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Anna May Wong
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movie & TV career of Anna May Wong
movie & TV career {cont'd}
| ![publicity photograph of Anna May Wong [1905-61] in yellow dress, with headdress](images/AnnaMayWong1949.jpg "publicity photograph of Anna May Wong [1905-61] in yellow dress, with headdress") |
Movie & Television Career {cont'd}
Anna May Wong credits [1919-61] at Internet Movie Database
Anna May Wong entry at Wikipedia
list of 'Anna May Wong on film & TV' at Wikipedia
search for DVDs on keywords 'Anna+May+Wong' {returns 50+ items} at Amazon
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Anna May Wong took a year-long tour of China in 1936 to visit her father (in Chang'an, Shaanxi Province in April) and to witness China's realities first-hand,
and maybe learn a little Mandarin; she chronicled her experiences on that tour as newsreel footage and in a series of articles in U.S. print media such as
the New York Herald Tribune, the Los Angeles Examiner, and the Los Angeles Times newspapers, and in Photoplay Magazine.
"Anna May Wong Visits Shanghai, China" silent newsreel footage [May 1936]
Chinese-American actress Anna May Wong visits Shanghai, China on 1 May 1936: stock footage shot for, but never used by, Hearst Metrotone News
watch silent footage [10/2017 upload; 8:22] online at YouTube
"My China Film" [1936] was produced & directed by Anna May Wong; no info found so far (6/2021)
shown two decades later on 14 February 1957 as episode "Native Land" of the ABC-TV series "Bold Journey" [1956-59]
series credits at IMDb •
series entry at Wikipedia
"Hollywood Party" Technicolor short [M.G.M. April 1937]
 | Technicolor comedy sound short unseen for 60 years until the Vitaphone soundtrack disc was rediscovered in 2000; with hosts Charley 'Chan' Chase & Elissa Landi • Produced by Louis Lewyn, Howard Dietz & Harry Rapf; co-produced & directed by Roy Rowland;
cinematography by James Wong Howe [1899-1976] & Aldo Ermini; featuring Anna May Wong, Leon Errol, Al Lyons and His Coconut Grove Orchestra, singers The Jones Boys, singer Joe Morrison, Ahern Sisters, Marcus Show Girls, tap dancer Dr. Jack Goode, Leon Janney, tap dancer Sunnie O'Dea, singer Betty Jane Rhodes; and cameos by Joe E. Brown, Clark Gable, Freddie Barthol-omew, Joan Bennett
full credits at IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia {empty} watch full movie [5/2020 upload; 20:50] online at YouTube |
"Daughter of Shanghai" [Paramount Pictures Dec 1937] /tt0028770/ 
watch full movie [3/2021 upload; 1:01:53] online at Internet Archive
"Dangerous to Know" [Paramount Pictures March 1938] Madame Lan Ying /tt0030039/
based on Edgar Wallace novel & successful Broadway run of stageplay starring AMW
watch full movie [2/2021 upload; 1:10:44] online at Internet Archive
"When Were You Born" [Warner Bros./First National Pictures June 1938]
 | tagline: 'The mysteries of the heavens disclosed . . .' • An astrology expert predicts the death within two days of a fellow ship's passenger; when he dies, the San Francisco police question her and she convinces them that using astrology will help solve the case . . . • Produced by Bryan Foy; directed by William C. McGann; original story and lecture on astro-logy by psychic Manly Palmer Hall [1901-90]; screenplay by Anthony Coldeway; starring Margaret Lindsay (Leo), Anna May Wong (Aquarius), Lola Lane (Cancer), Anthony Averill (Aries), Charles C. Wilson (Taurus), Jeffrey Lynn (Gemini), Eric Stanley (Virgo), James Stephenson (Libra), Leonard Mudie (Scorpio), Olin Howland (Sagittarius), Maurice Cass (Capricorn), Frank Jaquet (Pisces), Jack/Clayton Moore, Sidney Bracey, John Harron, Gordon Hart, Ben Hendricks Jr., Stuart Holmes, Carole Landis, Jack Mower, Spec O'Donnell, Paul Panzer, John Ridgely, Cliff Saum, Stanhope Wheatcroft, Jack Wise, Beal Wong
VHS/DVD/Blu-ray not available • full credits at IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia watch full b&w movie [5/2019 upload; 1:04:59] online at YouTube |
