Speaker 1: Don't you find respectable people terribly? No. The year two,
Speaker 1: the movie Shanghai Express starring Marlene Dietrich. It took more
Speaker 1: than one man to change my name to Shanhai Lilia
Speaker 1: and acting alongside the German screen siren and every bit
Speaker 1: is cool seven year old Anna May Wong. I must confess,
Speaker 1: I don't quite know the standard of respectability that you
Speaker 1: demand in your boyhouse. In the movie, both actresses play
Speaker 1: women of ill repute, but it was Wong's performance that
Speaker 1: was publicly denounced by the Chinese media for bringing shame
Speaker 1: on her race. The government has offered a price of
Speaker 1: his capture live or did that was the movie that
Speaker 1: took my breath a way that she was just unapologetic.
Speaker 1: You better get out of him. I just killed anime.
Speaker 1: Wong had already run a gauntlet of social and legal
Speaker 1: obstacles to become Hollywood's very first Chinese American star. She
Speaker 1: was extremely beautiful. She was what today we would call
Speaker 1: a fashionista. Even so, she was usually consigned to playing
Speaker 1: either the self sacrificing lotus blossom or the devious dragon lady.
Speaker 1: She always had to die. It always had to be dramatic,
Speaker 1: and it always had to be very tragic. The blood
Speaker 1: is mine, the hate is mine, the vengeance shall be mine.
Speaker 1: Hollywood's censorship code prohibited her from even kissing any mail
Speaker 1: co star who was white. She herself was quoted in
Speaker 1: one interview, no film lovers can ever marry me. If
Speaker 1: they got an American actress as lant her eyes and
Speaker 1: eyebrows and where a stiff black wig and dressed in
Speaker 1: Chinese culture, it would be all right. But me, I
Speaker 1: am really Chinese, so I must always die in the
Speaker 1: movies so that the white girl with the yellow hair
Speaker 1: may get the man. But in Shanghai Express, she didn't die,
Speaker 1: and the movie itself killed at the box office, becoming
Speaker 1: the highest grossing film of the year, and anime. Wong
Speaker 1: was already being talked about as the lead for one
Speaker 1: of the biggest epics Hollywood would make. The Good Earth,
Speaker 1: based on the smash hit and novel of the same name,
Speaker 1: was the vehicle Wong had been waiting for. If cast,
Speaker 1: it would propel her into the first rank of film actresses.
Speaker 1: Everybody in Los Angeles knew that this was gonna be
Speaker 1: the biggest movie ever. That her name was even being
Speaker 1: mentioned was a sign of how far she'd come. So
Speaker 1: who was Annime Wong? I do think that Annime Wong
Speaker 1: just had certain star quality. She seemed to be very
Speaker 1: comfortable in her skin. And here she is being comfortable
Speaker 1: in her own skin when there's no one who looks
Speaker 1: like her on screen. That's the thing that is really
Speaker 1: hard to imagine, because she was a true pioneer in
Speaker 1: that she couldn't look to anyone and say, I want
Speaker 1: to be like this person. She really had to forge
Speaker 1: her own path. From CBS Sunday Morning and Simon and Schuster,
Speaker 1: I'm Morocca and this is Mobituaries. This Anname Wong February third, one,
Speaker 1: Death of a Trailblazer. So I was in my mid twenties,
Speaker 1: pretty new to New York, and I was taking a
Speaker 1: workshop on auditioning for musical theater. The teacher assigned me
Speaker 1: a comedic number called the Butler Song from a long
Speaker 1: forgotten musical Who's Calling Please, Oh, Miss Garble. It's sung
Speaker 1: by a butler who's explaining why his master can't come
Speaker 1: to the phone. No, he can't call you back at
Speaker 1: five at five thirty humps Alice as he proceeds to
Speaker 1: mention pretty much every screen goddess from Hollywood's Golden Age,
Speaker 1: Ben Gina Hallow. At seven May were steppin Leven and
Speaker 1: somewhere me. The song is basically one long sex joke.
Speaker 1: It's funny in a pre met two era kind of way.
Speaker 1: Carol One. Anyway, some of the names I knew, so
Speaker 1: I didn't. The one that really popped out Anna May Wong.
Speaker 1: Her name was so melodic it had to be made up.
Speaker 1: In fact, she was given the name Lute Song when
Speaker 1: she was born in Los Angeles. It means frosted yellow willow.
Speaker 1: At that time, Ellie's population of immigrant and American born
Speaker 1: Chinese was about three thousand, but the young girl was
Speaker 1: very much a minority within a minority. It's about one
Speaker 1: woman for every twenty men. Yeah, you've described it. I
Speaker 1: think as a bachelors society was considered a bachelor society.
Speaker 1: Lisa c is the best selling author of On Gold
Speaker 1: Mountain about her own Chinese American family. Not many children,
Speaker 1: not many little girls, so these little girls were seen
Speaker 1: as very precious. There were all kinds of rules about girls,
Speaker 1: you know that. Well, they shouldn't be seen on the street,
Speaker 1: they shouldn't be seen with their bear arms. And legs.
Speaker 1: They shouldn't learn to rule escape, They shouldn't bicycle. The
Speaker 1: second of seven children born to Sam Sing Wong and
Speaker 1: his wife Lie Gone Toy, she was soon going by
Speaker 1: the name Anna, Hi, Welcome, Nice to meet Martinez. Amy
Speaker 1: Wong Martinez is the daughter of Anime Wong's youngest brother.
Speaker 1: She was born after her famous aunt died, but she
Speaker 1: grew up in a house filled with her memorabilia. She
Speaker 1: would do these little holiday cars. She would have them
Speaker 1: made up. It's really beautiful, greetings from my country and
Speaker 1: my people. And Anime Wong, Anime's father, that would be
Speaker 1: Amy's grandfather, was a laundryman. It really wasn't a laundromat
Speaker 1: with the machines. It was of course him doing laundry
Speaker 1: by hand. And it was one of the skills that
Speaker 1: the Chinese could do, a Chinese man could do because
Speaker 1: it was viewed as female work, and so it wasn't
Speaker 1: really a threat to other men for him to set
Speaker 1: up business like that. And it was in Chinatown, just
Speaker 1: outside just a few blocks, it turned out from Chinatown,
Speaker 1: but that short distance proved crucial in shaping her outlook.
