1 00:00:06,559 --> 00:00:13,600 Speaker 1: Don't you find respectable people terribly? No. The year two, 2 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:20,520 Speaker 1: the movie Shanghai Express starring Marlene Dietrich. It took more 3 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:24,440 Speaker 1: than one man to change my name to Shanhai Lilia 4 00:00:25,239 --> 00:00:29,280 Speaker 1: and acting alongside the German screen siren and every bit 5 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:35,199 Speaker 1: is cool seven year old Anna May Wong. I must confess, 6 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:38,320 Speaker 1: I don't quite know the standard of respectability that you 7 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:43,760 Speaker 1: demand in your boyhouse. In the movie, both actresses play 8 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:47,519 Speaker 1: women of ill repute, but it was Wong's performance that 9 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:51,800 Speaker 1: was publicly denounced by the Chinese media for bringing shame 10 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:54,520 Speaker 1: on her race. The government has offered a price of 11 00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:58,960 Speaker 1: his capture live or did that was the movie that 12 00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:02,280 Speaker 1: took my breath a way that she was just unapologetic. 13 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:07,960 Speaker 1: You better get out of him. I just killed anime. 14 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:11,520 Speaker 1: Wong had already run a gauntlet of social and legal 15 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:17,679 Speaker 1: obstacles to become Hollywood's very first Chinese American star. She 16 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:22,360 Speaker 1: was extremely beautiful. She was what today we would call 17 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:26,959 Speaker 1: a fashionista. Even so, she was usually consigned to playing 18 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:33,360 Speaker 1: either the self sacrificing lotus blossom or the devious dragon lady. 19 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:36,480 Speaker 1: She always had to die. It always had to be dramatic, 20 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:39,520 Speaker 1: and it always had to be very tragic. The blood 21 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:44,200 Speaker 1: is mine, the hate is mine, the vengeance shall be mine. 22 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:49,559 Speaker 1: Hollywood's censorship code prohibited her from even kissing any mail 23 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:53,400 Speaker 1: co star who was white. She herself was quoted in 24 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:58,280 Speaker 1: one interview, no film lovers can ever marry me. If 25 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:00,800 Speaker 1: they got an American actress as lant her eyes and 26 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:03,720 Speaker 1: eyebrows and where a stiff black wig and dressed in 27 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:08,320 Speaker 1: Chinese culture, it would be all right. But me, I 28 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:12,480 Speaker 1: am really Chinese, so I must always die in the 29 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:14,959 Speaker 1: movies so that the white girl with the yellow hair 30 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:20,400 Speaker 1: may get the man. But in Shanghai Express, she didn't die, 31 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:24,600 Speaker 1: and the movie itself killed at the box office, becoming 32 00:02:24,639 --> 00:02:28,519 Speaker 1: the highest grossing film of the year, and anime. Wong 33 00:02:28,760 --> 00:02:31,639 Speaker 1: was already being talked about as the lead for one 34 00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 1: of the biggest epics Hollywood would make. The Good Earth, 35 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:43,000 Speaker 1: based on the smash hit and novel of the same name, 36 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:47,040 Speaker 1: was the vehicle Wong had been waiting for. If cast, 37 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:50,799 Speaker 1: it would propel her into the first rank of film actresses. 38 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:54,960 Speaker 1: Everybody in Los Angeles knew that this was gonna be 39 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 1: the biggest movie ever. That her name was even being 40 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:02,880 Speaker 1: mentioned was a sign of how far she'd come. So 41 00:03:02,919 --> 00:03:06,600 Speaker 1: who was Annime Wong? I do think that Annime Wong 42 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:11,119 Speaker 1: just had certain star quality. She seemed to be very 43 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:15,480 Speaker 1: comfortable in her skin. And here she is being comfortable 44 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:18,639 Speaker 1: in her own skin when there's no one who looks 45 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:22,800 Speaker 1: like her on screen. That's the thing that is really 46 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:26,440 Speaker 1: hard to imagine, because she was a true pioneer in 47 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:30,480 Speaker 1: that she couldn't look to anyone and say, I want 48 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:33,560 Speaker 1: to be like this person. She really had to forge 49 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:39,720 Speaker 1: her own path. From CBS Sunday Morning and Simon and Schuster, 50 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 1: I'm Morocca and this is Mobituaries. This Anname Wong February third, one, 51 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:16,480 Speaker 1: Death of a Trailblazer. So I was in my mid twenties, 52 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:19,160 Speaker 1: pretty new to New York, and I was taking a 53 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:23,560 Speaker 1: workshop on auditioning for musical theater. The teacher assigned me 54 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:27,240 Speaker 1: a comedic number called the Butler Song from a long 55 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:34,919 Speaker 1: forgotten musical Who's Calling Please, Oh, Miss Garble. It's sung 56 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:39,680 Speaker 1: by a butler who's explaining why his master can't come 57 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:42,840 Speaker 1: to the phone. No, he can't call you back at 58 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:49,640 Speaker 1: five at five thirty humps Alice as he proceeds to 59 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:53,919 Speaker 1: mention pretty much every screen goddess from Hollywood's Golden Age, 60 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:58,840 Speaker 1: Ben Gina Hallow. At seven May were steppin Leven and 61 00:04:59,080 --> 00:05:03,640 Speaker 1: somewhere me. The song is basically one long sex joke. 62 00:05:04,520 --> 00:05:07,840 Speaker 1: It's funny in a pre met two era kind of way. 63 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:14,880 Speaker 1: Carol One. Anyway, some of the names I knew, so 64 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:22,320 Speaker 1: I didn't. The one that really popped out Anna May Wong. 65 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:26,240 Speaker 1: Her name was so melodic it had to be made up. 66 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:32,280 Speaker 1: In fact, she was given the name Lute Song when 67 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:37,839 Speaker 1: she was born in Los Angeles. It means frosted yellow willow. 68 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:42,400 Speaker 1: At that time, Ellie's population of immigrant and American born 69 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:46,360 Speaker 1: Chinese was about three thousand, but the young girl was 70 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:50,840 Speaker 1: very much a minority within a minority. It's about one 71 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:54,640 Speaker 1: woman for every twenty men. Yeah, you've described it. I 72 00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:58,200 Speaker 1: think as a bachelors society was considered a bachelor society. 73 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:01,800 Speaker 1: Lisa c is the best selling author of On Gold 74 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:06,560 Speaker 1: Mountain about her own Chinese American family. Not many children, 75 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:09,360 Speaker 1: not many little girls, so these little girls were seen 76 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:13,480 Speaker 1: as very precious. There were all kinds of rules about girls, 77 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:16,440 Speaker 1: you know that. Well, they shouldn't be seen on the street, 78 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:20,480 Speaker 1: they shouldn't be seen with their bear arms. And legs. 79 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:24,719 Speaker 1: They shouldn't learn to rule escape, They shouldn't bicycle. The 80 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:28,560 Speaker 1: second of seven children born to Sam Sing Wong and 81 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:31,920 Speaker 1: his wife Lie Gone Toy, she was soon going by 82 00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:41,400 Speaker 1: the name Anna, Hi, Welcome, Nice to meet Martinez. Amy 83 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:45,159 Speaker 1: Wong Martinez is the daughter of Anime Wong's youngest brother. 84 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:48,680 Speaker 1: She was born after her famous aunt died, but she 85 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:52,359 Speaker 1: grew up in a house filled with her memorabilia. She 86 00:06:52,440 --> 00:06:55,720 Speaker 1: would do these little holiday cars. She would have them 87 00:06:55,720 --> 00:07:00,680 Speaker 1: made up. It's really beautiful, greetings from my country and 88 00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:06,560 Speaker 1: my people. And Anime Wong, Anime's father, that would be 89 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:11,160 Speaker 1: Amy's grandfather, was a laundryman. It really wasn't a laundromat 90 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:13,840 Speaker 1: with the machines. It was of course him doing laundry 91 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:16,760 Speaker 1: by hand. And it was one of the skills that 92 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:20,560 Speaker 1: the Chinese could do, a Chinese man could do because 93 00:07:20,640 --> 00:07:24,800 Speaker 1: it was viewed as female work, and so it wasn't 94 00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:27,920 Speaker 1: really a threat to other men for him to set 95 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:30,600 Speaker 1: up business like that. And it was in Chinatown, just 96 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:35,800 Speaker 1: outside just a few blocks, it turned out from Chinatown, 97 00:07:36,280 --> 00:07:40,360 Speaker 1: but that short distance proved crucial in shaping her outlook. 