"King of Chinatown" [Paramount Pictures March 1939] /tt0031534/
starring Anna May Wong, Akim Tamiroff, J. Carrol Naish, Sidney Toler, Philip Ahn, Anthony Quinn
"Island of Lost Men" [Paramount Pictures Aug 1939] /tt0031497/
"Disputed Passage" [Paramount Pictures Oct 1939] /tt0031234/
Anna May Wong is uncredited as dialogue coach
"Meet The Stars #1: Chinese Garden Festival" documentary short
[Republic Pictures Dec 1940]
 | Chinese-themed charity event on 6 October 1940 to aid war-torn China hosted by Mary Pickford & Charles 'Buddy' Rogers at their Pickfair estate in Beverly Hills, California; 9-minute b&w short subject film produced, directed & hosted by Harriet Parsons; local news items named Rosalind Russell as Hollywood chairman of the China Aid Council managing a poolside fashion show with celebrity models including the Brewster Twins, Dorothy Lamour, Mary Healy, Patricia Morison, Gertrude Niesen & Anna May Wong; other attendees included Kay Aldridge, Barbara Jo Allen {as Vera Vague}, William Bakewell, Beulah Bondi, Georgia Carroll, Charles Coburn, Dolores del Rio, John Garfield, Rita Hayworth, Mary Beth Hughes, Mary Martin, Ona Munson, Cliff Nazarro, Maria Ouspenskaya, Walter Pidgeon, Cesar Romero, Tom Rutherford, Jane Withers • a nitrate print of this short survives in the U.C.L.A. Film & TV Archives, and is not listed for preservation • credits at IMDb |
"Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery" [Columbia Pictures March 1941]
| Sheila Cobb turns to Ellery Queen in desperation when her father disappears; and within half an hour, Ellery finds Gordon Cobb . . . but the solution doesn't get him very far, for Gordon Cobb is dead, his body concealed in his own wardrobe trunk in a luxurious penthouse. A fast-paced puzzler: elements include the body in the trunk, the vanishing jade necklace, smugglers, a ventriloquist, a magician, and a cardsharp • Produced by Larry Darmour; directed by James P. Hogan; screenplay by Eric Taylor, based a 1939 radio script by Ellery Queen (Frederic Dannay & Manfred Lee); starring Ralph Bellamy {as Ellery Queen}, Margaret Lindsay, Charley Grapewin {as Inspector Queen}, Anna May Wong, James Burke, Eduardo Ciannelli, Ann Doran, Frank Albertson, Noel Madison, Charles Lane, Russell Hicks, Tom Dugan, Mantan Moreland, Theodore von Eltz, Jimmy Aubrey, Edward Earle, George McKay, Honorable Wu, Jack Cheatham, Chester Gan, Chuck Hamilton, Eddie Kane, Richard Loo, Lee Phelps • not a lost film, but locked up until recently due to legal complications
VHS/DVD/Blu-ray not available • full credits at IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia watch full movie [8/2018 upload; 1:09:15] online at YouTube "Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery" novelization [1941] by unknown ghost-writer The movie was based on the December 1939 radio show "The Three Scratches"; the novelization by an unidentified ghost-writer was based on the movie script Literary Licensing, LLC 9x6 pb [10/2011] for $29.95 1968 mass paperback from Pyramid not found on Amazon (6/2021) Literary Licensing, LLC 9x6 hardcover [9/2011] for $44.95 Grosset & Dunlap 9½x5¾ hardcover [1941] long out of print/used |
"Bombs Over Burma" B-movie [Producers Releasing Corp. June 1942]
  | In 1942, Chinese guerrillas fighting for the Allied cause in Burma are helping to build a military supply road; the project is sabotaged by an English nobleman who is a German agent, by coordination of Japanese air attacks on supply trucks attempting to cross a key bridge; a Chinese school teacher reveals the schemes of the traitor, and brings about his destruc-tion at the hands of Chinese peasants armed with picks and shovels • Produced by Arthur Alexander, Leon Fromkess, Alfred Stern; co-written & directed by Joseph H. Lewis; based on a story by George Wellington Pardy; co-written by Milton Raison; starring Anna May Wong, Noel Madison, Leslie Denison, Nedrick Young, Dan Seymour, Frank Lackteen, Teala Loring/Judith Gibson, Dennis Moore, Connie Leon, Hayward Soo Hoo, Richard Loo, Paul Fung, Richard Wong
