From Another Time and a Bygone Era - Anna May Wong

[Randy W]

Anna May Wong, a Hollywood film star who had a trailblazing career, will be the first Asian American featured on U.S. currency. The U.S. Mint on Monday will begin producing quarters with her image. https://nyti.ms/3D8I7ck

from the NY Times on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/nytimes/photos/a.283559809998/10153015113574999

Anna May Wong Will Be the First Asian American on U.S. Currency
The film star had a trailblazing career, but also struggled to secure meaningful roles as an Asian American actress in Hollywood a century ago.

Wong, right, in “My China Film” (1936), which she directed and produced on her only trip to China.Credit...UCLA Film & Television Archive

Quote

 

“I would play hookey from school to watch the crews at work, though I knew I would get a whipping from my teacher, and later from my father, for it,” Wong is quoted as saying in the book “Perpetually Cool: The Many Lives of Anna May Wong,” by Anthony Chan. “I would worm my way through the crowd and get as close to the cameras as I dared. I’d stare and stare at these glamorous individuals, directors, cameramen, assistants and actors in greasepaint, who had come down into our section of town to make movies.”

Wong decided she wanted to act, and began playing background characters until her first leading role in “The Toll of the Sea” (1922) at age 17. But her career was stymied by the limited number of parts for Asian American actors and the stereotypes they often traded in. (Wong famously said that she had “died a thousand deaths” because she was killed in every film she acted in.)

 

 

[Randy W]

Hollywood’s first Chinese-American star today also becomes the first Asian-American to appear on the U.S. currency. Sixth Tone looks back at her trail-blazing career.

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/pfbid02qN6j9RQqUHU3i5HDWk5eU82mjbexHaLsf9eGxfQm6EeaMbqNCCR24Gy8M1jGLxxYl

https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1011462?source=daily_tones&fbclid=IwAR0UmFK58iHTR1LT7soL8WxJHG8XIQipekHTGx462GEnD5ZSLY3UxgaQBhM#:~:text=Anna May Wong,trail-blazing career.

Anna May Wong: A Life in Pictures
Hollywood’s first Chinese-American star today also becomes the first Asian-American to appear on the U.S. currency. Sixth Tone looks back at her trail-blazing career.

Anna May Wong wears an exotic costume and headdress, circa 1931. Above her is a projected shadow of a dragon. John Kobal Foundation via VCG

A reflection in a mirror shows Paramount photographer Otto Dyar taking a studio portrait of Anna May Wong, circa 1932. Otto Dyar/John Kobal Foundation via VCG

 

[Randy W]

Who Was Anna May Wong?

from Inside Edition

The face of Anna May Wong will soon be gracing the US quarter. But who was this Hollywood icon? Stony Brook University professor Shirley Jennifer Lim, author of “Anna May Wong: Performing the Modern,” told Inside Edition Digital, “Anna May Wong is one of the most charismatic, photogenic, and compelling actresses of the 20th century.” Lim said that the Chinese-American actress’ appearance on the quarter is “an incredible moment that has been really a long time building.”

 

[Randy W]

Lights, camera, action! The United States Mint was thrilled to be part of a unique event at the Paramount Theater at Paramount Pictures this weekend to celebrate the release of the Anna May Wong Quarter. Attendees viewed a special screening of Wong's classic film, Shanghai Express. Following the screening, United States Mint Director Ventris C. Gibson participated in a panel discussion with representatives from the Smithsonian, National Women's History Museum, Significant Productions, and Paramount Pictures. Panelists shared insights into the coin design as well as the honoree recommendation process. They also shared their personal experiences as change makers and leaders in their respective fields, communities, and organizations. #HerQuarter

from the United States Mint on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/UnitedStatesMint/posts/pfbid0HR93XjxWgwUZ7j6ASJufrYbFDrZSHsMny3uMX4AgGGFY7iYiVPtEmmAHcfciJZHel

 

[Randy W]

The National Archives at Riverside, in collaboration with the Chinese Historical Society and several California universities, digitized more than 2,200 Chinese Exclusion Act case files. These records are now accessible in our online Catalog.

Professors and students from California State University, San Bernardino, and the University of California, Riverside, joined the team when the project got underway in 2018. The National Archives at Riverside employees trained the student interns, resulting in the digitization of 56,507 documents using donated scanners. These records show the flow of Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans into and out of the country throughout the exclusion period. About ten percent of Riverside's Chinese Exclusion Act case files are now digitalized.

The digitized records, part of Record Group 85: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), are available in the National Archives online Catalog. Learn more on the National Archives News: http://ow.ly/TXBu50LGoek

Image: Certificate of Identity for Anna May Wong, 1924. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/5720287

from US National Archives on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/usnationalarchives/posts/pfbid02QSAzUZkQ5i1fyzaWgmK23kVritBsozsRBSyKbKYkLeUoPM2ehPLDDw15hgUsKAG9l

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/5720287?fbclid=IwAR248eeDYkBkNRf1VlbQgc7l8Fk2VR-Ph4akNsAZnA9c1vbHmRk4rem1K30

link to AnnaMayWong.pdf

Edited November 23, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Chicago
Movie star Anna May Wong, March 24, 1928.

[Randy W]

[Randy W]

Barbie introduces Anna May Wong doll

“A lot of Asian actors today are where they are because of the things she fought so hard for in Hollywood,” the actress’ niece, Anna Wong, said. “Her legacy is part of history.”

Trailblazing actress Anna May Wong is making her debut in the Barbie’s Inspiring Women series.

Wong, who is considered the first Chinese American actress in Hollywood, will be the first Asian American figure featured in the Mattel collection, which highlights notable women in history such as poet Dr. Maya Angelou, first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and artist Frida Kahlo.