98 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:45,240 Speaker 1: Here's historian Shirley Limb author of anime Wong performing the 99 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:48,160 Speaker 1: Modern Does that make a difference to you thing in 100 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:51,840 Speaker 1: terms of her experience. Absolutely. A lot of her father's 101 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:58,160 Speaker 1: customers were not people of Chinese descent, so she's grown 102 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:04,960 Speaker 1: up interacting with Mexican Americans, European Americans, people outside of Chinatown. 103 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:10,280 Speaker 1: And as she was growing up, the motion picture industry 104 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:14,440 Speaker 1: was moving to Los Angeles, and young Anname had a 105 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:18,120 Speaker 1: front row seat to all the action. She's seen movies 106 00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:21,920 Speaker 1: on the street. She would deliver laundry bundles and she'd 107 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:25,320 Speaker 1: save up the tip money to go to the movies herself. 108 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:29,800 Speaker 1: It's so evocative, it really is, like so many young 109 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:35,719 Speaker 1: American women of her generation. Going to movies was in 110 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:38,959 Speaker 1: a way to escape, to dream, to think about the future, 111 00:08:39,040 --> 00:08:44,480 Speaker 1: to think about oneself. And although Annam was a third 112 00:08:44,559 --> 00:08:48,160 Speaker 1: generation American, if you were Chinese, you couldn't sit in 113 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:49,920 Speaker 1: the main part of the theater. You had to sit 114 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:53,679 Speaker 1: up in the balcony. So she would take whatever money 115 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:55,480 Speaker 1: she had, you know, buy a ticket, go sit up 116 00:08:55,480 --> 00:08:58,320 Speaker 1: there in the balcony as a very young girl, and 117 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:01,680 Speaker 1: then to think, oh, I want to and to do this. 118 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:05,960 Speaker 1: You know, she's sneaking out right she's sneaking out, and 119 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:08,360 Speaker 1: it's a pretty big family. She has brothers and sisters, 120 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:12,120 Speaker 1: so she's sneaking out, going to the movies, going to 121 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:17,040 Speaker 1: be on movie sets. Amy Wong. Martinez's mother, Carol Wong, 122 00:09:17,400 --> 00:09:21,640 Speaker 1: says that growing up, Anna May had a key ally ole. 123 00:09:21,679 --> 00:09:26,520 Speaker 1: Models really know every time was she's doing, she's protecting, 124 00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:30,480 Speaker 1: and she sometimes don't even go to school and go 125 00:09:30,679 --> 00:09:34,040 Speaker 1: see a movie. The mother, no, but the father don't know. 126 00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:38,520 Speaker 1: From what you understand, Anime's mother kind of was really 127 00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:42,960 Speaker 1: backing her up. Yeah, but Annime Wong's father was less 128 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:47,160 Speaker 1: than pleased with his daughter's show business ambitions. Here's what 129 00:09:47,280 --> 00:09:50,920 Speaker 1: she said to one newspaper reporter, as read by actress 130 00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:55,920 Speaker 1: Jennifer Limb. My father objected so strongly to my desire 131 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:59,840 Speaker 1: to appear in pictures that we were all ill. Mikeah, 132 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:02,280 Speaker 1: little mother. Let us fight it out, and in the 133 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:06,959 Speaker 1: end I won. It was the first great battle for 134 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:13,160 Speaker 1: my career. As a teenager, Anname found work as an extra, 135 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:17,319 Speaker 1: then got bit parts, and when she was just seventeen 136 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:20,880 Speaker 1: years old, she starred in the silent film The Toll 137 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:25,080 Speaker 1: of the Sea, Hollywood's first technicolor movie. It was a 138 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:28,400 Speaker 1: take on the Madam Butterfly story, but set in China 139 00:10:28,559 --> 00:10:33,920 Speaker 1: instead of Japan. She plays Lotus Flower, a young girl 140 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:36,959 Speaker 1: who rescues an American who washes up on the shore 141 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:40,840 Speaker 1: of her village. They marry, she has his child, and 142 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:43,920 Speaker 1: he promptly abandons her, only to return to her village 143 00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:48,079 Speaker 1: with his new Caucasian wife. A heartbroken Lotus Flower gives 144 00:10:48,160 --> 00:10:54,160 Speaker 1: up their son before drowning herself. And that's how pretty 145 00:10:54,240 --> 00:10:57,640 Speaker 1: much any movie that saw an Asian ingenue finding love 146 00:10:57,679 --> 00:11:00,560 Speaker 1: with a white man had to end with the Asian 147 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:07,800 Speaker 1: woman dying. But as hokey as the plot may sound 148 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:11,120 Speaker 1: to us today, Anime Wong, it's really good in it. 149 00:11:11,800 --> 00:11:15,319 Speaker 1: As opposed to so much silent film acting. Her performance 150 00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:20,520 Speaker 1: is modern in its restraint, communicating so much with simple looks. 151 00:11:20,520 --> 00:11:24,679 Speaker 1: Her eyes are so big and expressive. Variety called her 152 00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:28,559 Speaker 1: an exquisite crier, and I have to say her ability 153 00:11:28,640 --> 00:11:31,800 Speaker 1: to cry on que and look beautiful while doing it 154 00:11:31,880 --> 00:11:36,040 Speaker 1: is Demi Moore in Ghost Level good. And remember she 155 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:39,920 Speaker 1: was just seventeen. How significant was it that her first 156 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:42,720 Speaker 1: starring role was in a very traditional role and Toll 157 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:46,960 Speaker 1: of the Sea, So movie audience is probably assumed she 158 00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:52,120 Speaker 1: was Chinese born, that maybe she didn't even speak English. Yes, absolutely, 159 00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:57,360 Speaker 1: people could read so much into her because it is 160 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:03,360 Speaker 1: a silent film and at the time people could read 161 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:09,920 Speaker 1: her as Chinese, not American. Anime followed up that traumatic 162 00:12:09,960 --> 00:12:14,240 Speaker 1: turn with a supporting role in the epic The Thief 163 00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:18,840 Speaker 1: of Baghdad the star Wars of its day. Audiences were 164 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:22,920 Speaker 1: wowed both by the movie's special effects it ends with 165 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:27,320 Speaker 1: a swashbuckling Douglas Fairbanks flying off on a magic carpet, 166 00:12:29,520 --> 00:12:34,559 Speaker 1: and by the sensuality of anime Wong's scheming and scantily 167 00:12:34,679 --> 00:12:39,240 Speaker 1: clad Mongol slave girl character. I watched the scene where 168 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:43,840 Speaker 1: Anname is confronted by a shirtless, knife wielding Fairbanks with 169 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:49,440 Speaker 1: comedian Margaret Choe. She's like, really in that classic um 170 00:12:49,679 --> 00:12:53,319 Speaker 1: Carrie Fisher job of the hut outfit slave Leah, and 171 00:12:53,480 --> 00:12:55,960 Speaker 1: she would fit in right in a comic cotton today perfect. 172 00:12:56,240 --> 00:12:59,079 Speaker 1: I mean in the nineteen twenties, I mean, people in 173 00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:02,959 Speaker 1: audiences must have been like, it's racy, it's very sexy, 174 00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:07,120 Speaker 1: very revealed. He's like, he's all bronze adopted shirtlets and muscular, 175 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:09,520 Speaker 1: and she's she's in this little bikini but it's slave 176 00:13:09,640 --> 00:13:12,920 Speaker 1: La early adopter slave La outfit. She looks great and 177 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:15,800 Speaker 1: the hair is very strange, so these weird wire braids. 