Anna May Wong

[cheiby11]

(profimedia.cz)

 

[cheiby11]

(myspace)

 

[justlooking]

this is such a great thread. very interesting. thank you

 

[lady stardust]

thx for the beautiful pics cheiby11
one pic of anna may from - ebay

 

[Luxury's Lap]

Trading cards, plus their reverse...

(ebay)

 

[Luxury's Lap]

Anna in 1931


(corbis, geh.org)

 

[Luxury's Lap]

Born-and-raised American Anna at the 1932 International Film Stars Christmas party...In one of the shots she's with Spanish film star Mara Alba and Swiss star Olga Baclanova.

(corbis)

 

[Luxury's Lap]

"Traditional"...

(ebay)

 

[Luxury's Lap]

"Modern"...

(ebay)

 

[Luxury's Lap]

"Traditional"....

(ebay)

 

[Luxury's Lap]

"Modern"....

(corbis)

 

[Luxury's Lap]

Beautiful...

(ebay)

 

[Luxury's Lap]

Original info from the back: "HAL ROACH Studio Publicity for a Chinese comedy going into production immediately. (ca. 1927)".

I'm not sure what movie this would have been for. This original and rare photo (ebay item #: 290045919455) started out at $9.99 yesterday afternoon, and is now $177.50 with almost six days left. ( Mind you this is not my auction....I just thought it was interesting...and I was a little "Go Anna!!" )

(ebay)

 

[justlooking]

how did she die? / what was her 'tragic end' ?

 

[Luxury's Lap]

how did she die? / what was her 'tragic end' ?

From imdb: Anna May Wong died of a massive heart attack on February 3, 1961, in Santa Monica, California after a long struggle against Laennec's cirrhosis, a disease of the liver. She was 56 years old.

I read a biography on her; the tragic part was because of the times she lived in, she was continuously type-cast. She never got married, mainly because the Asians that lived in the US were still under the mindset that actresses were on par with prostitutes. She had a lot of affairs with older white males, but they never would marry her because it was either illegal or the social stigma against it (One example was that a gentleman and her were going to go down to Mexico to get married, but then the studio heard about it and threaten to fire him, so he chickened out). She ended up alone, living in a house with her brother, with financial problems, and became an alchoholic. It was just a very sad lot in life, because it seemed like most of the public (especially in Europe) liked her, but the studios never really knew what to do with her. They either made her an evil "dragon-lady" or some tragic figure, and she almost always ended up dying at the end of the movie. She was torn between taking the few parts she could get, and trying to not keep playing into the Asian stereotype. Sorry to keep rambling on....I would like to say that she was just incredibly ahead of her time, but I'd like to extend that by saying she was even ahead of our time. Hollywood still has the standards and racial biases. There really aren't any other American actresses (of Asian descent) now that are even at her level of international fame, let alone surpass it. I mean, who do we have? Lucy Liu? She still had to play the "dragon-lady" in Ally McBeal and oddly enough, has a remake of "Charlie Chan" coming out next year... I guess now-a-days he won't be played by some Swedish guy (Warner Oland).

 

[Luxury's Lap]

Here's a fun example of her popularity - she did a movie in 1943 (Bombs Over Burma) and then didn't have another role until 1949 (Impact), but here she is on the cover of a Danish magazine in 1945.

(ebay)

 

[Luxury's Lap]

Anna in 1937, in a dress designed by Edith Head...included is the original details from the back of the photo.

(ebay)

 

[Luxury's Lap]

A few more photos...circa 1931.

(corbis, ebay, doctormacro.com)

 

[cheiby11]

great pics!!! thank you

 

[justlooking]

Thanks for your reply Luxury's_Lap
You've made me want to read her biography. Is there a really good one i should read? Which is the one you read?
That's very interesting what you wrote about Lucy Liu and how really, Hollywood is still and for a long time will still be euro-centric.
karma