Al Kikume

Al Kikume (born Elmer Kikumi Gozier;^[3] October 9, 1894 – March 27, 1972) was an American actor, musician, and bandleader of Hawaiian descent. He was a frequently featured musical performer—on radio,^[4][5] preceding silent film screenings,^[6] and at miscellaneous live events^[7][5]—during the 1920s and early thirties, as well as a familiar face among supporting actors in Hollywood jungle movies during the thirties, forties and fifties.^[8]

Al Kikume
Kikume in Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla, 1952
Born	Elmer Kikumi Gozier (1894-10-09)October 9, 1894 Kauai County, Hawaii, U.S.
Died	March 27, 1972(1972-03-27) (aged 77) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Other names	Elmer Kikume
Occupation(s)	Actor, stuntman, musician, bandleader
Years active	1933–1954
Spouse(s)	Virgil Edna Smith (m. circa 1911;[1] died 1925[citation needed])
Children	Bernard Kikume Gozier (aka Bernie Gozier)[2]

Early life and career

Kikume was born in Kauai County, Hawaii.^[3] Known for his association with Honolulu's Royal Hawaiian Band, as well as revivals of the Broadway play, Bird of Paradise,^[9] Kikume's first credited screen appearance was as "Chief Mehevi" in John Ford's The Hurricane (1937).^[8]

Personal life and death

By no later than 1911, Kikume was married to Virgil Edna Smith, with whom he had one son, Bernard Kikume Gozier,^[10] aka Bernie Gozier.^[2] Gozier went on to have a substantial Hollywood career of his own, both as bit player and stuntman,^[11] appearing in at least one film, Green Dolphin Street, alongside his father.^[12]

Kikume died in Los Angeles on March 27, 1972.^[13]

Partial filmography

• Hula (1937) – Native musician accompanying Clara Bow's hula dance^[14]
• Tarzan the Fearless (1933)
• The Perils of Pauline (1933) serial
• The Hurricane (1937) – Chief Mehevi
• Air Devils (1938) – Don Kahano
• Mandrake the Magician (1939) serial
• Typhoon (1940)
• South of Pago Pago (1940)
• Jungle Girl (1941) serial
• Perils of Nyoka (1942) serial
• White Savage (1943)
• She Gets Her Man (1945) – Joe
• Song of the Sarong (1945)
• Green Dolphin Street (1947)
• On the Isle of Samoa (1950) – Chief Tihati
• Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952)