Speaker 1: Here's historian Shirley Limb author of anime Wong performing the
Speaker 1: Modern Does that make a difference to you thing in
Speaker 1: terms of her experience. Absolutely. A lot of her father's
Speaker 1: customers were not people of Chinese descent, so she's grown
Speaker 1: up interacting with Mexican Americans, European Americans, people outside of Chinatown.
Speaker 1: And as she was growing up, the motion picture industry
Speaker 1: was moving to Los Angeles, and young Anname had a
Speaker 1: front row seat to all the action. She's seen movies
Speaker 1: on the street. She would deliver laundry bundles and she'd
Speaker 1: save up the tip money to go to the movies herself.
Speaker 1: It's so evocative, it really is, like so many young
Speaker 1: American women of her generation. Going to movies was in
Speaker 1: a way to escape, to dream, to think about the future,
Speaker 1: to think about oneself. And although Annam was a third
Speaker 1: generation American, if you were Chinese, you couldn't sit in
Speaker 1: the main part of the theater. You had to sit
Speaker 1: up in the balcony. So she would take whatever money
Speaker 1: she had, you know, buy a ticket, go sit up
Speaker 1: there in the balcony as a very young girl, and
Speaker 1: then to think, oh, I want to and to do this.
Speaker 1: You know, she's sneaking out right she's sneaking out, and
Speaker 1: it's a pretty big family. She has brothers and sisters,
Speaker 1: so she's sneaking out, going to the movies, going to
Speaker 1: be on movie sets. Amy Wong. Martinez's mother, Carol Wong,
Speaker 1: says that growing up, Anna May had a key ally ole.
Speaker 1: Models really know every time was she's doing, she's protecting,
Speaker 1: and she sometimes don't even go to school and go
Speaker 1: see a movie. The mother, no, but the father don't know.
Speaker 1: From what you understand, Anime's mother kind of was really
Speaker 1: backing her up. Yeah, but Annime Wong's father was less
Speaker 1: than pleased with his daughter's show business ambitions. Here's what
Speaker 1: she said to one newspaper reporter, as read by actress
Speaker 1: Jennifer Limb. My father objected so strongly to my desire
Speaker 1: to appear in pictures that we were all ill. Mikeah,
Speaker 1: little mother. Let us fight it out, and in the
Speaker 1: end I won. It was the first great battle for
Speaker 1: my career. As a teenager, Anname found work as an extra,
Speaker 1: then got bit parts, and when she was just seventeen
Speaker 1: years old, she starred in the silent film The Toll
Speaker 1: of the Sea, Hollywood's first technicolor movie. It was a
Speaker 1: take on the Madam Butterfly story, but set in China
Speaker 1: instead of Japan. She plays Lotus Flower, a young girl
Speaker 1: who rescues an American who washes up on the shore
Speaker 1: of her village. They marry, she has his child, and
Speaker 1: he promptly abandons her, only to return to her village
Speaker 1: with his new Caucasian wife. A heartbroken Lotus Flower gives
Speaker 1: up their son before drowning herself. And that's how pretty
Speaker 1: much any movie that saw an Asian ingenue finding love
Speaker 1: with a white man had to end with the Asian
Speaker 1: woman dying. But as hokey as the plot may sound
Speaker 1: to us today, Anime Wong, it's really good in it.
Speaker 1: As opposed to so much silent film acting. Her performance
Speaker 1: is modern in its restraint, communicating so much with simple looks.
Speaker 1: Her eyes are so big and expressive. Variety called her
Speaker 1: an exquisite crier, and I have to say her ability
Speaker 1: to cry on que and look beautiful while doing it
Speaker 1: is Demi Moore in Ghost Level good. And remember she
Speaker 1: was just seventeen. How significant was it that her first
Speaker 1: starring role was in a very traditional role and Toll
Speaker 1: of the Sea, So movie audience is probably assumed she
Speaker 1: was Chinese born, that maybe she didn't even speak English. Yes, absolutely,
Speaker 1: people could read so much into her because it is
Speaker 1: a silent film and at the time people could read
Speaker 1: her as Chinese, not American. Anime followed up that traumatic
Speaker 1: turn with a supporting role in the epic The Thief
Speaker 1: of Baghdad the star Wars of its day. Audiences were
Speaker 1: wowed both by the movie's special effects it ends with
Speaker 1: a swashbuckling Douglas Fairbanks flying off on a magic carpet,
Speaker 1: and by the sensuality of anime Wong's scheming and scantily
Speaker 1: clad Mongol slave girl character. I watched the scene where
Speaker 1: Anname is confronted by a shirtless, knife wielding Fairbanks with
Speaker 1: comedian Margaret Choe. She's like, really in that classic um
Speaker 1: Carrie Fisher job of the hut outfit slave Leah, and
Speaker 1: she would fit in right in a comic cotton today perfect.
Speaker 1: I mean in the nineteen twenties, I mean, people in
Speaker 1: audiences must have been like, it's racy, it's very sexy,
Speaker 1: very revealed. He's like, he's all bronze adopted shirtlets and muscular,
Speaker 1: and she's she's in this little bikini but it's slave
Speaker 1: La early adopter slave La outfit. She looks great and
Speaker 1: the hair is very strange, so these weird wire braids.
Speaker 1: I asked Amy and Carol Wong about Anime's appearance in
Speaker 1: the movie. It's kind of racy. Yes, it's very sexy.
Speaker 1: She can pull it off. She certainly can pull it
Speaker 1: off to We know what her own parents thought of that. Well, Oh, father,
Speaker 1: I don't know what the thing. I think maybe a
Speaker 1: little bit sick. Was ashamed Lisa. She explains why Anime's
Speaker 1: father might have felt ashamed in Chinese culture actors, in
Speaker 1: particularly women who are acting. It seems like being a courtisan,
Speaker 1: like being a prostitute. It has these very very low
Speaker 1: connotations to it. It's not somebody you'd want to have
Speaker 1: over for dinner, and actresses on a spectrum with a
Speaker 1: courtisan with the prom to r well, because of what
Speaker 1: they do. You know, if you think of courtesan's as
Speaker 1: playing instruments, is singing, is dancing, they do other things too,
Speaker 1: but they are these kind of entertainers. But there was
Speaker 1: no putting the genie back in the bottle. Soon Anime
Speaker 1: Wong was rubbing shoulders with Charlie Chaplin and silent film
Speaker 1: start Norma Talmadge at the groundbreaking of Gramin's Chinese Theater.
