Kahiki Supper Club Read online

  Advertisements for the Kahiki appeared in a number of magazines, including Life. Authors’ collection.

  Arguably (some would say inexplicably), Godfrey was the most popular television personality of the 1950s and a major booster of Hawaii. When he sang “My Little Grass Shack” and other hapa-haole tunes while accompanying himself on the ukulele, he spurred a revival of interest in the instrument, driving up sales on the mainland and a consequent demand for ukulele teachers.

  According to Lee, Godfrey had visited the Kahiki once while in town and had been served a smoking drink by Tina Butts, Mystery Girl du jour. Lee later received a call from her. Godfrey, who flew his own plane, wanted her to accompany him back to California for the weekend and said he would talk about the Kahiki on his radio program. Lee didn’t object. She wound up staying at Pierre Salinger’s house,20 and for a long time, Godfrey continued to plug the restaurant on his show. In fact, people began asking them, “What do you guys have on Arthur Godfrey?” Eventually, Tina settled in West Virginia, where she passed away a few years ago.

  Another Mystery Girl was Toshiko Shirley Jane Davis, who, like Marcy Sapp, was a model with the Noni Modeling Agency and a recent Ohio State graduate. Her mother, Hisako Mary Miyamoto Davis, was a supervisor at the Kahiki. Toshiko became a media favorite when she began dating Donald “Buz” Lukens, a representative in the Ohio State Senate. When they subsequently married in 1973 (he was forty-two, and she was half his age), Governor James Rhodes was one of the guests, and entertainment was provided by vocalist Bob Braun of WLW-TV’s 50-50 Club. The couple quietly divorced ten years later, before Lukens became embroiled in several scandals for which he later was sentenced to thirty months in federal prison. Toshiko relocated to Chicago.

  In 2010, Jeff Chenault interviewed Gerline Lude, a one-time Mystery Girl, after he was contacted by her daughter, Tracy. She had seen her mother’s photo on the cover of The Beachcomber Trio album. He was invited to visit with Geri at the home she shares with her husband, Jack. The first thing he noticed was that the entire backyard garden area was decorated like a Polynesian village. There were fountains, a swimming pool, banana plants, tropical flowers and a Japanese-style gazebo that doubled as a cocktail bar. He later learned that it had won multiple awards from the Columbus Home and Garden Show and was featured in various magazines. Geri was also a fancier of exotic birds (she had nine) with two macaws, a couple cockatoos and many parrots.

  “I started working [at the Kahiki] in 1962,” she said. “I was twenty when I started there and wasn’t old enough to serve drinks. I started as a hostess, then became a waitress. I was also a Mystery Girl for a couple years…All the waitresses had to wear [dark-colored] wigs. Back in those days, the poofier the better. Originally, I tried darkening my hair, but it wasn’t dark enough. They were always on me about my hair, and I thought, I’m getting tired of wearing these stupid wigs!” (Note: Not all wore wigs. Some of the young women got their hair done at Joe Florio’s Beauty Parlor on the Hilltop, a neighborhood on the far west side of Columbus.)

  “Oh, it was a lot of fun, so many good memories…I remember the gong used for the Mystery Girl was so huge it would just echo, echo, echo constantly. It would never stop ringing. The tables were all numbered, and they had little huts you would go into. The Rainforest Room was on the right and the fish tanks were on the left. Down the middle, behind the big waterfall, you came to an area with a big round table. I’ll never forget the name, Table #51. That’s where all the Kenley Players, a summer theater troupe, used to dine. Oh my, I had so many pictures taken with so many stars back then. I just loved Robert Stack, from The Untouchables. George Hamilton was really nice, also Robert Goulet, Ray Milland and Zsa Zsa Gabor was there a lot.

  “When you walked past the maître d’ stand, the piano bar was on the left. On the other side of the piano bar there was a hallway where the Mystery Girl would come out. Just before you entered that area, back towards the service bar, the big gong was hanging on the wall. Everybody stopped and looked when that gong went off because it was a big deal when that Mystery Girl came out.

  “When we would serve the Mystery Drink, we would carry the drink out and we would walk in front of Table #51 and we would first present the drink to the big tiki god fireplace, kneel down on one knee and then back up again, then bring the drink to the customer. We also had a lei that we would place over their head, and if it was a man, I would usually kiss him on the forehead.

