Bill Text: HI HR36 | 2017 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requesting The United States Postal Service To Issue A Commemorative Postage Stamp In Honor Of Alfred Apaka.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-03-29 - Report adopted; referred to the committee(s) on FIN with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Aquino, Oshiro, Say, Thielen excused (4). [HR36 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2017-HR36-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	36
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2017
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

 

REQUESTING THE UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE TO ISSUE A COMMEMORATIVE POSTAGE STAMP IN HONOR OF ALFRED APAKA.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, Alfred Aholo Apaka, a man of Native Hawaiian ancestry, was born on March 19, 1919, in Honolulu on the island of Oahu in the Territory of Hawaii, United States of America; and

 

     WHEREAS, Alfred Apaka's early musical training included playing the ukulele and bass, and singing in the chorus at Roosevelt High School and in choirs in the Mormon church; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 1938, he performed his first professional engagement as a singer for Don McDiarmid, Sr., at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 1940, as part of Ray Kinney and His Hawaiians, Alfred Apaka performed at the Lexington Hotel in New York City and made "Hawaii's Charm", his first recording as a featured vocalist; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 1952, Alfred Apaka performed on Bob Hope's and Bing Crosby's respective radio shows and recorded with the Andrews Sisters and Danny Stewart and His Islanders for Decca Records; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 1954, after making other recordings and performing in numerous locations on the United States mainland, he returned to Hawaii to work at Kaiser's Hawaiian Village in Waikiki (now the Hilton Hawaiian Village), where he entertained tens of thousands of visitors; and

 

     WHEREAS, on January 30, 1960, he died of a heart attack in Honolulu at the height of his career, not long after a television pilot in which he starred had been sold to a sponsor; and

 

     WHEREAS, Alfred Apaka was one of the greatest Hawaiian vocalists of the twentieth century and remains a cultural icon throughout the world more than fifty years after his death; and

 

     WHEREAS, March 19, 2019, will be the centennial anniversary of his birth; and

 

     WHEREAS, the United States Postal Service, through its commemorative postage stamps, honors extraordinary and enduring contributions to American society, history, and culture; and

 

     WHEREAS, the United States Postal Service welcomes suggestions for stamp subjects that help portray the diversity of the American experience for a worldwide audience; and

 

     WHEREAS, the last Native Hawaiian to be honored with a commemorative postage stamp from the United States Postal Service was Olympic gold medalist Duke Kahanamoku, who was so honored in 2002; and

 

     WHEREAS, the memorialization of the contributions of a talented and beloved Native Hawaiian singer through a commemorative postage stamp would be consistent with the United States Postal Services' standards for commemorative postage stamps; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-ninth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2017, that the United States Postal Service is requested to issue a commemorative stamp in honor of Alfred Apaka on March 19, 2019; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States Postal Service is requested to first release the commemorative stamp in Waikiki, the place where Alfred Apaka established himself as a performer, and then to the rest of the nation; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the people of Hawaii are urged to support this effort to bring pride and recognition to both Alfred Apaka and the State of Hawaii; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Postmaster General of the United States; the Chair of the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee of the United States Postal Service; the Postmaster of Honolulu; Hawaii's congressional delegation; the Governor of Hawaii; and the Mayors of the several counties of the State of Hawaii.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Alfred Apaka; United States Postal Service; Commemorative Stamp