Speaker 1: But after her early on screen successes, she was only
Speaker 1: getting offered marginal roles as an exotic Oriental, and so
Speaker 1: when an opportunity to work in Europe presented itself, she
Speaker 1: jumped at the chance. In America, they wouldn't starve me
Speaker 1: because they said they could never find enough stories for me.
Speaker 1: I am not limited to Chinese parts. I can play
Speaker 1: any type of oriental or even eskimos. When Anime Wong
Speaker 1: could not get the roles that she wanted to get
Speaker 1: in Hollywood, she goes off to Berlin. In Europe, she
Speaker 1: learned to speak German and French and acted in both languages.
Speaker 1: It's been most interesting to master what formerly seemed like
Speaker 1: an impossibility, but we sometimes even surprise ourselves at what
Speaker 1: we can do. The yep, that's Anime Wong singing in German.
Speaker 1: During her time overseas, she cemented her status as an
Speaker 1: international movie star and as a fashion icon. Throughout her career,
Speaker 1: she'd be photographed by her friend Carl van Vakten, gamely
Speaker 1: playing with different looks and attitudes, dressed in a tuxedo,
Speaker 1: or with hair dyed blonde, or with barely any clothes
Speaker 1: at all. She was extremely beautiful. She was what today
Speaker 1: we would call a fashionista. You know, she was dressed
Speaker 1: like no one else. She had her special, you know,
Speaker 1: Harris style, which was imitated by many people, including Edith Head,
Speaker 1: costume designer. One of her biggest successes during these years
Speaker 1: was in a British film called Piccadilly, playing a nightclub
Speaker 1: dishwasher who becomes a star. It was another slinky Chinese
Speaker 1: vamp roll. Still, one reviewer wrote, from the moment Miss
Speaker 1: Wong dances in the kitchen's rear, she steals Piccadilly, and
Speaker 1: while in London she acted on stage opposite a young
Speaker 1: Laurence Olivier. Reviewers panned her American accent, but what she
Speaker 1: does she hires elocution accent coaches so that she can
Speaker 1: adopt this upper crust world English British accent, which then
Speaker 1: enables her to transition to the talkies. I cannot, I
Speaker 1: cannot tell him anything you like, say what you win?
Speaker 1: I do not care. I shall not go yes. Long
Speaker 1: before Madonna got herself an English accent annime, Wong had one.
Speaker 1: Now that we're here. You do not regret. You don't
Speaker 1: talk nonsense. I think it, and you believe that I
Speaker 1: came because I love you, that I did not just
Speaker 1: wish to be free like a bad woman who gives
Speaker 1: herself for a price and by paramount. Pictures came calling,
Speaker 1: As The l A Times reported, Annime Wong Oriental actress
Speaker 1: came back to Hollywood with an English accent. When your
Speaker 1: husband left you, you will inform you where he was going. No,
Speaker 1: but I fancied was on a matter of business. He
Speaker 1: was a man very precise in his heavens. When midnight
Speaker 1: came and there was no sign of him, I became
Speaker 1: rather along. Midnight should be a lad hard for him.
Speaker 1: It wasn't just her accent that made her sound distinctive.
Speaker 1: Her voice also had a weight and a depth to
Speaker 1: it that allowed her successfully to make the transition to
Speaker 1: talkies when so many other silent film stars were well
Speaker 1: silenced for good. Yes, so unlike all my previous conceptions
Speaker 1: of the Chinese, you've always thought of us as wearing
Speaker 1: pig tails and with eyes like too slip. I am
Speaker 1: afraid that's true. You still think of us as a caricature.
Speaker 1: That's fifty years ago. Now, Anime Wong, they have been
Speaker 1: coming back to America an even bigger star. But America
Speaker 1: was still a country that denied full rights to any
Speaker 1: citizens of Chinese descent. Here's some background on that. Only
Speaker 1: a half century before, the Chinese Exclusion Act two became
Speaker 1: the first law in American history restricting members of a
Speaker 1: specific ethnic group from entering the United States. That act
Speaker 1: virtually ended legal immigration from China. It was part of
Speaker 1: the backlash to the influx of Chinese immigrants who came
Speaker 1: to America during the Gold Rush and to provide cheap
Speaker 1: labor during the building of the Transcontinental Railroad. A fear
Speaker 1: of the so called Yellow Peril soon gripped America, with
Speaker 1: newspapers hysterically warning of the economic and moral danger posed
Speaker 1: by these invaders. Here is author Lisa c Again that
Speaker 1: people saw Chinese sas dirty, They're going to pollute our women,
Speaker 1: they eat strange things, and then the Big three gambling, opium,
Speaker 1: and prostitution. Not surprisingly, violence against the Chinese spread a
Speaker 1: across the country. They were loaded onto rafts and sent
Speaker 1: a drift into the ocean. In Rock Springs, Wyoming, they
Speaker 1: were literally just burned out of the Chinatown in Tucson,
Speaker 1: tied to the backs of steers and sent into the
Speaker 1: desert to die. And in eighteen seventy one in Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: eighteen Chinese laborers were lynched by an angry mob. This
Speaker 1: wasn't ancient history in animas time. Well into the twentieth century,
Speaker 1: Chinese Americans faced limits on property ownership. Anime Wong may
Speaker 1: have been a star in Hollywood, but she wasn't allowed
Speaker 1: to buy a house in Beverly Hills, and anti miscegenation
Speaker 1: laws in many states prohibited marriage between whites and people
Speaker 1: of other races, including Asians. There were states that had
Speaker 1: laws against Chinese and white people marrying in here in California,
Speaker 1: that law lasted until and then there were the travel
Speaker 1: restrictions whenever she would leave the country, and she was
Speaker 1: a huge traveler, and she went to Europe, she went
Speaker 1: to Asia, she went to Australia. If the rest of
Speaker 1: my stay in Australia will be as pleasant and happy
Speaker 1: as today has been, I know that I shall enjoy
Speaker 1: every moment of it. To the many Chinese who are
Speaker 1: listening in May, I say that Monicog every time she
Speaker 1: left the country, and every time she came back into
Speaker 1: the country, she'd be interrogated. Yes, any time Americans of
Speaker 1: Chinese descent wanted to travel overseas, they had to apply
Speaker 1: for re entry into the United States to prove that
Speaker 1: they were indeed Americans. Is it almost though, like she
Speaker 1: was an American citizen with an asterisk? Yes, I think
Speaker 1: that's true. Hollywood's censorship rules reflected the law of the land.
