Tikis in films

Haha. I've been thinking about watching this movie again recently (I'm a Fibber McGee and Molly fan) but don't recall this scene.

I don't remember the context, but a memorable phrase from Charlie--"a gownless evening strap"--drew big laughs.

This had some laughs, especially Rusty's other big line, "Lord, what fools we morons be," but I preferred Bergen/McCarthy matched up with W.C. Fields at the circus in "You Can't Cheat an Honest Man." Going into this, my only previous exposure to Fibber and Molly was the expression, "Fibber McGee's Closet," which my mom used frequently to describe my messy bedroom.

Also, Charlie is really a creepy little sex pest in this, especially the scene where he keeps trying to snuggle in-between Lucille Ball's boobs.

"The Hurricane" you mention is well worth a look if only for the incredible staging of the hurricane. Long before any CGI, I am truly surprised none of the actors was drowned during what has to be the most spectacular sound-stage creation with thousands of gallons of water being pouring down on them. Truly amazing work.

[ Edited by TIKIGIKI on 2022-10-26 21:52:19 ]

I could be wrong, but this sure looks alot like a hei tiki around the Cleaver's maid's neck in the 1st episode of Leave It To Beaver.

I'm a "newbie" to this site and this has become a VERY long thread so apologies if this movie has been mentioned before (which I'm sure it probably has) but "Crime Against Joe" (1956) has some scenes near the beginning supposedly shot in a Tiki bar called "The Pago Pago". Correctly pronounced with an "n" before the "g" too. The movie is not really worth watching all the way through. The story is more than a little far-fetched, involving somnambulism, which must come in a close second only to amnesia as a bad plot device. It does however feature the very talented singer Julie London in the cast.

[ Edited by TIKIGIKI on 2023-03-22 18:00:48 ]

Nice find. It's definitely new to me and I've been keeping track of this thread for years. The Pago Pago was also featured in "A Kiss Before Dying" (1956) in Technicolor.

Here are a couple of crappy YouTube screencaps from "Crime Against Joe". Not a lot of detail, I'm afraid, and no tropical cocktails in evidence, but a couple of nice shots of the entrance with painted Tiki-ish masks:

And forgive the shameless self-promotion, but I track all of the Tiki-adjacent films that've appeared here (and elsewhere) in a handy list format on Letterboxd:

https://letterboxd.com/mrbalihai/list/tiki-tiki-tiki-tiki-tiki-films/

[ Edited by MrBaliHai on 2022-11-23 05:30:43 ]

Oops. Guess I should've done a search before commenting, since it appears that "Crime Against Joe" has been mentioned at least once before in this thread and a couple of times in others. None of these mentions had screencaps though, so I've at least managed to contribute something worthwhile to the discussion.

Apologies again for the repeat. I kind of knew it must have already been mentioned here. The bamboo and matting work at the bar is impressive, even if the tikis themselves are a little dubious. Is it by any chance the real bar used as the background or just a set? Thanks for the screencaps!

[ Edited by TIKIGIKI on 2022-11-23 11:44:22 ]

They were posted almost 15 years ago, so pretty easy to miss. And it was definitely new to me.

I also missed this post with much better screencaps than mine:

https://tikicentral.com/viewpost.php?post_id=409830

Here's another post with screencaps from "A Kiss Before Dying". The exterior is exactly the same as "Crime Against Joe", but the interior shots look entirely different, probably because they were filmed in the dining room instead of the bar.

https://tikicentral.com/viewpost.php?post_id=310594

I could be wrong, but I think the bar in "Crime Against Joe" is much too elaborate to be a set, but apart from the bamboo, it looks more like a beer joint than a Tiki bar.

Thanks for "mining the archives" MrBaliHai ! Much appreciated. Pago Pago is a bit like Nadi in Fiji. In many of the Polynesian languages there is an unwritten nasal "n" sounded before the letters "g" and "d ". There are some very long and convoluted theories for the reasons for this on the internet. Some of them highly dubious involving missionaries running out of letters when printing!

That's fascinating and pretty bizarre. Knowing those downfallen missionaries, they were probably drunk on Dr. Funk's while transcribing the native tongue.

TIKIGIKI and MrBaliHai this appears to be the Tucson Pago Pago that was designed and constructed by Clif and Lou Sawyer... the bamboo work around the bar is a dead giveaway of their style. Here's a picture that Dustycajun posted of the place.

And one from a postcard...

