Surfrunner, May and I have been talking about homesickness. This is from whence where my current YouTube orgy of vintage Hawaii commercials arises.
Remember Harry and Myra, the unlikely celebrities that represent so much of what we love about being from Hawai'i? Played by Ben and Gloria Tamashiro, a real-life couple that had been married for 56 years when Ben passed away unexpectedly at the age of 86, Harry and Myra were the faces of a really brilliant Bank of Hawai'i marketing campaign. The commercials encouraged people to bank locally, because that's how Harry and Myra did their banking, and Harry and Myra looked, spoke and worked like us, or our parents, or our grandparents, or aunties or uncles or sisters or army buddies.
Mr. Tamashiro, who is a veteran of the 100th Infantry Battalion,
authored the inscription on the Go For Broke monument in Los Angeles, which bravely and without explanation uses the term "concentration camps" for what the United States government officially termed "relocation centers."
I love, love, love these commercials. They make me nostalgic, and also make me crave saimin.
The first one has a bonus Aloha United Way commercial with Frank DeLima!
This next one has a travel agency ad afterwards (I doubt it's a coincidence, but who knows) for a trip along with the filming crew for a documentary about the 100th Infantry Battalion.
This one brings tears to my eyes.
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1 comment:
Harry and Myra were so great. They totally remind me of a typical Manoa grandma/grandpa. They're so cute. *sniff*
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