the "dragon lady"... anna may wong
born in los angeles on jan 3, 1905...anna was born in the year of the dragon. (altho 1905 is a snake year, it did not change until feb 4, 1905....so it was still the year of the dragon at her birth). her parents were in the laundry business in china town. i had always heard the name, but never had ANY idea that she was the FIRST ASIAN AMERICAN actor in HOLLYWOOD! (gonna be searching netflix for her films!)
while sessue hayakawa was born in japan and struggled with the language issue, once the silent film era ended, anna may wong did not have THAT barrier to impede her career. she DID however, have to deal with anti miscegenation
laws that existed in california (until 1948!) which forbade mixed racial/ethnic relations! (altho i don't understand why sessue hayakawa WAS able to 'seduce' white women in his films....hmmmm...seems a wee bit sexist, eh?)
anyway, i am concurrently working on about 5 different new posts (which has been QUITE a feat for my rather scattered mind...) but i found this awesome clip about the infamous anna may wong, that i thought you might enjoy
until i am ready with the other ones.
besides, it's about time, for me to shine the light on a few WOMEN, ne?
the clip is from a t.v. show in china, (with a VERY clever 'sex in the city' "spin". )...about 35 seconds into the clip, a really wonderful mini bio on this truly fascinating woman begins. it's also quite timely, as my current discussions with sandra have been focused on china/hong kong and american/hollywood issues...and this clip talks about how anna was received WITHIN china.
filming. she was replaced by juaninta hall....a light skinned african american actress, who would oddly be best known in hollywood for 2 asian roles. (bloody mary in south pacific and auntie liang in FDS.)
