INDEX

Page numbers listed correspond to the print edition of this book. You can use your device’s search function to locate particular terms in the text.

Page numbers after 318 refer to endnotes.

abacus, 30–31
ABC
Bold Journey, 305
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, 307
Abercrombie & Fitch, 30
Academy Awards
The Good Earth, 180
The Great Ziegfeld, 178
The Letter, 305
Sadie Thompson, 297
Saving Face, 249
Shanghai Express, 166
The Story of Louis Pasteur, 178
The Way of All Flesh, 102
acid attacks on women, 249
Acker, Jean, 57
Acton, Harold, 234
Anna May’s introduction to, 234
Peonies and Ponies, 230–31
“adhesive tape actors,” 52
Adorée, Renée, Mr. Wu, 91, 93
Adventures in Paradise, 307
ageism, 293–98
Ahn, Philip
Daughter of Shanghai, 255, 257–58
Impact, 297, 298
King of Chinatown, 269
as precursor for gay actors, 260
Alaskan, The, 81, 82
Alexandra, Princess of Wales, 134
“alienation effect,” 223
“Alienation Effects in Chinese Acting” (Brecht), 222–23
Allan, Elizabeth, Java Head, 174
Amateur Gymnast (Edison), 34
“American housewife” image, 288
American mobsters, 249
American Mutoscope and Biograph
Chinese Rubbernecks, 32–33, 46
The Heathen Chinese and the Sunday School Teachers, 33, 46
Amour Maître des Choses, L’, 138–40
Ancelin, Robert, L’Amour Maître des Choses, 139, 140
Anderson, Judith, 304
Angel, 258–59
Angel Island, xiv, 185, 247–48, 335
Angelou, Maya, 316
Angelus Rosedale Cemetery, 311–14
Anna Christie, 138
“Anna May Wong and Charlie Chan (Warner Oland)” (Wang), 218
“Anna May Wong Ball,” 270
Anna May Wong Garden, 91
Anna May Wong Productions, The, 79, 81
Anti-Comintern Pact, 247
antimiscegenation laws, 61, 84
Apana, Chang (detective), 188, 215–16
See also Charlie Chan
Arabian Nights, The, 172
Arbuckle, Roscoe “Fatty”
and Rappe death, 69, 70
as top-earning actor, 69–70
vaudeville roots of, 86
Argus, The, 270
Argyle, Pearl, Chu Chin Chow, 172
Arlington, L. C., In Search of Old Peking, 236–37
Arnheim, Rudolf, Film as Art, 157
art deco, 157
“Art of Screen Passing, The” (Wang), 157–58
Asche, Oscar, Chu Chin Chow, 172
Asia
Anna May’s first experience in, 189
war in, 159
See also individual countries
Asian Americans
“passing for white” by, 109
during World War II, 281
See also Chinese Americans; Japanese Americans
Asians
Hollywood’s representation of, 61, 63–67, 81
Johnson-Reed Act on immigration, 78
stereotypes of, 156–57
See also individual films
Asia-Pacific region, post–World War I American influence in, 103
Assembly Bill 268, 37
Association of the Taishan District, 211, 212, 214
Astaire, Fred, 270
“At the Barricade,” 270
Auden, W. H., 194
Auntie Mame, 276
Australia
Anna May in, xiv, 267–70
attitude toward China in, 268

Babb, Sanora, 84
Babel and Babylon (Hansen), 44
Babelsberg, Germany, 101–2
Backhouse, Edmund, 234–35
Décadence Mandchoue, 235
as “The Hermit of Peking,” 234
Baker, Josephine
European tour of, 177
in exodus of nonwhite performers, 95
La Revue Nègre, 99–100
Ziegfeld Follies, 177
Balalaika (Maschwitz), 251, 252
Ballard, J. G., 194, 332
Ballin, Hugo, 297
Barbara Stanwyck Theatre, 308
Barbershop, The (Edison), 34
Barnum, P. T., 265
Barrymore, John, 71, 259
Barthelmess, Richard
Broken Blossoms, 52
and Nazimova, 53
Basinger, Jeanine, The Star Machine, 294
Baudelaire, Charles, 118
Beery, Noah
Dinty, 60
Lotus Blossom, 80
The Red Lantern, 54
Behind That Curtain (Biggers), 152
Behind That Curtain (film), 94
Belasco, David, Madame Butterfly, 63–64
Benjamin, Dora, 112, 114
Benjamin, Stefan, 114
Benjamin, Walter, 100, 101
Anna May’s meeting with, 111–15, 326, 327
death of, 115
“Gespräch mit Anne May Wong,” 112, 115
One-Way Street, 112–14
“The Work of Art in the Age of Its Reproducibility,” 111
Bennett, Arnold, Piccadilly, 125–26
Bergman, Ingrid, 286
Berlin
Anna May’s first impression of, 103–4
Anna May’s meeting with Benjamin in, 111–15
Anna May’s social life in, 106–7
café society of, 126
Chinese district in, 102
Kurfürstendamm in, 103
mass culture of, 99–100
post–World War I, 99–100
Berlin (Large), 101
Berlin Press Ball, 120–21, 162
Beverly Hills Script (Wagner), 159
Biggers, Earl Derr
Behind That Curtain, 152
Charlie Chan, 76, 150, 152
The House Without a Key, 85
successor to, 232
Big Nowhere, The (Ellroy), 89
Big Sleep, The, 292
Big Valley, The, 277
Binyon, Laurence, 124
Bioscope, The
on Hai-Tang, 140
on Piccadilly, 130
BIP (British International Pictures), 102, 138
Birdseye, Clarence, 146
Birth of a Nation, The (Griffith), 42–43, 51
Bits of Life, 61–62, 66
Bitter Tea of General Yen, The, 161
Black Camel, The, 275
blackface, 92–93, 135, 158, 173
Blackface, White Noise (Rogin), 92–93
Blacksmith Scene (Edison), 34
Blue Angel, The, 119–20, 161
Bogart, Humphrey, 206
Bogle, Donald, 158
Bold Journey, 305–6
Bombs over Burma, 271, 276–78
Bonanza, 277
Book of Tea, The (Okakura), 111, 113, 115
Bosman, Mozes Hartog, 213
Bosman, Robert Ho-tung, 212–14
Boston, 265–66
Bow, Clara, 67
Bowl of Rice parties, 267
Brady Bunch, The, 303
branding, 43
Brando, Marlon, Sayonara, 64
Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 309
Brecht, Bertolt
“Alienation Effects in Chinese Acting,” 222–23
The Caucasian Chalk Circle, 223
on Chinese costumes, 241
on Chinese theater, 223
The Good Woman of Setzuan, 223
Brice, Fanny, 267
Bridge on the River Kwai, The, 308
British Empire, 122
British International Pictures (BIP), 102, 138
Broken Blossoms, 51–53, 80
Brontë, Charlotte, Jane Eyre, 141
Brook, Clive
Shanghai Express, 164–66
as Sherlock Holmes, 169
Brooks, Louise, 102
brownface, 173
Browning, Todd
Drifting, 74–75
gravesite of, 312
Outside the Law, 59
Brownlow, Kevin
on melodrama and drama, 52
on movement for movement’s sake, 34
on Old San Francisco, 93–94
Brown v. Board of Education, 37
Brunel, Adrian, Elstree Calling, 141
Brynner, Yul, The King and I, 304
Buck, Pearl S.
The Good Earth, 177, 178
and Lin’s My Country and My People, 186
bullying, 38, 82
Bunker, Chang and Eng (Siamese Twins), xiii, xv, xvi, 14, 122, 216

