WEBVTT - How Did Anna May Wong Fight Racism On- and Off-Screen?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff. Lauren bog obam Here in Crazy Rich Asians

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<v Speaker 1>made history. Aside from being the highest grossing romantic comedy

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<v Speaker 1>in a decade, making two and thirty five million dollars

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<v Speaker 1>worldwide within weeks of its release, the film featured an

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<v Speaker 1>all Asian cast, making it the first Hollywood production to

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<v Speaker 1>do so in twenty five years. Perhaps more mind blowing

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<v Speaker 1>is that star Constance Wu became the first Asian American

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<v Speaker 1>actress in forty four years to be nominated for a

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<v Speaker 1>Lead Actress Golden Globe, and in one Stephen Yune became

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<v Speaker 1>the first Asian American actor to ever be nominated for

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<v Speaker 1>a Lead Actor Oscar part of a year of nominations

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<v Speaker 1>with a diversity that's long overdue, but today let's look

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<v Speaker 1>at the pioneering work of Asian American industry icon Anna

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<v Speaker 1>May Wong. On January twenty two, of nWo audiences set

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<v Speaker 1>eyes on Wong and her first starring role as Lotus

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<v Speaker 1>Flower in the film The Toll of the Sea. The

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<v Speaker 1>Los Angeles born actress would go on to appear in

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<v Speaker 1>more than sixty movies throughout her career and leave a

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<v Speaker 1>lasting legacy as Hollywood's first Chinese American film star, but

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<v Speaker 1>a career on stage and screen, including a role in

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<v Speaker 1>one of the very first Technicolor movies, didn't come easy

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<v Speaker 1>for Wong, and it certainly didn't come without significant struggle

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<v Speaker 1>and sacrifice that's shaped the entertainment industry and paved the

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<v Speaker 1>way for more modern success stories. Born on January three,

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<v Speaker 1>of five, Wong was the second of eight children. Her

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<v Speaker 1>birth name is Wang Lu Song, which translates to frosted

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<v Speaker 1>yellow willows. She later incorporated her English moniker Anna May

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<v Speaker 1>into her stage name. Wong's grandfather had emigrated to the

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<v Speaker 1>United States in the eighteen fifties from Taishan, China, and

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<v Speaker 1>her father married a fellow California born descendant of Chinese immigrants.

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<v Speaker 1>The couple opened a laundromat in l A and started

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<v Speaker 1>a family. Wong initially attended California Street Public School, but

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<v Speaker 1>transferred to the Chinese Mission School due to the racial

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<v Speaker 1>prejudice and bullying that she and her siblings faced. In

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<v Speaker 1>the nineteen teens, the film industry began migrating from New

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<v Speaker 1>York to California, and Wong became fascinated by the world

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<v Speaker 1>of cinema. She skipped school to visit production sets and

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<v Speaker 1>see movies, and in nineteen nineteen attended a casting call

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<v Speaker 1>for a movie called The Red Lantern and scored apart

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<v Speaker 1>as an extra. Two years later, Wong dropped out of

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<v Speaker 1>high school and began acting full time. At seventeen, she

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<v Speaker 1>landed her first starring role in the Toll of the Sea,

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<v Speaker 1>a silent version of the film Madam Butterfly. Snagging the

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<v Speaker 1>part was a major triumph, but it didn't prove to

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<v Speaker 1>be the career kickstarter that Wong had hoped for. Due

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<v Speaker 1>to the US's anti miscegenation laws that prevented into racial

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<v Speaker 1>marriage and even on screen kissing between actors of different races,

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<v Speaker 1>and given Hollywood's reluctance to cast Asian American men in

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<v Speaker 1>leading roles, Wong wasn't able to land any roles as

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<v Speaker 1>a romantic lead. She left Hollywood for Europe in ninety eight. There,

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<v Speaker 1>she was a huge success and starred in several notable

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<v Speaker 1>stage productions and films, including Piccadilly In ninety nine. She

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<v Speaker 1>used her newfound celebrity to advocate for several political and

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<v Speaker 1>Chinese American causes and for better film roles, but by

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<v Speaker 1>the nineteen thirties, Paramount Studios came calling and promised Wong

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<v Speaker 1>leading roles if she returned to the US. The deal

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<v Speaker 1>sounded sweet, but Wong was mostly relegated to playing roles

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<v Speaker 1>that played on stereotypes of Asian people and cultures. She

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<v Speaker 1>accepted the work solely on the idea that she would

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<v Speaker 1>be able to take on more robust roles in the future.

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<v Speaker 1>In nineteen thirty two, she appeared in Shanghai Express alongside

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<v Speaker 1>her friend Marlene Dietrich, and decades later, she became the

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<v Speaker 1>first Asian American to lead a U S television show

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<v Speaker 1>in the nineteen fifty one series The Gallery of Madam

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<v Speaker 1>lu Song. But she was sorely disappointed when she lost

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<v Speaker 1>out to the German actress Louisa Reiner for the big

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<v Speaker 1>role of oh Lan in the movie adaptation of pearl

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<v Speaker 1>S Bucks The Good Earth. She had planned to travel

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<v Speaker 1>to China, but put off her trip in hopes to

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<v Speaker 1>play a Lan. The studio, however, pushed for Wong to

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<v Speaker 1>play the part of Lotus, the cliche wicked concubine instead.

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<v Speaker 1>Wong refused, she said in a ninety three interview for

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<v Speaker 1>film weekly. I was so tired of the parts I

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<v Speaker 1>had to play. There seems little for me in Hollywood

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<v Speaker 1>because rather than real Chinese, producers prefer Hungarians, Mexicans, American

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<v Speaker 1>Indians for Chinese roles. Wong did eventually travel to China,

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<v Speaker 1>where she was also criticized by Chinese people who said

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<v Speaker 1>her films degraded Chinese women, and despite having studied Mandarin Chinese,

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<v Speaker 1>Wong felt she was too American to perform in traditional

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<v Speaker 1>Chinese theater, ironic given that in Hollywood she was considered

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<v Speaker 1>not American enough for most roles there. In nineteen sixty

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<v Speaker 1>she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame,

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<v Speaker 1>but in nineteen sixty one, tragedy struck when the actress

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<v Speaker 1>and trailblazer died of a heart attack at the young

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<v Speaker 1>age of fifty six. Yes, she was posthumously recognized by

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<v Speaker 1>the Asian American Arts Awards and the Asian Fashion Designers Group,

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<v Speaker 1>which both have named annual awards in her honor. Today,

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<v Speaker 1>Wong is still remembered as one of the most important

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<v Speaker 1>Asian American leaders in the entertainment industry and beyond. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>episode is based on the article Chinese American actress Anime

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<v Speaker 1>Wall Alot, racism in life and on screen on how

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<v Speaker 1>stuffworks dot Com. Written by Michelle Konstantinovski. Brain Stuff is

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<v Speaker 1>production of I Heart Radio in partnership with how stuffworks

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