178 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:20,120 Speaker 1: I asked Amy and Carol Wong about Anime's appearance in 179 00:13:20,160 --> 00:13:23,920 Speaker 1: the movie. It's kind of racy. Yes, it's very sexy. 180 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:25,839 Speaker 1: She can pull it off. She certainly can pull it 181 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:30,960 Speaker 1: off to We know what her own parents thought of that. Well, Oh, father, 182 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:35,400 Speaker 1: I don't know what the thing. I think maybe a 183 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:40,160 Speaker 1: little bit sick. Was ashamed Lisa. She explains why Anime's 184 00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:45,959 Speaker 1: father might have felt ashamed in Chinese culture actors, in 185 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:50,400 Speaker 1: particularly women who are acting. It seems like being a courtisan, 186 00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:53,480 Speaker 1: like being a prostitute. It has these very very low 187 00:13:53,520 --> 00:13:56,320 Speaker 1: connotations to it. It's not somebody you'd want to have 188 00:13:56,400 --> 00:13:59,040 Speaker 1: over for dinner, and actresses on a spectrum with a 189 00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:01,360 Speaker 1: courtisan with the prom to r well, because of what 190 00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:04,280 Speaker 1: they do. You know, if you think of courtesan's as 191 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:09,800 Speaker 1: playing instruments, is singing, is dancing, they do other things too, 192 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:14,880 Speaker 1: but they are these kind of entertainers. But there was 193 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:18,280 Speaker 1: no putting the genie back in the bottle. Soon Anime 194 00:14:18,440 --> 00:14:22,560 Speaker 1: Wong was rubbing shoulders with Charlie Chaplin and silent film 195 00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:27,040 Speaker 1: start Norma Talmadge at the groundbreaking of Gramin's Chinese Theater. 196 00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:31,360 Speaker 1: But after her early on screen successes, she was only 197 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:35,800 Speaker 1: getting offered marginal roles as an exotic Oriental, and so 198 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:39,320 Speaker 1: when an opportunity to work in Europe presented itself, she 199 00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:43,920 Speaker 1: jumped at the chance. In America, they wouldn't starve me 200 00:14:44,080 --> 00:14:46,920 Speaker 1: because they said they could never find enough stories for me. 201 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:51,760 Speaker 1: I am not limited to Chinese parts. I can play 202 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:56,680 Speaker 1: any type of oriental or even eskimos. When Anime Wong 203 00:14:56,920 --> 00:14:59,640 Speaker 1: could not get the roles that she wanted to get 204 00:14:59,680 --> 00:15:12,880 Speaker 1: in Hollywood, she goes off to Berlin. In Europe, she 205 00:15:13,040 --> 00:15:16,920 Speaker 1: learned to speak German and French and acted in both languages. 206 00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:21,880 Speaker 1: It's been most interesting to master what formerly seemed like 207 00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:26,560 Speaker 1: an impossibility, but we sometimes even surprise ourselves at what 208 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:35,000 Speaker 1: we can do. The yep, that's Anime Wong singing in German. 209 00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:44,960 Speaker 1: During her time overseas, she cemented her status as an 210 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:50,480 Speaker 1: international movie star and as a fashion icon. Throughout her career, 211 00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:57,280 Speaker 1: she'd be photographed by her friend Carl van Vakten, gamely 212 00:15:57,360 --> 00:16:02,400 Speaker 1: playing with different looks and attitudes, dressed in a tuxedo, 213 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:08,280 Speaker 1: or with hair dyed blonde, or with barely any clothes 214 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:15,240 Speaker 1: at all. She was extremely beautiful. She was what today 215 00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:18,880 Speaker 1: we would call a fashionista. You know, she was dressed 216 00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:23,200 Speaker 1: like no one else. She had her special, you know, 217 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:28,280 Speaker 1: Harris style, which was imitated by many people, including Edith Head, 218 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:33,680 Speaker 1: costume designer. One of her biggest successes during these years 219 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:37,720 Speaker 1: was in a British film called Piccadilly, playing a nightclub 220 00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:41,760 Speaker 1: dishwasher who becomes a star. It was another slinky Chinese 221 00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:46,520 Speaker 1: vamp roll. Still, one reviewer wrote, from the moment Miss 222 00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:52,000 Speaker 1: Wong dances in the kitchen's rear, she steals Piccadilly, and 223 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:55,560 Speaker 1: while in London she acted on stage opposite a young 224 00:16:55,880 --> 00:17:01,080 Speaker 1: Laurence Olivier. Reviewers panned her American accent, but what she 225 00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:07,840 Speaker 1: does she hires elocution accent coaches so that she can 226 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:14,200 Speaker 1: adopt this upper crust world English British accent, which then 227 00:17:14,359 --> 00:17:20,080 Speaker 1: enables her to transition to the talkies. I cannot, I 228 00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:23,520 Speaker 1: cannot tell him anything you like, say what you win? 229 00:17:23,920 --> 00:17:27,920 Speaker 1: I do not care. I shall not go yes. Long 230 00:17:27,960 --> 00:17:31,840 Speaker 1: before Madonna got herself an English accent annime, Wong had one. 231 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:35,960 Speaker 1: Now that we're here. You do not regret. You don't 232 00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:38,439 Speaker 1: talk nonsense. I think it, and you believe that I 233 00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:40,719 Speaker 1: came because I love you, that I did not just 234 00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:43,640 Speaker 1: wish to be free like a bad woman who gives 235 00:17:43,640 --> 00:17:48,400 Speaker 1: herself for a price and by paramount. Pictures came calling, 236 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:52,920 Speaker 1: As The l A Times reported, Annime Wong Oriental actress 237 00:17:53,160 --> 00:17:56,760 Speaker 1: came back to Hollywood with an English accent. When your 238 00:17:56,800 --> 00:17:59,840 Speaker 1: husband left you, you will inform you where he was going. No, 239 00:18:00,280 --> 00:18:02,840 Speaker 1: but I fancied was on a matter of business. He 240 00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:06,000 Speaker 1: was a man very precise in his heavens. When midnight 241 00:18:06,080 --> 00:18:08,639 Speaker 1: came and there was no sign of him, I became 242 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:11,600 Speaker 1: rather along. Midnight should be a lad hard for him. 243 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:15,760 Speaker 1: It wasn't just her accent that made her sound distinctive. 244 00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:18,600 Speaker 1: Her voice also had a weight and a depth to 245 00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:22,119 Speaker 1: it that allowed her successfully to make the transition to 246 00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:26,640 Speaker 1: talkies when so many other silent film stars were well 247 00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:30,680 Speaker 1: silenced for good. Yes, so unlike all my previous conceptions 248 00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:33,119 Speaker 1: of the Chinese, you've always thought of us as wearing 249 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:35,919 Speaker 1: pig tails and with eyes like too slip. I am 250 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:39,160 Speaker 1: afraid that's true. You still think of us as a caricature. 251 00:18:39,240 --> 00:18:43,800 Speaker 1: That's fifty years ago. Now, Anime Wong, they have been 252 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:47,640 Speaker 1: coming back to America an even bigger star. But America 253 00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:50,880 Speaker 1: was still a country that denied full rights to any 254 00:18:50,960 --> 00:18:56,320 Speaker 1: citizens of Chinese descent. Here's some background on that. Only 255 00:18:56,359 --> 00:19:01,760 Speaker 1: a half century before, the Chinese Exclusion Act two became 256 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:06,040 Speaker 1: the first law in American history restricting members of a 257 00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:10,840 Speaker 1: specific ethnic group from entering the United States. That act 258 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:15,159 Speaker 1: virtually ended legal immigration from China. It was part of 259 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:18,880 Speaker 1: the backlash to the influx of Chinese immigrants who came 260 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:22,320 Speaker 1: to America during the Gold Rush and to provide cheap 261 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:27,080 Speaker 1: labor during the building of the Transcontinental Railroad. A fear 262 00:19:27,240 --> 00:19:31,479 Speaker 1: of the so called Yellow Peril soon gripped America, with 263 00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:36,680 Speaker 1: newspapers hysterically warning of the economic and moral danger posed 264 00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:41,560 Speaker 1: by these invaders. Here is author Lisa c Again that 265 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:47,320 Speaker 1: people saw Chinese sas dirty, They're going to pollute our women, 266 00:19:48,040 --> 00:19:54,480 Speaker 1: they eat strange things, and then the Big three gambling, opium, 267 00:19:54,520 --> 00:19:59,920 Speaker 1: and prostitution. Not surprisingly, violence against the Chinese spread a 268 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:03,320 Speaker 1: across the country. They were loaded onto rafts and sent 269 00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:07,520 Speaker 1: a drift into the ocean. In Rock Springs, Wyoming, they 270 00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:11,640 Speaker 1: were literally just burned out of the Chinatown in Tucson, 271 00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:14,560 Speaker 1: tied to the backs of steers and sent into the 272 00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:18,639 Speaker 1: desert to die. And in eighteen seventy one in Los Angeles, 273 00:20:19,119 --> 00:20:23,960 Speaker 1: eighteen Chinese laborers were lynched by an angry mob. This 274 00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:28,880 Speaker 1: wasn't ancient history in animas time. Well into the twentieth century, 275 00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:34,440 Speaker 1: Chinese Americans faced limits on property ownership. Anime Wong may 276 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:37,200 Speaker 1: have been a star in Hollywood, but she wasn't allowed 277 00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:41,159 Speaker 1: to buy a house in