Burbank, David, 312

Burgess, Betty, “Highlights from Hollywood,” 270

Burke, Thomas

Limehouse fiction by, 123, 124

“The Chink and the Child,” 51, 52

Burma, 277, 278

Byron, Robert, 234, 235

café society, 126
Cain, James, 46
Caldecott, Andrew, 214
California
antimiscegenation laws, 61
internment of Japanese, 274, 276
laws and ordinances targeting Chinese, 15–16
mood in, at start of World War II, 272
public education law, 36–37
race riots of 1870s and 1880s, 16
Southern, See Southern California
during World War II, 273–74
See also individual cities
California Street School, 36, 321
Calle de los Negros, 15
Calles, Guillermo, 81
Canton, 216, 242, 263
Cao Shanyun, 214
Capellani, Albert, The Red Lantern, 53
Capone, Al, 146, 147, 185
Capra, Frank, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 233–34
Carradine, David, Kung Fu, 91
Casablanca, 206, 257
cash drawers, in Chinese laundries, 30
“casting couch,” 46
Cathay Hotel (Shanghai), 199, 242, 263
Caucasian Chalk Circle, The, 223
Cavell, Stanley, 33
“C.C.C. (Curious Chinese child),” 47
censorship
in China, 179
German, of The Blue Angel, 161
Hays as czar of, 70
pre-Code guidelines, 91–92
as roadblock to Anna May’s career, 81–82
Central Street School, 36
Chan, Anthony, Perpetually Good, 169
Chandler, Raymond, 46
Chaney, Lon
Bits of Life, 61
Chinese characters played by, xv, 61
The Hunchback of Notre Dame, 61
Mr. Wu, 61, 91–93
Outside the Law, 59–60
The Phantom of the Opera, 61
Shadow, 107
Shadows, 61
Chang, Patty, 327
Chang, T. K., 261, 267
Chang On, 211, 212, 216–17, 248
Chao Yang Buwei, How to Cook and Eat in Chinese, 290
Chaplin, Charlie
Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, 90
The Great Dictator, 137
in Hong Kong, 214
impact of talkies on, 137–38
Modern Times, 34, 221
popularity of, 70
United Artists founded by, 74
vaudeville roots of, 86
Charlie Chan, xiii, xvi, 23
actors playing, 61, 94, 152–53, 269
actors playing sidekick of, 275
Behind That Curtain, 152
The Black Camel, 275
characteristics of, 150
Chinese knockoff films, 226–27
The Chinese Parrot, 76, 94
and Fu Manchu, 150, 152
Honolulu setting for, 187, 188
Kung Fu, 91
on maybes, 62
Oland as, 61, 93, 217–18, 226–27
role of, 85
on the truth, 282
and xenophobia, 125
Charlie Chan Carries On, 152–53
Charlie Chan in Egypt, 158
Charlie Chan in Shanghai, 217–18, 222
Charlie’s Angels, 157
Cheat, The, 81
Chen, Doris, 268
Cheng, Anne Anlin, 128
Cheng Yanqiu, 240, 263
Chiang Kai-shek
dike openings ordered by, 262
internal opposition to, 194
kidnapping of, 200
and martial law in Taiwan, 310
19th Route Army’s defiance of, 221
religious conversion of, 282
Chiang Kai-shek, Madame, See Soong, Mayling
China
Anna May on, 160–61
Anna May’s voyage to, 185–91
Australia’s attitude toward, 268
Benjamin on, 113
British curiosity about, 122–25
city streets in, 205
colors in, 68
fall of Port Arthur, 8
film/movie industry in, 106, 224
government’s reception of Anna May in, 227–28
after Great Leap Forward, 309, 310
Hollywood influenced by, 179
and Hong Kong, 210
ideal of feminine beauty in, 186–87
infighting in, 106
Japan’s military aggression in, 159–60, 221, 231, 255–57, 262
looting of Summer Palace in, 124
and Madame Chiang Kai-shek’s America visit, 281–87
map of, 182–83
May Fourth Movement in, 103
Pearl River Delta, 215–16
popularity of American films in, 178–79
protests/boycotts of Japanese goods in, 221
rallying support for, 270
Red Army in, 193–94, 200
reviews of Anna May’s work in, 178–79
Russell on problems in, 133–34
Sino-Japanese War, 278
“spirit walls” in, 205
traditional acting in, 223
wartime aid to, 261–63, 266–68, 279, 280, 287, 288
Western modernism influenced by, 223–24
Willkie’s goodwill tour in, 282–84
Wong family’s return to, 180, 185–86
in World War II, 268, 280–83
See also specific cities
China City, 261
China Doll, 157
China Express and Telegraph, 124–25
China Mystique, The (Leong), 25
China Press, The, 195, 231
China to Me (Fritz), 207, 208
Chinatown (film), 32, 33
Chinatown, London, 123, 125, 128–29
Chinatown, Los Angeles
Christian missions in, 39–40
closeness of community in, 18
destruction of, 180–81, 261–64
distinctive look of, 19
exotic atmosphere of, 46
films made in, 46–47
as frequent destination for Anna May, 306
history of, 14–20
holidays and rituals in, 19
housing standards in, 18–19
Howe’s time in, 82
infrastructure of, 19
Japanese-owned businesses in, 275
living on outskirts of, 25
Marchessault Street, 12, 19
mission schools in, 38–40
Riis’s portrayal of life in, 13
routine of daily life in, 30–40
safety zone of, 2
as safe zone, 29
Shanghai Express extras from, 162–63
wartime aid to China from, 262–63
Chinatown, San Francisco, 16, 275, 298
Chinatowns (in general)
in America’s national consciousness, xiv, 46
Chinese laundries as, 21
exploited in films, 46–47
Japanese-owned businesses in, 275
Riis on, 12
Chinese
differences between Japanese and, 190, 274–75
Japanese movie parts played by, 275
overseas, spiritual home for, 216
Chinese actors in movies
availability of parts for, 85
as extras, 54–55, 162–63, 180
skin color in Technicolor films, 67
See also individual actors
Chinese American identity, 79, 101
Chinese Americans
and cast of The Good Earth, 180
wartime aid to China from, 262–63, 267–68
during World War II, 274
Chinese characters in movies
Anna May on, 211–12
film portrayals of, 51, 196
Oland’s portrayal of, 93
whites playing, 52, 85, 109, 163; See also yellowface
See also individual characters; individual movies
Chinese Children’s School, 39
Chinese Cookery in the Home Kitchen (Nolton), 289
Chinese dramas, 204
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, 17, 19–20, 33, 247, 281, 284
Chinese immigrants
at Angel Island, xiv, 185, 247–48, 335
in Australia, 268
Chang On’s slot system for, 248
surname- or region-based associations/societies of, 24–25
Chinese in America
as agents of change, 18
Chinese American identity, 79
in early Los Angeles, 14–15; See also history of Los Angeles
films made by, 79–80
formal photos of, 26
laundry businesses of, See Chinese laundry(ies)
media portrayals of, 28–35
population decline from 1880 to 1920, 19–20
production companies of, 79–81
public perception/stereotypes of, 17, 27–28
Riis on, 12, 13
school segregation for, 36–37
violence against, 2, 8, 15–18, 38
See also specific individuals
Chinese laundry(-ies), 4–5, 21–25
abacus use in, 30–31
cash drawers in, 30
in cities, 23–24
counters in, 30
in cultural landscape of America, 21
double-entendres surrounding, 32
hiring and partnering in, 24
laundry tickets from, 31
in Los Angeles, 14–15, 24
in mining camps, 23
“No Laundries in China,” 21–23
origin of, 23–24
racism tied to, 29
sprinkling clothes for ironing in, 31–32
store signs, 29–30
ties between Hollywood and, 28–35
of the Wong family, See Wong Laundry
Chinese Laundry Scene (Edison), 32
Chinese Lily, The, 51
Chinese Massacre of 1871, 16–18
Chinese Museum (Boston), 265–66
Chinese names, 266
Chinese New Year, 185
Chinese Parrot, The, 76, 91, 94
Chinese Procession, 46
Chinese Question, The (Ngai), 268
Chinese restaurants
in Berlin, 102, 106
fortune cookies in, 275
in Honolulu, 188
in Los Angeles, 302, 306–7
on Marchessault Street, 19
in Peking, 236
in Shanghai, 202
See also specific restaurants
Chinese Rubbernecks (American Mutoscope and Biograph), 32–33, 46
Chinese Shaving Scene, 46
Chinese zodiac, 7, 319
“Chink and the Child, The” (Burke), 51, 52
Chongzhen, Emperor, 234
Chu Chin Chow (Asche; comic operetta), 172
Chu Chin Chow (film), 172–73
Chun Chick, 15
Chung, Margaret, 261, 269
Chun-Jien Pao, 266
Churchill, Winston, 272
Ciano, Edda, 199–200
Ciano, Galeazzo, 199–200
Cinematograph Films Act, 125, 327
cinematography
The Birth of a Nation, 42, 43
of Brecht, 223
in Chinese films, 224
color, 66–68
early stage of, 33–34
of Howe, 82–83
Piccadilly, 126
representations of reality in, 157
superposition, 279
Cinémonde, 140
Circle of Chalk, The, 131–36
citizenship
of Anna May, 248
Chinese as agents of change for, 18
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, 17
and foreign miners’ license tax, 16
City of Dim Faces, 51
Cixi, Empress Dowager, 239
Clansman, The (Dixon), 42
Close Up, 130
close-up shots, 43
coiffure chinoise, 125
color films, 66
racial differences represented in, 67
Technicolor technology, 66–67
Columbia Pictures Screen Snapshots series, 83
Condit, Ira M., 38
Confucianism, 38
Confucius, xv, xvi
Connolly, Walter, The Good Earth, 180
conspicuous consumption, 70
“Conversation with Anne May Wong” (Benjamin), 112, 115
Cook at Home in Chinese (Low), 289–90
Coolidge, Calvin, 78
Cosmic Production Company, 86–88
counters, in Chinese laundries, 30
Court Jester, 304
COVID-19 pandemic, 54, 312
Cowles, Gardner, 282–84
Crawford, Joan, 294
Creeley, Robert, 306
Creighton, Forrest B., 79, 81
Cubic Air Ordinance, 16
Cucaracha, La, 67
“Cultural Ambassador of China,” 125
cultural landscape of America
Chinese laundries in, 21
Hollywood’s sway in, 43–44; See also Hollywood
mythic origin story in, 92
racial mimicry/masquerade in, 92–93
rejection of melting-pot concept, 78
in Roaring Twenties, 70
Curse of Quon Gwon, The, 80

Dancing Chinamen—Marionettes (Edison), 32
Danger in the Pacific, 276
Dangerous to Know, 269
Daughter of Fu Manchu, The (Rohmer), 150
Daughter of Shanghai, 255, 257–58
Daughter of the Dragon, 124, 142–43, 150–51, 153–57, 167, 249
Davis, Bette
and ageism/sexism in Hollywood, 294
The Letter, 275, 304
Davis, Mildred, 57
Davis, Nancy, 57
Day of the Locust, The (West), 45
de Acosta, Mercedes
Dietrich and, 259
Here Lies the Heart, 259
Dean, Basil
on Anna May’s vocal quality, 135
The Circle of Chalk, 132–33
Java Head, 173–74
Dean, Priscilla, Outside the Law, 59
Deane-Tanner, William Cunningham, 70
Décadence Mandchoue (Backhouse), 235
del Rio, Dolores, rumors of Anna May’s liaison with, 164, 259
DeMille, Cecil B.
The Cheat, 81
Male and Female, 82
Sunset Boulevard, 296
Swanson’s relationship with, 297
Démolition d’un Mur (Falling Wall), 33–34
Denver race riot (1880), 16
De Steiner, Baroness, 199–200
Destination Peking (French), 232–33
Dial M for Murder, 292
Diamond Drill, The, 226
Dickens, Charles, 205
Dickinson, Emily, 265–66
Didion, Joan, 162
Dietrich, Marlene
and ageism/sexism in Hollywood, 295
Anna May’s friendship with, 163–64, 258–59
Berlin hangout of, 103
at Berlin Press Ball, 121
The Blue Angel, 119–20, 161
as cabaret artist, 295
as “foreign” sexual sophisticate, 57
global stardom of, 102
insurance on legs of, 165
move to America by, 141, 161
new womanhood in Germany defined by, 120–21
rumors of Anna May’s liaisons with, 259
sexual orientation of, 163–64
Shanghai Express, 160, 162–67
Stage Fright, 295
Sternberg’s introduction to, 94, 199
USO tours of, 287
Witness for the Prosecution, 295
Dingjun Mountain, 224
Dinty, 60
Dion, Celine, 176
Dirty Money (Vollmöller), 94–95, 108
disfigurement of Anna May, threat of, 249
Disney, Walt, 146
Dixon, Thomas W., The Clansman, 42
Doerr, Conrad
and Anna May on Piccadilly, 303
on Anna May’s fear of not returning to work, 299
on Anna May’s inebriation, 300
on Anna May’s love for cooking, 306
on Anna May’s physical decline, 308
desk given to, 304
Donlevy, Brian, Impact, 297
Dootson, Kirsty Sinclair, 67
Dorn, Frank “Pinkie,” 235
Anna May’s relationship with, 235–38
cookbook of, 290
The Forbidden City, 236
Forbidden City research of, 236
Forest Twilight, 236
household staff of, 235
in World War II, 263, 277, 278
“double jeopardy” for female stars, 293–95
Douglas, Melvyn, 259
Doyle, Arthur Conan, 169
Dr. Fu Manchu, See Fu Manchu
“dragon lady,” xiv, 156–57
Dragon’s Den, 302, 306–7
drama, melodrama vs., 52
“Dream Factory, The,” xiv, 45, 46
Drifting, 74–75
Drifting Flowers of the Sea and Other Poems (Hartmann), 76
Dumont Network, 299–300
Du Pac, Madame, 199–200
Dupont, E. A., Piccadilly, 125–26
Dust Bowl, 145, 177
Dylan, Bob, 58

