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Anna May Wong
Wong Liu Tsong (January 3, 1905 – February 3, 1961), known professionally as Anna May Wong, was an American actress, considered the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood, as well as the first Chinese American actress to gain international recognition. Her varied career spanned silent film, sound film, television, stage, and radio. Born in Los Angeles to second-generation Taishanese Chinese American parents, Wong became engrossed in films and decided at the age of 11 that she would become an actress. Her first role was as an extra in the movie '' The Red Lantern'' (1919). During the silent film era, she acted in '' The Toll of the Sea'' (1922), one of the first films made in color, and in Douglas Fairbanks' '' The Thief of Bagdad'' (1924). Wong became a fashion icon and had achieved international stardom in 1924. Wong had been one of the first to embrace the flapper look. In 1934, the Mayfair Mannequin Society of New York voted her the "world's best dressed woman." In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wong (surname)
Wong is the Jyutping, Yale romanization of Cantonese, Yale and Hong Kong Government Cantonese Romanisation, Hong Kong Romanization of Chinese, romanization of the Chinese surnames Huang (surname), Huang () and Wang (surname), Wang (), two ubiquitous Chinese surnames; Wāng, Wang (), another common Chinese surname; and a host of other rare Chinese surnames, including Heng (surname), Heng (), Hong (Chinese surname), Hong (), Hong (Chinese surname), Hong (), and Hong (Chinese surname), Hong () Note that, while 汪 (Wang/Wung) could be distinguished by its Chinese tone, tone, 黃 (Wong/Huang) and 王 (Wong/Wang) are homophones in Cantonese language, Cantonese. To differentiate the two in conversation, 黃 (Wong/Huang) is customarily referred to by native Cantonese speakers as 黃色嘅黃 (Wong as in yellow), 黃河嘅黃 (Yellow River Wong), 黃金嘅黃 (yellow gold Wong), 大肚黃 (big belly Wong, as the character resembles a person with a big belly), or by native Mandarin speake ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piccadilly (film)
''Piccadilly'' is a 1929 British silent and sound drama film directed by E.A. Dupont, written by Arnold Bennett and starring Gilda Gray, Anna May Wong, and Jameson Thomas. The film was shot on location in London, produced by British International Pictures. This film initially was released as a silent in February 1929 but was largely ignored due to the general public's apathy to silent films. Due to the popularity of sound films, Wardour Films re-released the film in June of the same year for cinemas wired for sound. This version included a music score and sound effects by Harry Gordon, along with a five-minute sound prologue titled "Prologue to Piccadilly" that was added to the beginning of the film, featuring just two actors: Jameson Thomas who plays Valentine Wilmot in the film and John Longden as the man from China. The part-talkie was the version that was exhibited in the United States, released by Sono Art-World Wide Pictures in July 1929. The majority of people in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hays Code
The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the Hays Code, after Will H. Hays, president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) from 1922 to 1945. Under Hays's leadership, the MPPDA, later the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Motion Picture Association (MPA), adopted the Production Code in 1930 and began rigidly enforcing it in 1934. The Production Code spelled out acceptable and unacceptable content for motion pictures produced for a public audience in the United States. From 1934 to 1954, the code was closely associated with Joseph Breen, the administrator appointed by Hays to enforce the code in Hollywood. The film industry followed the guidelines set by the code well into the late 1950s, but it began to weaken, owing to the combin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Portrayal Of East Asians In American Film And Theater
Portrayals of East Asians in American film and theatre has been a subject of controversy. These portrayals have frequently reflected an ethnocentric perception of East Asians rather than realistic and authentic depictions of East Asian cultures, colors, customs, and behaviors. Yellowface, a form of theatrical makeup used by European-American performers to represent an East Asian person (similar to the practice of blackface used to represent African-American characters), continues to be used in film and theater. In the 21st century alone, '' Grindhouse'' (in a trailer parody of the Fu Manchu serials), '' Balls of Fury'', '' I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry'', '' Crank: High Voltage'', and '' Cloud Atlas'' all feature yellowface or non-East Asian actors as East Asian caricatures. Early East Asian American film actors Sessue Hayakawa The Japanese actor Sessue Hayakawa began appearing in films around 1914. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luise Rainer
Luise Rainer ( , ; 12 January 1910 – 30 December 2014) was a German-born film actress. She was the first thespian to win multiple Academy Awards, and the first to win back-to-back; at the time of her death, thirteen days shy of her 105th birthday, she was the longest-lived Oscar recipient (and the longest-lived female star from Classic Hollywood), a superlative that has not been exceeded, as of . Rainer started her acting career in Germany at age 16, under the tutelage of Austria's leading stage director, Max Reinhardt. Within a few years, she had become a distinguished Berlin stage actress with Reinhardt's Vienna theater ensemble. Critics highly praised the quality of her acting. After years of acting on stage and in films in Austria and Germany, she was discovered by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer talent scouts, who signed her to a three-year contract in Hollywood in 1935. A number of filmmakers predicted she might become another Greta Garbo, MGM's leading female star at the time. Her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Good Earth (film)