Beverly Hills, and anti miscegenation 278 00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:45,920 Speaker 1: laws in many states prohibited marriage between whites and people 279 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:50,600 Speaker 1: of other races, including Asians. There were states that had 280 00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:55,800 Speaker 1: laws against Chinese and white people marrying in here in California, 281 00:20:55,920 --> 00:21:00,520 Speaker 1: that law lasted until and then there were the travel 282 00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:04,159 Speaker 1: restrictions whenever she would leave the country, and she was 283 00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:06,800 Speaker 1: a huge traveler, and she went to Europe, she went 284 00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:10,040 Speaker 1: to Asia, she went to Australia. If the rest of 285 00:21:10,119 --> 00:21:12,720 Speaker 1: my stay in Australia will be as pleasant and happy 286 00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:15,120 Speaker 1: as today has been, I know that I shall enjoy 287 00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:17,520 Speaker 1: every moment of it. To the many Chinese who are 288 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:23,080 Speaker 1: listening in May, I say that Monicog every time she 289 00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:26,200 Speaker 1: left the country, and every time she came back into 290 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:31,600 Speaker 1: the country, she'd be interrogated. Yes, any time Americans of 291 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:35,800 Speaker 1: Chinese descent wanted to travel overseas, they had to apply 292 00:21:36,119 --> 00:21:39,720 Speaker 1: for re entry into the United States to prove that 293 00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:44,199 Speaker 1: they were indeed Americans. Is it almost though, like she 294 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:47,400 Speaker 1: was an American citizen with an asterisk? Yes, I think 295 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:52,119 Speaker 1: that's true. Hollywood's censorship rules reflected the law of the land. 296 00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:57,879 Speaker 1: The Haze Code of formalized the rules prohibiting kissing or 297 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:01,000 Speaker 1: even the hint of romance between white's and non whites 298 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:05,320 Speaker 1: that Annime Wong had faced earlier in her career. Back then, 299 00:22:05,359 --> 00:22:09,840 Speaker 1: you weren't even allowed to kiss a white man on screen. 300 00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:13,800 Speaker 1: By the time I was acting. When I was a 301 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:18,600 Speaker 1: young woman, I remember saying to my husband, I just 302 00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:20,800 Speaker 1: want to do one job where I don't have to 303 00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:27,640 Speaker 1: kiss someone. Rosalind Chow played Corporal Maxwell Clinger's South Korean 304 00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:34,560 Speaker 1: wife Soon Lee in the sitcom's Mash and Aftermash, Why 305 00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:38,400 Speaker 1: not take it easy? Stay home? Take it easy at all? 306 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:41,760 Speaker 1: All I do is clean this place. Robbed the ball. Yeah, 307 00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:45,000 Speaker 1: but that's on your hands and knees, not on your feet. 308 00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:50,399 Speaker 1: You're jeus. And she was one of the stars. In 309 00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:55,640 Speaker 1: hit film The Joy Luck Club, a landmark for Asians 310 00:22:55,640 --> 00:23:00,119 Speaker 1: in Hollywood, Chow's character Rose was married to Ted, a 311 00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:05,480 Speaker 1: white man played by Andrew McCarthy. It's our house, we 312 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:10,080 Speaker 1: agree the seller. You're not taking my house, you're not 313 00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:14,480 Speaker 1: taking my daughter, You're not taking any part of me. 314 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:18,480 Speaker 1: It's the kind of role Anime Wong wasn't allowed to 315 00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:22,080 Speaker 1: play here. She is a leading lady. She's not allowed 316 00:23:22,119 --> 00:23:26,119 Speaker 1: to kiss a white co star. That's like fighting, really 317 00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:28,760 Speaker 1: with both hands tied behind your back. If you're trying 318 00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:31,480 Speaker 1: to make a career as a leading lady, sex symbol 319 00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:35,520 Speaker 1: and leading lady, it's um. It's quite the magic act 320 00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:40,119 Speaker 1: that she was able to bring a certain sensuality and 321 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:43,600 Speaker 1: and wait to the screen and never be able to 322 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:46,720 Speaker 1: express it with a co star. Are you going to 323 00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:51,800 Speaker 1: marry him? Perhaps someday, but you don't love him. I 324 00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:55,640 Speaker 1: certainly do, but you are not in love with him. 325 00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:59,640 Speaker 1: I certainly am Me thinks the lady does protest too much. 326 00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:05,240 Speaker 1: Come on, I don't trust people who quote Shakespeare so glibly, 327 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:09,919 Speaker 1: and Hollywood always seem to have new ways of reminding 328 00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:13,400 Speaker 1: anime of her status. I made a test at Metro 329 00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:16,320 Speaker 1: Golden Mayor Studios for the leading role in The Son 330 00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:19,760 Speaker 1: Daughter the Chinese played David Blasco produced years ago with 331 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:23,520 Speaker 1: Leonore Ulrich. I guess I look to Chinese to play 332 00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:26,439 Speaker 1: a Chinese because I hear Colleen Moore is going to 333 00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:30,840 Speaker 1: do it. Although no definite decision has been made, Colleen 334 00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:33,840 Speaker 1: Moore didn't get the role. It went to Helen Hayes, 335 00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:38,760 Speaker 1: and for the record, neither actress was Chinese. Anime did 336 00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:42,879 Speaker 1: lend a hand during the production. Here's Shirley Lamb. So 337 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:46,159 Speaker 1: there's actually this really interesting photograph of Anime Wong on 338 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:51,040 Speaker 1: the MGM set teaching a Chinese handshake. You're kidding? So 339 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:54,360 Speaker 1: that she ended up? Me? Boy, that's that's a sport. 340 00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:56,840 Speaker 1: There were one, and she's not in the not in 341 00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:01,679 Speaker 1: the movie. She's just essentially helping them portray an Asian person. 342 00:25:04,119 --> 00:25:08,080 Speaker 1: To be clear, Hollywood was producing movies with Asian characters, 343 00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:12,240 Speaker 1: some of them big lead even romantic characters, but the 344 00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:16,080 Speaker 1: best of those roles weren't going to Asian actors. You 345 00:25:16,119 --> 00:25:19,119 Speaker 1: may not know the name Warner Land. He was a 346 00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:23,479 Speaker 1: Swedish actor and tens of millions went to the movies 347 00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:28,399 Speaker 1: to see him as detective Charlie Chan hasty acquisition like 348 00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:32,400 Speaker 1: long shot on horse race. Odds good, but chances doubtful. 349 00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:36,119 Speaker 1: He also played the evil Foo Man Chew in Daughter 350 00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:40,240 Speaker 1: of the Dragon in the twenty years, I have thought 351 00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:43,720 Speaker 1: to live the thought of killing you and your son 352 00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:50,639 Speaker 1: has been my dearest nurse. What's called yellow face was 353 00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:54,480 Speaker 1: donned by him and many actors you probably have heard of, 354 00:25:55,160 --> 00:26:01,159 Speaker 1: Mary Pickford, Edward g. Robinson, Peter Laurie, Marlon Brand, Marna Loyd, 355 00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:05,439 Speaker 1: Rita Moreno. Even John Wayne wore yellow face when he 356 00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:10,960 Speaker 1: played Genghis Khan. I share your taste in women, but 357 00:26:11,040 --> 00:26:15,399 Speaker 1: not in blood. And here's Katherine Hepburn as a jade 358 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:21,159 Speaker 1: tan dragon seed. How can I Jim Missy when he 359 00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:25,280 Speaker 1: was signed to kill I'll be Killed nineteen sixty ones 360 00:26:25,359 --> 00:26:32,480 Speaker 1: Breakfast at Tiffany's, I Am Rod and otherwise beloved. Classic 361 00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:36,960 Speaker 1: is marred by Mickey Rooney's yellow faced portrayal of Mr 362 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:41,240 Speaker 1: yuni Oshi all the time with disturbance, I cannot see. 363 00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:43,720 Speaker 1: I got to get to my arrest. I'm a daughters. 