Edison, Thomas
Amateur Gymnast, 34
The Barbershop, 34
Blacksmith Scene, 34
Chinese Laundry Scene, 32
Dancing Chinamen—Marionettes, 32
Fun in a Chinese Laundry, 34
Record of a Sneeze, 34
education, racism in, 36–40
Edward VIII, 242
Ehrenburg, Ilya, 99
Eichberg, Richard
British International Pictures deal with, 102
Dirty Money, 94–95
global stardom of, 102
Song, 107
tone of films made by, 103
8-Uhr-Abendblatt, 110
8080 Club, 56, 57, 59
Eisenstaedt, Alfred, 120, 121, 162
Elizalde, Joaquin, 215
Elizalde, Manolo, 215
Elliott, Alfred, 274
Ellroy, James
The Big Nowhere, 89
on Los Angeles, 292
El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula, 14
Elstree Calling, 141
Elstree Studios, 138
Embassy Club (London), 176
Embattled Dreams (Starr), 292
Engstrom, W. E., 250–51
Ephraim, Lee, 147–48
Esmond, Jull, 258
Essanay Studio, 87, 296
Etablissements Jacques Haik, 138
eugenics, 108
extortion threats, 249–51
extras
for The Good Earth, 180
needed in film industry, 47, 51
for The Red Lantern, 54–55
for Shanghai Express, 162–63
during World War II, 275

Fairbank, John King, 236
Fairbanks, Douglas
Columbia Pictures Screen Snapshots series, 83
early career of, 74
Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, 90
Pickfair residence of, 71
tennis popularized by, 72
theater roots of, 86
The Thief of Bagdad, 73–77
United Artists founded by, 74
Fairbanks, Douglas, Jr., 259
Falling Wall (Démolition d’un Mur), 33–34
“Famous Players in Famous Plays,” 32, 43
Famous Players–Lasky, 297
Farewell to Manzanar, 276
fascism, 141, 231, 247
Father Knows Best, 288, 292
Faulkner, William, 252, 253
Fetchit, Stepin
characters played by, 158
Charlie Chan in Egypt, 158
Fiji, measles epidemic in, 26
Film as Art (Arnheim), 157
Film Daily, 66
Film-Kurier, 109, 118, 326
film/movie industry
appeal of nickelodeons, 44
backbreaking work in, 34–35
boom days of, 253
in China, 106, 224
double-entendres surrounding Chinese laundries in, 32
early stage of cinema in, 33–34
exploitation of Chinatowns in, 46–47
extras in, 47, 51, 275
fantasy of modern woman in, 119
in Germany, 101–2
during Great Depression, 168
impact of talkies on, 137–38
move to talkies in, 135
and move to television, 299
Patent Trust, 41
picture palaces, 44
post–World War II, 292–93
props lent to, 47
respectability of, 41
salaries in, 43
Technicolor in, 66–67
ties between Chinese laundries and, 28–35
during World War II, 275–80
See also Hollywood; individual films
Fitts, Burton, 249
Fitzgerald, F. Scott
on conspicuous consumption, 70
The Great Gatsby, 75, 202
Pat Hobby Stories, 300
Flame of Love, The, 138
Flower Drum Song, 262, 308–10
Flower of Freedom, The, 225
Flower Street, Los Angeles, 25
Flying Tigers, 278–79
Fonda, Henry, 164
Fong See, 25
Fonte, John, 46
Foote, E. J., 249
Forbidden City, The (Dorn), 236
Forde, Walter, Chu Chin Chow, 172
Foreign Miners’ Tax, 16, 23
Forest Lawn Cemetery, 311–12
Forest Twilight (Dorn), 236
Fortieth Door, The, 81
Fox
Charlie Chan Carries On, 152–53
earnings and market share of, 69
during Great Depression, 168
Fox, Virginia, 57
France
Anna May’s work in, 117
Chinese laborers in, 102
in World War II, 266, 270
Franco, Francisco, 247
French, Paul
Destination Peking, 232–33
on the Grand Hotel, 232
Fritz, Bernardine Szold, 206–8
Anna May’s letters of introduction from, 234
Mei’s sponsorship by, 222
shopping for Anna May’s silk, 241
Fritz, Chester, 206
Fu Manchu, 150–51
and Charlie Chan, 150, 152
Chinese protest over sequels movies, 179
Daughter of the Dragon, 150–51, 153–56
Fun in a Chinese Laundry (Edison), 34
Fun in a Chinese Laundry (Lubin), 34
Fun in a Chinese Laundry (Sternberg), 28, 34–35, 137–38

Gallery of Mme. Liu-Tsong, The, 299–300
Garbo, Greta
Anna Christie, 138
Dietrich’s relationship with, 259
disappearance from screen by, 295
Two-Faced Woman, 295
voice quality of, 138
Garden of Alla, 53, 56, 57
Garland, Judy
alcoholism and drug addiction of, 300
and Minnelli, 258
USO tours of, 287
The Wizard of Oz, 300
Garmes, Lee, 166
Garner, John Nance “Cactus Jack,” 202, 215
Garrick, John, Chu Chin Chow, 172
Gauss, Clarence E., 186
Gay, Peter, 99, 104, 161
Gelbes Quartier, 102
George, Heinrich
Metropolis, 107
Song, 107
Georgia, ban on South Pacific–like entertainment in, 64
German Expressionism, 107, 110
Germany
Americanism in mass culture of, 99–100
Anna May in, 99–101
Anti-Comintern Pact, 247
Chinese people in, 102–3, 115
colonies of, 103, 108
film industry in, 101–2
Luftwaffe strikes on Madrid, 247
Nazi party in, 99, 140–41
obsession with romance and fantasy in, 108
popularity of The Thief of Bagdad in, 77
post–World War I, 99–101, 103
women in, 119, 120
in World War II, 266, 270, 280
“Gespräch mit Anne May Wong” (Benjamin), 112, 115
Gest, Morris, The Thief of Bagdad, 77
Gielgud, Val, 253, 311, 312
Gingold, Hermione, 252
Ginsberg, Allen
“Howl,” 307
popularity of, 293
Gish, Lillian
Broken Blossoms, 52
Spanish Influenza caught by, 54
Goddard, Paulette
Adventures in Paradise, 307–8
as Chaplin’s fiancée, 214
Golden Age of Television, 292
Golden Twenties, 99
Goldin, Sidney, 81
Goldwyn, Samuel, 299
Goldwyn Pictures, 69
Gone with the Wind, 67
Gong, Stephen, 180
Gong Lum, 37
Gongzhen Ge, 106–7
Good, Will B., 70
See also Arbuckle, Roscoe “Fatty”
Good Earth, The (Buck), 177, 178
Good Earth, The (film), 81, 161, 177–80, 261, 279
Goodrich, William, 70
See also Arbuckle, Roscoe “Fatty”
Good Woman of Setzuan, The, 223
Gordon, Michael, Portrait in Black, 307–8
Grand Hôtel de Pékin, 232–33
Grant, Cary, 267
Grauman, Sidney
Columbia Pictures Screen Snapshots series, 83
Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, 90
Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, 29, 89–92, 315
Gray, Gilda, Piccadilly, 126, 130
Great Britain
Cinematograph Films Act, 125, 327
curiosity about China in, 122–25
Hong Kong ceded to, 210
Show Life released in, 110
tone standard in, 137
in World War II, 266, 270
at zenith of British Empire, 122
See also London
Great Depression, 145, 168, 247
Great Dictator, The, 137, 257
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, 281
Great Gatsby,The, (Fitzgerald), 75, 202
Great Ziegfeld, The, 178
Greenbaum, Mutz, Chu Chin Chow, 172
Greener, Faye, 45
Greer, Howard, 212
Griffith, D. W.
The Birth of a Nation, 42, 51
Broken Blossoms, 51–53, 80
Columbia Pictures Screen Snapshots series, 83
figures in early films of, 34
filmmaking skill of, 42–43
and Spanish Influenza pandemic, 54
tutelage of Pickford by, 43
Grimm, Hans, Volk ohne Raum, 103
gross earnings
of Hollywood films, 69
of Shanghai Express, 166
of The Toll of the Sea, 66
Großstadtschmetterling, 117–19
Gubbins, Tom, 163
Gulf Between, The, 66–67
Gun Crazy, 277
Gung Ho!, 276
Gunning, Tom, 33
Gunsmoke, 277

