Anna May Wong

[Luxury's Lap]

Photos from "The Toll of the Sea"....

Her first major role came at the age of 17, the lead in "The Toll of the Sea" (1922). She played Lotus Flower in this adaptation of the opera "Madame Butterfly", which moved the action from Japan to China. "The Toll of the Sea" was the first feature film shot entirely in Technicolor's two-strip color process.


(25frames.org; cinematheque.bc.ca; history.ucsc.edu; lcsd.gov.hk; silentera.com)

 

[Luxury's Lap]

Her given name Wong Liu Tsong, which she also spelled Wong Lew Song, translates literally as "Second-Daughter Yellow Butterfly," but has been interpreted as "Frosted Yellow Willows." Her family gave her the English-language name Anna May.

(ebay)

 

[Luxury's Lap]

The 170 cm tall (5'7", although other sources cite her height as 5'4 ½") beauty was known to as the world's best-dressed women, and widely considered to have the loveliest hands the cinema.

(silentladies.com; doctormacro.com)

 

[Luxury's Lap]

Director Marshall Neilan cast the teenage Anna May in a bit part in his film "Dinty" (1920), then gave her her first credited role in the "Hop" sequence of "Bits of Life" (1921), the American movie industry's first anthology film. In "Hop," Wong played Toy Ling, the abused wife of Lon Chaney's character Chin Gow, which the Man of a Thousand Faces played in Chinese drag.

Attached is the photo of Anna with Lon Chaney in "Chinese drag".

(members.fortunecity.com)

 

[Luxury's Lap]

Photos from "The Theif of Bagdad"....

Her big breakthrough after her auspicious start with "The Toll of the Sea" finally came when Douglas Fairbanks cast her in a supporting role as a treacherous Mongol slave in his Middle Eastern/Arabian Nights extravaganza "The Thief of Bagdad" (1924). The $2 million blockbuster production made her known to critics and the movie-going public. For better or worse, a star, albeit of the stereotypical "Dragon Lady" type, was born.

(members.fortunecity.com; netropolisusa.biz; silentladies.com; wellesley.edu; ebay; aucegypt.edu; inside.cua.edu)

 

[Luxury's Lap]

She spoke both German and French so fluently that critics could hardly believe they were hearing her voice instead of a native actress. During her career, Wong taught herself to speak English, Chinese, French, German, and Italian.

(actress.shillpages.com; dramaticpublishing.com; npg.org.uk)

 

[Luxury's Lap]

Candid photo from 1928 with Dietrich and Riefenstahl....

European directors appreciated Wong's unique talents and beauty, and they used her in ways that the stereotype-minded Americans, hemmed in by American prejudice, would not or could not. Moving on to Germany to appear in German films, she became acquainted with German film personalities, including actress Marlene Dietrich and actress/filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl. She learned German and French and began to develop a continental European attitude and outlook. In Europe, she was welcomed as a star. According to her biographer Graham Russell Gao Hodges, Wong hobnobbed with "an intellectual elite that included princes, playwrights, artists and photographers who clamored to work with her."

(dirckhalstead.org)

 

[Luxury's Lap]

She made the German film "Schmutziges Geld" (aka "Song" in the UK; or "Show Life" or "Wasted Love") in 1928.

(lcsd.gov.hk)

 

[Luxury's Lap]

Wong was cast in E.A. Dupont's silent film "Piccadilly" (UK; 1929) as a maid who is fired from her job at a London nightclub after dancing on top of a table, then rehired as a dancer to infuse the club with exotic glamor.

(sunrisesilents.com; home.comcast.net; sfgate.com; wildviolet.net; starbulletin.com; theross.org; knerger.de; cinematheque.bc.ca; dukenews.duke.edu)

 

[Luxury's Lap]

More from "Piccadilly"...

(sunrisesilents.com; home.comcast.net; muse.jhu.edu; lcsd.gov.hk; bbc.co.uk; cyranos.ch; knerger.de; milestonefilms.com)

 

[MUXU]

she's not the most pretty or beautiful chinese woman
but i love her aura...that sense of mystery and allure

 

[Whitelinen]

Beautiful.

 

[Luxury's Lap]

she's not the most pretty or beautiful chinese woman

That's funny you should mention that....In 1937, Wong appeared on the cover of Look magazine's second issue, which labeled her "The World's Most Beautiful Chinese Girl" (I've been trying to find a pic of this). Ironically, that same year, Wong was rejected for the both the lead role and supporting role in "The Good Earth" because she (and other ethnic Chinese that auditioned) didn't fit the casting agent's concept of what Chinese people should look like. Two Austrian women, Luise Rainer and Tilly Losch, got the jobs instead (and I think Rainer won an Oscar for her role).

(ebay; hollywoodcelebrityphotographs.com; allposters.com; doctormacro.com)

 

[Luxury's Lap]

I think I found a picture of her cover from Look magazine. I think they could have used a better picture. Also, more of her magazine covers...

(silentladies.com; celebrity-pictures-world.com; ebay; moviestarmagazines.com; filmweeklymagazine.com)

 

[Luxury's Lap]

Here's the movie poster from "Piccadilly"...

(home.comcast.com)

 

[Luxury's Lap]

Her first talkie was 1930's "The Flame of Love," also known as "Hai-Tang". In a time before dubbing, when different versions of a single film were filmed in different languages, Wong played in the English, French, and German versions of the movie.

(ebay; rengvist.se)

 

[Luxury's Lap]

....


(ebay; imdb; doctormacro.com; silentladies.com)

 

[Luxury's Lap]

A feathered photo shoot...

(ebay; lts.brandeis.edu)

 

[Luxury's Lap]

Anna as a blonde vs. Myrna Loy in "Asian drag" for her lead role in "The Crimson City" (1928)

Despite her WASP looks and red hair, Loy in Chinese drag had become a major "Oriental" star in American flicks desiring an exotic element. This indignity may have been what pushed Wong to seek her future elsewhere other than Hollywood.


(filmbrain.typepad.com; silentladies.com)

 

[DosViolines]

Great thread!

Here are two images of Anna. The first one is from "Dangerous To Know" (1938)


doctormacro.com