Alpha Video b&w DVD [6/2005] for $6.98 A.F.A. Ent. LLC b&w DVD [8/2016] for $9.95 full credits at IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia watch full movie - tinted [7/2019 upload; 1:05:24] online at Internet Archive watch full movie [10/2012 upload; 1:05:24] online at YouTube watch full movie - tinted [11/2017 upload; 1:05:24] online at YouTube watch low-res b&w full movie [4/2018 upload; 1:00:37] online at YouTube |
"Lady From Chungking" B-movie [Producers Releasing Corp. Dec 1942]
 | Chinese guerrillas fight against the occupying Japanese forces in World War II; a young woman is the secret leader of the villagers, whose mission to rescue two downed Flying Tigers pilots currently in the custody of the Japanese takes on even more importance with the arrival of a Japanese general, which signals a major offensive taking place in the area Produced by Arthur Alexander, Leon Fromkess, Alfred Stern; directed by William Nigh; written by Sam Robins & Milton Raison; starring Anna May Wong, Harold Huber, Mae Clarke, Rick Vallin, Paul Bryar, Ted Hecht, Ludwig Donath, James B. Leong, Archie Got, Walter Soo Hoo, Angelo Cruz Alpha Video b&w DVD [5/2005] for $6.98 A.F.A. Ent. LLC b&w DVD [8/2020] for $7.49 Classic WWII Movies b&w DVD-R [8/2016] for $12.99 full credits at IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia watch full movie [6/2013 upload; 1:08:29] online at YouTube watch full movie [2/2021 upload; 1:08:27] online at Internet Archive |
Anna May Wong donated her salary for both films to United China Relief.
Anna May Wong Double Feature on DVD [2011]
"Bombs Over Burma" [1942] and "Lady From Chungking" [1942]
Alpha Video b&w DVD set [7/2011] 2 disks for $10.98
six-year absence from filmmaking, 1943-1948
"Impact" [United Artists March 1949]
 | A San Francisco industrialist survives a murder attempt by his wife and her lover; dazed, he stumbles into a moving van bound for Idaho. During his recovery, he falls in love with a female auto mechanic, while plotting his return for revenge. But his return to San Francisco results in his arrest & trial for the murder of the lover • Directed by Arthur Lubin; starring Brian Donlevy, Ella Raines, Charles Coburn, Helen Walker, Anna May Wong, Robert Warwick, Art Baker, William Wright & Mae Marsh
Alpha Video b&w DVD [3/2003] for $7.98 Ventura Home Ent. b&w VHS [9/97] out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb • watch full movie [5/2011 upload; 1:50:57] online at Internet Archive |
"The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong" TV series
[DuMont Television Network Aug-Nov 1951]
 | Anna May Wong starred in a detective series that was written specifically for her, in which she played the title role (that used her birth name); her character was a dealer in Chinese art whose career involved her in detective work and international intrigue. The ten half-hour live episodes aired during prime time, from 9:00 to 9:30pm. Although there were plans for a second season, DuMont canceled the show in 1952; shown only in the New York City area; no copies of the show or its scripts are known to exist • Series directed by William Marceau
bare credits at IMDb • DuMont TV Network [1942-56] entry at Wikipedia |
Anna May Wong hosted one of the first U.S. documentaries on China narrated entirely by a Chinese-American; broadcast on 14 February 1957
as episode "Native Land" of the ABC-TV series "Bold Journey" [1956-59]; the program consisted of film footage from her 1936 trip to China
series credits at IMDb •
series entry at Wikipedia
"My China Film" [1936] was produced & directed by Anna May Wong; no info found so far (6/2021)
"The Letter" [Oct 1956] /tt0394852/ live-broadcast episode of the "Producers' Showcase" TV series [NBC-TV 1954-57]
"The Chinese Game" [Nov 1956] /tt0542625/ episode of the "Climax!" TV series [CBS-TV 1954-58]
"So That's Who It Was" [Feb 1958] /tt0760951/ episode of the "Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer" TV series [syndication 1958-59]
"The Deadly Tattoo" [May 1958] /tt0542631/ episode of the "Climax!" TV series [CBS-TV 1954-58]
"The Lady From South Chicago" [Nov 1959] /tt0505687/
