GAA's Genial Hawaiians Page


Jim and Bob, the Genial Hawaiians

Introduction

Jim Holstein and Bob Pauole were a musical duo known as Jim and Bob, the Genial Hawaiians. They performed on the radio in Chicago and made a handful of impressive recordings that were released in the 1930's. Bob Pauole was an exceptional steel player with great tone and phrasing. Their recordings exhibit a nice interplay between the two musicians. Bob Brozman's book, The History and Artistry of National Resonator Instruments, has a short essay about them.

On this page I've collected nearly everything known about the duo as of 2007. Les Cook of Grass Skirt Records provided the newspaper clippings, WENR brochure and US census information.

Until recently little was known about them except for the information collected on this webpage.

Photographs

Jim and Bob w/Harp Guitar
 
There seem to be only two pictures of Jim and Bob in circulation. In one picture (above), Jim is holding an acoustic guitar and is standing over a seated Bob.

The other picture (left) appears in the Brozman book and Stacy Phillip's The Complete Dobro Player book. It is similarly posed with Jim holding a Harp-Guitar.

Jim Holstein
 
In addition, there is one picture of Jim Holstein (left). It is from the 1930 National Guitar catalog. Jim is holding a National Tricone guitar. It was probably taken at the same time as the picture at the top of this page. The background and bench are the same in both pictures.

In the National Guitar catalog Jim is described as being part of the "Jim and Bud" team on WENR, but that is most likely an error since other sources (see Newspapers below) indicate that Jim was always teamed with Bob.

 

Recordings

The discography information in this section is primarily from the Online Discographical Project.

All the Genial Hawaiians releases come from one recording session. It was in Chicago on December 12, 1933. From that session twelve sides were released on the Bluebird record label.

Two of the Bluebird releases were also released on the Montgomery Ward label (MW). The six instrumental recordings were also issued in Japan on the Japanese Victor label (JA and JR).

The table below lists all of their releases along with information about modern reissues and links to audio samples.

Record Side Song Matrix Reissued On
(see legend below)
Audio Sample Also released
as
Comments
BB-5294 A Rome Wasn't Built in a Day 77327-1 WIGEFM short clip
vocal

B
Coffee in the Morning, Kisses in the Night 77323 FHTH, WIGEFM

vocal
BB-5295 A Taps (Good Night) 77325-1 WIGEFM
MW-4476 A,
JA-1276 A


B Chimes 77324-1 HB, IHIH, WIGEFM Amazon, eMusic, MW-4476 B,
JR-70 A
also known as "Maui Chimes"
BB-5316 A The Song of the Range 77332-1 CSG, HSGC, HB, IHIH Amazon, eMusic, MW-4424 A,
JR-70 B


B St Louis Blues 77329-1 CSG, HSGC CDUniverse
MW-4424 B,
JA-1276 B

BB-5407 A Hula Blues 77331-1 VHM, IHIH Amazon, eMusic,
vocal

B Aloma 77328-1
short clip
vocal
BB-5944 A By the Waters of the Minnetoka 77333-1 CSG, IHIH, ROTW Amazon, eMusic JR-35 A

B Sweet Georgia Brown 77326-1 ROTW short clip JR-35 B guitar & ukulele instrumental
BB-6056 A There's a Little Grey Mother Dreaming 77334-1
short clip
vocal

B Calling Aloha To Me 77330-1


vocal









Reissues:
CSG Classic Slide Guitar (Out of print)
FHTH From Honolulu to Hollywood, also known as Honolulu to Hollywood (Out of print)
HB Hula Blues
HSGCHawaiian Steel Guitar Classics, also available on iTunes
IHIH It's Hotter in Hawaii
ROTWRhythm of the Waves (Out of print)
VHM Vintage Hawaiian Music: Steel Guitar Masters
WIGEFM   Waikiki is Good Enough For Me (Out of print)
Notes:  

Tablature

Their more interesting tunes have been tabbed out by Stacy Phillips and appear in some of his instructional books.

Song Tab Appears In
Hula Blues The Art of Hawaiian Steel Guitar
By the Waters of the Minnetonka The Art of Hawaiian Steel Guitar, Volume 2
Song of the Range The Art of Hawaiian Steel Guitar, Volume 2 and The Dobro Book
St Louis Blues
The Art of Hawaiian Steel Guitar, Volume 2 and The Complete Dobro Player

 

Jim and Bob on the Radio

Below are a couple of clips from the radio listings in some Chicago area papers. Originally they performed on WENR. Jim and Bob were the staff guitarists at WENR and appear in a brochure from this period (Click here for images from the brochure). By 1934 they moved to WBBM. I could find no reference to them after 1934.

WENR listing WBBM listing
Decatur Review
April 9, 1931
Chicago Tribune
March 19,1934

Jim and Bob in the Newspapers

Honolulu Advertiser

To the left is an the article, discovered by collector/discographer Malcolm Rockwell, from the Honolulu Advertiser dated Sept 27, 1928. It contains quite a number of details about Jim and Bob that help fill some of the gaps in their story. Click on the image to read the article. The photo is not very clear but from the shape and size of his guitar, it almost looks as if Jim is playing a National Tricone.

Jim and Bob's names also appear in a number of short "publicity" items in Chicago area papers in the early 1930's. Click here for some samples.

In the newspaper clips and radio listings they are always referred to as "Jim and Bob" and never as "The Genial Hawaiians". It makes me suspect that the Genial Hawaiians tag might have been something that was created just for their records.


Jim and Bob in the 1930 US Census

Up until 1930 the US census records listed every household and included information about each household member's age, occupation, birthplace and parents' birthplaces. Not everyone appears in the US census records, but when they do it provides a lot of information. Jim and Bob both show up as living in Chicago in the 1930 census. Jim is married with a step-son. His age is 31. He and his parents' birthplaces are listed as Hawaii. His occupation is radio artist. Bob is single, age 28, and rooming in a house. His parents' birthplace is Hawaii. His birthplace is listed as California, which contradicts information in the newspaper articles. His occupation is radio singer/musician.

 

Jim and Bob on eBay

Something that shows up on eBay quite often is sheet music for "Aloha Oe" with Jim and Bob on the cover. I bought a copy for $5. The image at the top of this page was taken from the sheet music. I scanned the cover, resized it, printed it on 8-1/2 x 11 paper, framed it and hung it on my living room wall. You can do the same thing! To download a 150 DPI image, right click on the image below and do a "Save Link Target".

Aloha Oe w/Jim and Bob

Some observations:


 

Feel free to contact me if you have any comments. Visit my home page for some pages on related subjects.

Bluebird Record Label


Updates:
03/27/06 - Initial version
05/05/06 - Added newspaper clippings and WENR brochure
05/09/06 - Added US Census information
02/25/07 - Added Harp-Guitar picture, Revised links to audio samples. Included information about Japanese releases.
02/25/07 - Added image 1935 version of sheet music.
12/01/07 - Included additional information about Harold Maus and Harold & Hazel.
12/07/07 - Added note about availability of iTunes and MP3 downloads