There was tiki before there was tiki. I've no idea how big the Hawaiian Crazewas, or what spurred it. These things just happen. Catchy number:

I saw the splendor of the moonlight on Honolulu Bay
There's something tender in the moonlight on Honolulu Bay

And all the beaches are full of peaches
Who bring their ukes along
And in the glimmer of the moonlight
They love to sing their song

If you like a ukulele lady
Ukulele lady like a you
If you want to linger where it's shady
Ukulele lady linger too

 

This is the first version to hit the charts; it's sung by Vaughn De Leath, the "First Lady of Radio." Almost literally - no less than Lee DeForest brought her to a studio in 1920. Wikipedia adds, rather unnecessarily, that "lthough very popular in the 1920s, De Leath is obscure in modern times."

Dead at 48 from the bottle. But she's still teaching you how to play the Ukulele on YouTube.