  Charles Moore was the photographer who shot the image used on The Beachcomber Trio album. Although Geri didn’t remember him, she thought the session took place in 1963 or 1964. “They just set everything up and told us what to do and where to stand,” Geri said. “I had my big wig on for that shot.”

  As far as Marsh Padilla, leader of the band, was concerned, “Everybody loved Marsh. He was so talented and could play so many different instruments…There was always music playing. The band usually played from 8:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. After that, the music was pumped in from a big reel to reel that I think was upstairs in the office. The controls were over by the maître d’ stand. It was mostly Hawaiian style music.

  “I remember they had a big toucan bird upstairs in the offices named George, and every day, I would come up and bring some fruit for him. He would come up to the cage and let me rub his beak. He was a great bird. I also remember they had a little pottery shop downstairs in the basement. They would make things like ashtrays and stuff down there and sell them in the Beachcomber Shop. Back then, they sold some really nice stuff. Quality stuff that you didn’t see later on. It was just a fun place to work. Some of the best years of my life!”

  The influence of the Kahiki has touched on many different aspects of Geri’s life. Each year, she holds a luau in her backyard to celebrate everything that the Kahiki embodied: friends, food, drink and a true love for the famous restaurant.

  When her mother took her to the Kahiki for her sixteenth birthday, Autumn Shah was “so enthralled” with the place that she “asked for an application on the way out.”

  I was not a waitress; I was a hostess. I wore the green floral, polyester sarong (which I still have!) usually, but on Sundays, I wore the Mystery Girl outfit. I was not allowed to be the Mystery Girl, of course, because I was only sixteen…I did have an embarrassing experience while I was there! My grass skirt got caught on the bamboo wall and whisked it off of me. Still probably the most embarrassed I’ve ever been in my life!

  What Autumn liked best was being around so many different cultures. She thinks she and the manager, Lisa, were the only native-born Americans working there at the time. She was especially in awe of Michael Tsao, who use to come in just before the dinner crowd.

  I remember him being a large man, larger than life in my eyes. I was somewhat in awe of him. He usually came in with a keen eye on how things looked and started giving instructions right away, but never in a rude or bossy way. He was stern but still quite charming and had a wonderful, huge smile. I was often the only hostess there at the time and he asked me questions about working there, about school, just to be nice (after all, I wasn’t anyone in charge, so he could be more friendly with me). He would sometimes pat me on the shoulder as he left.

  9

  STARRY, STARRY NIGHTS

  There is nothing more miserable in the world than to arrive in paradise and look like your passport photo.

  —Erma Bombeck

  In 1966, Sally Wheeler, a North High School student, won first prize in a contest sponsored by Dan Dee Potato Chips: dinner at the Kahiki with the Dantes, a teenage rock band from Worthington. Although they might not have been as popular as the Beatles, the Dantes had the advantage of being available. Bill Spencer, general manager at Dan Dee, came up with the idea for the contest. According to his daughter, Candi, her father was a singer who wanted to become part of the music scene when they moved to Columbus in March 1966. Aligning himself with “the hottest band in Columbus” would provide him with an entrée and help to promote the sale of Dan De
e products.

  Many celebrities dined (and drank) at the Kahiki, especially those who were appearing in various Kenley Players summer stock productions at Veteran’s Memorial.21 Producer John Kenley22 made the cast members available on Tuesday nights, and according to David Cohen,23 “People used to line up for two or three hours outside the Kahiki just to see them.” Jack Carson, “Slapsie” Maxie Rosenbloom, Andy Williams, Robert Goulet, Gordon and Sheila McRae, Hugh O’Brian, Raymond Burr, Barbara Eden, Gig Young, Betsy Palmer, Betty White, Laurel Lea Schaefer (Miss America 1972) and Gypsy Rose Lee all stopped by while performing in Columbus.

  The Dantes and guests (clockwise from left): Bill Spencer, Jane Spencer, Dave Workman (lead guitar), Carter Holliday (bass), Shana McCabe (Miss Dan Dee), unknown waiter, Sally Wheeler Ruault, Lynn Wehr (rhythm guitar), Barry Hayden (vocals) and Joe Hinton (drums). Courtesy Lynn Wehr.