episode of the "Adventures In Paradise" TV series [ABC-TV 1959-62]
"Mission To Manila" [Nov 1959] /tt0505649/
episode of the "Adventures In Paradise" TV series [ABC-TV 1959-62]
"China Mary" [March 1960] /tt0631770/
episode of "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" TV series [ABC-TV 1955-61]
"Today Show" TV series episode [broadcast 8 June 1960] /tt1143767/
"Portrait In Black" feature film [Universal Pictures June 1960] /tt0054197/
screenplay by Ivan Goff & Ben Roberts, based on their stageplay; starring Lana Turner, Anthony Quinn, Richard Basehart,
Sandra Dee, John Saxon, Ray Walston, Virginia Grey, Anna May Wong
http://www.amazon.com/Portrait-Black-Blu-ray-Lana-Turner/dp/B07P841BK8/
http://www.amazon.com/Portrait-Black-Lana-Turner/dp/B01LTHYN4Q/
http://www.amazon.com/Portrait-Black-VHS-Lana-Turner/dp/6304153163/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVUlJakFeBU trailer 1.08
"Hong Kong and Little Joe" [1960] /tt2056365/
episode of "The Barbara Stanwyck Show" TV series [NBC-TV 1960-61]
"Dragon By The Tail" [Jan 1961] /tt0518482/
episode of "The Barbara Stanwyck Show" TV series [NBC-TV 1960-61]
"Flower Drum Song" musical feature film [Universal Pictures Nov 1961] /tt0054885/
Anna May Wong was the original choice by "Flower Drum Song" producer Ross Hunter to portray Madame Liang and she wanted to do the film; but her sudden death at the age of 56
in February 1961 – just before filming was scheduled to begin – resulted in the part being given to non-Asian Juanita Hall, who had created the role on Broadway.
Vaudeville / Stage Career
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In early 1925 Anna May Wong joined a group of serial stars on a tour of the U.S. vaudeville circuits; when the tour proved to be a failure,
she and the rest of the group returned to Hollywood
 | "The Chalk Circle" is a classic Chinese stageplay from the Yuan Dynasty, circa 1300 C.E.; when James Laver [1899-1975] published his newly-translated version, London stage producer Basil Dean [1888-1978] bought the rights, specifically intending for Anna May Wong to star in it on the London stage; "The Circle of Chalk" opened in March 1929 at the New Theater on St. Martin's Lane, London W.C.; the play also starred the young Laurence Olivier & Australian actress Rose Quong "The Chalk Circle by Li Hsing-tao & Klabund" [1929] Translated by James Laver William Heinemann original hardcover [1929] long out of print/scarce |
appeared in "Springtime" stageplay in Vienna, Austria in 1929
 | "Tschun Tschi" operetta [Aug 1930] in Vienna, Austria Anna May Wong played the title role in the operetta "Tschun Tschi" at the Neues Wiener Schauspielhaus Volksoper [built 1898] in Vienna, Austria during the Summer of 1930; she performed in fluent German, opposite artistic director Jakob Feldhammer; the operetta was written by Gardener & Cliffords {no information found 4/2021} |
 | "On The Spot" Broadway stageplay [1930-31] The prestige and training that Anna May Wong gained during her years in Europe led to a starring role on Broadway in "On The Spot", a drama that she later filmed as "Dangerous To Know" [1938]; show ran for 167 performances, Oct 1930 to March 1931 at Schubert's Forrest Theatre; produced by Messrs. Shubert in association with Edgar Wallace & Lee Ephraim; written by Edgar Wallace; directed by Lee Ephraim & Carol Reed; opening night cast included Crane Wilbur {as the Tony Perelli/Capone char-acter}, John Gallaudet, Anna May Wong, George Drury Hart, John M. Kline, Mike Sullivan, John Adair, Glenda Farrell, Suezo Tckero, Arthur R. Vinton, Alan Ward, Jimmy McGrath, Jeanne Winters, Stanley Wood • Broadway credits |
 | Anna May Wong returned to Britain in 1932, appearing in four films – "Chu Chin Chow" [May 1934], "Tiger Bay" [Sept 1934], "Java Head" [Oct 1934], and "Limehouse Blues" [Dec 1934] – and touring Scotland and Ireland as part of a vaudeville show; she also appeared in the King George V Silver Jubilee program in 1935. |
took her from the U.S. to Europe and Australia through the 1930s and 1940s.