Hahn, Emily, 206–7, 213, 214, 243
China to Me, 207, 208
Lysistrata, 207
Hai-Tang, 137–40
Haley, Robert, 14
Halfway to Shanghai, 276
Handforth, Thomas, 234
Hanke, Ken, 158
Hansen, Miriam, Babel and Babylon, 44
Hardoon, Silas, 208
Harlow, Jean
gravesite of, 311, 312
Hell’s Angels, 146
Libeled Lady, 275
Haro, Daro, 275
Harrison’s Report
on Impact, 298
on Lady from Chungking, 279
Harte, Bret, “The Heathen Chinee,” 338
Hartmann, Sadakichi, 73
background of, 76
Drifting Flowers of the Sea and Other Poems, 76
Japanese Rhythms, 76
My Rubaiyat, 76
The Thief of Bagdad, 76–77
Hatchet Man, The, 81, 286
Hawaii
Anna May’s writing about Honolulu, 187–88
measles epidemic in, 26
Haworth Pictures Corporation, 81
Hayakawa, Sessue
The Bridge on the River Kwai, 308
The Cheat, 81
Daughter of the Dragon, 150–51, 153–56, 167
in independent pictures, 81
leads played by, 94
during World War II, 279
Hays, William, 70
Hazzard, Elliott, 208
Hearst, Randolph, 215
Hearst Metrotone News, 215
“Heathen Chinee, The” (Harte), 338
Heathen Chinese and the Sunday School Teachers, The (American Mutoscope and Biograph), 33, 46
Hedin, Sven, 236
Hell’s Angels, 146
Henschke, Alfred (Klabund), 132
Hepburn, Audrey, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 309
Hepburn, Katharine, 294
Here Lies the Heart (de Acosta), 259
Heston, Charlton, 249
Higham, John, 78
“Highlights from Hollywood,” 266, 269–70
Hiroshima, Mon Amour, 140
history of Los Angeles, 13–20
animosity toward Chinese, 15–16
Chinese Massacre of 1871, 16–18
Chun’s general store, 15
distinctive look of Chinatown, 19
early Chinese businesses, 14–15
early Chinese population, 14
first Chinese wedding, 15
founding, 13–14
housing standards in Chinatown, 18–19
laws and ordinances targeting Chinese, 15–16
property damage lawsuits following race riot, 18
Hitchcock, Alfred
Elstree Calling, 141
Stage Fright, 295
Hitler, Adolf, 115, 141, 161–62, 231, 242
Ho, Grace, 213
Hodges, Graham
on Anna May as “American housewife,” 288
on Benjamin, 118
on Elstree Calling, 141
on Flower Street, 25
on Ling Moy’s roles, 155
Holden, William, Sunset Boulevard, 295–96
Hollywood
ageism in, 293–98
“casting couch” in, 46
casting for Asian roles in, 94
and charms of Chinatown, 19
China’s influence in, 179
Chinese-themed films of 1927, 91
Chinese women in, 61–62
color consciousness of, 68
Dream Factory in, xiv, 45, 46, 70
existential crisis in, 70
exodus of nonwhite performers from, 95
fetish for the exotic in, 33
as fifth largest industry, 69
first talkie in, 92
Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, 89–92, 315
initial rise of, 315
Maschwitz on, 253
mass production of movies in, 42
as moral cesspool, 69–70
and move to television, 299
movies and film company investments in Germany, 101–2
and “movie-struck girls,” 45–46
Orientalism in, 309
Oriental vision of, 261
popularity in China, 178–79
Production Code in, 70
racism in, 180
representation of Asians in, 61, 63–67, 81; See also individual films
rise in cultural sway, 43–44
salaries in, 43
sexism in, 294–95
showplace homes in, 71
as site of motion-picture colony, 41–42
star system in, 43, 178
TCL Chinese Theatre, 324
ties between Chinese laundries and birth of, 28–35
during World War I, 41
during World War II, 257, 281–82
“yellow films” of, 51, 52
See also film/movie industry; individual films
Hollywood (miniseries), 330
“Hollywood Babylon,” 69
Hollywood Bowl, 286
Hollywood Walk of Fame, 314–15
Holmes, Helene, 87
hong-choong, 30
Hong Kong
Anna May in, 210–15, 217–19, 242
Anna May’s obituary in, 310
Victoria Harbor, 209
Hong Shen, 226
on Anna May, 227
Shentu Shi, 226
Honolulu, 187–88
Hoo, Hayward Soo, Bombs over Burma, 271
Hoover, Charles, 212
Hoover, Herbert, 145, 221
Hoover, J. Edgar, 250
Hoover Dam, 145
Hope, Bob, 287
Hopper, Hedda
on Anna May’s China relief work, 287
Columbia Pictures Screen Snapshots series, 83
Sunset Boulevard, 296
Hotel Eden, Berlin, 103
Ho-tung Gardens, 213–14
House Without a Key, The (Biggers), 85
House Without a Key, The (film), 94
Howe, James Wong
on “adhesive tape actors,” 52
Anna May’s friendship with, 82, 306
background of, 82
footage for Shanghai Express from, 162
marriage of, 84
Peter Pan, 83
success of, 82–83
“Howl” (Ginsberg), 307
How to Cook and Eat in Chinese (Chao), 290
“How to Tell Japs from the Chinese,” 274–75
Hsiung Shih-I, 222
Huang (family name), 198
Huber, Harold
The Good Earth, 279
Lady from Chungking, 279
Little Tokyo, U.S.A., 279
Outlaws of the Orient, 279
Hudec, Laszlo, 197
Hudson, Rock, 260
Hughes, Howard, Hell’s Angels, 146
Hughes, Langston, 260
Hunchback of Notre Dame, The, 61
Hunter, Ross, Flower Drum Song, 308–9
Hunter, Tab, 260
Hurston, Zora Neale, 260
Huxley, Aldous, 193
Hwang, David Henry, M. Butterfly, 64–65

identity(-ies)
American, racial mimicry in, 92–93
of Anna May in Song, 108
of Chang, in Shanghai Express, 164
Chinese American, 79, 101
I Love Lucy, 292
Imagism, 124
Imitation of Life, 295
immigrants
appeal of nickelodeons for, 44
Chinese, See Chinese immigrants
immigration
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, 17
of Eastern Europeans, 92–93
Johnson-Reed Act, 78
racist restrictions in, 8
xenophobic rhetoric about, 10–11
“Immigration Evil, The,” 10–11
Impact, 297–98
Imperial Peking (Lin), 230
Ince, Thomas H., 71
INS (US Immigration and Naturalization Service), 247, 248
In Search of Old Peking (Arlington and Lewisohn), 236–37
International Arts Theatre, 206, 207, 222
interracial couples
in Berlin, 106
in Limehouse fiction, 123
marriage for, 64, 306
in movies, restrictions on, 70, 81–82, 174
in Mr. Wu, 91–92
in Piccadilly, 129–30
in Song, 108
ironing, in Chinese laundries, 30–32
Irving, Ernest, The Circle of Chalk, 133
Isherwood, Christopher, 100, 194
Island of Lost Men, 269

Jackson, Helen Hunt, 13
Jaeger, Ernst, 326
on Hai-Tang, 139–40
on Pavement Butterfly, 118
on Song, 109
James, Henry, 137
James B. Leong Productions, 80
Jane Eyre (Brontë), 141
Jannings, Emil
global stardom of, 102
voice quality of, 138
The Way of All Flesh, 102
Japan
Anna May in, 188–89
Anna May on China and, 160–61
Anti-Comintern Pact, 247
capture of Canton by, 263
Chinese protests/boycotts of goods from, 221
increased aggression by, 242–43
invasion of Manchuria by, 159–60
militarism in, 190
military aggression in China, 159–60, 221, 231, 255–57, 262
Pearl Harbor bombed by, 266, 273
rivalry between Australia and, 268
Russo-Japanese War, 8–9
Sino-Japanese War, 278
smuggling campaign against China, 231
Stimson’s warning to, 221
in World War II, 266, 274; See also World War II
Japanese
anti-Japanese sentiment, 276–77
Chinese actors playing, 275
differences between Chinese and, 190, 274–75
Hollywood’s racist portrayals of, 281–82
internment of, during World War II, 274–76
living in Los Angeles, 9
in Peking, 231–32
Japanese Americans, internment of, xiv, 274–76, 281
Japanese Rhythms (Hartmann), 76
“Jasmine Flower, The,” 176, 270
Java Head, 173–74
Jazz Singer, The, 92, 93, 137, 152
Jingang Zuan, 226
Jin Yuelin, 236
Johnson, Nelson, 231
Johnson-Reed Act, 78
Johnston, Julanne, The Thief of Bagdad, 73
Jolson, Al, The Jazz Singer, 92
Jung, Ben, 286

Kalmus, Herbert, 67
Kashner, Sam, 295
Kaufmann, Freddy, 199
Keaton, Buster, 296
Kennedy, John F., 309
Kill Bill, 157
Kim Wong Oriental Specialties, 306
King, Rodney, 314
King and I, The, 304
King Ho Chang, Piccadilly, 128
King Kong, 146
“King Lee” laundry, 24
King of Chinatown, 269
Klabund (Alfred Henschke), 132
Koo, Madame, 197–98, 202–6, 210, 273
Koo, Wellington, 197
Koreatown, Los Angeles, 314
Kortner, Fritz, Chu Chin Chow, 172, 173
Kracauer, Siegfried
on iconic dimension of film, 157
Theory of Film, 85
on unstaged reality, 34, 47
Krusiec, Michelle, 330
Ku Klux Klan, 42, 43, 87
Kung Fu, 91
Kuwa, George, The House Without a Key, 94
Kwan, Nancy, 157
Kyoto, 190–91

