September 20, 1968: "Hawaii Five-O" Premieres

Left to right: Gilbert "Zulu" Kauhi, Jack Lord,

Kam Fong and James MacArthur

September 20, 1968: Hawaii Five-O premieres on CBS. It runs for 12 seasons, and becomes one of the most popular crimefighting dramas in television history.

The timing was problematic. It had been 3 weeks since the "police riot" at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Fortunately, at this point, the number of people who wanted to see the police as good guys -- either presuming they always were, or wanting to see good examples rather than the bad ones in Chicago -- far outnumbered the people who saw the police as bad guys, and the show was a hit.

The show was shot nearly entirely on location in Hawaii, the 50th and most recent State to enter the Union, hence, "Five-Oh." Jack Lord -- previously the 1st actor to play CIA Agent Felix Leiter in the James Bond films, and an early choice to play Captain James T. Kirk on Star Trek before William Shatner was cast -- played Captain Steve McGarrett, a former U.S. Navy officer who is appointed by Governor Paul Jameson, played by Richard Denning, to lead a special task force of the State Police, answerable only to him, headquartered at the ʻIolani Palace, the former royal residence of the monarchs of the Kingdom of Hawai'i. (In real life, it is now a public museum, and the only former royal palace on American soil. Also in real life, the Governor at that time, John A. Burns, cooperated with filming.)

James MacArthur, son of Helen Hayes, "The First Lady of the American Theater," and ex-husband of actress Joyce Bulifant, played Steve's young second-in-command, Danny Williams, often called "Danno" by Steve. Often, at the show's end, Steve would tell Danny to book the perpetrator with the appropriate charge. Example: "Book 'em, Danno. Murder one." (Murder in the first degree.)

Kam Tong Chung, a Hawaiian native who was a witness to the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, and later served 16 years with the real-life Honolulu Police Department, appeared on the show under his stage name Kam Fong (the result of a school's clerical error), and played Detective Chin Ho Kelly, the most veteran member of Steve's team. In 1978, when Fong got tired of the show, the character was killed off on an undercover assignment, soon avenged by the team.

Another native, Gilbert Lani Kauhi, using the stage name "Zulu" -- making him sound African instead of Hawaiian -- played Detective Kono Kalakaua. He was the team's muscle: If Steve was equivalent to Bonanza's Ben Cartwright, Danny to Little Joe, and Chin Ho (though the oldest actor and character) to Adam, then Kono was Hoss. After 4 seasons, Kauhi got tired of being treated like the dumb tough guy, saying little more than, "Yes, boss," and quit.

Chin Ho was named for Chinn Ho, the Hawaii real-estate developer who got the Ilikai Hotel built in Honolulu. It was the State's 1st luxury high-rise hotel. The show's opening sequence, perhaps the best-remembered feature from the show, opened with a huge wave, and showed various Hawaii landmarks, including the Aloha Tower, and zoomed in on Lord as Steve, standing on the balcony of the Ilikai. The theme song was one of the most memorable instrumental songs of the era, and a rocked-up version became a Top 10 hit for the instrumental band The Ventures.

From 1969 to 1975, Tausau Ta'a, a Samoan actor using the stage name Al Harrington (after his stepfather), played Detective Ben Kokua. From 1972 until the show ended in 1980, Herman Wedemeyer played Detective Sergeant Duke Lukela, a character apparently named for the legendary king of Hawaiian surfers, Duke Kahanamoku.

Both Harrington and Wedemeyer had played college football in the San Francisco Bay Area: Harrington at Stanford, but he turned down a lowball offer to play for the Baltimore Colts; and "Squirmin' Herman," nicknamed for his ability to break tackles, at St. Mary's College in the East Bay, and he did play for the Colts. Before being cast on the show, Wedemeyer had been elected to the Honolulu City Council as a Democrat in 1968, and then to the Hawaii House of Representatives as a Republican in 1970 and 1972. I can't find a reason for his switch of parties.

From 1974 to 1976, Douglas Kinilau Mossman played Detective Frank Kamana. From 1977 until the series ended, Sharon Farrell played Detective Lori Wilson. In 1979, for what turned out to be the show's last season, MacArthur left the cast, and William Smith joined as Detective James "Kimo" Carew, and Wilfred Nalani "Moe" Keale, one of Hawaii's leading native musicians (and the uncle of another, Israel "Brother Iz" Kamakawiwoʻole), joined as Detective "Truck" Kealoha.

Danny Kamekona appeared in 33 different episodes, in 23 different roles, including 4 different doctors. In 3, all of them in 1969, he played Che Fong, the team's forensic specialist. In 8, 6 of them in 1974, he played Chief Nick of the Honolulu Police Department. From 1969 to 1977, Harry Endo replaced Kamekona as the forensic specialist, though the character's name of Che Fong was kept. Al Eben played Doc Bergman (his first name was never mentioned), the team's coroner.