364 00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:46,399 Speaker 1: Don't be angry with dear little man. I won't do 365 00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:50,760 Speaker 1: it again. The practice lasted well beyond then, but Back 366 00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:53,760 Speaker 1: in the early nineteen thirties, Annime Wong was in a 367 00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:57,879 Speaker 1: category of her own Chinese American yes, but a bona 368 00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:04,160 Speaker 1: fide star. So when MGM decided to adapt pearl Les 369 00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:08,720 Speaker 1: Bucks Pullitzer Prize winning novel The Good Earth, Anime Wong 370 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:14,439 Speaker 1: finally saw a role worthy of her talent. Everybody in 371 00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:16,560 Speaker 1: Los Angeles knew that this was going to be the 372 00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:22,760 Speaker 1: biggest movie ever two million dollars MGM Los Angeles's Desert 373 00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:27,480 Speaker 1: Hills transformed into rice patties, and it was supposed to 374 00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:30,720 Speaker 1: be made in a way that resonated with the American 375 00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:37,639 Speaker 1: Depression era audiences, so a very sympathetic and positive betrayal 376 00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:42,639 Speaker 1: of Chinese peasants. The film version of the family struggles 377 00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:46,399 Speaker 1: of Wang Long and his wife O Lan was anticipated 378 00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:48,840 Speaker 1: in much the same way that Gone with the Wind 379 00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:51,760 Speaker 1: would be later in the decade, and the casting of 380 00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:56,199 Speaker 1: the movie was a saga all its own. Early on 381 00:27:56,280 --> 00:28:00,440 Speaker 1: in The Los Angeles Times hinted that Anna May Wong 382 00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:04,240 Speaker 1: was a lock to play Olan. She would, of course, 383 00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:07,360 Speaker 1: have to be cast opposite an Asian male to conform 384 00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:11,359 Speaker 1: with the production code. Two years later, the paper reported 385 00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:15,840 Speaker 1: the Good Earth compass now points very strongly towards anime 386 00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:21,679 Speaker 1: Wong Here's actress Rosalind Chow again. I tried to look 387 00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:25,240 Speaker 1: for her screen test for it, because legend has it 388 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:29,280 Speaker 1: that it was phenomenal. But then by the end of 389 00:28:29,359 --> 00:28:35,480 Speaker 1: n four, gossip columnist Luella Parsons reported that Wong refused 390 00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:38,160 Speaker 1: to make any more tests for Good Earth or any 391 00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:42,560 Speaker 1: other pictures, just to prove she can look Chinese. As 392 00:28:42,640 --> 00:28:46,720 Speaker 1: anime told Parsons, I know I look Chinese, and so 393 00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:51,040 Speaker 1: does everyone else. Her fate was sealed when Austrian actor 394 00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:56,200 Speaker 1: Paul Muni was cast as the male lead. Ultimately, Louise Reiner, 395 00:28:56,440 --> 00:28:59,640 Speaker 1: who was born in Germany and raised in Austria, was 396 00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:04,320 Speaker 1: as all On from all appearances, Ms Reiner is definitely 397 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:07,440 Speaker 1: set for the part of all On No use bucking 398 00:29:07,520 --> 00:29:12,120 Speaker 1: up against a stone wall. Reiner was Hollywood's newest sensation. 399 00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:16,440 Speaker 1: She was considered a great actress. But have I mentioned 400 00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:21,680 Speaker 1: she was Austrian, a small cash, a kind you throw away. 401 00:29:22,280 --> 00:29:27,640 Speaker 1: He is starving. When Paul Muni landed his role, he 402 00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:32,640 Speaker 1: reportedly said, I'm about as Chinese as Herbert Hoover. My 403 00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:36,680 Speaker 1: father knew years of famine, but he kept the land. 404 00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:40,680 Speaker 1: I must keep it from my sons. Anime was invited 405 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:44,280 Speaker 1: to audition for the supporting role of Lotus, the younger 406 00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:48,800 Speaker 1: second wife of Wanglong, but studio notes described the then 407 00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:53,040 Speaker 1: thirty year old as quote a little disappointing as to looks. 408 00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:57,760 Speaker 1: I have to sit here shutting if I start, they 409 00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:01,800 Speaker 1: whisperon looked at me hatefully. That role went to actress 410 00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:07,600 Speaker 1: Attilli Losh, strangely enough, another Austrian. This is a year's 411 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:12,120 Speaker 1: long saga, and Anime Wong, I mean, this is the 412 00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:15,880 Speaker 1: brass ring. This is the thing that's gonna make her 413 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:18,720 Speaker 1: the star that she deserves to be. If you must 414 00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:24,280 Speaker 1: be able to empathize with that absolutely From Anime Wong's 415 00:30:24,280 --> 00:30:27,000 Speaker 1: point of view, it must have just been heartwrenching because 416 00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:31,120 Speaker 1: at that point she wasn't an on genue anymore, and 417 00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:34,880 Speaker 1: she had already made a name for herself. But that 418 00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:39,200 Speaker 1: wasn't enough to overcome the ignorance and racism of that era. 419 00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:49,000 Speaker 1: I guess. The movie opened to rave reviews in seven 420 00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:54,880 Speaker 1: presented an Academy Award for the Best Performance of nine 421 00:30:55,920 --> 00:31:01,000 Speaker 1: Working Good. Her Louise Reiner went on to win an 422 00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:07,960 Speaker 1: Oscar for her performance. Had Anime Wong received one of 423 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:11,360 Speaker 1: the leading roles. She would probably still be a household 424 00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:17,080 Speaker 1: name today. It was a crushing disappointment, but Anime Wong 425 00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:28,600 Speaker 1: wasn't about to throw herself into the ocean. Now Here 426 00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:32,520 Speaker 1: is the reason why I have been so interested in 427 00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:38,880 Speaker 1: Anime Wong for so many years. So instead of crying, 428 00:31:39,880 --> 00:31:44,640 Speaker 1: sitting on her ass, sulking, going woe is me, she 429 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:50,880 Speaker 1: made her first and only trip to China. Historian Shirley 430 00:31:50,960 --> 00:31:55,440 Speaker 1: Limb is describing how Anime Wong responded after she wasn't 431 00:31:55,560 --> 00:32:00,480 Speaker 1: cast in the Good Earth. She hides the cinema bographer 432 00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:06,760 Speaker 1: and actually ends up making her own film about China, 433 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:13,040 Speaker 1: which is a Chinese American woman's perspective on China versus 434 00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:20,240 Speaker 1: MGMs Hollywood Hollywood Chinese version of the Chinese peasant in 435 00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:24,440 Speaker 1: her film about China, which she narrated, My first address 436 00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:27,600 Speaker 1: in China was the Cafe hotel, where I'm greeted by 437 00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:33,520 Speaker 1: relatives friends. Anime Wong learns Mandarin. She goes for a 438 00:32:33,640 --> 00:32:37,320 Speaker 1: fitting for a traditional Chinese dress called the chung Sam, 439 00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:41,480 Speaker 1: and the next stop is r Lookdong Chung, who takes 440 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:43,960 Speaker 1: a piece of string and it ties a knot for 441 00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:47,600 Speaker 1: each measurement. Now how you can tell which not is whatnot? 442 00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:52,280 Speaker 1: I know not. She's quippy, She's funny. The countryside is 443 00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:56,520 Speaker 1: very much like the Philippines and parts of California, many 444 00:32:56,600 --> 00:33:01,320 Speaker 1: palm trees, papayas, mangoes. Another as a Chinese, always believing 445 00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:04,920 Speaker 1: planning something gives them something to eat. And she visits 446 00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:08,360 Speaker 1: her father, who had moved to China after Anime's mother 447 00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:11,560 Speaker 1: had died in a car accident. This is one of 448 00:33:11,680 --> 00:33:15,040 Speaker 1: my favorite pictures of my father. He was so happy 449 00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:18,440 Speaker 1: that day to be surrounded with his family from the 450 00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:23,200 Speaker 1: West in the east. There's a lovely shot in the 451 00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:26,280 Speaker 1: documentary where she sort of walks off into the sunset 452 00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:29,600 Speaker 1: with her father. I like to compare it to Gone 453 00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:33,760 Speaker 1: with the Wind with um, you know, Scarlet O'Hara and 454 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:39,120 Speaker 1: her father looking over the plantation fields at Tera with 455 00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:41,960 Speaker 1: you know, the sun's setting. You can almost hear the 456 00:33:42,080 --> 00:33:49,200 Speaker 1: music swell, yes, I hear it, I hear it. Although 457 00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:52,280 Speaker 1: I've been to many many places in the world, this 458 00:33:52,560 --> 00:33:55,720 Speaker 1: first and only trip I made to China was the 459 00:33:55,800 --> 00:34:00,880 Speaker 1: most meaningful. But she wasn't received as warmly China as 460 00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:04,400 Speaker 1: she may have hoped. At one banquet, she was publicly 461 00:34:04,480 --> 00:34:08,200 Speaker 1: excoriated by a series of speakers for the image she 462 00:34:08,320 --> 00:34:13,160 Speaker 1: had projected of Chinese womanhood. They made speeches that lasted 463 00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:16,960 Speaker 1: for four hours. They all took turns berating me for 464 00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:20,239 Speaker 1: the roles I played. Since I didn't speak Mandarin, I 465 00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:22,960 Speaker 1: had to answer them in English. I told them that 466 00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:25,680 Speaker 1: when a person is trying to get established in a profession, 467 00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:29,640 Speaker 1: she can't choose parts. She has to take what is offered. 