Lacis, Asja, 112, 114
Lady from Chungking, 278–79, 281
Lady from Shanghai, The, 292
Lady Precious Stream, 204, 222
La Fontaine, Merrill, 270
Lambert, Gavin, 57
Lamont, Sonny
“Highlights from Hollywood,” 270
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, 270
L’Amour, Louis
“Shanghai, Not Without Gestures,” 192
in Shanghai, 192, 193
Lanchester, Elsa, 258
Lang, Fritz, Metropolis, 107
Lao She, Rickshaw, 241
Laou Kai Food’s, 198
Large, David Clay, Berlin, 101
Lasky Studio, 82
Las Vegas, 145
Laughton, Charles
and Lanchester, 258
On the Spot, 147
laundry businesses
Chinese-owned, See Chinese laundry(ies)
white-owned, 23
“Laundryman’s Song, A” (Wen), 21
laundry tickets, 31
Laura, 304
Laver, James, The Circle of Chalk, 132
Lawrence, D. H., 92
laws and ordinances
antimiscegenation laws, 61, 84
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, 17, 19–20, 33, 247, 281, 284
Georgia’s ban on South Pacific–like entertainment, 64
Great Britain’s Cinematograph Films Act, 125, 327
Johnson-Reed Act, 78
Loving v. Virginia, 306
public education laws, 36–37
racism in, 247
in San Francisco, 29
Smoot-Hawley Act, 145
targeting Chinese in California, 15–16
Tydings-McDuffie Act, 215
in the United States, 17
Lea, Homer, 10
League of Nations, 159
Leave It to Beaver, 288
Lederer, Franz, Hai-Tang, 139
Lee, Bruce, 213
Lee, Edward, 262–63
Lee, Etta, The Toll of the Sea, 68
Lee Gon Toy, 8, 20
See also Wong Lee Toy (mother)
Leong, James B.
Broken Blossoms, 80
career of, 80–81
Lotus Blossom, 80
Shanghai Express, 163
Leong, Karen J., The China Mystique, 25
Letter, The, 275, 304–5
Leventon, Adelaida Yakovlevna, 53
Lewin, Albert, 179–80
Lewis, Joseph H., 277
Lewisohn, William, In Search of Old Peking, 236–37
Liang Sicheng, 235
Liangyou magazine, 201
Lianhua (United China), 224
Libeled Lady, 275
Lichtbildbühne, 110
Liebknecht, Karl, 103
Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, The, 307
Life magazine, “How to Tell Japs from the Chinese,” 274–75
Life Weekly, 107
Lim, Shirley Jennifer, 109
Limehouse, 123–25, 128–29, 152
Lind, Gillian, On the Spot, 147
Linglong magazine, 227
Lin Huiyin, 235
Lin Yutang
Imperial Peking, 230
My Country and My People, 186, 187, 197
at Park Hotel dinner with Anna May, 197
Li Qianfu, Story of the Chalk Circle, 132
Literarische Welt, Die, 326
Littlest Rebel, The, 221
Little Tokyo, U.S.A., 276, 279
Liu, Cynthia, 157
Liu, Lucy, 157, 315
Liverpool Evening Echo, 176
Lloyd, Harold
estate of, 71
Welcome Danger, 227
Loder, John, Java Head, 174
London
café society of, 126
Chinatown in, 123, 125, 128–29
Embassy Club in, 176
Limehouse district, 123–25, 128–29
post–World War II, 303–4
Wembley Exhibition, 122, 124, 125
London, Jack, 51
Long, John Luther, “Madame Butterfly,” 63
Longden, John, The Road to Honor, 138
Look magazine, xiii, 156, 261
Lord of the Flies, 38
Lo Sang, 19–20
Los Angeles
Angelus Rosedale Cemetery, 311–14
areas off-limits to Chinese in, 78
Battle of Chinatowns in, 261–62
California Street School, 36
Chinatown in, See Chinatown, Los Angeles
Chinese laundries, 22, 24, 29
Chinese restaurant, 302
Chinese safe zone, 29
diverse population of, 25
gold fever, 14
history of, See history of Los Angeles
hysteria in, during World War II, 274
Japanese living in, 9
Koreatown, 314
movie industry labor from, 41
1992 riots in, 314
parents’ move to, 8
post–World War II, 292
racial order in, 13–14
talk of Tournament of Roses Parade in, 9
xenophobia about Chinese and Japanese in, 11
Los Angeles Basin flood, 253–54
Los Angeles Herald, 9, 10
Los Angeles High School, 72
Los Angeles Star, 24
Los Angeles Times
on Anna May’s departure for Europe, 95
Anna May’s obituary in, 309
on destruction of Chinatown, 181
on end of Russo-Japanese War, 9, 10
“The Immigration Evil,” 10–11
on James B. Leong Productions, 80
on Prisoner of Japan, 278
story on Anna May in, 60
on wartime aid to China festival, 262
Losch, Tilly
and Dietrich, 164
The Good Earth, 180
Loti, Pierre, Madame Chrysanthème, 63
Lotus Blossom, 80
Loved One, The, 311–12
Love’s Lottery (opera), 8
Loving v. Virginia, 306
Low, Henry, Cook at Home in Chinese, 289–90
Lowell, Robert, 293
Loy, Myrna
and ageism/sexism in Hollywood, 294
Libeled Lady, 275
The Mask of Fu Manchu, 161
Petticoat Fever, 221–22
Lubin, Arthur, Impact, 297–98
Lubin, Siegmund “Pop,” Fun in a Chinese Laundry, 34
Lugosi, Bela, The Black Camel, 275
Luke, Keye, 90–91, 275, 306
Lumière brothers, Démolition d’un Mur (Falling Wall), 33–34
Lum v. Rice, 37
Luo Mingyou, 224
Luxemburg, Rosa, 103
Lyons, Harry Agar
The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu, 152
The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu, 152
Lysistrata, 207

M. Butterfly (Hwang), 64–65
Macbeth (Shakespeare), 24
Macdonald, Ross, 297, 315
Mack Sennett Studio, 297
MacNair, Jennifer, 295
Macon, Georgia, 285–86
Madama Butterfly (Puccini), 63
Madame Butterfly, xiv
storyline of, 65
variations on, 63–65, 107, 174
Madame Butterfly (Belasco), 63–64
Madame Butterfly (film), 64
“Madame Butterfly” (Long), 63
Madame Chrysanthème (Loti), 63
Madsen, Axel, The Sewing Circle, 57
“Maid of Orient Unspoiled by Success Dips Her Ivory Hands in Suds” (Turner), 60
“Malady of Spring Nights” (Yu), 203
Male and Female, 82
“Manchuria” (Wong), 159–61
Mandarin Film Company, 79–80
Manila, 214–15
Mankiller, Wilma, 316
Mann, Heinrich, 103
Man of Stone, A, 61
Mao Tse-tung, 193, 200
Marchessault Street, 12, 19
Marinoff, Fania, xv, 206, 300
Marion, Frances, The Toll of the Sea, 68
Mark of Zorro, The, 74
Marquand, John P.
inspiration for, 232
Thank You, Mr. Moto, 238
marriage
Anna May’s prospects for, 83–84
antimiscegenation laws, 61, 84
of Butterfly Wu, 225
interracial, 64, 306
in Shanghai, 203
Marshall, Herbert, The Letter, 275
Marshall, Tully, Lotus Blossom, 80
Marvell, Holt, 336
Maschwitz, Eric
Anna May’s romance with, 84, 251–54
Balalaika, 251, 252
Forest Lawn visit by, 311
No Chip on My Shoulder, 251
pseudonym of, 336
songwriter career of, 304
“These Foolish Things,” 254
Mask of Fu Manchu, The, 161
Mason, Richard, The World of Suzie Wong, 64
Matisse, Henri, 260
Maugham, Somerset, 304
Mayfair Mannequin Society of New York, 171
May Fourth Movement, 103
Mazu (Dragon Lady/Dragon Daughter), 241–42
McCrae, John, 126
McKay, Gardner, 307–8
McKenna, Siobhan, 305
McPherson, Aimee Semple, 249
McWilliams, Carey, 15
measles epidemic, 25–26
media
on Anna May’s appearance, 268
on Anna May’s extortion threats, 250–51
in Chang On, 216
Chinese, on Anna May, 178–79, 211–12, 227, 228
Chinese American, in World War II, 275
on end of Russo-Japanese War, 9, 10
gossip in, 258
in Japan, Anna May’s encounter with, 189–90
in Manila, 214–15
in Shanghai, 195–96, 221
stereotypes of Chinese laundrymen/laundries in, 28–35
trade press, 43
xenophobic rhetoric in, 10–11
See also film/movie industry; individual publications, articles
Meeus, Charles, 267
Mei Lan-fang
Anna May’s study with, 240–41
Brecht on, 222–23
career of, 204
in Chinese film delegation, 225
early training and career of, 240
and popularization of Chinese drama, 222
refusal to sing for Japanese by, 263
Mein Film, 138
melodrama, drama vs., 52
Melville, Herman
Moby-Dick, 58
on the Pacific, 187
Menzies, William Cameron, 65–67
Merkel, Una, 267
Metro Pictures
earnings and market share of, 69
The Toll of the Sea, 64
Metropolis, 107
Metzner, Erno, Chu Chin Chow, 172
MGM
Anna Christie, 138
Chinese pressure put on, 179
The Good Earth, 177, 178, 180
investment in German film companies, 101–2
Maschwitz’s work at, 251–53
Mr. Wu, 91
Micheaux, Oscar, 81
Michener, James
Sayonara, 64
South Seas stories of, 307–8
Tales of the South Pacific, 64
Milady’s Style Parade and Recipe Book, 287–88
Miller, John F., 33
Minnelli, Vincente, 258
Minn Lee, 147, 329
Minter, Mary, 83
miscegenation
antimiscegenation laws, 61, 84
fear of, in Piccadilly, 129, 130
in movies, Production Code restrictions on, 70
as roadblock to Anna May’s career, 81–82
Mississippi, school segregation in, 37
Miss Saigon (Schönberg), 65
mobsters, 249
Moby-Dick (Melville), 58
modeling work, 47
modernism, 223–24
Modern Times (Chaplin), 34, 221
Monroe, Marilyn, 58, 224
Montgomery, Robert, Petticoat Fever, 221–22
Moongate Apartments, 272
Moon Kwan, 86, 90, 211, 212
morality
in Hollywood, 69–70
in post–World War I Berlin, 100
Mori, Tochia, 275
Morin, Edgar, 130
Morita, Mike, 275
Motion Picture Exhibitor
on Chu Chin Chow, 173
on On the Spot, 269
Motion Picture News, 68
Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, 91
movie industry, See film/movie industry
Movie-Made America (Sklar), 32
movie moguls
in Hollywood, 69
as term, 44
“movie people,” 69
See also Hollywood
“movie-struck girls,” 45–46
movie theaters, during Great Depression, 168
Mr. Moto, 232, 238
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 233–34
Mr. Wong series, 278–79
Mr. Wu, 61, 91–93
Mui, K. C., 188
Mukden Incident, 159
Muni, Paul
background of, 178
The Good Earth, 178, 180
Scarface, 178
The Story of Louis Pasteur, 178
Murphy, George, 267
Mussolini, Beneto, 231
My Country and My People (Lin), 186, 187, 197
My Rubaiyat (Hartmann), 76
Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu, The, 152
Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu, The, 152
Mystic Faces, 51