While the Five-O team took on all kinds of criminals, including organized crime, the show's main villain was Wo Fat, played by Kenneth Dickerson, who cited his part-Chinese ancestry and used the stage name Khigh Dheigh.

The character appeared in the pilot, as a Chinese intelligence agent, and became a recurring character. By 1976, he was depicted as the head of the Chinese Mafia (a branch of the nationalist Tongs in Hong Kong, not the Communists in Beijing). In the series finale, airing on April 5, 1980, after trying for nearly 12 years, getting only the little fish around him, Steve McGarrett finally defeated and arrested Wo Fat.

The term "five-oh" has become a slang term for police, and "Book 'em, Danno" has also entered the lexicon. Jack Lord loved being in Hawaii so much, he made it his permanent home. He closed every episode by narrating a preview of the next week's episode, saying, "Be there. Aloha!" (Like the Hebrew "Shalom," "Aloha" can mean many things, including "Hello," "Goodbye" and "Peace.")

Leonard Freeman died in 1974, when the show was still near its peak. Khigh Dheigh died in 1991, Danny Kamekona in 1996, Jack Lord and Richard Denning in 1998, Herman Wedemeyer in 1999, Kam Fong and Moe Keale in 2002, Al Eben in 2003, Gilbert Kauhi in 2004, Harry Endo in 2009, and James MacArthur in 2010.

From 2010 to 2020, CBS aired a rebooted version of the show, with the slightly altered title of Hawaii Five-0, the last character being a zero instead of a capital letter O. The dynamic of the 2 lead characters was changed: Steve (played by Australian actor Alex O'Loughlin) and Danny (Scott Caan, son of James) were no longer 17 years apart in age, with a father-son or mentor-protegé relationship; they were the same age, and acted more like partners but bickering brothers. (The same age? In fact, Caan was born on August 23, 1976, just before the original show began its 9th season, and O'Loughlin was born the very next day.)

Lost veteran Daniel Dae Kim played Chin Ho Kelly as a much younger character, who succeeded Steve as the quarterback for their high school's football team, breaking all his records. (Video footage showed quarterback Steve wearing, naturally, uniform number 50.) And Kono Kalakaua was completely different in this version: As played by Grace Park, Kono was female, thin, a surfing champion, and Chin Ho's cousin. This was the 2nd time Park had played a gender-bent character in a rebooted classic: She played Boomer on the 2000s version of Battlestar Galactica.

Al Harrington appeared on the new H50, although not as Ben Kokua. Doug Mossman also appeared on it, but not as Frank Kamana. Both of them died in 2021. So did William Smith, although he did not appear in the reboot series. As of September 20, 2022, Sharon Farrell is the only notable actor from the original series still alive.

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September 20, 1968 was a Friday. Author and political commentator Van Jones was born that day.

These baseball games were played on that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 4-3 at Yankee Stadium. In the 3rd inning, Mickey Mantle hit a home run off Jim Lonborg. It was the Mick's 18th of the season, and the 536th, and last, of his career. Bill Robinson also hit a home run for the Yankees. Carl Yastrzemski hit a home run for the Red Sox.

* The New York Mets swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia, 3-2 and 5-4. Tom Seaver won the opener. For the nightcap, the Mets went with what would now be called "an opener game" or "starter by committee": 2 innings each by Don Cardwell, Nolan Ryan and Don Shaw, and 3 by Cal Koonce, who was credited as the winning pitcher.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Washington Senators, 6-3 at District of Columbia Stadium in Washington. (It was renamed Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium the next season.) Jim Northrup hit 2 home runs, and Al Kaline went 4-for-4 with a solo home run.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-0 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Steve Blass pitched a 2-hit shutout. Roberto Clemente went 2-for-4. Willie Stargell did not play. Ernie Banks went 0-for-3.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 2-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-4, but Frank Robinson went 1-for-2 with 2 walks.

* The Houston Astros beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-6 at the Astrodome in Houston. Pete Rose went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Johnny Bench went 1-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Reggie Jackson went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Harmon Killebrew went 2-for-4. Rod Carew, uncharacteristically, went 0-for-4.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-4 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Lou Brock went 3-for-5 with a solo home run.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves, 8-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Hank Aaron goes 0-for-2, and is replaced by his brother Tommie Aaron, who also goes 0-for-2. They hold the career record for most home runs by a pair of brothers: 768. Hank hit 755, and Tommie hit 13. By a weird coincidence, Willie Mays also went 0-for-2 before being replaced.

Juan Marichal was not replaced: He went the distance to win his 26th game of the year. But with the pitching achievements of Don Drysdale and Bob Gibson in his own League, of Denny McLain in the other, and Gibson and Mickey Lolich in the upcoming World Series, hardly anybody remembers Marichal's great season.

* And the California Angels and the Cleveland Indians were not scheduled.