Speaker 1: The Haze Code of formalized the rules prohibiting kissing or
Speaker 1: even the hint of romance between white's and non whites
Speaker 1: that Annime Wong had faced earlier in her career. Back then,
Speaker 1: you weren't even allowed to kiss a white man on screen.
Speaker 1: By the time I was acting. When I was a
Speaker 1: young woman, I remember saying to my husband, I just
Speaker 1: want to do one job where I don't have to
Speaker 1: kiss someone. Rosalind Chow played Corporal Maxwell Clinger's South Korean
Speaker 1: wife Soon Lee in the sitcom's Mash and Aftermash, Why
Speaker 1: not take it easy? Stay home? Take it easy at all?
Speaker 1: All I do is clean this place. Robbed the ball. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but that's on your hands and knees, not on your feet.
Speaker 1: You're jeus. And she was one of the stars. In
Speaker 1: hit film The Joy Luck Club, a landmark for Asians
Speaker 1: in Hollywood, Chow's character Rose was married to Ted, a
Speaker 1: white man played by Andrew McCarthy. It's our house, we
Speaker 1: agree the seller. You're not taking my house, you're not
Speaker 1: taking my daughter, You're not taking any part of me.
Speaker 1: It's the kind of role Anime Wong wasn't allowed to
Speaker 1: play here. She is a leading lady. She's not allowed
Speaker 1: to kiss a white co star. That's like fighting, really
Speaker 1: with both hands tied behind your back. If you're trying
Speaker 1: to make a career as a leading lady, sex symbol
Speaker 1: and leading lady, it's um. It's quite the magic act
Speaker 1: that she was able to bring a certain sensuality and
Speaker 1: and wait to the screen and never be able to
Speaker 1: express it with a co star. Are you going to
Speaker 1: marry him? Perhaps someday, but you don't love him. I
Speaker 1: certainly do, but you are not in love with him.
Speaker 1: I certainly am Me thinks the lady does protest too much.
Speaker 1: Come on, I don't trust people who quote Shakespeare so glibly,
Speaker 1: and Hollywood always seem to have new ways of reminding
Speaker 1: anime of her status. I made a test at Metro
Speaker 1: Golden Mayor Studios for the leading role in The Son
Speaker 1: Daughter the Chinese played David Blasco produced years ago with
Speaker 1: Leonore Ulrich. I guess I look to Chinese to play
Speaker 1: a Chinese because I hear Colleen Moore is going to
Speaker 1: do it. Although no definite decision has been made, Colleen
Speaker 1: Moore didn't get the role. It went to Helen Hayes,
Speaker 1: and for the record, neither actress was Chinese. Anime did
Speaker 1: lend a hand during the production. Here's Shirley Lamb. So
Speaker 1: there's actually this really interesting photograph of Anime Wong on
Speaker 1: the MGM set teaching a Chinese handshake. You're kidding? So
Speaker 1: that she ended up? Me? Boy, that's that's a sport.
Speaker 1: There were one, and she's not in the not in
Speaker 1: the movie. She's just essentially helping them portray an Asian person.
Speaker 1: To be clear, Hollywood was producing movies with Asian characters,
Speaker 1: some of them big lead even romantic characters, but the
Speaker 1: best of those roles weren't going to Asian actors. You
Speaker 1: may not know the name Warner Land. He was a
Speaker 1: Swedish actor and tens of millions went to the movies
Speaker 1: to see him as detective Charlie Chan hasty acquisition like
Speaker 1: long shot on horse race. Odds good, but chances doubtful.
Speaker 1: He also played the evil Foo Man Chew in Daughter
Speaker 1: of the Dragon in the twenty years, I have thought
Speaker 1: to live the thought of killing you and your son
Speaker 1: has been my dearest nurse. What's called yellow face was
Speaker 1: donned by him and many actors you probably have heard of,
Speaker 1: Mary Pickford, Edward g. Robinson, Peter Laurie, Marlon Brand, Marna Loyd,
Speaker 1: Rita Moreno. Even John Wayne wore yellow face when he
Speaker 1: played Genghis Khan. I share your taste in women, but
Speaker 1: not in blood. And here's Katherine Hepburn as a jade
Speaker 1: tan dragon seed. How can I Jim Missy when he
Speaker 1: was signed to kill I'll be Killed nineteen sixty ones
Speaker 1: Breakfast at Tiffany's, I Am Rod and otherwise beloved. Classic
Speaker 1: is marred by Mickey Rooney's yellow faced portrayal of Mr
Speaker 1: yuni Oshi all the time with disturbance, I cannot see.
Speaker 1: I got to get to my arrest. I'm a daughters.
Speaker 1: Don't be angry with dear little man. I won't do
Speaker 1: it again. The practice lasted well beyond then, but Back
Speaker 1: in the early nineteen thirties, Annime Wong was in a
Speaker 1: category of her own Chinese American yes, but a bona
Speaker 1: fide star. So when MGM decided to adapt pearl Les
Speaker 1: Bucks Pullitzer Prize winning novel The Good Earth, Anime Wong
Speaker 1: finally saw a role worthy of her talent. Everybody in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles knew that this was going to be the
Speaker 1: biggest movie ever two million dollars MGM Los Angeles's Desert
Speaker 1: Hills transformed into rice patties, and it was supposed to
Speaker 1: be made in a way that resonated with the American
Speaker 1: Depression era audiences, so a very sympathetic and positive betrayal
Speaker 1: of Chinese peasants. The film version of the family struggles
Speaker 1: of Wang Long and his wife O Lan was anticipated
Speaker 1: in much the same way that Gone with the Wind
Speaker 1: would be later in the decade, and the casting of
Speaker 1: the movie was a saga all its own. Early on
Speaker 1: in The Los Angeles Times hinted that Anna May Wong
Speaker 1: was a lock to play Olan. She would, of course,
Speaker 1: have to be cast opposite an Asian male to conform
Speaker 1: with the production code. Two years later, the paper reported
Speaker 1: the Good Earth compass now points very strongly towards anime
Speaker 1: Wong Here's actress Rosalind Chow again. I tried to look
Speaker 1: for her screen test for it, because legend has it
Speaker 1: that it was phenomenal. But then by the end of
Speaker 1: n four, gossip columnist Luella Parsons reported that Wong refused
Speaker 1: to make any more tests for Good Earth or any
Speaker 1: other pictures, just to prove she can look Chinese. As
Speaker 1: anime told Parsons, I know I look Chinese, and so
Speaker 1: does everyone else. Her fate was sealed when Austrian actor
Speaker 1: Paul Muni was cast as the male lead. Ultimately, Louise Reiner,
Speaker 1: who was born in Germany and raised in Austria, was
Speaker 1: as all On from all appearances, Ms Reiner is definitely
Speaker 1: set for the part of all On No use bucking
Speaker 1: up against a stone wall. Reiner was Hollywood's newest sensation.
