Tiki Chic-y

pupus!                                                                                     Tom Passavant

Don the Beachcomber, Trader Vic's, mai tais, South Pacific and "Bali Ha'i," the Kon-Tiki expedition, lava rock ~ not to mention Hawaiian statehood in 1959. In the 1940s, Americans began their love affair with all things Polynesia, and that included, of course, the tiki. Could that have been the origin of kitsch? "Only in America could something like this spring up," says Sven Kirsten, author of Tiki Pop (video): http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-28570884
   I'd forgotten how beautiful "Bali Ha'i" is. Originally sung on stage by Juanita Hall, in the movie version, she's lip-synching to the voice of Muriel Smith (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81NROmUb7o0