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All About Cherry Capri
Autobiography
Chapter 5) Hawaiian Eye
After a few years of cross country gigging, we finally got what looked like a really glamorous engagement.
The Parakeets were booked on a flight to Honolulu, Hawaii. We were set to play a wedding on Kahului on Maui.
I was thrilled because this meant I would be closer to where my mother and father were.
Maybe there would be a chance to meet them at last.
On the day of the wedding, we set up on the side of the chapel. But I was soon to witness the worst thing in the world.
The wedding was canceled when the groom jilted the bride at the altar. Actually, I remember him wearing tiki amulet
at the reception and someone mentioning that it was cursed? And the story was eventually told that he was hit in the
head with a surfboard while surfing the morning before the wedding.
So he ended up with amnesia and couldn't find his way back to the church.
Anyway, I will never forget the bride sobbing into a bouquet of orchids and puka shells running down the aisle.
From that moment on, I suppose it always made me shy away from marriage. I mean what do you get when you fall in love?
You get enough tears to fill an ocean.
I went to console the bride along with the three bridesmaids and we all instantly hit it off.
They were college girls attending the University of Hawaii in Honolulu and they took me under their wing.
I bid adieu to the Parakeet Family as they headed back to the mainland to drive across country once again
and moved into the Alpha Beta Sorority on campus.
I was already pretty good in the kitchen and learned to sew while making costumes for the Parakeet family,
but didn’t really know much about making a permanent beautiful home. The girls all came from nice families
and they taught me about the finer things of life: proper manners, folding napkins, and all the things a seasoned
debutante should know.
They encouraged me to take a test which allowed me to enroll in Honolulu High so I could get my high school diploma.
And I even signed up for the Senior Class talent show. I decided to sing one of my favorite Annette Funicello Songs,
“Pineapple Princess.”
The night of the show was warm and humid. After all it was Hawaii. Little did I know that the act before me
left a calling card on the floor. A fellow student who will remain anonymous had a pet monkey whom he had trained
to juggle bananas. One lone banana peel remained on the floor at the end of his act. That combined with the humidity and…
halfway through my song right at the point where I sing “He sings his songs from banana trees…”
In a perfect synchronous moment, I went down.
I didn’t just go down on stage, but all the way down into the orchestra pit knocking the drummer over,
breaking his right arm and my left leg. Although in excruciating pain, I got right back up on stage and
finished the number, sans rhythm section before being rushed off to the hospital for x-rays and a cast.
And I won First Prize!
When I found out afterwards that Don Ho was in the audience and saw the whole thing, I was mortified.
But the next day I received a lovely fragrant plumeria lei and a note inviting me to visit him at the Hilton Hawaiian
Village.
Days later, I hobbled over to meet Mr. Ho and he greeted me backstage. He said he was very impressed
with my professionalism and the fact that I kept going in spite of the circumstances.
He offered me a part in his show as an understudy to the backup singers so that when I was healed
I might have a place to perform professionally. Once more I was an understudy, but still I was moving up in the world.
Plus, I got him to autograph my cast! It read, “Aloha Nui from Don Ho!!!”
I missed my graduation ceremony, but my leg did eventually heal. Senior summer mornings were spent rehearsing
with Don Ho. Afternoons were spent at the beach giving waxing lessons to the surfers on Waikiki.
It wasn’t my favorite job, but it brought in some spending money. Again, it wreaked havoc on my fingernail,
so I guess that's about the time, I started wearing gloves as a fashion statement on a regular basis.
Nights were spent in any one of the Waikiki nightclubs go go cage dancing. And I started to pursue a career
in acting following my mother’s footsteps. But it was not to be.
I read for and was cast with a speaking role on Magnum PI. The makeup man kept suggesting I should go blonde
if I wanted to get more camera time, but I told him I was proud of my flaming red locks.
I finally got to say my big line, “Duck Magnum. Duck!” but the clip was never seen and winded up on the cutting
room floor along with my dashed dreams of stardom.
After numerous fruitless attempts to locate my biological parents on the islands, I decided it was time
to head back to the mainland. I bid aloha to the girls, booked a flight to L.A. and headed for the airport
and for home at last.
Chapter 6) VaVoom! You’re in Vegas!
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