Speaker 1: She was considered a great actress. But have I mentioned
Speaker 1: she was Austrian, a small cash, a kind you throw away.
Speaker 1: He is starving. When Paul Muni landed his role, he
Speaker 1: reportedly said, I'm about as Chinese as Herbert Hoover. My
Speaker 1: father knew years of famine, but he kept the land.
Speaker 1: I must keep it from my sons. Anime was invited
Speaker 1: to audition for the supporting role of Lotus, the younger
Speaker 1: second wife of Wanglong, but studio notes described the then
Speaker 1: thirty year old as quote a little disappointing as to looks.
Speaker 1: I have to sit here shutting if I start, they
Speaker 1: whisperon looked at me hatefully. That role went to actress
Speaker 1: Attilli Losh, strangely enough, another Austrian. This is a year's
Speaker 1: long saga, and Anime Wong, I mean, this is the
Speaker 1: brass ring. This is the thing that's gonna make her
Speaker 1: the star that she deserves to be. If you must
Speaker 1: be able to empathize with that absolutely From Anime Wong's
Speaker 1: point of view, it must have just been heartwrenching because
Speaker 1: at that point she wasn't an on genue anymore, and
Speaker 1: she had already made a name for herself. But that
Speaker 1: wasn't enough to overcome the ignorance and racism of that era.
Speaker 1: I guess. The movie opened to rave reviews in seven
Speaker 1: presented an Academy Award for the Best Performance of nine
Speaker 1: Working Good. Her Louise Reiner went on to win an
Speaker 1: Oscar for her performance. Had Anime Wong received one of
Speaker 1: the leading roles. She would probably still be a household
Speaker 1: name today. It was a crushing disappointment, but Anime Wong
Speaker 1: wasn't about to throw herself into the ocean. Now Here
Speaker 1: is the reason why I have been so interested in
Speaker 1: Anime Wong for so many years. So instead of crying,
Speaker 1: sitting on her ass, sulking, going woe is me, she
Speaker 1: made her first and only trip to China. Historian Shirley
Speaker 1: Limb is describing how Anime Wong responded after she wasn't
Speaker 1: cast in the Good Earth. She hides the cinema bographer
Speaker 1: and actually ends up making her own film about China,
Speaker 1: which is a Chinese American woman's perspective on China versus
Speaker 1: MGMs Hollywood Hollywood Chinese version of the Chinese peasant in
Speaker 1: her film about China, which she narrated, My first address
Speaker 1: in China was the Cafe hotel, where I'm greeted by
Speaker 1: relatives friends. Anime Wong learns Mandarin. She goes for a
Speaker 1: fitting for a traditional Chinese dress called the chung Sam,
Speaker 1: and the next stop is r Lookdong Chung, who takes
Speaker 1: a piece of string and it ties a knot for
Speaker 1: each measurement. Now how you can tell which not is whatnot?
Speaker 1: I know not. She's quippy, She's funny. The countryside is
Speaker 1: very much like the Philippines and parts of California, many
Speaker 1: palm trees, papayas, mangoes. Another as a Chinese, always believing
Speaker 1: planning something gives them something to eat. And she visits
Speaker 1: her father, who had moved to China after Anime's mother
Speaker 1: had died in a car accident. This is one of
Speaker 1: my favorite pictures of my father. He was so happy
Speaker 1: that day to be surrounded with his family from the
Speaker 1: West in the east. There's a lovely shot in the
Speaker 1: documentary where she sort of walks off into the sunset
Speaker 1: with her father. I like to compare it to Gone
Speaker 1: with the Wind with um, you know, Scarlet O'Hara and
Speaker 1: her father looking over the plantation fields at Tera with
Speaker 1: you know, the sun's setting. You can almost hear the
Speaker 1: music swell, yes, I hear it, I hear it. Although
Speaker 1: I've been to many many places in the world, this
Speaker 1: first and only trip I made to China was the
Speaker 1: most meaningful. But she wasn't received as warmly China as
Speaker 1: she may have hoped. At one banquet, she was publicly
Speaker 1: excoriated by a series of speakers for the image she
Speaker 1: had projected of Chinese womanhood. They made speeches that lasted
Speaker 1: for four hours. They all took turns berating me for
Speaker 1: the roles I played. Since I didn't speak Mandarin, I
Speaker 1: had to answer them in English. I told them that
Speaker 1: when a person is trying to get established in a profession,
Speaker 1: she can't choose parts. She has to take what is offered.
Speaker 1: I said I had come to China to learn, and
Speaker 1: that I hoped I would be able to interpret our
Speaker 1: country in a better life. It probably didn't help that
Speaker 1: she was single. From virtually the start of her career,
Speaker 1: she had been asked if and when she planned to
Speaker 1: get married. I try not to think of romance or marriage.
Speaker 1: If love comes to me, I shall take it to
Speaker 1: my family and see what they think. But I hope
Speaker 1: that it will not come for a long time. I
Speaker 1: hope that I shall make a great success first, that
Speaker 1: I shall have enjoyed my career and provided for my family.