Nagel, Conrad, 90
Naked City, The (TV series), 275
name recognition, 43
Nanking
Anna May in, 227–28
war in, 261
Nanking Massacre, 257
Nates, George N., 229–30
nationalism, 161
National Laundry Journal, “No Laundries in China,” 21–23
nativism, 78, 141, 152
Nativist Era, 42
Nazimova, Alla
Anna May befriended by, 56, 57
as bisexual, 56–57
career of, 53
lost living style for, 71
parties of, 56–57
The Red Lantern, 53, 54, 59, 161
self-naming by, 58
theater roots of, 86
Nazis, 99, 115, 140, 161
NBC, Barbara Stanwyck Theatre, 308
Neilan, Marshall “Mickey”
Anna May’s affair with, 60–62
Bits of Life, 61
Dinty, 60
gravesite of, 312
salaries of, 61
Neue Berliner Zeitung, 103
New Chinatown, 261–62
New Chinese Recipes (Wing and Stegner), 288–90
Newmark, Joseph, 14
Newsreel Wong, 195, 215–17, 256, 257
New Yorker, The, 207–8
New York Herald Tribune
Anna May’s articles for, xv, 186, 187, 196, 215, 288
New Chinese Recipes article in, 288
New York Times
on Anna May, 148
Anna May’s obituary in, 309
on Chu Chin Chow, 173
on Daughter of the Dragon, 155–57
on Impact, 298
on Island of Lost Men, 269
on L’Amour Maître des Choses, 140
on Mary’s suicide, 273
on On the Spot, 269
on Prisoner of Japan, 278
on The Road to Honor, 140
on Ruan funeral, 224
on Technicolor, 67
on The Thief of Bagdad, 65–67, 77
on The Toll of the Sea, 66, 68
on Wasted Love, 110
New York World-Telegram, 305
Ngai, Mae, The Chinese Question, 268
Nichino, Kozo, 274
Nicholson, Jack, 32
nickelodeons, 44
Nigh, William, 278–79
Escape from Hong Kong, 278
Lady from Chungking, 278–79
No Chip on My Shoulder (Maschwitz), 251
noir genre in film and fiction, 46, 120, 166, 276, 292, 298, 308
“No Laundries in China” (National Laundry Journal), 21–23
Nolton, Jessie Louise, Chinese Cookery in the Home Kitchen, 289
North China Daily News, 207

O’Brian, Hugh, 307
Oei (family name), 198
Oei, Hui-lan, 197
Ohio State Buckeyes, 303
Okada, Eiji, Hiroshima, Mon Amour, 140
Okakura, Kakuzo, The Book of Tea, 111, 113, 115
O’Keeffe, Georgia, 260
Oland, Warner, 61
alcohol use by, 300
background of, 93
The Black Camel, 275
as Charlie Chan, 94, 226–27
Charlie Chan Carries On, 152–53
Charlie Chan in Shanghai, 217–18
Daughter of the Dragon, 153, 154, 167
death of, 269
ethnic roles of, 93
in Hong Kong with Anna May, 218–19
The Jazz Singer, 152
The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu, 152
Old San Francisco, 93–94, 164
The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu, 152
self-naming by, 58
in Shanghai, 217–18
Shanghai Express, 163–67
Old San Francisco, 91, 93–94, 153, 164
Olivier, Laurence
The Circle of Chalk, 135
and Esmond, 258
O’Neill, Eugene, 260
O’Neill, Mrs. Eugene (Carlotta Monterey), 186
1001 Marvels, 176–77
One-Way Street (Benjamin), 112–14
On the Spot, 146–49, 185, 269, 273, 329
Opium War, 215–16
Orpheum Theatre, San Francisco, 86
Orwell, George, 147
Osaka, 190
Osmeña, Nicasio, 215
Otero-Warren, Nina, 316
Outlaws of the Orient, 279
Outside the Law, 59
Ouyang Yuqian, 226
Owen, Reginald, A Study in Scarlet, 169

Paci, Mario, 222
Pacific Electric Company, 9
Pacific Overtures, 276
Palace Hotel (Shanghai), 263
Palmerston, Lord, 210
Pan Yousheng, 225, 226
Parade of Chinese, 46
Paramount
Angel, 258–59
Anna May in films made by, 81
Anna May’s three-picture contract from, 260, 268–69
Arbuckle’s work at, 69–70
Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 309
and China City, 261
Dangerous to Know, 269
The Daughter of Fu Manchu, 150
Daughter of Shanghai, 257
Daughter of the Dragon, 153
Dietrich’s legs insured by, 165
earnings and market share of, 69
during Great Depression, 168
investment in German film companies, 101–2
Island of Lost Men, 269
King of Chinatown, 269
Madame Butterfly, 64
The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu, 152
Park, Edward, Behind That Curtain, 94, 152
Park Hotel (Shanghai), 196–97
Parsons, Desmond, 234
courtyard house of, 235
The Road to Oxiana, 234
Pasadena
Sierra Madre Lodge in, 300–301
Tournament of Roses Parade in, 9–11, 272, 303
Patent Trust, 41
Pat Hobby Stories (Fitzgerald), 300
Pavement Butterfly, 116–19
Peale, Norman Vincent, The Power of Positive Thinking, 303
Pearl River Delta, 215–16
Pearson, Dr., 301
Peking, 229
aesthete circle in, 234–36
character of, 230–32
drama schools in, 239–40
Japan’s military aggression in, 255–56, 263
Legation Quarter in, 231–33
Morrison Street Bazaar in, 236–37
nightlife in, 236, 238
sights in and surrounding, 233–34
Peking Opera, 239–41
Perloff, Marjorie, 325
Peninsula Hotel (Hong Kong), 212
Peonies and Ponies (Acton), 230–31
People without Space (Grimm), 103
Perpetually Good (Chan), 169
Peter Pan, 81–83
Peters, John R., 265
Petticoat Fever, 221–22
Peukert, Detlev, 119
Phantom of the Opera, The, 61
Philadelphia Athletics, 146
Philippines, 214–15
Photoplay
best pictures of the year, 61
“The Port of Missing Girls,” 72
Piccadilly, 108, 123–30, 169
Anna May in, 96–97, 123–30, 153, 170, 303, 327
Anna May’s wardrobe in, 327
cinematography for, 126
Doerr on, 303
interracial couples in, 129–30
media on, 130
symbols and symbolism in, 126
Pickfair, 71, 72, 267
Pickford, Mary
career of, 43
Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, 90
lifestyle and salary of, 43, 45–46
Madame Butterfly, 64
and Olive Thomas, 69
Pickfair residence of, 71
self-naming by, 58
tennis popularized by, 72
theater roots of, 86
as “The Most Famous Girl in the World,” 71
United Artists founded by, 74
Picnic, 304
Picturegoer, The, 130
picture palaces, 44
Plath, Sylvia, xv, 293
Plessy v. Ferguson, 37
Pluto, 146
Poland, in World War II, 266
Polanski, Roman, Chinatown, 32, 33
Pons, Lily, 287
“Port of Missing Girls, The” (Photoplay), 72
Portrait in Black, 307–8, 310
Postman Always Rings Twice, The, 292
post–World War II America, 292–93
Pound, Ezra, 76, 124
Powell, William, Libeled Lady, 275
Power of Positive Thinking, The (Peale), 303
PRC, See Producers Releasing Corporation
Presbyterian Chinese Mission School, 38–40
Presbyterian Church, 38
Prisoner of Japan, 278
Problem of China, The (Russell), 133–34
producers, foreign-born, 44
Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC), 276
Bombs over Burma, 276–78
Lady from Chungking, 278–79
Prisoner of Japan, 278
Production Code, 70
production companies
of Anna May, 79
in China, 224
of Chinese in America, 79–81
See also individual companies
Product of Love, The, 327
Prohibition, 146
protectionism, 145
public schools, racism in, 36–40
Puccini, Giacomo, Madama Butterfly, 63
Pudovkin, V. I., 86
Puyi, 159

Qianlong, Emperor, 239
Queue Ordinance of 1873, 16
Quezon, Manuel, 214
Quinn, Anthony, Portrait in Black, 307

