Tiki on The Waltons

In season 6 of The Waltons tv show there is an episode called The Recluse.
Ben Walton moves to Norfolk, Virginia to work in the ship yards, and goes to The Hula Hut.
The first time he goes with a date, and another couple. They are told that there is no rum in the drinks.
The second time he goes with his grandfather who comments that "it could use a touch of the recipe"

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone can ID the tikis... decor... band... location... etc...
Here are some screen captures.

That's a rush!

Very cool, looks like a set.

DC

Wait a minute !! The Waltons took place in Depression-era America. Could Tiki-style iconography have actually existed prior to the late 1950's ??

:down: Mexican tourist mask on wall, as well as some aboriginal Australian art. Wish I could see the bigger tiki on the floor more clearly.

The series timeline extended into the WWII era and ended sometime in the late 40's.

Yes - Season 6 took place from 1939 to 1940, so pretty unrealistic to have tikis in the restaurant. It would have been more of a South Seas club ala Don The Beachcomber.

The set designer obviously didn't read the BOT!

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2011-01-14 19:34 ]

Tried to lighten it up a little but not much luck...

Night John Boy...

Aloha,

On 2011-01-14 19:32, Sabu The Coconut Boy wrote:
Yes - Season 6 took place from 1939 to 1940, so pretty unrealistic to have tikis in the restaurant. It would have been more of a South Seas club ala Don The Beachcomber.

While Season 6 was set IN THAT TIME, it was FILMED in 1977... so...

The set designer obviously didn't read the BOT!

and could not have. Sven's book was years in the future.

From the episode guide -- "After work Ben, Anson, and their dates go to a South Seas style nightclub. Ben is amazed at the appearance and names of the exotic drinks they are served and the dancers that entertain them. After the drinks arrive, Ben’s date makes a toast ‘to Ben’s new world’."

Waikiki Tiki; Art, History, and Photographs.
Available now from Bess Press Hawaii.

[ Edited by: Phillip Roberts 2011-01-14 20:43 ]

:up: that's the sound of my humor flying way over everybody's heads. Sorry about that.

Actually, I had the ring-binder version of the BOT in 1975, so the set-designer still has no excuse.

Guessing the "no rum" thing was due to Prohibition. Otherwise, what the hell?!

Never cared much for *The Waltons * but will be looking for this episode.

How about Little House On The Prairie? Any tiki on there? * Grizzly Adams *?

Aloha, John-Boy.

On 2011-01-14 20:53, Sabu The Coconut Boy wrote:
Actually, I had the ring-binder version of the BOT in 1975, so the set-designer still has no excuse.

That was yet another joke by Sabu, FYI :D
What a far out find! I always had a hard time watching that show, so I never would have noticed this scene - which seems to be the case for many other Tiki archeologists here, for it to go undetected for such a long time.

That aboriginal art on the walls is funny! This studio (which?) must have had a small Polynesian prop department if they had to use those. The Tikis are definitely lightweight props, the one behind the sailor in the grandpa still could be the Peewee's Playhouse Tiki.

This find further proved two things: In TV and movie production, Polynesian restaurants were 99% sets, instead of being shot on location (here they just used one of their farm house interiors, judging by the walls). And the period incorrectness of Tikis shows that at the time of production, designers had not analyzed and defined Tiki style as a genre, it was what it was at the given time.

However, the name of the place is more period-correct....I wanna get a better look at the menu covers!

My main concern here is discovering the name of the actress playing the hula girl.

Now, now, James-bob Teitel-boy. You need to find you a nice, wholesome gal on Walton Mountain.

On 2011-01-14 22:51, tikibars wrote:
My main concern here is discovering the name of the actress playing the hula girl.

GROG second that!

Wow! The horrible mish-mash of cultures and time periods in these photos has my head spinning! The hair styles are clearly from the 70's, and is that lap-steel guy playing an electric guitar? The aloha shirts don't look to be from the 1940's either. I wonder if anybody watching this when it was first broadcast noticed how un-authentic it was.

Hilarious and fascinating at the same time!