  Zsa Zsa Gabor is said to have looked over the vast drink menu and ordered milk. Milton Berle is rumored to have barged into the restaurant one night after closing, entered the kitchen and started fixing himself something to eat. Johnny Gim was tapped to be the official photographer and handed a four-by five-inch press camera. The photos were then hung on the wall in the Outrigger Bar.

  An autographed photo of Paul Lynde was one of these. Born up the road in Mount Vernon, Ohio, Lynde was far and away the most popular actor to ever appear with Kenley Players, having developed a near fanatical following among housewives with his mama’s boy persona. Known for his frequent TV appearances, including his role as Uncle Arthur on Bewitched and being the center square on Hollywood Squares, he mugged his way through The Impossible Years, Plaza Suite, Don’t Drink the Water and other farces on a near annual basis—nine shows altogether, for which he was paid as much as $50,000 a week. Such was his popularity that Governor Rhodes declared May 17, 1980, Paul Lynde Day, no doubt hoping some of the adoration would rub off on him.

  On a double date in 1961, Lewis Schottenstein saw Kenley’s production of West Side Story. When they went backstage to get autographs, one of the stars, Carla Alberghetti, was “very snobbish,” he said. “We then went on to the Kahiki. Our dates went to the restroom, and my date said to her friend, ‘Wasn’t Carla Alberghetti a big snob?’ And then they saw Miss Alberghetti come out of [a] stall.” Carla was the younger sister of Anna Maria Alberghetti (also a Kenley actress) and had replaced her in the role of Lili in the Broadway musical Carnival.

  During a family gathering at the Kahiki, Ann Hentz recalled that her four-year-old granddaughter wandered away. “We were all talking and enjoying the evening and did not see Jennifer slip over to a booth by the aquarium. She was sitting with a beautiful lady and a gentleman and having a wonderful time when I spotted her…The lady said how much they had enjoyed talking to Jennifer and how very nice it was to see such a lovely family out together. It was such a warm, sincere compliment—and the lady was Sheila MacRae, who was in town for a performance with the Kenley Players.”

  Andy Williams and his new bride, Claudine Longet, stopped by the Kahiki in 1962 while he was appearing in the Kenley Players production of Bye Bye, Birdie with Selma Diamond. The popular singer had met the young woman, who was fifteen years his junior, in Las Vegas, where she was a dancer in the Folies Bergère. Although they would remain married for nearly fourteen years, anyone who saw the two of them arguing at their table that night wouldn’t have been surprised if it didn’t last until their first anniversary. A year after Williams and Longet parted company, she was charged with the shooting death of her boyfriend, Spider Sabich, at their Aspen home.

  Governor Rhodes was a regular at the Kahiki, always accompanied by a highway patrol major. One evening, he came in after seeing a Kenley Players show, and Bobby Joseph, the head bartender, grabbed two handfuls of napkins and threw them at him, saying, “Get that bum outta here.” The major immediately went for his gun, but the governor, who was used to Bobby’s shenanigans, got a big laugh out of it and calmed his bodyguard down. Bobby was also an accomplished singer who packed them in at the Outrigger Bar.

  Politicians such as Mayor Maynard Sensenbrenner (front row, far left) often gathered at the Kahiki. Courtesy Sapp/Henry.

  Bill Sapp recalled that of all the stars he met

  the one that really impressed me was the guy that played in The Lost Weekend, Ray Milland. He was really a down-to-earth, nice guy. I was sitting in the office doing some bookwork, and he just wandered upstairs and was looking all around and my door was open. He just walked in and says, “Hey, how you doing?” I said, “Fine, how are you?” He says, “Oh, I’m doing great. You know you really got a nice place here. I really enjoyed it.” I said, “Well, sit down and let’s talk about it.” He sat down, and we talked for two hours. I never did know who he was until he started to leave, and I said, “By the way, what’s your name?” He said Ray Milland. He was really a big star back then.

  The Academy Award–winning actor was known for not taking himself too seriously. He appeared as Professor Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady.

  Most of the celebrities who visited the Kahiki enjoyed themselves and were a joy to be around. “Ann Margaret and I got along famously,” Bill said. “Joey Heatherton not so much.” Zsa Zsa Gabor slipped Lee her phone number and invited him to call her up the next time he was in California. He didn’t.

  From left: Frank Fontaine, Bill Spencer and “Spook” Beckman in a photo salvaged from the Outrigger Bar wall. Courtesy Candi Spencer.