468 00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:32,719 Speaker 1: I said I had come to China to learn, and 469 00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:35,120 Speaker 1: that I hoped I would be able to interpret our 470 00:34:35,200 --> 00:34:38,600 Speaker 1: country in a better life. It probably didn't help that 471 00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:41,960 Speaker 1: she was single. From virtually the start of her career, 472 00:34:42,200 --> 00:34:44,680 Speaker 1: she had been asked if and when she planned to 473 00:34:44,719 --> 00:34:47,880 Speaker 1: get married. I try not to think of romance or marriage. 474 00:34:48,680 --> 00:34:51,239 Speaker 1: If love comes to me, I shall take it to 475 00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:54,720 Speaker 1: my family and see what they think. But I hope 476 00:34:54,800 --> 00:34:57,600 Speaker 1: that it will not come for a long time. I 477 00:34:57,760 --> 00:35:01,320 Speaker 1: hope that I shall make a great success first, that 478 00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:04,640 Speaker 1: I shall have enjoyed my career and provided for my family. 479 00:35:06,080 --> 00:35:08,560 Speaker 1: She was rumored to have had affairs, but she never 480 00:35:08,719 --> 00:35:13,239 Speaker 1: did marry Lisa. She points out that any realistic prospects 481 00:35:13,560 --> 00:35:18,520 Speaker 1: were complicated by those anti missigenation laws. If she follows 482 00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:23,560 Speaker 1: the law, who's out there that's at her level. She 483 00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:27,720 Speaker 1: could marry a Chinese man, right, and who's at her level? 484 00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:35,160 Speaker 1: There are a few Chinese who are doing well, but 485 00:35:35,360 --> 00:35:38,200 Speaker 1: not very many. I mean, so what are the other 486 00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:41,719 Speaker 1: options then? Is she really going to marry a laundryman 487 00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:45,200 Speaker 1: like her father? Is she going to marry somebody who 488 00:35:45,680 --> 00:35:48,960 Speaker 1: washes dishes in a restaurant? So it's not like there 489 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:51,719 Speaker 1: were many sort of peer to peer people that she 490 00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:54,359 Speaker 1: could marry within the Chinese community. But I think even 491 00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:57,520 Speaker 1: beyond that, what would have been expected of her as 492 00:35:57,600 --> 00:36:01,360 Speaker 1: a Chinese wife to live in conclusion, to not be 493 00:36:01,480 --> 00:36:04,200 Speaker 1: seen on the street, to have a lot of children 494 00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:06,520 Speaker 1: and babies, and that I don't think was going to 495 00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:10,720 Speaker 1: be for her. Here's Amy Wong Martinez again. Can imagine 496 00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:15,680 Speaker 1: her honey breakfast is ready. Her ability to have to 497 00:36:16,800 --> 00:36:19,719 Speaker 1: strive for her career and make a career. I think 498 00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:23,400 Speaker 1: that was more of a priority for her than finding 499 00:36:23,480 --> 00:36:27,640 Speaker 1: true love or traditional marriage. When she returned to the US, 500 00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:31,560 Speaker 1: she found better roles in b movies. Gee, I'm sure 501 00:36:31,600 --> 00:36:33,759 Speaker 1: glad that's over, doctor Lyn. I don't know how you're 502 00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:37,040 Speaker 1: doing here. I am checking like a general plugging an't 503 00:36:37,040 --> 00:36:39,080 Speaker 1: even trembling. The first thing you've got to learn is 504 00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:41,239 Speaker 1: not to let your hands tremble if you want to 505 00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:44,200 Speaker 1: be a good surgeon. In the King of Chinatown, she 506 00:36:44,360 --> 00:36:47,719 Speaker 1: plays a surgeon, a rarity for an actress of any 507 00:36:47,880 --> 00:36:52,080 Speaker 1: race at the time. It's amazing. He's still alive. He 508 00:36:52,239 --> 00:36:56,600 Speaker 1: had to live. Do you know him personally? No, he 509 00:36:56,760 --> 00:37:00,160 Speaker 1: was just another emergency. And in Daughter of Shang Hi, 510 00:37:00,440 --> 00:37:03,840 Speaker 1: a terrific movie, she and an FBI agent played by 511 00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:07,400 Speaker 1: Korean American actor Philip On helped break up an illegal 512 00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:11,960 Speaker 1: smuggling operation. Let the authorities handleistmas Quan. I've seen how 513 00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:15,960 Speaker 1: the authorities handled things. Press great excitement and arrest is 514 00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:18,439 Speaker 1: expected in a few days, and in a few days 515 00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:22,880 Speaker 1: everything is forgotten until someone else is murdered. And despite 516 00:37:22,920 --> 00:37:26,960 Speaker 1: her mixed experience in China, when Japan launched an attack 517 00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:32,319 Speaker 1: on China in seven anime, Wong threw herself into fundraising 518 00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:37,040 Speaker 1: on behalf of the beleaguered Chinese. She was quite political, 519 00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:39,600 Speaker 1: what today we would call an activist, but at that 520 00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:44,560 Speaker 1: time was pretty rare. When Japan invades China in the 521 00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:46,680 Speaker 1: lead up to World War Two, the rest of the 522 00:37:46,760 --> 00:37:49,840 Speaker 1: world really didn't care too much, but she cared, and 523 00:37:49,920 --> 00:37:53,640 Speaker 1: the Chinese American community cared, and so she was one 524 00:37:53,680 --> 00:37:56,600 Speaker 1: of the big fundraisers. She traveled all around the country 525 00:37:56,680 --> 00:38:01,280 Speaker 1: raising money. Then after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor 526 00:38:01,440 --> 00:38:10,240 Speaker 1: in December of nine, China's plight became America's cause. Anime 527 00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:14,960 Speaker 1: contributed her talents to propaganda films like Bombs Over Burma 528 00:38:15,320 --> 00:38:18,279 Speaker 1: and The Lady from Chung King, where she played the 529 00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:22,160 Speaker 1: part of the Chinese heroine Battle of the ruthless Japanese bow. 530 00:38:22,920 --> 00:38:27,680 Speaker 1: You cannot kill. You cannot kill China. Not even a 531 00:38:27,800 --> 00:38:31,680 Speaker 1: mini deaths could crush the soul of China. We shall 532 00:38:31,719 --> 00:38:35,760 Speaker 1: live on until the enemy is driven back over scorched 533 00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:41,560 Speaker 1: land and hurled into the sea. And she visited with 534 00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:46,560 Speaker 1: American troops across the country. We had genuine American chop 535 00:38:46,640 --> 00:38:49,520 Speaker 1: suey and the mess hall for lunch. Today. I nearly 536 00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:53,040 Speaker 1: disrupted the service when I pulled out my chopsticks. During 537 00:38:53,160 --> 00:38:56,760 Speaker 1: one wartime Christmas, she made a tour of air bases 538 00:38:56,920 --> 00:39:00,640 Speaker 1: in Nebraska, and all the boys were so appreciate that 539 00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:04,239 Speaker 1: it really did something to my moral too. Spent the 540 00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:07,080 Speaker 1: time having mess with the boys and visiting sick cases 541 00:39:07,120 --> 00:39:10,359 Speaker 1: in hospitals, and made a brief address in the camp theater. 542 00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:14,120 Speaker 1: Two of the camps had large troops of colored soldiers, 543 00:39:14,440 --> 00:39:17,080 Speaker 1: and they have their own canteen, theater and mess halls, 544 00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:23,880 Speaker 1: at which basis I made a double tour. So when 545 00:39:24,040 --> 00:39:28,080 Speaker 1: Madame Chang Kai Shack, the charismatic wife of Chinese nationalist 546 00:39:28,280 --> 00:39:31,719 Speaker 1: leader Chang Kai Shack, came to Hollywood to raise money 547 00:39:31,800 --> 00:39:34,440 Speaker 1: for the war effort, it seemed a no brainer that 548 00:39:34,520 --> 00:39:38,719 Speaker 1: America's most famous Chinese American would be included in the 549 00:39:38,880 --> 00:39:44,120 Speaker 1: star studded fundraiser. Huge throngs pack Hollywood's famous Bull to 550 00:39:44,280 --> 00:39:49,400 Speaker 1: see and hear Madame Shan. On April four, a record 551 00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:53,720 Speaker 1: crowd of thirty thousand gathered at the Hollywood Bowl. Henry 552 00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:59,120 Speaker 1: Fonda and Spencer Tracy gave introductory remarks. Judy Garland, Rita Hayworth, 553 00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:03,120 Speaker 1: Shirley Temple, and Ginger Rogers stood for the American and 554 00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:09,040 Speaker 1: Chinese national anthems. Chinese American soldiers probably serve as guards 555 00:40:09,080 --> 00:40:12,080 Speaker 1: of honor, and then Madam Chang delivered a forty five 556 00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:16,400 Speaker 1: minute address pleading her country's case and thanking America for 557 00:40:16,520 --> 00:40:21,520 Speaker 1: its leadership. We shall not permit aggression to raise its 558 00:40:21,920 --> 00:40:29,680 Speaker 1: satanic hay and threaten men's greatest heritage, life, liberty, and 559 00:40:29,920 --> 00:40:37,160 Speaker 1: the pursuit of happiness. Won't So what role was given 560 00:40:37,239 --> 00:40:42,680 Speaker 1: to anime Wong? They didn't invite her, right, they didn't 561 00:40:42,719 --> 00:40:46,560 Speaker 1: invite her. And this goes to sort of China's view 562 00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:50,120 Speaker 1: of anime. So if you think of her, first her 563 00:40:50,200 --> 00:40:54,800 Speaker 1: own family that could be proud of her for her accomplishments, 564 00:40:55,360 --> 00:40:58,560 Speaker 1: but also a little embarrassed about her for the nudity 565 00:40:58,680 --> 00:41:01,400 Speaker 1: in some of the roles she played in China, you 566 00:41:01,520 --> 00:41:04,360 Speaker 1: have the same thing on a much larger scale. So 567 00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:07,359 Speaker 1: people they were kind of proud of her, but at 568 00:41:07,440 --> 00:41:11,560 Speaker 1: the same time they felt she was perpetuating negative stereotypes 569 00:41:11,960 --> 00:41:17,400 Speaker 1: about Chinese women in particular. That must have been humiliating, humiliating, humiliating. 