Hawaii Five-O & Coco Joes - two great tastes that taste great together

I couldn't decide whether to post this in an old Hawaii Five-O thread, or in a Coco Joes thread, but maybe it's interesting as its own topic... Everyone knows about the famous tiki from the Brady Bunch episodes in Hawaii, and maybe a bunch of people know that it was a Coco Joes tiki done over a little bit by a prop department. But how many other old TV shows had episodes with Coco Joes tikis? Well, heck if I know!

But, I'm going to give a couple examples I do know about. One of my favorite Coco Joes tikis appeared twice, on one of my favorite old shows, Hawaii Five-O!

First, here's the Coco Joes tiki I'm talking about.

He's on the left in this photo, standing next to another one of my favorite CJ's to show scale. He's a hefty guy, or at least big boned, and that heft is part of the appeal both to the gonzo collector, and to the thrifty art department person who needs a "real" looking tiki. The tag on the back reads: "Kane Tiki. Ancient Hawaii's God of Health and Happiness, Kane promises the ultimate of life's blessings to those who possess him. This good luck Tiki has been recreated in Coco Joe's Hapa-Wood. HW-2"

Now, for his moment in the sun. Not one but two MAJOR roles in episodes of Hawaii Five-O. Also, a warning, the following screencaps may have some spoiler effect, so avert your eyes if you must. First, from season 4, the episode "Is This Any Way To Run A Paradise?" which originally aired December 21, 1971.

After an industrial chimney is found plugged, Danno climbs up to investigate, and retrieves this object, found with a protest note and the Hawaiian phrase "E Ku Kaili Moku". For now, they're thinking of this as an elaborate prank, and refer to the prankster as Kaili.

Closer inspection in McGarrett's hairy hands.

Even closer. Hi Mom!

For now, this was considered a prank, but McGarrett wants to learn more so he goes to the Bishop Museum, passing by this famous tiki on the way in. This leads to a quick series of tiki shots inside...

The expert guy at the Museum, curator Sumi.

McGarrett asks curator Sumi for his take on the tiki and the note.

Sumi talks about Kukailimoku, the god of war. (Did that same tiki move from the outside to inside now?)

Yet another angle. Coco Joes made a tiki based on this one too.

Kaili strikes again. Apparently protesting the trash on the island, Kaili steals a trash truck and dumps the contents in front of the capital. Once again, our CJ pal shows up - this time in the cab of the stolen truck.

Now it's starting to get serious. The mysterious Kaili apparently also has a beef with the practice of crop dusting, so he shoots down a crop dusting airplane.

The pilot survives, but Kaili pulls him out and leaves him with another token.

Danno gets to retrieve this one too.

The situation worsens when Kaili kills a businessman. I think we're not supposed to feel too bad, since it's a businessman who is not only dislikeable and shady, but also has pretty bad makeup. It's the very un-Asian Richard Morrison playing the Asian boss Lai Han, with a ridiculous Confucius accent. Anyway, back to the story. Kaili ends up getting trapped in a cane field, and sets fire to the field (and ultimately himself) as one last protest.

As the rest of the Five-O team look on, Kono lets his frustration out in a final scene where he throws the last "Kaili" token into the cane and the fire. Nice dramatic angle.

Our CJ friend is in there if you look closely. Success and fame one day, melting in the dirt the next.

Now, onto the next episode. This one is from season 5, originally airing February 20, 1973, and it's called "Percentage". Skipping over more of the plot with this one, a "war club" found at a crime scene is an apparent murder weapon. And what's this war club made of? Well, it's our CJ pal again, plus a rock and a stick and some lashing.

Ben and the tiki. BTW, Kono is gone now in this season, replaced by Ben.

Closeup.

Back at the lab, we get to see more of the "war club". Looks like there's some teeth on there too.

McGarrett gets the feel of the club part.

As he grabs it to demonstrate clubbing procedure, we get a tight closeup of some hairy knuckles.

McGarrett goes clubbing.

Skipping ahead to the end. All the suspects are in McGarrett's office, and he's having his Poirot moment. The weapon is on the desk.

McGarrett shows the weapon to his suspect, who pretends not to recognize it, and then "oh yeah, I've seen that before." But then with the relentless assault of McGarrett's deductions and evidence, the truth comes out, and we even get a re-enactment of the crime as it happened. Another starring role for Coco Joes!

Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did!

-Randy

Sure did! Great stuff Detective RJ, super clear picts too.

A few years back I picked a small wooden moai that was a background prop from Robin Masters house in Magnum PI.

Excellent post Randy and nice score Matt! :)

Thanks for that post Randy, very entertaining! Probably more entertaining than watching the actual show! :wink:

You're hysterical - I, of course, enjoyed the hairy hand close-ups and your comment about McGarrett going clubbing!

There was an episode of Magnum where he and the gang have to guard an "ancient" Tiki on a ship - but I suppose someone's already talked about that one elsewhere in the forums!

Thanks for the Coco Joe's laugh riot!

Great Post !

Glad to hear people enjoyed this! I forgot to mention - I was wondering why they went to the trouble of grinding off the CJ guy's teeth in the first episode above, and not the second. It's not like toothless is more authentic, as we plainly see similar rows of square-ish teeth on the museum Ku.

I used to watch Magnum PI regularly (followed by Simon & Simon), but it's funny, back then I wasn't nearly as conscious of tikis on the tube. Wonder how often they appeared on the show. At least one of the local actors who appeared a few times on Five-O also became a regular on Magnum.

-Randy

Great show, amazing post,

Wonderful work, Randy! Really makes me wanna watch these. And Beadtiki, I don't think that Tiki-on-ship episode has been discussed here on TC yet. Sounds like a job for Randy, the screen-cap master! :)

All I can say is if you like this thread, you won't want to miss THRILLVILLE MOVIE NITE at Tiki Oasis on August 21...Be there, aloha.

On 2010-08-07 20:20, bigbrotiki wrote:
Wonderful work, Randy! Really makes me wanna watch these. And Beadtiki, I don't think that Tiki-on-ship episode has been discussed here on TC yet. Sounds like a job for Randy, the screen-cap master! :)

Wow - I may have posted something not already posted!? I didn't think there was anything left TO post about! Better get Randy on this one right away - just think of all the tacky Tiki goodness so many are missing out on! Besides, it never hurts to include Tom Sellick (during his Magnum days) on these posts once in a while - for the gals!