Honolulu Star-Advertiser from Honolulu, Hawaii • B5

very now and then I open up my mailbag and answer reader questions and share their stories. Two weeks ago I wrote about Ala Moana grand opening in August 1959. Steve Miura told me that shortly after the shopping center opened, Elvis Pres- manager, Colonel Tom Parker, was in Hawaii on vacation. stopped by the K-POI radio station to visit Tom Moffatt and Ron Jacobs. At that time, Elvis was still serving in the Army in Germany.

Parker told Moffatt and Jacobs that after Elvis was discharged, he would bring him to Hawaii for a concert, if they could get 10,000 signatures from their lis- teners support- ing this idea. Tom took a long roll of teletype paper over to the new Ala Moana Center and set up a table so that the K-POI staff could begin collecting signatures. It did not take long to collect over 10,000 After receiv- ing news about the outpouring of support, Elvis Presley sent a telegram to Parker in Hawaii. The telegram read as follows: Colonel: My sincere thanks to Tom Moffatt and Ron Jacobs and the entire staff of K-POI, and to all the friends and fans in the Hawaiian Islands. am in full agreement with you, that if at all possi- ble, we should make our first personal appearance, after I return from the Army, in Hawaii.

Your pal, Elvis March 25, 1961, as promised by Colonel Parker, Elvis Presley returned to Hawaii for a concert appear- ance, that took place at Bloch Arena at Pearl Har- Miura says. This event was a benefit concert to raise funds for the building of the USS Ari- zona Memorial. It quite raise enough, so Pres- ley wrote a $5,000 check to put the fund over the top. After the concert, Presley stayed in Hawaii to film scenes for his new movie, The movie was about a young islander who was returning home to Hawaii after completing his military serv ice. Lucky Luck and Checkers Pogo Recently I wrote about family TV shows from the 1950s and 1960s.

Wendy Tolleson told me her family had a beach house at Mokuleia between 1965 and 1969, and entertainer Robert Luck, pictured at left, had one down the beach from her. used to hang out with the guys who starred on the kids TV show Jim Demarest, top left, and Morgan White, below. had watched since arriving in Honolulu, so it was kind of a shock to see them with no shirts on and alco- holic drinks in White said in a 1970 in- terview that he adopted the name before the TV show. He was nicknamed as far back as he could remember. added about 1956, when I went into rock roll radio.

I grew a beard and was Poge, the jumping was in Ogden, Utah. Once, I had a pogo stick race to Salt Lake City, some 40 miles. The name What brought him to Hawaii? sort of followed a man here. He owned radio stations in Ogden, Phoenix and Denver. When he bought KGMB, he asked if like to come over.

His name? Cec Kaiser Hospital Last month I wrote about Kaiser Hospital, which opened in 1958 on Ala Moana Boulevard where the Waikiki Prince Hotel is today. Louette Ames told me her Marine husband was trans- ferred to Hawaii in the fall of 1959 when she was seven months pregnant. Navy sent me to Kai- ser Hospital for my delivery. Kaiser had been built only nine months earlier, and the maternity ward had just opened in December 1959. Our son was born on Dec.

4, 1959. maternity floor was designed uniquely only two women to a room; between two rooms was a nursery. There were usually four babies in each nursery. were literally in a drawer which could be opened when the mothers wanted to care for them and closed when the mothers wanted to sleep or had visitors. closed, the babies were cared for by a nurse.

Nurses would close a drape over the window if they were caring for any infant. visiting, fathers walked around the outside of the building via a lanai and entered the room from the outside through sliding doors. rooms had views of the ocean, and watch the Navy ships sail Hospital hotel Mal Chan had an odd story about Kaiser Hospital. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Chan worked at cen- tral reservations for a local hotel chain. Hotels were often over- booked with groups.

Some- times Chan had to divert them to the neighbor is- lands, at least once we put them up at Kaiser Hospi- tal as a last resort. Well, they did have also had serv ice, meals, beds that could move up and down and were still in Waikiki! sure it made a good story to take back home with I ask whether they had to wear hospital gowns while in the rooms! Transplants the 50th anniversary of the first organ transplant in Hawaii this week. Linda Wong, current di- rector of the Liver Trans- plant Program at said, groundbreaking endeavor that spurred or- gan transplantation in Ha- waii was driven by one man, whose lifesaving vision was shared by a team of daring physicians and surgeons and one courageous hospi- tal The man, Livingston Wong, was her father. His partner was Sister Maureen Keleher and St. Francis hospital.

The kidney transplant operation took place Aug. 9, 1969. The transplant program was located at St. Francis for 40 years and expanded to liver, pancreas and heart transplants. now at The Medical Center.

Toilet paper Steve Miura also recalled the 1971 International Long- shore and Warehouse Union dock strike, which lasted from July 1 to Oct. 6, 1971. I remember that in the 1970s several of my friends had cases of toilet paper stashed away in case an- other dock strike occurred. KPOI radio held a popular contest, Miura recalled. time they played the song by the New Colony Six, the first caller to get through to the disc jockey on the contest tele- phone line would win a roll of toilet Dozens of ordinary folk came to collect their In his book, of the Tom Moffatt said that one day a Cadillac drove up to the station.

chauffeur got out of the car and went into the radio station office to pick up the free roll of toilet pa- per that his Kahala boss had won in the radio Edwyna Fong Spiegel told me she remembers the 1971 toilet paper crisis well. then husband and I won a case of TP from an Occidental Insurance Christ- mas party in Honolulu. I thought we landed the best gift Have an interesting story, comment or question? Contact Bob Sigall, author of the five Companies We books, at Yahoo.com. 10,000 signatures brought Elvis to the islands in 1961 AR VI EW I BOB SIGALL BUSINESS I DAY 8 1 6 1 9 TA A I B5 STAR-ADVERTISER PHOTOS Tom Moffatt, far left, Colonel Tom Parker and Ron Ja- cobs brought Elvis Presley, above, to Hawaii in 1961 as he was getting out of the Army. Honolulu and mili- tary police had to form a ring around the singer to protect him from the mob.