Speaker 1: She was rumored to have had affairs, but she never
Speaker 1: did marry Lisa. She points out that any realistic prospects
Speaker 1: were complicated by those anti missigenation laws. If she follows
Speaker 1: the law, who's out there that's at her level. She
Speaker 1: could marry a Chinese man, right, and who's at her level?
Speaker 1: There are a few Chinese who are doing well, but
Speaker 1: not very many. I mean, so what are the other
Speaker 1: options then? Is she really going to marry a laundryman
Speaker 1: like her father? Is she going to marry somebody who
Speaker 1: washes dishes in a restaurant? So it's not like there
Speaker 1: were many sort of peer to peer people that she
Speaker 1: could marry within the Chinese community. But I think even
Speaker 1: beyond that, what would have been expected of her as
Speaker 1: a Chinese wife to live in conclusion, to not be
Speaker 1: seen on the street, to have a lot of children
Speaker 1: and babies, and that I don't think was going to
Speaker 1: be for her. Here's Amy Wong Martinez again. Can imagine
Speaker 1: her honey breakfast is ready. Her ability to have to
Speaker 1: strive for her career and make a career. I think
Speaker 1: that was more of a priority for her than finding
Speaker 1: true love or traditional marriage. When she returned to the US,
Speaker 1: she found better roles in b movies. Gee, I'm sure
Speaker 1: glad that's over, doctor Lyn. I don't know how you're
Speaker 1: doing here. I am checking like a general plugging an't
Speaker 1: even trembling. The first thing you've got to learn is
Speaker 1: not to let your hands tremble if you want to
Speaker 1: be a good surgeon. In the King of Chinatown, she
Speaker 1: plays a surgeon, a rarity for an actress of any
Speaker 1: race at the time. It's amazing. He's still alive. He
Speaker 1: had to live. Do you know him personally? No, he
Speaker 1: was just another emergency. And in Daughter of Shang Hi,
Speaker 1: a terrific movie, she and an FBI agent played by
Speaker 1: Korean American actor Philip On helped break up an illegal
Speaker 1: smuggling operation. Let the authorities handleistmas Quan. I've seen how
Speaker 1: the authorities handled things. Press great excitement and arrest is
Speaker 1: expected in a few days, and in a few days
Speaker 1: everything is forgotten until someone else is murdered. And despite
Speaker 1: her mixed experience in China, when Japan launched an attack
Speaker 1: on China in seven anime, Wong threw herself into fundraising
Speaker 1: on behalf of the beleaguered Chinese. She was quite political,
Speaker 1: what today we would call an activist, but at that
Speaker 1: time was pretty rare. When Japan invades China in the
Speaker 1: lead up to World War Two, the rest of the
Speaker 1: world really didn't care too much, but she cared, and
Speaker 1: the Chinese American community cared, and so she was one
Speaker 1: of the big fundraisers. She traveled all around the country
Speaker 1: raising money. Then after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
Speaker 1: in December of nine, China's plight became America's cause. Anime
Speaker 1: contributed her talents to propaganda films like Bombs Over Burma
Speaker 1: and The Lady from Chung King, where she played the
Speaker 1: part of the Chinese heroine Battle of the ruthless Japanese bow.
Speaker 1: You cannot kill. You cannot kill China. Not even a
Speaker 1: mini deaths could crush the soul of China. We shall
Speaker 1: live on until the enemy is driven back over scorched
Speaker 1: land and hurled into the sea. And she visited with
Speaker 1: American troops across the country. We had genuine American chop
Speaker 1: suey and the mess hall for lunch. Today. I nearly
Speaker 1: disrupted the service when I pulled out my chopsticks. During
Speaker 1: one wartime Christmas, she made a tour of air bases
Speaker 1: in Nebraska, and all the boys were so appreciate that
Speaker 1: it really did something to my moral too. Spent the
Speaker 1: time having mess with the boys and visiting sick cases
Speaker 1: in hospitals, and made a brief address in the camp theater.
Speaker 1: Two of the camps had large troops of colored soldiers,
Speaker 1: and they have their own canteen, theater and mess halls,
Speaker 1: at which basis I made a double tour. So when
Speaker 1: Madame Chang Kai Shack, the charismatic wife of Chinese nationalist
Speaker 1: leader Chang Kai Shack, came to Hollywood to raise money
Speaker 1: for the war effort, it seemed a no brainer that
Speaker 1: America's most famous Chinese American would be included in the
Speaker 1: star studded fundraiser. Huge throngs pack Hollywood's famous Bull to
Speaker 1: see and hear Madame Shan. On April four, a record
Speaker 1: crowd of thirty thousand gathered at the Hollywood Bowl. Henry
Speaker 1: Fonda and Spencer Tracy gave introductory remarks. Judy Garland, Rita Hayworth,
Speaker 1: Shirley Temple, and Ginger Rogers stood for the American and
Speaker 1: Chinese national anthems. Chinese American soldiers probably serve as guards
Speaker 1: of honor, and then Madam Chang delivered a forty five
Speaker 1: minute address pleading her country's case and thanking America for
Speaker 1: its leadership. We shall not permit aggression to raise its
Speaker 1: satanic hay and threaten men's greatest heritage, life, liberty, and
Speaker 1: the pursuit of happiness. Won't So what role was given
Speaker 1: to anime Wong? They didn't invite her, right, they didn't
Speaker 1: invite her. And this goes to sort of China's view
Speaker 1: of anime. So if you think of her, first her
Speaker 1: own family that could be proud of her for her accomplishments,
Speaker 1: but also a little embarrassed about her for the nudity
Speaker 1: in some of the roles she played in China, you
Speaker 1: have the same thing on a much larger scale. So
Speaker 1: people they were kind of proud of her, but at
Speaker 1: the same time they felt she was perpetuating negative stereotypes
Speaker 1: about Chinese women in particular. That must have been humiliating, humiliating, humiliating.
Speaker 1: She lays a lot of money for them, and I
Speaker 1: also sees I know she was very hard. My husband
Speaker 1: told me about that. This is Carol Wong again. She
Speaker 1: was married to Anim's late brother Richard for almost fifty years.
Speaker 1: She says he was very hard, but she said nothing
Speaker 1: he can do about that. But she had told your
Speaker 1: husband about being disappointed about the Hollywood bawl. Yes, he
Speaker 1: can see it too, you know what can he do?