race in movies
Chang’s racial self-hatred in Shanghai Express, 164
Hollywood’s representation of Asians, 61, 63–67, 81; See also individual films
Production Code restrictions on, 70
See also interracial couples
racial masquerade, 92–93
racial mimicry, 92
racism
in American law, 247
The Birth of a Nation, 42–43
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, 17, 19–20, 33, 247, 281, 284
and Cosmic Production Company tour, 87
in early California laws and ordinances, 15–16
in film industry, 28–35
and Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, 281
in Hollywood, 180
in Hong Kong, 213
in immigration, 8
institutionalized, 292
in mining industry, 23
in news media language, 9
in Old San Francisco, 93–94
in Production Code, 70
in public education, 36–40
race riots of 1870s and 1880s, 16–18
in Shanghai club scene, 208
tied to Chinese laundries, 29
toward Japanese, 81
in Weimar Republic, 100
Rainer, Luise
background of, 178
The Good Earth, 161, 178, 180
The Great Ziegfeld, 178
Rambova, Natacha, 57
Rand, Ayn, 166
Rappe, Virginia, 69, 70
Reagan, Nancy (Nancy Davis), 57
Rear Window, 292
Rebecca, 304
Record of a Sneeze (Edison), 34
red, symbolism of, 29
Red Carpet (Schwartzel), 179
Red Lantern, The, 50–51, 53–56, 161
region-based Chinese societies, 24–25
Reinhardt, Max, 101
religion in movies, Production Code restrictions on, 70
Remarque, Erich Maria, 103
Resnais, Alain, Hiroshima, Mon Amour, 140
Return of Dr. Fu Manchu, The, 152
Rickshaw (Lao), 241
Ride, Sally, 316
Riefenstahl, Leni
at Berlin Press Ball, 121
and Deitrich’s move to America, 161
as Hitler’s propaganda filmmaker, 141, 162
new womanhood in Germany defined by, 120–21
rumors of Anna May’s liaisons with, 259
Riis, Jacob, 11–13, 28–29
Riva, Maria, 162–64, 259
RKO, during Great Depression, 168
Road to Honor, The, 138
Road to Oxiana, The (Parsons), 234
Roaring Twenties, 70
Robeson, Paul, 95
Robey, George, Chu Chin Chow, 172
Robin Hood, 74
Robinson, Edward G.
The Hatchet Man, 81, 286
voice of, in Hollywood Bowl pageant, 286
Rock Springs, Wyoming, race riot (1885), 16–17
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Flower Drum Song, 308–9
The King and I, 304
South Pacific, 64
Rodriguez, Antonio, 14
Rogers, Ginger, 270, 286
Rogers, Will, 287
Rogin, Michael, Blackface, White Noise, 92–93
Rohmer, Sax
Chinatown obsession of, 123
The Daughter of Fu Manchu, 150, 153, 154
on Fu Manchu, 150–52
Roland, Ruth, 45–46
Romanisches Café, Berlin, 103
Romney, Brent, 84
Rondini, Joe, 8
Rooney, Mickey, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 309
Roos, Liza, 208
Roosevelt, Eleanor, 284
Roosevelt, Franklin D.
and Chu Chin Chow, 173
Fireside Chats of, 272
incarceration of Japanese authorized by, 274
reelection of, 247
and Willkie’s goodwill tour, 282
Roosevelt, Theodore
Ai-ling’s complaints to, 248
and end of Russo-Japanese War, 8–9
Riis’s friendship with, 12
Root, Abiah, 265, 266
Rose Bowl, 272, 303
Roth, Joseph, 103, 126
Ruan Lingyu, 224
Rube in an Opium Joint, 46–47
Rubens, Alma, 45–46
Russell, Bertrand, The Problem of China, 133–34
Russell, Rosalind
and ageism/sexism in Hollywood, 294
Auntie Mame, 276
Russia, 8–9
Russo-Japanese War, 8–9
Ruth, Babe, 146

Sadie Thompson, 297
Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre, 146, 147
salaries in film/movie industry, 43
for Anna May, 60, 166–67, 260, 269
for Daughter of the Dragon, 167
for Daughter of the Shanghai, 260
for Gest’s presentation of The Thief of Bagdad, 77
for Neilan, 61
for Pickford, 43, 45
for Shanghai Express, 166–67
“Sam Lee Laundry,” 21, 320
Sand Street School, 36
San Francisco
Angel Island, xiv
Chinatown in, 16, 275, 298
first urban Chinese laundry in, 23–24
Orpheum Theatre debut in, 86
restrictions on Chinese in, 29
Tape v. Hurley, 36–37
using ears as purses in, 30
San Francisco Chinese Funeral, 46
San Francisco Chronicle
on Anna May’s first vaudeville act, 86
Anna May’s talk on makeup sponsored by, 171
on Japanese attacks, 274
Santa Barbara, 274, 280
Santa Fe Railroad, 9
Sassoon, Victor, 199, 207, 214, 263, 272–73
Sassoon family, 199
Saturday Evening Post, 232
Saving Face, 249
Sayonara (Michener), 64
scandals, in Hollywood, 69–70
Scarface, 178
Scene in a Chinese Restaurant, 46
Scene in Chinatown, 46
Schönberg, Claude-Michel, Miss Saigon, 65
school segregation, 36–37
Schumann-Heink, Madame, 8
Schwartzel, Erich, Red Carpet, 179
“screen passing,” 157–58
See, Eddy, 306
See, Lisa, 25, 306
See, Sissee, 306
See family, wealth of, 47
self-naming, 58
Selznick, David O., 53, 164, 249, 286
Selznick, Lewis J., 53
Sen, Mayukh, Taste Makers, 290
Sewing Circle, The (Madsen), 57
“sewing circle,” 53
sex in movies, Production Code restrictions on, 70
sexism, 294–95
sexual orientations of stars, 56–57, 163–64, 258–60
Shadow, 107
Shadows, 61
Shakespeare, William, Macbeth, 24
Shanghai, 192–200, 202–8
Anna May in, 194–200, 202–8, 221, 222, 225–27, 242
Anna May’s first impressions of, 196, 198–99, 202
Bloody Saturday in, 256
Bund in, 192, 193, 256
Civic Center in, 202–3, 263
first cinema in, 224
Fritz’s salons in, 206
have and have-nots in, 194
history of, 192–94
Japan’s military aggression in, 221, 256, 263
marriages in, 203
as mecca for many, 205–6
media attention in, 195–96, 221
Oland’s arrival in, 217–18
privilege for foreigners in, 192
racism in club scene of, 208
river people in, 194–95
Ruan funeral procession in, 224
social life in, 197, 199–200, 202–6
tailoring in, 205
war in, 261
wedding of Butterfly Wu in, 225
“Shanghai, Not Without Gestures” (L’Amour), 192
Shanghai Express, 80–81, 160–67, 169, 179, 196
Shanghai Express (train), 229–30
Shao Xunmei, 207
Shatner, William, The Naked City, 275
Shaw Brothers, 224, 225
Shentu Shi, 226
Shimoda, Yuki, 276
Auntie Mame, 276
Farewell to Manzanar, 276
Pacific Overtures, 276
Show Life, 110
Sierra Madre Lodge, 300–301
signs, for Chinese laundries, 29–30
Sikking, Sue, 307, 312
silent films
move to talkies from, 93, 135–38
Pickford in, 43
theater roots of actors in, 86
See also individual films
Sin, Peter, 212–13, 219
Singin’ in the Rain, 138
“Sing Lee Laundry,” 21, 320
Singsong Girl Red Peony, 224, 225
Sino-Japanese War, 278
Sinophobia
and chinoiserie, 125
in films, 33, 93
in Los Angeles, 29
in United Kingdom, 125
Sirk, Douglas, Imitation of Life, 295
Siu, Paul C. P., 23–24, 30, 31
Sklar, Robert
Movie-Made America, 32
on silent stars’ voices, 138
Smoot-Hawley Act, 145
Snow, Edgar, 194
Sojin, Kamiyama
The Chinese Parrot, 76, 94
The Thief of Bagdad, 76
Solomon, King, 328
Sondergaard, Gale, 305
Sondheim, Stephen, Pacific Overtures, 276
Song, 107–10
Soong, Mayling (Madame Chiang Kai-shek), 278, 281–87, 290
Soong, Qingling, 108
Soong, T. V., 197
Soong Ai-ling, 248
South, the, public education in, 37
Southern California
climate and geography of, 41
first movies produced in, 41
Hollywood in, See Hollywood
in post–World War II period, 293
in World War II, 280
xenophobia in, 10–11
See also specific cities
South Pacific, 64
Spain, 247
Spanish Influenza pandemic, 54
Spender, Stephen, 100
Spenser, Bessie Wallis Warfield Simpson, 232
Spinelly, Andree, 125
Spoto, Donald, 164
Spring Valley School, 36
Squier, Emma-Lindsay, 80
Stage Fright, 295
Stanislavsky, Konstantin, 53
Stanwyck, Barbara
and ageism/sexism in Hollywood, 294
Barbara Stanwyck Theatre, 308
The Bitter Tea of General Yen, 161
Chinese recipe from, 287–88
at Hollywood Bowl, 286
and Taylor, 258
Star Machine, The (Basinger), 294
Starr, Kevin, Embattled Dreams, 292
Star Studio (Mingxing), 224–26
star system
ageism in, 293–98
and casting for The Good Earth, 178
and close-up shots, 43
obsession with megastars, 165
sexism in, 294–95
Stegner, Mabel, New Chinese Recipes, 288–90
Steichen, Edward, 259
stereotype(s) of Chinese, 17
in Anna May’s films, 126
Charlie Chan as, 152
Chinese laundrymen, 27–28
Chinese women, 282
in media, 28–35
in “yellow films,” 51, 52
Sterling, Christine, 261
Sternberg, Josef von
on actors, 176
The Blue Angel, 119–20
Dietrich’s introduction to, 94, 199
early life of, 28
Fun in a Chinese Laundry, 28, 34–35, 137–38
on German censorship of The Blue Angel, 161
global stardom of, 102
on inebriety in theater tradition, 300
Selznick on films of, 164
Shanghai Express, 161, 162, 164, 165, 196
on the Shanghai Express, 229, 230
Vanity Fair on, 165–66
Sterry, Nora, 39–40
Stessel, Anatoly, 8
Stewart, Jon, 58
Stick Ordinance, 16
Stilwell, Joseph, 263, 277, 278
Stimson, Henry, 221
stock market crash (1929), 140, 145, 168
Stonehouse, Ruth, 87
Story of Louis Pasteur, The, 178
Story of the Chalk Circle (Li), 132
Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, The, 270
Stranger, The, 257
Strangers on a Train, 292
Streep, Meryl, 294
Streets of Shanghai, 91
Study in Scarlet, A, 169
suanpan, 31
substance abuse by actors, 300–301
suicides
in Hollywood, 69, 70
of Ruan Lingyu, 224
of Ruan’s followers, 224
Sun, Madame, 108
Sun, Wendy Xiaoxue, 325
Sun Fo, 202
Sunset Boulevard, 295–97, 310
Sun Ya’s, 202
Sun Yat-sen, 108, 202, 215
surname-based Chinese associations, 24–25
Swanson, Gloria
career of, 296–97
Sadie Thompson, 297
sets of, 82
Sunset Boulevard, 295–97
Sydney Morning Herald, The, 268, 270
symbols and symbolism
in Chinese zodiac, 7
in Piccadilly, 126
of red, 29

