Before jet travel and before James Michener's book "Hawaii", most Mainlander's image of Hawaii leaned to visions of Dot Lamour in a sarong, or Hilo Hattie doing the Hilo Hop.

Thanks more to Michener than jets (you can wrap yourself in a Hilton hotel and never see Hawaii) people became aware of the fascinating history, the unique culture, and the sometimes brutally sad story of the "civilizing" of the Islands.

No one claims that Hawaii Five-0 will offer TV viewers a similar kind of insight, but the producer (Leonard Freeman). The star (Jack Lord), and the network (CBS) are very high on what they term the freshness and high quality of this hour-long police drama (Thursdays, 8 PM).

First and foremost, the series is filmed on location in the Hawaiian Islands, primarily in and around Honolulu and the island of Oahu. On location means exactly that-during a week's shooting the cast and crew mat move from the corridors of the Honolulu Police Dept. to Waikiki Beach; from the actual office of the Governor of the state, to a fruit market on the edge of the city. Each time a movie is made, the cameras, cables, mikes, sound equipment, etc must be piled into trucks and lugged to the next spot. It is a good deal more cumbersome than using a soundstage or the back lot of a Hollywood studio. But the effect, hopefully, is far more realistic and interesting.

The only permanent site for Hawaii Five-0 is a large old building formerly a fuel storage depot from World War II, reconverted into a three-set soundstage, located in a sugar cane field outside of Honolulu.

Not only does the location shooting give an authentic atmosphere, but most of the bit parts and walk-ons are done by Island residents, the majority non-professionals.  Everyone from the doorman of a well-known hotel (he was cast as a legislator) to real legislators, lawyers and housewives, have been auditioned.

The guest star or stars in each episode are flown from Hollywood.  But aside from them, Jack Lord as cast regular James MacArthur, all the faces will be new to most viewers. This even applies to the other two cast regulars, Kam Fong (playing Chin Ho Kelly) and Zulu (playing Kono).

For those who haven't watched the series yet, Hawaii Five-0 is the name of a four-man state police unit (mythical) headed by Steve McGarrett (Lord) who, according to the script, reports only to the Governor (played by Richard Denning) and to God.  The unit tackles such high felony crimes as espionage and drug traffic. The series aired in a kind of preview edition a week before CBS's premiere week, in the two-hour pilot version, as a CBS Friday night movie.

Technically, it is difficult to film a series in the paradise of the Pacific. There are no permanent technical facilities available.  Movies shot there have moved in, bringing cameras and building sound stages and sets, and then moved out.  Actor Richard Boone (Have Gun Will Travel) who has moved to Hawaii permanently, has for several years been talking of building a film industry there. But so far, little has been done.

Hawaii Five-0 producer Freeman had to ship some $350,000 of equipment and five trucks, plus a catering lunch wagon, over to the island. He also flew over a technical crew, including 25 men and their families who have set up residence "for the duration".

Lord himself has made a considerable investment in living quarters. Serving as dressing room and rest area is a very fancy trailer, designed by him, boasting air conditioning, sleeping quarters, shower bath, electric stove and refrigerator. He and his wife have purchased a luxurious condominium residence, part of a large multi-unit development out beyond Diamond Head, for which they paid a reputed $165,000.

Jack Lord is very much involved in theories in more ways than being its star. He explains that he, Freeman and the network have a tripartite production agreement.  Costs of producing a series in Hawaii are some 25% higher than doing it in Hollywood.  But Lord and Freeman are betting that it will be a success both because of the unusual location and because, as Lord puts it, "we like to use people who care, the bleeders."

What he means is that they have made a point of hiring creative people, people with enthusiasm, from cameramen to directors to writers. Freeman flies all writers to Hawaii to spend a few days absorbing the atmosphere of the area, before they start on a script.

In addition, Lord states that not only are creative people hired, but they are allowed pretty free rein to try new things, sometimes in the middle of a scene, at a moment of inspiration. "Sometimes we approach improvisation." He says, "We go with it, because it's this kind of thing that will give the series that fresh, vital feeling we hope for."

Lord (who last starred in the Stoney Burke series) says he spent a long time waiting for a goods series role to come along. "I turned down deferral offers, finally accepted the role of a US Marshal in a western, but their series never got off the ground." He states frankly that Hawaii Five-0 seemed to have everything; a promising financial arrangement involving a "piece of the action": working with Leonard Freeman, whom he greatly admires; a role in which he is the sole star, and a character he finds "very interesting and three-dimensional."

"McGarrett," says Lord, "is physically tough, but he is also a gentleman. I like to call him a 'compassionate cop'.  He'll offer a new image of a policeman. While our show has violence, the theme really is the preservation of law and order.  Someone once told me that the most popular hero on TV is a man who holds the power of life and death. McGarrett is such a man, but he operates under the law. There'll be violence but not glamorized. Believe me, there won't be any toy McGarrett guns for sale in the stores."

Along with a new image of a policeman, Mssr Freeman and Lord hope to convey some kind of representative image of our 50^th state-its beauty, its racial mixtures, and its mode of life. Just how much of this can be conveyed in a series that is basically another police drama; just how successfully creativity and a budget can be maintained; and whether all the effort will show on the screen and be taken up by viewers, remains to be seen.

But all those participating in the endeavor are to be congratulated for trying.

This article was donated by Annette Nixon.