''The Good Earth'' is a 1937 American drama film about Chinese farmers who struggle to survive. It was adapted by Talbot Jennings, Tess Slesinger, and Claudine West from the 1932 play by Owen Davis and Donald Davis, which was in itself based on the 1931 novel of the same name by Nobel Prize-winning author Pearl S. Buck. The film was directed by Sidney Franklin, with uncredited contributions by Victor Fleming and Gustav Machaty. The film stars Paul Muni as Wang Lung. For her role as his wife O-Lan, Luise Rainer won an Academy Award for Best Actress. The film also won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Karl Freund. It was nominated for Best Director, Best Film Editing, and Best Picture. Its world premiere was at the elegant Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles. Plot In pre-World War I northern China, young farmer Wang Lung ( Paul Muni) marries O-Lan ( Luise Rainer), a slave at the Great House, the residence of the most powerful family in their villag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pearl S
A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle (mollusc), mantle) of a living Exoskeleton, shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carbonate (mainly aragonite or a mixture of aragonite and calcite) in minute crystalline form, which has deposited in concentric layers. More commercially valuable pearls are perfectly round and smooth, but many other shapes, known as baroque pearls, can occur. The finest quality of natural pearls have been highly valued as gemstones and objects of beauty for many centuries. Because of this, ''pearl'' has become a metaphor for something rare, fine, admirable, and valuable. The most valuable pearls occur spontaneously in the wild but are extremely rare. These wild pearls are referred to as ''natural'' pearls. ''Cultured'' or ''farmed'' pearls from Pinctada, pearl oysters and freshwater mussels make up the majority o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
O-Lan
O-Lan is a fictional character in Pearl S. Buck's 1931 novel '' The Good Earth''. For her portrayal of the character in the 1937 film adaptation, Luise Rainer won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Character biography She is a slave of the House of Hwang who gains her freedom when she marries the novel's protagonist, Wang Lung. They start a family in their small country town, and endure grueling times, including droughts, floods, and war. Wang Lung and O-Lan work hard to ensure their family's survival, and their persistence finally prevails when the land produces great riches. O-Lan is a skilled cook, having worked in the kitchens as a slave. When O-Lan first arrives at Wang Lung's house, she prepares a deliciously cooked meal. In response to Wang Lung's questions of her dexterity, she blandly replies, "I have been kitchen slave since I went into the House of Hwang. There were meats at every meal." Wang Lung received many compliments from his family and friends for O-Lan's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was founded on April 17, 1924, and has been owned by the Amazon MGM Studios subsidiary of Amazon (company), Amazon since 2022. MGM was formed by Marcus Loew by combining Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Pictures into one company. It hired a number of well-known actors as contract players—its slogan was "more stars than there are in heaven"—and soon became Hollywood's most prestigious filmmaking company, producing popular musical films and winning many Academy Awards. MGM also owned film studios, movie lots, movie theaters and technical production facilities. Its most prosperous era, from 1926 to 1959, was bracketed by two productions of ''Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daughter Of Shanghai
''Daughter of Shanghai'' is a 1937 American crime film directed by Robert Florey and starring Anna May Wong, Charles Bickford and Buster Crabbe. Unusually for the time, East Asian American actors played the lead roles. It was also one of the first films in which Anthony Quinn appeared. In 2006, ''Daughter of Shanghai'' was included in the annual selection of 25 motion pictures to be added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Plot A ruthless gang of people smugglers brings foreign nationals into the US illegally, and is prepared to drop their cargo from a plane to their deaths to avoid capture by the authorities. The gang tries to force Mr. Lang, a wealthy importer of Oriental antiques, to employ aliens or risk his business being wrecked. He refuses and contacts Lloyd Burkett of the Immigration Bureau. Mr. Lang and his daughter Lan Ying Lin set off to meet Burkett but are kidnapped. Mr. Lang is shot dead and their car is dumped in the harbour, but Lan Yi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Java Head (1934 Film)
''Java Head'' is a 1934 British historical drama film directed by J. Walter Ruben and an uncredited Thorold Dickinson. It stars Anna May Wong, Elizabeth Allan and Ralph Richardson. Plot The film is set mostly in the seaport of Bristol, England, in the years 1848–50. Captain Jeremy Ammidon is the founder of the shipping line Ammidon & Sons, and lives with his family in his house "Java Head", named after the promontory in Java, Indonesia. His elder, land-based son William runs the company day-to-day, and wants to upgrade the fleet from slow sailing ships to fast clippers and steamships, and to carry contraband, all against his father’s wishes. Captain Ammidon’s younger, seafaring, son Gerrit is friends with Nettie Vollar. Nettie secretly loves Gerrit but her strict and religious grandfather, who has had a 20-year quarrel with his old shipmate Captain Ammidon, disapproves of any deeper friendship between Nettie and Gerrit. Gerrit leaves on a commercial voyage and spends a ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shanghai Express (film)
''Shanghai Express'' is a 1932 American pre-Code film about a group of train passengers held hostage by a warlord during the Chinese Civil War. It was directed by Josef von Sternberg and stars Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook, Anna May Wong and Warner Oland. The screenplay was written by Jules Furthman based on a 1931 short story by Harry Hervey. ''Shanghai Express'' was the fourth of seven films that Sternberg and Dietrich created together. The film was released during the midst of the Great Depression. It was remade as '' Night Plane from Chungking'' (1943) and '' Peking Express'' (1951). Plot In 1931, China is embroiled in a civil war. Friends of British captain Donald "Doc" Harvey envy him because Shanghai Lily is traveling on the express train he is taking from Peiping to Shanghai. They tell him she is a "coaster", a "woman who lives by her wits along the China coast" (i.e., a prostitute). Lily is in fact his former lover Madeline. Five years earlier, she had played a t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