570 00:41:18,239 --> 00:41:20,400 Speaker 1: She lays a lot of money for them, and I 571 00:41:20,520 --> 00:41:24,000 Speaker 1: also sees I know she was very hard. My husband 572 00:41:24,040 --> 00:41:28,080 Speaker 1: told me about that. This is Carol Wong again. She 573 00:41:28,280 --> 00:41:32,360 Speaker 1: was married to Anim's late brother Richard for almost fifty years. 574 00:41:33,200 --> 00:41:36,000 Speaker 1: She says he was very hard, but she said nothing 575 00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:38,520 Speaker 1: he can do about that. But she had told your 576 00:41:38,600 --> 00:41:42,960 Speaker 1: husband about being disappointed about the Hollywood bawl. Yes, he 577 00:41:43,120 --> 00:41:45,400 Speaker 1: can see it too, you know what can he do? 578 00:41:46,160 --> 00:41:50,000 Speaker 1: I guess it's comfortable each other. But she never let 579 00:41:50,120 --> 00:41:56,120 Speaker 1: the bottle once more. Anime Wong soldiered on along her 580 00:41:56,239 --> 00:42:08,000 Speaker 1: singular path. With the advent of television, anime Wong saw 581 00:42:08,160 --> 00:42:12,640 Speaker 1: new opportunities. A lot of female film stars, as they 582 00:42:12,719 --> 00:42:17,640 Speaker 1: got older in the nineteen fifties, began to participate in 583 00:42:17,760 --> 00:42:21,480 Speaker 1: television shows as a way to recycle their acting careers 584 00:42:22,320 --> 00:42:26,120 Speaker 1: um television in Hollywood. That was the way that she 585 00:42:26,280 --> 00:42:30,520 Speaker 1: was able to still remain in the public eye. In 586 00:42:31,440 --> 00:42:35,239 Speaker 1: one she starred in The Gallery of Madame Lute Song, 587 00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:39,200 Speaker 1: making her the first Chinese American to star in a 588 00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:44,240 Speaker 1: TV show. The show aired on the Earstwhile Dumont Television Network. 589 00:42:44,840 --> 00:42:48,839 Speaker 1: No footage survives since the network's archive was dumped into 590 00:42:48,880 --> 00:42:52,960 Speaker 1: the East River in the nineteen seventies, but the reviews survived, 591 00:42:53,680 --> 00:42:58,000 Speaker 1: and they weren't pretty. One reads it is suspected that 592 00:42:58,239 --> 00:43:01,440 Speaker 1: even if ms. Wong were given a sound script, she 593 00:43:01,480 --> 00:43:04,960 Speaker 1: would still sound like an attractive Oriental girl who has 594 00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:10,600 Speaker 1: been thoroughly americanized. That's a weird critique because you're basically 595 00:43:10,719 --> 00:43:15,680 Speaker 1: saying why aren't you more foreign? That's sort of like, well, 596 00:43:16,160 --> 00:43:18,840 Speaker 1: what do they even know about what it means to 597 00:43:18,880 --> 00:43:22,840 Speaker 1: be Chinese? Margaret Show has some experience with those kinds 598 00:43:22,880 --> 00:43:29,239 Speaker 1: of criticisms. She followed in Anime Wong's TV footsteps when 599 00:43:30,680 --> 00:43:34,080 Speaker 1: she became the second Asian American woman and the first 600 00:43:34,280 --> 00:43:38,200 Speaker 1: Korean American to headline a series when the sitcom All 601 00:43:38,239 --> 00:43:44,080 Speaker 1: American Girl premiered on abcne so tell me about the 602 00:43:44,160 --> 00:43:48,560 Speaker 1: reel you Okay? Well, for one thing, when I hear 603 00:43:48,600 --> 00:43:53,759 Speaker 1: a joke, I don't do this, hey, I laughed more 604 00:43:53,840 --> 00:43:59,320 Speaker 1: like this. In her case, she turned out to be 605 00:43:59,480 --> 00:44:02,800 Speaker 1: too much of an All American Girl for some in 606 00:44:02,920 --> 00:44:06,839 Speaker 1: the Korean American community. When I was doing All American Girl, 607 00:44:07,080 --> 00:44:10,640 Speaker 1: it was very difficult because the Korean community in America 608 00:44:10,800 --> 00:44:13,560 Speaker 1: had just been through the l A Riots, and so 609 00:44:13,719 --> 00:44:18,240 Speaker 1: they were hyper concern, hyper aware of their public image. 610 00:44:18,520 --> 00:44:22,480 Speaker 1: They wanted to really strictly control what was being said 611 00:44:22,480 --> 00:44:24,840 Speaker 1: about them. And so when I came along as a 612 00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:29,800 Speaker 1: very foul mouth comedian, as a woman, as um, you know, 613 00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:32,120 Speaker 1: somebody who was talking about gay rights, somebody who was 614 00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:36,600 Speaker 1: talking about sexuality, it really destroyed this sort of image 615 00:44:36,680 --> 00:44:39,080 Speaker 1: of what Koreans had of themselves, and so it was 616 00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:42,880 Speaker 1: very difficult to get their support. All American Girl was 617 00:44:43,040 --> 00:44:45,880 Speaker 1: canceled after one season. Um, I don't know if you 618 00:44:45,960 --> 00:44:48,680 Speaker 1: can reduce it to this, but when you did the sitcom, 619 00:44:48,880 --> 00:44:51,880 Speaker 1: did you feel more pressure from the Korean side or 620 00:44:51,960 --> 00:44:55,440 Speaker 1: more pressure from, let's call it the white American side. 621 00:44:55,600 --> 00:44:59,440 Speaker 1: I think that I was just caught. Caught certainly describes 622 00:44:59,600 --> 00:45:03,240 Speaker 1: Anam A Wong. It seems that when she wasn't too Chinese, 623 00:45:03,800 --> 00:45:08,279 Speaker 1: she wasn't Chinese enough. Still, she kept on hustling for work. 624 00:45:08,600 --> 00:45:12,640 Speaker 1: Now as a character actress. Here she is as China 625 00:45:12,800 --> 00:45:16,680 Speaker 1: Mary in an episode of Wyatt earp. They have broken 626 00:45:16,680 --> 00:45:19,400 Speaker 1: the law and they must be punished. They will be 627 00:45:20,280 --> 00:45:24,600 Speaker 1: in my way. I cannot agree to that. Then find 628 00:45:24,640 --> 00:45:31,040 Speaker 1: them yourself. By the nineteen fifties, she was well past 629 00:45:31,200 --> 00:45:34,799 Speaker 1: her Hollywood prime, but she wasn't alone. She was part 630 00:45:34,840 --> 00:45:38,520 Speaker 1: of a tight knit Chinese American community in Los Angeles. 631 00:45:39,280 --> 00:45:41,440 Speaker 1: Did your father play poker? Whether My dad used to 632 00:45:41,480 --> 00:45:43,440 Speaker 1: go over and play poker. He was a teenager, you know, 633 00:45:43,520 --> 00:45:46,360 Speaker 1: and he'd go over to the apartment in Santa Monica 634 00:45:46,440 --> 00:45:49,880 Speaker 1: and they'd play poker, and they they drink Lisa Ce's 635 00:45:50,040 --> 00:45:54,680 Speaker 1: grandparents and parents were friends with Anime Wong. My dad. 636 00:45:54,719 --> 00:45:56,200 Speaker 1: When I called him the other day to say we 637 00:45:56,280 --> 00:45:58,040 Speaker 1: were doing this, he was like, oh, yeah, you know, 638 00:45:58,120 --> 00:45:59,880 Speaker 1: way used to go over there. And I'd say, well, 639 00:46:00,080 --> 00:46:01,960 Speaker 1: you know what happened then, and said, oh, I don't know. 640 00:46:02,080 --> 00:46:04,920 Speaker 1: We were drinking so much. I don't remember. It was 641 00:46:04,960 --> 00:46:06,920 Speaker 1: a fun place for him, and he'd go over with 642 00:46:07,080 --> 00:46:09,800 Speaker 1: his buddies and she always had room at the table 643 00:46:09,960 --> 00:46:15,080 Speaker 1: and they play poker and get drunk. But Anime's health 644 00:46:15,320 --> 00:46:18,840 Speaker 1: was beginning to falter. Letters she wrote to her dear friends. 645 00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:22,239 Speaker 1: Carl van Beckton, the same man who had photographed her 646 00:46:22,360 --> 00:46:26,480 Speaker 1: years before, and his wife, Vannia Maronoff, suggests she was 647 00:46:26,560 --> 00:46:32,040 Speaker 1: suffering from liver disease, perhaps cirrhosis. My doctor insisted I 648 00:46:32,160 --> 00:46:35,200 Speaker 1: come here to rest and continue treatments until a complete 649 00:46:35,280 --> 00:46:39,240 Speaker 1: recovery is affected. He said, the eight pints of blood 650 00:46:39,320 --> 00:46:41,600 Speaker 1: they poured into me at the hospital was just a 651 00:46:41,680 --> 00:46:44,759 Speaker 1: temporary crutch to tide me over, and he wasn't going 652 00:46:44,800 --> 00:46:47,360 Speaker 1: to dig me out of the grave again. They have 653 00:46:47,440 --> 00:46:49,640 Speaker 1: done a great deal of thinking while laid up, and 654 00:46:49,719 --> 00:46:52,040 Speaker 1: I'm going to overcome the habit of worrying all the 655 00:46:52,160 --> 00:46:56,080 Speaker 1: time about things that are not worth the bother with 656 00:46:56,320 --> 00:47:00,400 Speaker 1: best love always anime. She was in and out of 657 00:47:00,520 --> 00:47:05,120 Speaker 1: hospitals during that decade, sometimes for lengthy days at a 658 00:47:05,239 --> 00:47:09,400 Speaker 1: time when money was tight. The hospital and sanitarium expenses 659 00:47:09,440 --> 00:47:13,000 Speaker 1: were pretty steep, so in between times, I'm still trying 660 00:47:13,080 --> 00:47:15,719 Speaker 1: to dispose of a few pieces of good jewelry to 661 00:47:15,840 --> 00:47:20,800 Speaker 1: pay off everything. Owing in her letters, she's increasingly introspective, 662 00:47:21,200 --> 00:47:24,959 Speaker 1: even spiritual. Have you buy any chance read a book 663 00:47:25,000 --> 00:47:28,160 Speaker 1: that came out last year, The Power of Positive Thinking. 664 00:47:29,239 --> 00:47:31,640 Speaker 1: I have read it several times and find that it 665 00:47:31,760 --> 00:47:35,840 Speaker 1: is a great help in many ways, especially reading oneself 666 00:47:35,920 --> 00:47:39,360 Speaker 1: of nervous tensions and having the right attitude towards what 667 00:47:39,520 --> 00:47:46,560 Speaker 1: appears to be colossal problems. At home, her youngest brother, Richard, 668 00:47:46,840 --> 00:47:51,360 Speaker 1: Amy's father watched over her and fiercely guarded her privacy. 