Damned in Paradise
Page 33
Having ascertained that Chang Apana had not yet retired from the Honolulu Police at the time of the Massie case, I was determined to have Nate Heller meet the “real” Charlie Chan. The indefatigable Lynn Myers took on the key assignment of searching out background material on Apana, who is frequently mentioned in discussions of the Chan movies and/or novels, but about whom I hadn’t found anything substantial. Lynn did: an extremely good, in-depth 1982 article in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin by Susan Yim, “In Search of Chan,” detailing the successful efforts of a Chan fan, Gilbert Martines, to learn the truth about the real detective who provided inspiration to author Earl Derr Biggers for his famous Honolulu-based Chinese sleuth. Lynn also found, among other Apana materials, an obituary that filled in gaps the Yim article did not.
The only liberty I took with Chang was to ignore the suggestion in Yim’s article that the detective, while fluent in several languages, spoke a badly broken pidgin English; I felt this would get in the way of the characterization. Chang Apana’s aphorisms are largely drawn from Derr Biggers’s novels (some are of my own invention) and reflect the real Apana’s pride in having been Chan’s prototype. Incidentally, the blacksnake whip was indeed Chang Apana’s tool of choice. In addition to rereading several of Derr Biggers’s novels, I drew upon Otto Penzler’s Chan article in his entertaining The Private Lives of Private Eyes, Spies, Crime Fighters and Other Good Guys (1977), as well as Charlie Chan at the Movies (1989), Ken Hanke. Very helpful was the only Chan movie shot on location in Honolulu—The Black Camel (1931)—which includes scenes shot at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Material on Chang Apana (and John Jardine) was also culled from Detective Jardine: Crimes in Honolulu (1984), John Jardine with Edward Rohrbough and Bob Krauss, which has an excellent chapter on the Massie case from the police point of view.
In addition to searching out Chang Apana material, Lynn Myers located a crucial multipart 1932 Liberty magazine article by Grace Fortescue, entitled “The Honolulu Martyrdom.” Also, unrepentant B-movie fan Lynn lobbied for the inclusion in this narrative of Buster Crabbe, which I resisted (my policy is no celebrity cameos for the sake of a celebrity cameo) until I came upon Crabbe’s connection to the Waikiki beach boys, which did seem pertinent to the narrative. An interview of Crabbe by Don Shay provided much of the basis for the characterization, and information about Crabbe and the beach boys in general was drawn from Waikiki Beachboy (1989), Grady Timmons.
Three book-length nonfiction studies of the Massie case have been published to date, all of them in 1966: The Massie Case, Peter Packer and Bob Thomas; Rape in Paradise, Theon Wright; and Something Terrible Has Happened, Peter Van Slingerland. The coincidence of the only factual books on the case being published more or less simultaneously results in three very different views of the case (including numerous conflicting “facts” for me to sort out). Significantly, none of these authors accept the Ala Moana boys as the guilty parties. Each book has its merits: Thomas and Packer present a tight, novelistic, highly readable narrative; Wright, a reporter who covered the trial, is more in-depth and pursues various theories and tangential events; and Van Slingerland is at least as indepth as Wright, with perceptive social commentary and follow-up interviews with some of the participants. Nate Heller’s latter-day barroom conversation with Albert Jones mirrors an interview Van Slingerland reports having with Jones, who indeed did freely admit pulling the trigger on Joseph Kahahawai. If pressed, I would give Van Slingerland the nod, but any of these three books would provide an interested reader with a worthwhile true crime version of this tale; a paperback edition of Wright’s volume, with a good introduction by Glen Grant, is at this writing in print (Mutual Publishing, Honolulu).
Several books devote chapters or entire sections to the Massie case: Crimes of Passion (1975), published anonymously by Verdict Press (useful pictures but a wildly inaccurate account); Lawrence M. Judd & Hawaii (1971), Lawrence M. Judd as told to Hugh W. Lytle; Sea Duty: The Memoirs of a Fighting Admiral (1939), Yates Stirling; and Shoal of Time: A History of the Hawaiian Islands (1968), Gavan Daws.