[ Edited by tikicoma on 2022-11-23 15:44:53 ]

[ Edited by tikicoma on 2022-11-23 15:45:30 ]

[ Edited by tikicoma on 2022-11-23 15:46:39 ]

So it seems that the actual place itself was used as the location? Or at least the outside of it anyway! Nice to have it immortalised in film.

"White Shadows in the South Seas" -1928

Heartbreaking tale of an alcoholic white doctor who's shanghai'd aboard a plague ship and then after running into a typhoon, is stranded on a pristine tropical island where the local tribesfolk hail him as a white god. He falls in love with the lovely Raquel Torres, sobers up, and decides that he's found paradise on earth, but a boatload of pearl traders shows up and ruins everything. Filmed entirely on location in Tahiti and filled with stunning cinematography.

There's one tiki in the film, a stone carving that hides the islands stash of pearls. Here's the best screencap of it I could get. I can't tell for sure if it's authentic or a prop, although it looks pretty Party City to me:

[ Edited by MrBaliHai on 2023-03-22 18:20:29 ]

(Apologies in advance if this has been posted before. Somebody is bound to say I should have used the search function and this movie was referenced back in 2001...?)

Anyway, the movie is called "Island of Desire" 1952, which pretty much sums up the story. It was titled "Saturday Island" in Britain, but the name changed for the USA release, obviously to play up the sex angle. Tab Hunter (a young Marine) and Linda Darnell (a navy doctor) escape on a raft from a ship that has hit a mine during WWII in the Pacific. Seemingly the only survivors, they argue and bicker constantly while drifting, (which of course signifies they'll be sharing very "deep" embraces before the movie ends), until they are washed up on a small deserted island supposedly somewhere near Fiji. (Although the movie was filmed in Jamaica.)

Now they spend what turns out to be a year there, during which time Linda Darnell, who earlier didn't know port from starboard (Navy training?), manages to create a loom and weave flax into a fetching set of swimming trunks for Mr Hunter., who spends most of the movie with his shirt off, ....naturally!

In something of a cosmetic miracle, during the ensuring year plus, Ms Darnell's red lipstick and "cocktails at five" makeup remain absolutely flawless at all times! Impressive when you consider she's been washed over a reef in the rough waves, almost attacked by a shark, and having arrived on the island with no luggage? Her hair too somehow magically retains that "just out of the salon" perfection at all times, and despite having no razors, neither man grows a beard....ever!.

Now of course Tab falls romantically for Ms Darnell, despite the obvious fact she's obviously old enough to be his mother, but she's the only shop in town, so what's a red-blooded Marine to do? Then comes the aforementioned coupling, after Tab falls prone to a short moody depression due to a lack of nookie.

All goes well for a bit, until a plane crashes with a pilot much more Ms Darnell's age. Oh and she manages to amputate his seriously damaged arm without any medical equipment, but of course he survives to set up the old "eternal triangle".....until the "noble" thing to do, is done!

Anyway, it's freely available on YouTube in fair definition, but it becomes immediately apparent Tab was cast for his looks and NOT any mastery of the Dramatic Arts. (Apparently his audition consisted of simply taking his shirt off, and he was hired!) The island scenery is good though.

Now to the Tiki. At approx. 34.16, they discover what looks like a stone heiau and Ms Darnell uncovers a Tiki, which she rubs, despite being half-heartedly warned not to do so. She then leaves it atop the heiau. Here's a screen capture of the moment.

[ Edited by TIKIGIKI on 2023-03-24 17:29:11 ]

I was watching the 1966 Paul Newman movie "Harper" the other night and there's a scene where people exit a tall building with these tikis out front. Anyone recognize what tiki place this was/is? All I know is that it's somewhere in the L.A. area.

Tiki bar called Tiki Joe at the Miramar Hotel In Santa Monica.

Wow, thanks hiltiki!

And now I see it featured on mytiki.life: https://mytiki.life/tiki-bars/the-tiki-jo

[ Edited by arriano on 2023-04-25 13:29:07 ]

I often listen to dumb cartoon shows because it provides great background noise while I get in the zone for work. I heard the words "tiki room" and snapped to before snapping these shots.

Jacob Two-Two
S3E7
"Jacob Two-Two and the Troublesome Twosome"

Principal Greedyguts turns off the heat to the school to use it on his own personal tiki room.

[ Edited by kkocka on 2024-04-15 11:12:57 ]