Waikiki Wedding (1937)

A beauty contest winner of the "Miss Pineapple Princess" pageant takes part in a publicity scheme in Hawaii, and is pursued by an advertising executive for the agency doing the promotion.

Director:

Frank Tuttle

Writers:

Frank Butler (screenplay), Frank Butler (story),

Stars:

Bing Crosby, Bob Burns, Martha Raye

Won 1 Oscar. Another 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bing Crosby	...	Tony Marvin
Bob Burns	...	Shad Buggle
Martha Raye	...	Myrtle Finch
Shirley Ross	...	Georgia Smith
George Barbier	...	J.P. Todhunter
Leif Erickson	...	Dr. Victor Quimby
Grady Sutton	...	Everett Todhunter
Granville Bates	...	Uncle Herman
Anthony Quinn	...	Kimo
Mitchell Lewis	...	Koalani
George Regas	...	Muamua
Nick Lukats	...	Assistant Purser
Prince Leilani	...	Priest
Maurice Liu	...	Kaiaka
Raquel Echeverría	...	Mahina

Storyline

Tony Marvin is a laid back but incredibly successful promoter and fair-haired boy for J. P. Todhunter's pineapple company located in beautiful Hawaii. He gets the company to sponsor a contest in which the winner gets a Hawaiian vacation and is obligated to write articles on the islands which, when published, will constitute a publicity coup for the company. Unfortunately, Georgia Smith, the winner, feels lonely and isolated in the Islands and wants to return to the States. With help from buddy Shad Buggle Tony tries to romantically divert Georgia without letting her know his true motivation.

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Plot Keywords:

hawaii | advertising | necklace | jail | reference to robinson crusoe | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 March 1937 (USA)

Also Known As:

Agapi sti Havai

Filming Locations:

Hawaii, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Bing Crosby sang "Sweet Leilani" by Harry Owens, which went on to win an Academy Award for Best Song. It beat out George and Ira Gershwin's "They Can't Take That Away from Me", which is from the 1937 film "Shall we Dance", and which, unlike the semi-forgotten "Sweet Leilani", became a classic. (Even the song "Blue Hawaii", also written for "Waikiki Wedding", is today more famous than "Sweet Leilani", thanks to Elvis Presley.) Bing Crosby sang four different Oscar winning songs in his films.

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Goofs

When Martha Raye sings "Okolehua", her hairstyle changes from being down at the sides of her face, to up away from her face in the middle of the number.

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Quotes

Myrtle Finch: Fine thing! Shanghaied in Honolulu! Well, why don't you do something about it?
Shad Buggle: Well, shucks, them boys won't give us trouble if we let 'em have their own way. They ain't cannibals. Besides, if they was, you'd be safe.
Myrtle Finch: [She starts to respond but realizes her looks have been impugned and pauses after a double take] Why, sure, I'd...

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Soundtracks

"In A Little Hula Heaven"
Music by Ralph Rainger
Lyrics by Leo Robin
Sung by Shirley Ross

User Reviews

A Film to Commemorate a Trip

In 1937 Bing Crosby made a celebrated trip to the Hawaiian Islands and stayed about a month. Of course being the mega star he was at the time, the trip was accompanied with the usual fanfare and publicity and when he got back Paramount took full advantage of the publicity with Waikiki Wedding.

It would have been nice if in fact they'd sent him back to Hawaii and did some beautiful color location photography, but I assume that Adolph Zukor felt that for the studios own homegrown South Sea island gal, Dorothy Lamour never got off Paramount's backlot, they wouldn't do more for Bing.

However they did give Crosby a good, amusing plot and some nice songs to sing. Crosby plays a publicist for a Pineapple company who has had the idea to sponsor a Miss Pineapple contest with the winner getting an all expenses paid trip to Hawaii and to send back articles about the great time she's having and hawk the virtues of Hawaiian Pineapples. But the winner, Shirley Ross, ain't havin' such a good time, she's bored. So Bing concocts this elaborately staged adventure involving a stolen idol, a volcano, some natives and Shirley loves it and him.

It all resolves itself in the end. George Barbier who's a favorite character actor of mine from the 30s plays Bing's boss at his choleric best. Crosby gets good support from Martha Raye and Bob Burns. Martha Raye was doing the second of three films she did with Bing. Bob Burns, who is forgotten today was a regular on Bing's Kraft Music Hall radio show. He played a hillbilly type character with a touch of Will Rogers without the topical humor. He did two films with Bing and retired from show business in 1941.

Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin did the score which includes the classic Blue Hawaii, reprised later by Elvis Presley. However the number one song in the movie at the time was Sweet Leilani, word and music by Hawaiian composer Harry Owens. Bing heard the song while in Hawaii and insisted it be included in the picture. It won an Oscar that year for best song and Crosby had a big hit record of it.

Nice Entertaining movie in the Crosby manner.