THE MEDICAL CENTER Dr. Livingston Wong, left, and Sister Maureen Keleher spurred organ transplants in Hawaii 50 years ago. 24,800 25,600 26,400 27,200 28,000 AM A 25,320 25,960 Jones industrials Close: 25,579.39 Change: 99.97 (0.4%) 10 DAYS 2,720 2,800 2,880 2,960 3,040 AM A 2,800 2,880 500 Close: 2,847.60 Change: 7.00 (0.2%) 10 DAYS 7,200 7,500 7,800 8,100 8,400 AM A 7,640 7,860 composite Close: 7,766.62 Change: 10 DAYS Prime Rate Discount Rate Federal Funds Rate Treasuries 3-month 6-month 5-year 10-year 30-year Last Wk Ago Major YTD Indexes Close Pvs Day 2,847.60 2,840.60 Frankfurt 11,412.67 11,492.66 London 7,067.01 7,147.88 Hong Kong 25,495.46 25,302.28 Paris 5,236.93 5,251.30 Tokyo 20,405.65 20,655.13 Asia Seoul 1,938.37 1,938.37 Singapore 3,126.09 3,147.60 Sydney 6,490.77 6,677.51 Taipei 10,327.13 10,427.73 Shanghai Comp. 2,815.80 2,808.92 Fuels Close Pvs Crude Oil (bbl) 54.47 55.23 Natural Gas (mm btu) 2.23 2.14 Gasoline 1.64 1.68 Metals Close Pvs Copper (lb) 2.59 2.59 Gold (oz) 1,519.60 1,515.90 Platinum (oz) 842.00 848.00 Silver (oz) 17.19 17.25 Agriculture Close Pvs Cattle (lb) 1.00 1.00 Coffee (lb) 0.98 0.98 Corn (bu) 3.61 3.59 Cotton (lb) 0.60 0.60 Orange Juice (lb) 0.98 0.99 Soybeans (bu) 8.58 8.70 Sugar lb 0.12 0.12 Wheat (bu) 4.69 4.74 5.25 5.25 2.75 2.75 2.00-2.25 2.00-2.25 1.86 1.99 1.80 1.91 1.42 1.53 1.52 1.71 1.98 2.25 52 Week YTD 52 Wk High Low Index Close Chg 27,398.68 21,712.53 Dow Industrials 25,579.39 11,623.58 8,636.79 Dow Transportation 9,764.49 832.46 681.85 Dow Utilities 828.66 13,261.77 10,723.66 NYSE Composite 12,409.54 8,339.64 6,190.17 Nasdaq Composite 7,766.62 3,027.98 2,346.58 500 2,847.60 2,053.00 1,565.76 MidCap 1,835.16 31,168.59 24,129.49 Wilshire 5000 29,156.38 1,742.09 1,266.93 Russell 2000 1,461.65 YTD Name Tkr Div Yld Last Chg YTD Name Tkr Div Yld Last Chg AlexB Inc ALEX .76 3.4 22.31 BkHawaii BOH 2.60 3.2 80.85 Barnwell BRN .92 CenPacFn CPF .92 3.3 27.90 CBB 3.93 Cyanotch CYAN 2.35 FsHawaii FHB 1.04 4.2 24.70 HawaiiEl HE 1.28 2.9 44.43 HawHold HA .48 2.0 23.78 Matson MATX .88 2.5 35.25 MauiLand MLP 9.76 TerritBcp TBNK .88 3.1 28.09 US in 6 Mo. 1 Yr.

Currency Majors Currency Chg Ago Ago in US USD per British Pound .8258 .7760 .7878 1.2110 Canadian Dollar 1.3325 1.3251 1.3139 .7505 USD per Euro .9004 .8853 .8814 1.1107 Japanese Yen 106.11 110.45 110.57 .009424 Mexican Peso 19.6203 19.2704 19.1865 .050968 Swiss Franc .9770 1.0049 .9930 1.0236 Australian Dollar 1.4756 1.4006 1.3818 .6777 Chinese Yuan 7.0338 6.7732 6.9326 .1422 Hong Kong Dollar 7.8414 7.8478 7.8502 .1275 Indonesia Rupiah 14262.28 14106.36 14638.07 .000070 Phillipines Peso 52.78 52.33 53.54 .0189 South Korean Won 1213.22 1125.64 1135.04 .000824 Taiwan Dollar 31.31 30.83 30.86 .0319 Thailand Baht 30.84 31.25 33.34 .03242 WHAT HAPPENED IN THE MARKETS THURSDAY MARKET HIGHLIGHTS INTEREST RATES GLOBAL MARKETS COMMODITIES FOREIGN EXCHANGE LOCAL MUTUAL FUNDS STOCKS OF LOCAL INTEREST Fund Bishop St. Hawaii Municipal Bond Fund Bishop St. High Grade Income Hawaii Municipal Fund Hawaiian Tax-Free Trust Pacific Cap. Tax-Free Securities Pacific Cap. Tax-Free Ticker BHIAX BSHGX SURFX HULAX PTXFX PTFSX NAV $10.85 $10.05 $11.33 $11.54 $10.55 $10.22 Buy $11.19 $10.05 $11.33 $12.02 $10.55 $10.22 Chg $0.00 $0.04 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00.