but thought $5 was a bit much. Star Mark Hamill, who played Skywalker in the first “Star Wars” film, made Harada the offer to sell the shirt off his back in Hollywood at a press junket, where Hamill, Carrie Fisher and an unknown named Harrison Ford were getting their first taste of stardom.
  10. Harada’s column was immortalized in a stage musical: “You Somebody,” by (Advertiser columnist and playwright) Lee Cataluna, with music by Keola Beamer. It was a sell-out for Diamond Head Theatre, and it introduced a new verb to the community — Harada-fied meant to be written up in his column.

From ‘Wayne Harada – The curtain is called,’ by Zenaida Serrano, Advertiser Staff Writer, The Honolulu Advertiser, Sunday, December 28, 2008. Courtesy Manoa Valley Theatre.