Speaker 1: I guess it's comfortable each other. But she never let
Speaker 1: the bottle once more. Anime Wong soldiered on along her
Speaker 1: singular path. With the advent of television, anime Wong saw
Speaker 1: new opportunities. A lot of female film stars, as they
Speaker 1: got older in the nineteen fifties, began to participate in
Speaker 1: television shows as a way to recycle their acting careers
Speaker 1: um television in Hollywood. That was the way that she
Speaker 1: was able to still remain in the public eye. In
Speaker 1: one she starred in The Gallery of Madame Lute Song,
Speaker 1: making her the first Chinese American to star in a
Speaker 1: TV show. The show aired on the Earstwhile Dumont Television Network.
Speaker 1: No footage survives since the network's archive was dumped into
Speaker 1: the East River in the nineteen seventies, but the reviews survived,
Speaker 1: and they weren't pretty. One reads it is suspected that
Speaker 1: even if ms. Wong were given a sound script, she
Speaker 1: would still sound like an attractive Oriental girl who has
Speaker 1: been thoroughly americanized. That's a weird critique because you're basically
Speaker 1: saying why aren't you more foreign? That's sort of like, well,
Speaker 1: what do they even know about what it means to
Speaker 1: be Chinese? Margaret Show has some experience with those kinds
Speaker 1: of criticisms. She followed in Anime Wong's TV footsteps when
Speaker 1: she became the second Asian American woman and the first
Speaker 1: Korean American to headline a series when the sitcom All
Speaker 1: American Girl premiered on abcne so tell me about the
Speaker 1: reel you Okay? Well, for one thing, when I hear
Speaker 1: a joke, I don't do this, hey, I laughed more
Speaker 1: like this. In her case, she turned out to be
Speaker 1: too much of an All American Girl for some in
Speaker 1: the Korean American community. When I was doing All American Girl,
Speaker 1: it was very difficult because the Korean community in America
Speaker 1: had just been through the l A Riots, and so
Speaker 1: they were hyper concern, hyper aware of their public image.
Speaker 1: They wanted to really strictly control what was being said
Speaker 1: about them. And so when I came along as a
Speaker 1: very foul mouth comedian, as a woman, as um, you know,
Speaker 1: somebody who was talking about gay rights, somebody who was
Speaker 1: talking about sexuality, it really destroyed this sort of image
Speaker 1: of what Koreans had of themselves, and so it was
Speaker 1: very difficult to get their support. All American Girl was
Speaker 1: canceled after one season. Um, I don't know if you
Speaker 1: can reduce it to this, but when you did the sitcom,
Speaker 1: did you feel more pressure from the Korean side or
Speaker 1: more pressure from, let's call it the white American side.
Speaker 1: I think that I was just caught. Caught certainly describes
Speaker 1: Anam A Wong. It seems that when she wasn't too Chinese,
Speaker 1: she wasn't Chinese enough. Still, she kept on hustling for work.
Speaker 1: Now as a character actress. Here she is as China
Speaker 1: Mary in an episode of Wyatt earp. They have broken
Speaker 1: the law and they must be punished. They will be
Speaker 1: in my way. I cannot agree to that. Then find
Speaker 1: them yourself. By the nineteen fifties, she was well past
Speaker 1: her Hollywood prime, but she wasn't alone. She was part
Speaker 1: of a tight knit Chinese American community in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: Did your father play poker? Whether My dad used to
Speaker 1: go over and play poker. He was a teenager, you know,
Speaker 1: and he'd go over to the apartment in Santa Monica
Speaker 1: and they'd play poker, and they they drink Lisa Ce's
Speaker 1: grandparents and parents were friends with Anime Wong. My dad.
Speaker 1: When I called him the other day to say we
Speaker 1: were doing this, he was like, oh, yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: way used to go over there. And I'd say, well,
Speaker 1: you know what happened then, and said, oh, I don't know.
Speaker 1: We were drinking so much. I don't remember. It was
Speaker 1: a fun place for him, and he'd go over with
Speaker 1: his buddies and she always had room at the table
Speaker 1: and they play poker and get drunk. But Anime's health
Speaker 1: was beginning to falter. Letters she wrote to her dear friends.
Speaker 1: Carl van Beckton, the same man who had photographed her
Speaker 1: years before, and his wife, Vannia Maronoff, suggests she was
Speaker 1: suffering from liver disease, perhaps cirrhosis. My doctor insisted I
Speaker 1: come here to rest and continue treatments until a complete
Speaker 1: recovery is affected. He said, the eight pints of blood
Speaker 1: they poured into me at the hospital was just a
Speaker 1: temporary crutch to tide me over, and he wasn't going
Speaker 1: to dig me out of the grave again. They have
Speaker 1: done a great deal of thinking while laid up, and
Speaker 1: I'm going to overcome the habit of worrying all the
Speaker 1: time about things that are not worth the bother with
Speaker 1: best love always anime. She was in and out of
Speaker 1: hospitals during that decade, sometimes for lengthy days at a
Speaker 1: time when money was tight. The hospital and sanitarium expenses
Speaker 1: were pretty steep, so in between times, I'm still trying
Speaker 1: to dispose of a few pieces of good jewelry to
Speaker 1: pay off everything. Owing in her letters, she's increasingly introspective,
Speaker 1: even spiritual. Have you buy any chance read a book
Speaker 1: that came out last year, The Power of Positive Thinking.
Speaker 1: I have read it several times and find that it
Speaker 1: is a great help in many ways, especially reading oneself
Speaker 1: of nervous tensions and having the right attitude towards what
Speaker 1: appears to be colossal problems. At home, her youngest brother, Richard,
Speaker 1: Amy's father watched over her and fiercely guarded her privacy.
Speaker 1: My daddy actually was really one of the closest relatives
Speaker 1: to her and took care of her, especially in her
Speaker 1: later years. He had informations and stories and knowledge about her,
Speaker 1: but he never wanted to expose that because he was
Speaker 1: afraid that it would be taken the wrong way or
Speaker 1: used in the wrong light. Amy and her mother Carol,
Speaker 1: share some details of Anime's home life. Nobody know a
Speaker 1: lot of knitting, A lot of knitting, h Na, my husband.
Speaker 1: I'm still keeping. That's kind of a big deal to
Speaker 1: knit a sweater. And she obviously was a dial icon.
