The Donn of Tiki: Clever title, fascinating documentary

The Donn of Tiki (2024) • View trailer

Four stars (out of five); Unrated, but akin to PG, for occasional crime references

Available via: Amazon Prime and other VOD options

By Derrick Bang

Ernest Gantt — possibly Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt — was the living embodiment of that classic line from 1962’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance:

 

“When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”

 

Donn Beach died in June 1989, and therefore wasn't available for the filmmakers. They
did the next best thing, teaming with Mystery Meat Media to deliver Beach's portion
of a lengthy interview via this droll stop-motion puppet.

Gantt, much better known as Donn Beach, was the public face of the Don the Beachcomber bars and restaurants, which — during their heyday — had numerous locations throughout the United States. Along with Victor Jules Bergeron Jr., the public face of the similar Trader Vic’s chain, they revolutionized the tiki bar scene. That became quite a thing from the late 1930s to the early 1970s ... at which point, interest waned, until reviving and becoming even more popular as the 21st century has progressed.

But Gantt definitely was the first to turn a blend of Cantonese food, Caribbean mixology and South Pacific décor, into a popular destination. He invented both the craft cocktail and the concept of “themed escapism” later mimicked (often not as tastefully) by chains such as Elephant Bar, Rainforest Café, Hard Rock Café and Chuck E. Cheese

 

But unlike Bergeron, a savvy businessman who led a fairly routine life, Gantt was a man of mystery who constantly embellished his past and accomplishments, to the point that it’s now extremely difficult to separate fact from fabrication.

 

Documentarians Alex Lamb and Max Well certainly had a lot of fun trying, and their delightful film works hard to establish ... if not actual truth, then near-truth. They do so with an engaging blend of archival footage; interviews with Gantt’s friends and family members; contemporary historians and mixologists; and even charming, 1930s-style black-and-white and color cartoon sequences (by Venturia Animation).

 

The most ingenious touch, though, is the stop-motion puppet figure of Gantt, animated by Mystery Meat Media, employed as the “face” during a lengthy radio interview the man gave back in 1986 ... a conversation which, it must be acknowledged, frequently muddies the waters of accuracy.

 

Lamb and Well also rely extensively on input from Tim “Swanky” Glazner, author of Searching for Don the Beachcomber, whose exhaustive research comes closest to nailing down the truth. But even he confesses, at times, that certain details of Gantt’s life remain obstruse. 

 

Actually, it’s amusing to hear different versions of the same story, such as how — and precisely when — the Zombie cocktail was concocted.