But in the 70's, I guess time period authenticity did not seem to be a top priority in TV... like the early episodes of Happy Days looked fairly convincingly 1950's, but by the end of the series, everyone had feathered 70's hair!

[ Edited by: hottiki 2011-03-16 01:08 ]

Did they have those plastic lei's back in 1939? :wink:

Here's another screen grab that I have lightened... It shows detail of the smaller tiki on stage.

I love how we can discuss how un-authentic the authenticness of something as un-authentic as Poly-Pop Tiki is...

Well put. :)
Is there a chance to get another angle on THAT Tiki?:

...in order to determine if it became the "Peewee's Playhouse" Tiki:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=33308&forum=1

I wonder who had the luck to buy this puppy...what a steal for 150.- bucks.

On 2011-01-15 16:54, Tikigoob wrote:
Did they have those plastic lei's back in 1939? :wink:

That was my first thought :lol:

The lighting on the tiki in the corner isn't very good.
Here's another shot of it.
It does resemble the PeeWee's Playhouse tiki.
The mouths seem to be identical.

Here's the YouTube links

#3 of 4, about halfway in
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxAdhG0XEQE&NR=1

#4 of 4, about a third in
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozif9ZoEdFc&NR=1

My Tiki senses say "YES", this is the later Peewee Tiki. Good to know it was actually a vintage design.

Just as a fun fact, the guy with the ukulele is most likely Mike Aki.
And if you all are really really curious about where this was filmed, I suggested asking Eric Scott who played Ben - he probably remembers. [email protected]

At the risk of dating myself, I remember watching this episode when it was originally aired. Ben moves to Norfolk, VA for work. I distinctly recall the scene in the joint because his date asks the waiter about booze in the drinks and is reassured that there is none. Although not yet old enough to desire a drink, the irony was not lost. How could anyone drink those sans booze?

It probably was a set. Of course, the show was suppose to take place in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, maybe 2 or 3 hours from here. It was filmed on Hollywood sound stages.

Love the comment on 70s feathered hair. I always thought the hair styles on MAS*H were a major goof.

Mash, Happy Days, Lavern and Shirley etc, etc! Horrible disregard for period costumes. I guess no one cared.

I enjoyed one episode of MASH where they were heading out on a trip in a Jeep & BJ says 'I brought the Fig Newtons!' & you could clearly see "Big Fig" on the supposed 50's era package!

On 2011-01-19 14:29, WaikikianMoeKele wrote:
I enjoyed one episode of MASH where they were heading out on a trip in a Jeep & BJ says 'I brought the Fig Newtons!' & you could clearly see "Big Fig" on the supposed 50's era package!

LOL! That is great! I always like spotting palm trees in shows that are supposed to take place where there are none i.e. Philly, DC, etc.

[ Edited by: JackLord 2011-01-20 14:15 ]

i have a record that has the cast of happy days meeting the cast of welcome back kotter. i think they needed a time machine to work that one out.

I went back and was able to find one frame on the dvd with enough detail to make a better determination about this being the Peewee's Playhouse Tiki... So here you go...

Looks like your tiki senses were pretty dead on... again... :wink:

My visual Tiki memory is better than my visual people memory. Or maybe it's alike: Some folks I recognize right away as to where I know them from, while others elicit just a vague feeling of "Damn, I know this person from somewhere..." I have been on some wild goose chases through my archives, eventually coming up empty. But that Tiki's frown clicked in my brain archive. I have been wrong before though...once or twice :D

It seems to me that, judging by the material (fiberglass?), all the Tikis on the set were done by the same prop shop, though probably not for this specific show. Would be interesting to find footage from an earlier production (movie or TV) with some of these guys in it, to determine when the Peewee Tiki was made. What year was this Waltons episode produced?

On the absence of alcohol in the drinks, Virginia State allows "Dry Counties". Maybe this tiki bar was suppposed to be in a Dry County and not during prohibition.

This episode was from 1977.
From what I have read, the Waltons was a Lorimar Production...
Before the company was Lorimar it was MGM...
So my guess is that they came from a pre-1977 MGM picture...