Speaker 1: So this sweater is a handmade knitted sweater. But we
Speaker 1: still have it. Have you worn it? Know? What color?
Speaker 1: Was a sweater that she met. Carol married Richard in
Speaker 1: and when their two daughters were born, they named them
Speaker 1: Anime Wong and Amy May Wong. Luckily I did escape
Speaker 1: the curse of possibly being April May Wong. Ineen sixty,
Speaker 1: Anname Wong played a supporting role in Portrait and Black
Speaker 1: with Lanta Turner. For these past few days, you've been
Speaker 1: acting rather strangely in what way I feel have been
Speaker 1: deliberately avoiding me, of course, not ms Kevin. I'm sorry
Speaker 1: if I gave you that impression. It was praised as
Speaker 1: a lovely comeback role, and she wrote to her friends
Speaker 1: with some exciting news. Dearest Fania and Carlos ross Hunter,
Speaker 1: the producer of Portrait and Black, told me he has
Speaker 1: just purchased film rights to Flower Drum Song and that
Speaker 1: I am to play one of the leads, but this
Speaker 1: will not go into production until February. Continue to keep
Speaker 1: well and happy and interestingly occupied, Bless you both love
Speaker 1: Anime hundred Media Miracle. Flowered Drum Song, The Rogers and
Speaker 1: Hammer's nine musical set in San Francisco's Chinatown. You can't
Speaker 1: have a new way You're living till you're living all
Speaker 1: the way on that Avenue would feature a predominantly Asian
Speaker 1: American cast. Here's Rosalind Chow again. The Flower Drum Song
Speaker 1: was another first. It was another landmark, much in the
Speaker 1: way that Joy Luck Club was a landmark and crazy
Speaker 1: rich Asians Chop Sue Chop Sue you and flower drums
Speaker 1: song in that song, Chop Suey. The fact that they
Speaker 1: rhyme nuclear war with Shasha bor welldr song and the
Speaker 1: fact that you remember that is even funnier to me.
Speaker 1: Those lyrics are fantastic, but we should point out if
Speaker 1: you didn't know this, you know one need a haul
Speaker 1: for father was African American, her mother was white. Ended
Speaker 1: up playing the role I always forget the name of
Speaker 1: the role, the antileon Anti Leon, and that role was
Speaker 1: going to be played by anime Wong Oh I didn't
Speaker 1: know that when Annime Wong died, or did she die
Speaker 1: or oh, oh my goodness, I had no idea. So
Speaker 1: she died just before she could have had this big break.
Speaker 1: Anime Wong died of a heart attack on February third,
Speaker 1: at the age of fifty six. Her New York Times
Speaker 1: habituary hailed her as one of the most unforgettable figures
Speaker 1: of Hollywood's greatest days. Again, Carol and Amy Wong. She
Speaker 1: was that a new code. My husband's he's gone to work.
Speaker 1: When he come home, he found passed on and she
Speaker 1: was reading the Squiret. She was in the scrap the
Speaker 1: when when she died. It's hard done to think what
Speaker 1: a great comeback that would have been for her. See,
Speaker 1: we're doing a great job on death. I wonder what
Speaker 1: she would have done had she lived past fifty six.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's so young. In the decades after she died,
Speaker 1: as a civil rights movement raised consciousness among Asian Americans,
Speaker 1: Anime Wong wasn't celebrated. Lisa se says she once again
Speaker 1: became a source of shame. I think she was blamed
Speaker 1: for a lot of the stereotypes that then continued to exist.
Speaker 1: These kind of iconic things that she had set up,
Speaker 1: you know, one the temptress and the other this sort
Speaker 1: of the dragon lady. And people saw her as the
Speaker 1: person who created those stereotypes. But today she's remembered as
Speaker 1: someone who boldly went where no one had before. She
Speaker 1: became a star without any role models. As a young girl,
Speaker 1: she sat in the balcony of a movie palace, looked
Speaker 1: at the silver screen and imagined a place for herself.
Speaker 1: I want to thank the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and
Speaker 1: the Walk of Fame Committee. In May two thousand nineteen,
Speaker 1: Lucy Lou became the second Asian American actress to have
Speaker 1: a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I truly
Speaker 1: feel humbled. In her remarks, Lou paid homage to the
Speaker 1: first Annime Wong so a hundred years ago. She was
Speaker 1: a pioneer. While enduring racism, marginalization, and exclusion, we could
Speaker 1: actually start our own little Chinatown right here, from silent
Speaker 1: pictures to the talkies on stage and then on TV.
Speaker 1: Through sheer force of will, charisma and talent, Anname Wong
Speaker 1: became a first and for an astonishingly long time. Wasn't
Speaker 1: only she did it? And she did it despite everything
Speaker 1: that was going on around her. I think in many
Speaker 1: ways it was a lonely life, but she also surrounded
Speaker 1: herself with wonderful friends. I think she paid a price
Speaker 1: in life and then in death, and now it's just
Speaker 1: nice to see this kind of acknowledgement and recognition for
Speaker 1: really what she accomplished. I certainly hope you enjoyed this Mobituary.
Speaker 1: May I ask you to please rate and review our podcast.
Speaker 1: You can also follow Mobituaries on Facebook and Instagram, and
Speaker 1: you can follow me on Twitter at Morocca. You can
Speaker 1: subscribe to Mobituaries wherever you get your podcasts. This episode
Speaker 1: of Mobituaries was produced by Ka Limb. Our team of
Speaker 1: producers also includes Megan Marcus and me Mo Rocca. It
Speaker 1: was edited by George posit Irak and engineered by Dan Dezula.
Speaker 1: Indispensable support from Gideon Evans, Genius Dineski, Sam Egan, Richard Roarer,
Speaker 1: and everyone at CBS News Radio. Special thanks to David
Speaker 1: Henry Wong, B. D Wong read Orvid All, Leslie Leong
Speaker 1: and the f Suie One Company, and to the great
Speaker 1: Jennifer Limb who voiced the words of anime Wong for us.
Speaker 1: Our theme music is written by Daniel Hart and as always,
Speaker 1: undying thanks to Rand Morrison and John Carp without whom
Speaker 1: Mobituaries couldn't live. Hi, It's mo. If you're enjoying Mobituary
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