The Portuguese in Hawaii

Near the close of the 19th century, laborers were needed to work on Hawaiian sugar plantations, and Portuguese people from the Azores and Madeira joined workers of many other nations who moved to the islands. The Portuguese immigrants contributed much to modern Hawaiian culture, and their architectural, culinary, and musical influences became a part of island life (the ukulele is perhaps the most famous example of a Portuguese import which later became identified with Hawaii itself). This might have been a fairly interesting tape, but the two and a half minutes of commercials at the beginning of the tape and the four minutes' worth afterward negates much of the value for libraries. These are not polite "sponsored by" credits--these are straight in-your-face advertisements for California businesses ranging from radio stations to a sausage company to a real estate firm, eleven ads in all. Some video image break-up occurred in the review copy, and one poorly edited scene of seated costumed ladies with men dancing around them starts off with a dizzying digitized abstraction. Not recommended. Aud: P. (R. Reagan)