 | Anna May Wong visited Australia for more than three months in 1939; she was the star attraction in a vaudeville show entitled "Highlights From Hollywood" and performed twice daily at the Tivoli Theatre [1901-66] in Melbourne |
Wong acted in Edgar Wallace's stageplay "On The Spot" in a Kenley Players production in Deer Lake resort, Schuylkill County,
Pennsylvania in Summer 1940; John Kenley [1906-2009] was artistic director.
Other Media
AMW chronicled her experiences during her 1936 year-long tour of China as newsreel footage and in a series of articles in U.S. print media
such as the New York Herald Tribune, the Los Angeles Examiner, and the Los Angeles Times newspapers, and in Photoplay Magazine.
 | "New Chinese Recipes: Using Only Ingredients Easily Obtainable In Neighborhood Stores" [1942] by Fred Wing, Tested by Mabel Stegner, home economist; Preface by Anna May Wong one of the first English-language Chinese cookbooks; AMW's proceeds were dedicated to United China Relief Edelmuth Co. spiral-bound pb [1948] out of print/used |
  | 'Four Ladies of Hollywood' Gateway gazebo at intersection of Hollywood Blvd. and La Brea Avenue [Feb 1994] tribute to the women of the film industry; the stainless-steel statues depict Brooklynite actress Mae West, Afro-American actress Dorothy Dandridge, Hispanic actress Dolores Del Rio, and Chinese-American actress Anna May Wong; designed by film director Catherine Hardwicke, sculpted by Harl West, dedicated on 1 February 1994 |
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movie & stage actress Anna May Wong performed on radio several times, but only the one performance shows on the internet
 |
"The Campbell Playhouse: Pearl Buck's The Patriot" radio broadcast [14 April 1939]
BN Publishing MP-3 download of 12.67MB [9/2010] for 89¢ {sic} Orson Welles' radio episode runs 55 minutes & 16 seconds, with Nobel-laureate author Pearl S. Buck speaking at the end of the show; "The Patriot" is an emotional story about a Chinese man married to a Japanese woman while their countries are at war; it is a story of the emergence of China as a nation, telling of the people of China and Japan not only in relation to their battle over the ownership of China but in a gentler perspective of their mutual arts and virtues • The actors were: Edgar Barrier, Ray Collins, Margaret Curtis, Myron McCormick, Elliott Reid, Everett Sloane, and Anna May Wong {as Peony} listen to audio recording [7/2020 upload; 55:16] online at Internet Archive - choose #13 {may require different browser} |
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British composer Constant Lambert [1905-1951] was infatuated with the actress Anna May Wong after having seen her in films; he attended
AMW's London stageplay "The Circle of Chalk" on its opening night in March 1929 and subsequently composed "Eight Poems of Li Po",
which he dedicated to AMW.
 |
"Façades" music album on MP-3 & audio CD [2020] by William Walton & Constant Lambert SOMM Recordings audio CD [3/2020] 29 tracks for $18.89 SOMM Recordings MP-3 album download [5/2020] 29 tracks for $8.99 performances of the "Eight Poems of Li Po", sung by tenor James Geer, with piano by Ronald Woodley; the other pieces include Lambert's "The Façade Suites" (11 pieces for 4-hand piano) performed by Ronald Woodley & Andrew West, and a selection of songs by Walton |
Image Gallery
here on the actress Anna May Wong [1905-61] Pages at Magic Lantern Video & Book Store
back on Page 1: top of page • short profile • movie & TV career, silents to 1935 • friends & family • links
here on Page 2: top of page • movie & TV career, from 1936 • vaudeville /stage career • other media • image gallery
on Page 3: top of page • works about Anna May Wong
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