669 00:47:51,880 --> 00:47:55,880 Speaker 1: My daddy actually was really one of the closest relatives 670 00:47:56,000 --> 00:47:58,319 Speaker 1: to her and took care of her, especially in her 671 00:47:58,360 --> 00:48:03,319 Speaker 1: later years. He had informations and stories and knowledge about her, 672 00:48:03,640 --> 00:48:07,239 Speaker 1: but he never wanted to expose that because he was 673 00:48:07,320 --> 00:48:09,320 Speaker 1: afraid that it would be taken the wrong way or 674 00:48:09,480 --> 00:48:12,560 Speaker 1: used in the wrong light. Amy and her mother Carol, 675 00:48:12,719 --> 00:48:17,080 Speaker 1: share some details of Anime's home life. Nobody know a 676 00:48:18,400 --> 00:48:23,400 Speaker 1: lot of knitting, A lot of knitting, h Na, my husband. 677 00:48:24,640 --> 00:48:26,920 Speaker 1: I'm still keeping. That's kind of a big deal to 678 00:48:26,960 --> 00:48:29,200 Speaker 1: knit a sweater. And she obviously was a dial icon. 679 00:48:29,400 --> 00:48:35,279 Speaker 1: So this sweater is a handmade knitted sweater. But we 680 00:48:35,360 --> 00:48:38,160 Speaker 1: still have it. Have you worn it? Know? What color? 681 00:48:38,320 --> 00:48:45,160 Speaker 1: Was a sweater that she met. Carol married Richard in 682 00:48:46,880 --> 00:48:49,759 Speaker 1: and when their two daughters were born, they named them 683 00:48:50,120 --> 00:48:54,400 Speaker 1: Anime Wong and Amy May Wong. Luckily I did escape 684 00:48:54,520 --> 00:49:00,760 Speaker 1: the curse of possibly being April May Wong. Ineen sixty, 685 00:49:00,920 --> 00:49:04,560 Speaker 1: Anname Wong played a supporting role in Portrait and Black 686 00:49:04,800 --> 00:49:08,439 Speaker 1: with Lanta Turner. For these past few days, you've been 687 00:49:09,640 --> 00:49:14,759 Speaker 1: acting rather strangely in what way I feel have been 688 00:49:15,480 --> 00:49:20,800 Speaker 1: deliberately avoiding me, of course, not ms Kevin. I'm sorry 689 00:49:20,840 --> 00:49:24,120 Speaker 1: if I gave you that impression. It was praised as 690 00:49:24,200 --> 00:49:28,000 Speaker 1: a lovely comeback role, and she wrote to her friends 691 00:49:28,120 --> 00:49:33,680 Speaker 1: with some exciting news. Dearest Fania and Carlos ross Hunter, 692 00:49:33,840 --> 00:49:36,719 Speaker 1: the producer of Portrait and Black, told me he has 693 00:49:36,880 --> 00:49:39,840 Speaker 1: just purchased film rights to Flower Drum Song and that 694 00:49:40,040 --> 00:49:42,560 Speaker 1: I am to play one of the leads, but this 695 00:49:42,680 --> 00:49:47,640 Speaker 1: will not go into production until February. Continue to keep 696 00:49:47,719 --> 00:49:53,359 Speaker 1: well and happy and interestingly occupied, Bless you both love 697 00:49:53,960 --> 00:50:01,440 Speaker 1: Anime hundred Media Miracle. Flowered Drum Song, The Rogers and 698 00:50:01,520 --> 00:50:05,560 Speaker 1: Hammer's nine musical set in San Francisco's Chinatown. You can't 699 00:50:05,680 --> 00:50:09,319 Speaker 1: have a new way You're living till you're living all 700 00:50:09,440 --> 00:50:14,680 Speaker 1: the way on that Avenue would feature a predominantly Asian 701 00:50:14,719 --> 00:50:22,480 Speaker 1: American cast. Here's Rosalind Chow again. The Flower Drum Song 702 00:50:22,800 --> 00:50:26,160 Speaker 1: was another first. It was another landmark, much in the 703 00:50:26,239 --> 00:50:29,440 Speaker 1: way that Joy Luck Club was a landmark and crazy 704 00:50:29,560 --> 00:50:36,200 Speaker 1: rich Asians Chop Sue Chop Sue you and flower drums 705 00:50:36,239 --> 00:50:38,440 Speaker 1: song in that song, Chop Suey. The fact that they 706 00:50:38,520 --> 00:50:49,480 Speaker 1: rhyme nuclear war with Shasha bor welldr song and the 707 00:50:49,600 --> 00:50:52,719 Speaker 1: fact that you remember that is even funnier to me. 708 00:50:54,520 --> 00:50:57,359 Speaker 1: Those lyrics are fantastic, but we should point out if 709 00:50:57,400 --> 00:50:59,120 Speaker 1: you didn't know this, you know one need a haul 710 00:50:59,360 --> 00:51:03,239 Speaker 1: for father was African American, her mother was white. Ended 711 00:51:03,320 --> 00:51:05,480 Speaker 1: up playing the role I always forget the name of 712 00:51:05,520 --> 00:51:10,239 Speaker 1: the role, the antileon Anti Leon, and that role was 713 00:51:10,360 --> 00:51:16,279 Speaker 1: going to be played by anime Wong Oh I didn't 714 00:51:16,320 --> 00:51:19,480 Speaker 1: know that when Annime Wong died, or did she die 715 00:51:19,640 --> 00:51:24,360 Speaker 1: or oh, oh my goodness, I had no idea. So 716 00:51:24,600 --> 00:51:28,880 Speaker 1: she died just before she could have had this big break. 717 00:51:30,280 --> 00:51:34,080 Speaker 1: Anime Wong died of a heart attack on February third, 718 00:51:36,239 --> 00:51:39,520 Speaker 1: at the age of fifty six. Her New York Times 719 00:51:39,560 --> 00:51:44,040 Speaker 1: habituary hailed her as one of the most unforgettable figures 720 00:51:44,239 --> 00:51:49,920 Speaker 1: of Hollywood's greatest days. Again, Carol and Amy Wong. She 721 00:51:50,239 --> 00:51:53,640 Speaker 1: was that a new code. My husband's he's gone to work. 722 00:51:54,200 --> 00:51:57,880 Speaker 1: When he come home, he found passed on and she 723 00:51:58,160 --> 00:52:00,960 Speaker 1: was reading the Squiret. She was in the scrap the 724 00:52:02,320 --> 00:52:06,320 Speaker 1: when when she died. It's hard done to think what 725 00:52:06,400 --> 00:52:09,040 Speaker 1: a great comeback that would have been for her. See, 726 00:52:09,120 --> 00:52:11,719 Speaker 1: we're doing a great job on death. I wonder what 727 00:52:11,840 --> 00:52:14,640 Speaker 1: she would have done had she lived past fifty six. 728 00:52:14,920 --> 00:52:19,760 Speaker 1: I mean, that's so young. In the decades after she died, 729 00:52:20,040 --> 00:52:24,120 Speaker 1: as a civil rights movement raised consciousness among Asian Americans, 730 00:52:24,680 --> 00:52:29,959 Speaker 1: Anime Wong wasn't celebrated. Lisa se says she once again 731 00:52:30,000 --> 00:52:33,000 Speaker 1: became a source of shame. I think she was blamed 732 00:52:33,200 --> 00:52:36,720 Speaker 1: for a lot of the stereotypes that then continued to exist. 733 00:52:36,920 --> 00:52:39,520 Speaker 1: These kind of iconic things that she had set up, 734 00:52:39,760 --> 00:52:41,960 Speaker 1: you know, one the temptress and the other this sort 735 00:52:42,000 --> 00:52:45,759 Speaker 1: of the dragon lady. And people saw her as the 736 00:52:45,840 --> 00:52:53,359 Speaker 1: person who created those stereotypes. But today she's remembered as 737 00:52:53,440 --> 00:52:57,320 Speaker 1: someone who boldly went where no one had before. She 738 00:52:57,480 --> 00:53:01,399 Speaker 1: became a star without any role models. As a young girl, 739 00:53:01,760 --> 00:53:04,719 Speaker 1: she sat in the balcony of a movie palace, looked 740 00:53:04,760 --> 00:53:08,160 Speaker 1: at the silver screen and imagined a place for herself. 741 00:53:09,520 --> 00:53:12,120 Speaker 1: I want to thank the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and 742 00:53:12,280 --> 00:53:15,560 Speaker 1: the Walk of Fame Committee. In May two thousand nineteen, 743 00:53:15,960 --> 00:53:20,279 Speaker 1: Lucy Lou became the second Asian American actress to have 744 00:53:20,400 --> 00:53:23,760 Speaker 1: a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I truly 745 00:53:23,920 --> 00:53:28,920 Speaker 1: feel humbled. In her remarks, Lou paid homage to the 746 00:53:29,120 --> 00:53:35,840 Speaker 1: first Annime Wong so a hundred years ago. She was 747 00:53:35,920 --> 00:53:42,399 Speaker 1: a pioneer. While enduring racism, marginalization, and exclusion, we could 748 00:53:42,400 --> 00:53:47,280 Speaker 1: actually start our own little Chinatown right here, from silent 749 00:53:47,400 --> 00:53:50,520 Speaker 1: pictures to the talkies on stage and then on TV. 750 00:53:51,280 --> 00:53:55,879 Speaker 1: Through sheer force of will, charisma and talent, Anname Wong 751 00:53:56,000 --> 00:54:00,520 Speaker 1: became a first and for an astonishingly long time. Wasn't 752 00:54:00,640 --> 00:54:06,600 Speaker 1: only she did it? And she did it despite everything 753 00:54:06,719 --> 00:54:09,640 Speaker 1: that was going on around her. I think in many 754 00:54:09,680 --> 00:54:13,080 Speaker 1: ways it was a lonely life, but she also surrounded 755 00:54:13,160 --> 00:54:18,320 Speaker 1: herself with wonderful friends. I think she paid a price 756 00:54:18,600 --> 00:54:22,600 Speaker 1: in life and then in death, and now it's just 757 00:54:22,840 --> 00:54:28,080 Speaker 1: nice to see this kind of acknowledgement and recognition for 758 00:54:28,239 --> 00:54:50,160 Speaker 1: really what she accomplished. I certainly hope you enjoyed this Mobituary. 759 00:54:50,520 --> 00:54:53,320 Speaker 1: May I ask you to please rate and review our podcast. 760 00:54:53,760 --> 00:54:57,400 Speaker 1: You can also follow Mobituaries on Facebook and Instagram, and 761 00:54:57,480 --> 00:55:00,359 Speaker 1: you can follow me on Twitter at Morocca. You can 762 00:55:00,400 --> 00:55:05,520 Speaker 1: subscribe to Mobituaries wherever you get your podcasts. This episode 763 00:55:05,560 --> 00:55:09,560 Speaker 1: of Mobituaries was produced by Ka Limb. Our team of 764 00:55:09,600 --> 00:55:13,680 Speaker 1: producers also includes Megan Marcus and me Mo Rocca. It 765 00:55:13,880 --> 00:55:18,160 Speaker 1: was edited by George posit Irak and engineered by Dan Dezula. 766 00:55:18,640 --> 00:55:24,480 Speaker 1: Indispensable support from Gideon Evans, Genius Dineski, Sam Egan, Richard Roarer, 767 00:55:24,640 --> 00:55:29,400 Speaker 1: and everyone at CBS News Radio. Special thanks to David 768 00:55:29,440 --> 00:55:33,480 Speaker 1: Henry Wong, B. D Wong read Orvid All, Leslie Leong 769 00:55:33,840 --> 00:55:36,560 Speaker 1: and the f Suie One Company, and to the great 770 00:55:36,719 --> 00:55:40,400 Speaker 1: Jennifer Limb who voiced the words of anime Wong for us. 771 00:55:41,320 --> 00:55:44,720 Speaker 1: Our theme music is written by Daniel Hart and as always, 772 00:55:45,000 --> 00:55:49,200 Speaker 1: undying thanks to Rand Morrison and John Carp without whom 773 00:55:49,440 --> 00:55:59,960 Speaker 1: Mobituaries couldn't live. Hi, It's mo. If you're enjoying Mobituary 774 00:56:00,040 --> 00:56:03,000 Speaker 1: Reads the podcast, may I invite you to check out 775 00:56:03,120 --> 00:56:07,520 Speaker 1: Mobituaries the book. It's chock full of stories not in 776 00:56:07,640 --> 00:56:11,040 Speaker 1: the podcast. Celebrities who put their butts on the line, 777 00:56:11,520 --> 00:56:15,280 Speaker 1: sports teams that threw in the towel for good, forgotten fashions, 778 00:56:15,560 --> 00:56:20,759 Speaker 1: defunct diagnoses, presidential candidacies that cratered whole countries that went 779 00:56:20,840 --> 00:56:24,759 Speaker 1: to put and dragons, Yes, dragons, you see. People used 780 00:56:24,760 --> 00:56:28,239 Speaker 1: to believe the dragons were real until just get the book. 781 00:56:28,560 --> 00:56:32,080 Speaker 1: You can order Mobituaries the Book from any online bookseller, 782 00:56:32,320 --> 00:56:35,000 Speaker 1: or stop by your local bookstore and look for me 783 00:56:35,160 --> 00:56:38,120 Speaker 1: when I come to your city. Tour information and lots 784 00:56:38,200 --> 00:56:40,680 Speaker 1: more at mobituaries dot com