The doll, released Monday, features her iconic blunt bangs, a red-and-gold dress adorned with a dragon, a sheer red cape and gold heels. It also comes with literature that talks about the actress' accomplishments.

from Weird Hollywood on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/WeirdHollywood/posts/pfbid0saCmDTqJF9ta3ETnMnfxiF7dDZogc5D2EqE2nSwspWMKTNVjUZfn2VdzWUDKKCozl

Edited September 24, 2023 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Actrices pre-Code Hollywood. ANNA MAY WONG
Wong Liu-tsong (Los Angeles, January 3, 1905 – Santa Monica, California, February 2, 1961) was a Chinese-American film actress. Granddaughter of Chinese immigrants and daughter of Wong Sam-sing and Lee Gon-toy, a humble family running a laundromat in Los Angeles, was called Anna May Wong from a young age by her parents so that she would better adapt to the country they lived in. His birth name was Liu-tsong.
Her first appearance was as an extra in The Red Lantern, in 1919, by Alla Nazimova, filmed in the Chinatown where Anna May was born. Always under the strict care of her father, who ordered her to be locked alone in a room between scenes if she was the only Asian on the set. Anna May, looking grown-up despite being a teenager, continued to shoot as a secondary schooler in films such as Dinty or Bits of Life, from 1920 and 1921. She also starred in the first Technicolor film in history, The Toll of the Sea, in which Anna May got her first leading role, which would be a novelty in the history of cinema: she was the first Asian actress to get it, as until then they were Caucasian actresses who, conveniently made up, made leading roles of Asians. She was a success, but her racial character made her for the rest of her career always relegated to minor secondary roles, many of them without credibility. Wong had the chance to prove he was good, and he did so in a groundbreaking film. This caught the attention of Douglas Fairbanks, who offered him a role in The Thief of Baghdad (Raoul Walsh, 1924). In 1928, fed up with everything, he decided to emigrate to Europe. I thought I could find more opportunities there, and I was right. He established in Berlin and starred in five British films, among them Piccadilly (Ewald André Dupont, 1929), his most memorable role. In 1931, he returned to Hollywood hired by Paramount, who promised him better roles than he had so far played in America. One of them was on the Shanghai Express (Josef von Sternberg, 1932), together with Marlene Dietrich.. The first stage of his film career concluded with Impact, in 1949, only succeeded by a few minor roles. In 1951 he tried his luck with television, in which it continued to appear throughout the 1950s. She had her own series in 1951, The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong, the first American series starring an Asian-born actress.
Her latest films, Portrait in Black and The Savage Innocents, both shot in 1959 and 1960, when Anna May was already affected by cirrhosis and alcoholism, failed.
She never got married; maybe because the law didn't allow Asians to have mixed marriages, since she related it to director Marshall Neilan. In 1961, Anna May Wong died of a heart attack, aged just fifty-six.

from Juan A. Eagler Stolen on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid02bABpWyiDy2xv1xDD2R1GWYFAgRdWMK9UxBTm2HZxihmJ3eiWv8tZXTdUu4v93KbNl&id=100000979492155

the post is in Italian from the Italian Wikipedia at https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_May_Wong#:~:text=Su primera aparición fue como,única asiática en el rodaje.

The above is a Google translation of the Wikipedia entry into English.

 

 

[Randy W]

[Randy W]

Anna May Wong

 

https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0hmaHg21DqRsxEdZToZpCXqcvkFvRHKpn1PYHHoHDDijXXvHbCKxQ4vZ7JasX34b6l&id=100064496240346&post_id=100064496240346_pfbid0hmaHg21DqRsxEdZToZpCXqcvkFvRHKpn1PYHHoHDDijXXvHbCKxQ4vZ7JasX34b6l&mibextid=Nif5oz

Edited January 8 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

[Randy W]

Wong Lew Song translates literally as "Frosted Yellow Willows" but has been interpreted as "Second-Daughter Yellow Butterfly." The girl's family gave her the English-language name Anna May. A third-generation American, she managed to have a substantial acting career during a deeply racist time when the taboo against miscegenation meant that Caucasian actresses were cast as "Oriental" women in lead parts opposite Caucasian leading men.   Since its publication in 1931, Wong had made known her desire to play O-lan in a film version of the book "The Good Earth", and as early as 1933, Los Angeles newspapers were touting Wong as the best choice for the part.  Nevertheless, the studio apparently never seriously considered Wong for the role because Paul Muni, an actor of European descent, was to play O-lan's husband, Wang Lung, and the Hays Code prohibited portraying miscegenation on camera (although both the characters were Chinese, the actors not being of the same race risked running afoul of the Code). The Chinese government also advised the studio against casting Wong in the role. The Chinese advisor to MGM commented: "Whenever she appears in a movie, the newspapers print her picture with the caption 'Anna May again loses face for China." According to Wong, she was instead offered the part of Lotus, a deceitful song girl who helps to destroy the family and seduces the family's oldest son. Wong refused the role, telling MGM head of production Irving Thalberg, "If you let me play O-lan, I will be very glad. But you're asking me—with Chinese blood—to do the only unsympathetic role in the picture featuring an all-American cast portraying Chinese characters."  The role Wong hoped for in the 1937 film went to Luise Rainer, who won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance. Wong's sister, Mary Liu Heung Wong, appeared in the film in the role of the Little Bride. MGM's refusal to consider Wong for this most high-profile of Chinese characters in U.S. film is remembered today as "one of the most notorious cases of casting discrimination in the 1930s." (IMDb/Wikipedia) Happy Birthday, Anna May Wong!