Two famous novels inspired by the Massie case may be of interest to readers who enjoyed Damned in Paradise. Norman Katkov’s Blood and Orchids was a bestseller a decade ago; I avoided reading it so as not to be unduly influenced here, but am told that while Mr. Katkov intentionally took great liberties with the facts (including changing dates, names, and events), he presents a vivid, large landscape picture of the political and social turmoil of this fascinating time in Hawaii’s history. Many years ago I read and enjoyed another book very loosely based on the Massie case (so loosely the Hawaii setting is jettisoned), Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver; I particularly admire the Otto Preminger film based on that novel.
Many books on Hawaii were consulted, but none was more valuable than When You Go to Hawaii (1930), Townsend Griffiss; this 350-page travel guide, which I rooted out in a Honolulu used bookstore, was to Damned in Paradise what the WPA guides have been to previous Heller novels. Also helpful were Aloha Waikiki (1985), DeSoto Brown; Around the World Confidential (1956), Lee Mortimer; Hawaii and Its Race Problem (1932), William Atherton Du Puy; Hawaii Recalls (1982), DeSoto Brown, Anne Ellett, and Gary Giemza; Hawaii: Restless Rampart (1941), Joseph Barber Jr.; Hawaiian Tapestry (1937), Antoinette Withington; Hawaii! “…Wish You Were Here” (1994), Ray and Jo Miller; Hawaiian Yesterdays (1982), Ray Jerome Baker; The Japanese in Hawaii: A Century of Struggle (1985), Roland Kotani; The Pink Palace (1986), Stan Cohen; Remembering Pearl Harbor (1984), Michael Slackman; Roaming Hawaii (1937), Harry A. Franck; and The View from Diamond Head (1986), Don Hibbard and David Franzen.
Coverage by Russell Owens in the New York Times was also of great help.
Of use in researching the non-Hawaii aspects of this novel were The Great Luxury Liners 1927-1954 (1981), William H. Miller Jr.; New York: The Glamour Years (1919-1945) (1987), Thomas and Virginia Aylesworth; and Off the Wall at Sardi’s (1991), Vincent Sardi, Jr., and Thomas Edward West.
I would again like to thank my editor, Michaela Hamilton, and her associate, Joe Pittman, for their support and belief in Nate Heller and me; and my agent, Dominick Abel, for his continued professional and personal support.
My talented wife, writer Barbara Collins, accompanied me on a research trip to Oahu in May 1995. Like Nate Heller and his wife, we tracked down the houses where the Massies and Mrs. Fortescue had lived. After accompanying me on the previous two Nate Heller research trips (to the Bahamas and Louisiana), Barb understandably said, “Could we just once go to a vacation wonderland and not be looking for the murder house?” Thank you, sweetheart.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Max Allan Collins has earned fifteen Private Eye Writers of America “Shamus” nominations, winning for his Nathan Heller novels, True Detective and Stolen Away, and receiving the PWA life achievement award, the Eye. His graphic novel, Road to Perdition, which is the basis of the Academy Award-winning film starring Tom Hanks, was followed by two novels, Road to Purgatory and Road to Paradise. His suspense series include Quarry, Nolan, Mallory, and Eliot Ness, and his numerous comics credits include the syndicated Dick Tracy and his own Ms. Tree. He has written and directed four feature films and two documentaries. His other produced screenplays include “The Expert,” an HBO World Premiere. His coffee-table book The History of Mystery received nominations for every major mystery award and Men’s Adventure Magazines won the Anthony Award. Collins lives in Muscatine, Iowa, with his wife, writer Barbara Collins. They have collaborated on seven novels and numerous short stories, and are currently writing the “Trash ‘n’ Treasures” mysteries.
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