  When the bar was remodeled in 1992 or 1993, Candi Spencer was able to retrieve the photo of Frank “Crazy Guggeheim” Fontaine. A break-out star from The Jackie Gleason Show, his goofy, bug-eyed character was featured in the “Joe, the Bartender” sketches, which would conclude with him demonstrating his surprisingly good singing voice. Joining Fontaine in the picture were her father, Bill Spencer, and his frequent drinking buddy, local radio and TV personality “Spook” Beckman. Unfortunately, the photograph is faded from years of smoke and accumulated grime.

  One person who dined at the Kahiki before he became a celebrity was Michael Eisener, future CEO of Disney. A 1995 article in Fortune revealed that when he was attending nearby Denison University in Granville, he sometimes ate at the Kahiki when he came into Columbus for entertainment. As writer Wayne Curtis put it, “If there’s a better contemporary version of ‘George Washington slept here,’ I don’t know what it is.” However, most people nowadays would be more likely to ask, “Michael who?”

  Of course, many writers stopped by the Kahiki, some on assignment, some not. Most probably passed through the doors unrecognized. Writer and talk show host Frank DeCaro, author of The Dead Celebrity Cookbook, A Boy Named Phyllis: A Suburban Memoir and other humorous works, was one. When he heard it was closing, he flew in from New York. As he told Elizabeth Gibson of the Columbus Dispatch, “At the point when the last great tiki bar closes, someone will open a new one and everyone will say these are great. It’s a shame we always seem to realize too late how much things mean to us.”

  Robert Ward described in Renegades: My Wild Trip from Professor to New Journalist with Outrageous Visits from Clint Eastwood, Reggie Jackson, Larry Flynt, and other American Icons a lunch he once had with publisher Larry Flynt and his girlfriend (later wife), Althea Leasure. The Kahiki was the place to go for celebration when John Hannigan was in graduate school in the mid-1970s, as he related in Fantasy City: Pleasure and Profit in the Postmodern Metropolis. It was his touchstone for writing about themed eateries.

  In Unveiling Claudia: A True Story of Serial Murder, Daniel Keyes quoted Claudia Yasko as saying that she went to dinner at the Kahiki with her friends “Pigman” (Lenny White) and “Ginger” just after overhearing Gary Lewingdon talking about the three murders he and his brother, Thadeus, had committed. The Lewingdons are better known as the 22-Caliber Killers. Sports Illustrated reported that the Columbus police tried to catch former Ohio State quarterback Art Schlichter in an illegal gambling “sting” operation at the Kahiki when he was a sophomore in
college. However, he failed to meet up with a police informant who was posing as a bookie.

  10

  THE ROAST BEEF WARS AND OTHER CAMPAIGNS

  The feeling of friendship is like that of being comfortably filled with a roast beef.

  —Samuel Johnson

  An often overlooked chapter in the story of Bill Sapp and Lee Henry was their involvement in the Roast Beef Wars. It was an uncharacteristic endeavor, given their reputation for creating some of the most highly regarded restaurants in Columbus history. However, it does speak to their restless spirit and their emphasis on quality, even in the fast-food arena. That they eventually lost out to Arby’s does not diminish the fact that they fought the good fight.

  During the 1960s, the Roast Beef Wars raged throughout the United States, and Ohio, for some reason, was the site of some of the bloodiest skirmishes. The opening salvo was fired in Boardman, Ohio, in 1964, when Forrest and Leroy Raffel entered the fast-food business but decided to serve roast beef sandwiches rather than hamburgers. They called their restaurants “Arby’s,” which was the phonetic spelling of the initials “RB” for Raffel brothers, not “roast beef” as many believe. For a time, the siblings had the market to themselves, but then in 1967, Jack Roschman of Springfield, Ohio, started JAX Roast Beef. After he sold his small chain to General Foods two years later, it was renamed RIX and later reverted to JAX. But by 1982, it became RAX.

  Around 1967, former Ohio State University basketball star Jerry Lucas (from Middletown, Ohio) thought he would found a chain of roast beef restaurants. A five-year member of the Cincinnati Royals professional basketball team, he was determined to build a financial empire. Instead, Jerry Lucas Beef-N-Shakes went bankrupt in concert with three of his other companies in 1969. The restaurant business is a harsh mistress.