Taft, William Howard, 37
Taiwan, 310
Tales of the South Pacific (Michener), 64
talkies
and fall of silent-era stars, 93, 135–36, 138
first, 92
impact of, 137–38
See also individual films
Talmadge, Norma, 90
Tambolin, John, 14–15, 24
Tamiroff, Akim, King of Chinatown, 269
Tape, Mamie, 36–37
Tape v. Hurley, 36–37
Taste Makers (Sen), 290
Tauber, Richard, 163
Taylor, Robert, 258
Taylor, William Desmond, 70
TCL Chinese Theatre, 324
TCL Corporation, 324
Technicolor, 66–68
television, 299–300, 302–6
Temple, Shirley
Chinese recipe from, 287
The Littlest Rebel, 221
Temple of Heavenly God Mother, 241–42
Thalberg, Irving, 312
Thank You, Mr. Moto (Marquand), 238
Theory of Film (Kracauer), 85
“These Foolish Things” (Maschwitz), 254
Thief of Bagdad, The, 73–77, 153, 173, 179
Third Man, The, 292
“This Is the New Woman,” 119
Thomas, Jameson, Piccadilly, 129–30
Thomas, Olive, 69
Thomas Cook, 128
Three Musketeers, The, 74
Tianyi (Unique Company), 224, 225
Tientsin, visit to, 241–42
Tientsin Restaurant, 106
Tiffany-Stahl, Streets of Shanghai, 91
Tiger Bay, 171–72
Tighe, Harry, 86, 87
Time magazine
Anna May’s obituary in, 156, 309
on Baker, 177
Madam Chiang on cover of, 290
Times (London), 173
Ting-Hsu Tu, 177–79
To Have and Have Not, 257
Tokyo, 190
Tol’able David, 61
Toler, Sidney, King of Chinatown, 269
Toll of the Sea, The, 63–68, 170, 211
Tombaugh, Clyde, 146
Tomorrow Never Dies, 157
To the Lighthouse (Woolf), 124
Touch of Evil, 249
touring automobiles, 46
Tournament of Roses Parade, 9–11, 272, 303
Tower Club (Shanghai), 199–200
Tracy, Spencer, Libeled Lady, 275
Trans-Siberian Railroad, 102
Treaty of Portsmouth, 9
Trevor-Roper, H. R., 234
Tsang Tsing-ying, 212
Tsen Mei, Lady, Lotus Blossom, 80
Tuchman, Barbara W., 231
Tuneful Songs and Intriguing Costumes, 176
Turner, Lana
career of, 295
Imitation of Life, 295
Portrait in Black, 307
Turner, Timothy G.
on Anna May’s character, 71–72
“Maid of Orient Unspoiled by Success Dips Her Ivory Hands in Suds,” 60
Twentieth Century, during Great Depression, 168
Twin Sisters, 225
Two-Faced Woman, 295
Tydings-McDuffie Act, 215

UFA (Universum Film AG), 101–2
Umeki, Miyoshi, Sayonara, 64
Unique Company (Tianyi), 224, 225
United Artists
earnings and market share of, 69
Swanson at, 297
The Thief of Bagdad, 74
United China (Lianhua), 224
United China Relief Fund, 263, 267, 279, 288
Unity by the Sea Church, 307, 312
Unity School of Christianity, 307
Universal
The Chinese Parrot, 91
earnings and market share of, 69
during Great Depression, 168
University of Tennessee Volunteers, 272
Universum Film AG (UFA), 101–2
Urban Dictionary, 156
US Army, 271–72
USC Trojans, 272, 303
US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), 247, 248
US quarter, Anna May’s image on, 311, 316

Valentino, Rudolph, 57, 224
Valéry, Paul, 85
Van Doren, Irita, 283
Vanity Fair, 165–66
Van Vechten, Carl, xv, 174, 206, 215, 259–60
Variety
on Anna May in The Alaskan, 82
on Cosmic Production program, 87–88
on Daughter of the Dragon, 156
on The Flame of Love, 140
on The Gallery of Mme. Liu-Tsong, 300
on Island of Lost Men, 269
on King of Chinatown, 269
on Lady from Chungking, 279
on Piccadilly, 130
on Portrait in Black, 307
on Prisoner of Japan, 278
on Technicolor, 67, 68
on Wasted Love, 110
on Wong in The Toll of the Sea, 66
vaudeville, 86–88, 176–77
Victoria Harbor, Hong Kong, 209
violence against Chinese
in American street life, 38
in early Los Angeles, 15–16
race riots of 1870s and 1880s, 16–18
in rural America, 8
and wearing police whistles, 2
violence in movies, Production Code restrictions on, 70
Vitaphone sound system, 137
vocal quality
of Anna May, 135, 137
and fall of silent-era stars, 93, 135–36, 138
Volk ohne Raum (Grimm), 103
Vollmöller, Karl
Anna May’s meeting with, 94–95
Dirty Money (Vollmöller), 94, 108
von Papen, Fritz, Jr., 199
von Stroheim, Erich, Sunset Boulevard, 296

Wagner, Rob, 159
Wah Lee, 24, 29
Wake Island, 276
Walker, Helen, Impact, 297
Wallace, Edgar
On the Spot, 146–49, 269, 329
writing career of, 146–47
Wang, James
Broken Blossoms, 52, 53
career of, 52–53
and extras for The Red Lantern, 54–55
Lotus Blossom, 80
Wang, Yiman, “The Art of Screen Passing,” 157–58
Wang Zimei, “Anna May Wong and Charlie Chan (Warner Oland),” 218
Warner Bros.
earnings and market share of, 69
The Jazz Singer, 137
and Muni’s work, 178
Old San Francisco, 91
When Were You Born?, 269
War of the Tongs, The, 51
Washburn, Bryant, 86–87
Wasted Love, 110
Waugh, Evelyn, The Loved One, 311
Way of All Flesh, The, 102
Welcome Danger, 227
Welles, Orson, 164
Wembley Exhibition, 122, 124, 125
Wen Yiduo, “A Laundryman’s Song,” 21
West, Mae, 295
West, Nathanael
The Day of the Locust, 45
on Dream Factory, xiv, 46
Wheeler, Burton, 233–34
When Were You Born?, 269
Where the Wind Rocks the Bamboo, 267, 305–6
White, Pearl, 45–46
white people
in black-and-white films, 67
Black character roles played by, 92
Chinese roles played by, 52, 85, 109, 163, 173
in color films, 67, 68
in films set in China, 161
laundry businesses owned by, 23
White Russians, in Shanghai, 203–4
white women
Chinese threat to chastity of, 33
and interracial marriage, 84
Wieland, Karin, 120
Wilder, Billy
on dark side of Dream Factory, 296
as Hotel Eden dancer, 103, 326
Sunset Boulevard, 295–97
Witness for the Prosecution, 295
Willkie, Wendell, 282–84
Willow Tree, The, 288
Wilson, Bugs, “At the Barricade,” 270
Wilson, Lois, 57
Wing, Fred Yuen, New Chinese Recipes, 288–90
Witchard, Anne, 128–29
Witness for the Prosecution, 295
Wizard of Oz, The, 300
women
ageism and sexism in Hollywood for, 293–98
appeal of nickelodeons for, 44
Asian, stereotypes of, 156–57
Chinese, Anna May on, 211–12
Chinese, image of, 219, 282
in entertainment, Chinese view of, 55
“movie-struck girls,” 45–46
on US quarters, 316
in Weimar Germany, 119, 120
white, and interracial marriage, 84
white, Chinese threat to chastity of, 33
Wong, Anna May, 48, 184
Adventures in Paradise, 307
affair with Neilan, 60–62
The Alaskan, 81, 82
alcohol use, depression, and stress experienced by, 300
American citizenship of, 248
anti-Japanese behavior during World War II, 276
appeal of movies for, 44
apprenticeship period of, 59–60
arrival in Germany, 99–101
“At the Barricade,” 270
in Australia, xiv, 267–70
awareness of population diversity by, 25
ballad written for, 209–10
Barbara Stanwyck Theatre, 308
Benjamin’s meeting with, 111–15, 326
in Berlin, 98, 103–4, 106–7, 111–15, 121
birth of, 7, 13
Bits of Life, 61–62
Bombs over Burma, 271, 276–78
in Canton, 216, 242
and censorship of movies, 81–82, 179
character of, 71–72, 75, 106
charity work of, 266–67, 272–73
China’s Nationalist government reception of, 227–28
Chinese American identity of, 79, 101
and Chinese food in America, 287–90
The Chinese Parrot, 76
in Chinese theatrical costume, 220
Chinese zodiac symbol of, 7
Chu Chin Chow, 172–73
and cigarette card, 85
The Circle of Chalk, 131–36
Columbia Pictures Screen Snapshots series, 83
and construction of New Chinatown, 261–62
costumes of, 169–71, 241, 242, 261
as “Cultural Ambassador of China,” 125
Dangerous to Know, 269
Daughter of Shanghai, 255, 257–58
Daughter of the Dragon, 124, 142–43, 150–51, 153–57, 167, 249
death of, 128, 309
and death of mother, 148–49
Dietrich’s friendship with, 163–64, 258–59
Dinty, 60
Dirty Money, 94–95
at Dragon’s Den, 306–7
drawing and costume design studied by, 297
dreams of acting, 2, 44–47
Drifting, 74–75
dubbed as “C.C.C.” (Curious Chinese child), 47
in early 1930s, 168–69
Eichberg’s contract with, 95
Elstree Calling, 141
exclusion from Shanghai clubs, 208
extortion threats received by, 249–51
as family head of household, 273
family of, 8, 11; See also individual family members
in family portrait, 26, 27
as fashion icon, xiii, 170–71, 198–99, 212, 241
film debut of, 50–51
on films made in Chinatown, 47
final year of life for, 307–9
financial difficulties of, 301, 304
Flower Drum Song, 308–9
The Fortieth Door, 81
in France, 117
funeral service for, 312
The Gallery of Mme. Liu-Tsong, 299–300
at Garden of Alla, 56–57
Ge’s interviews with, 106–7
and The Good Earth, 177–80
gravesite of, 311–14
hairstyle of, 134
Hai-Tang, 138–40
and Hayakawa, 81
“Highlights from Hollywood,” 266, 269–70
highly publicized personalities inspiring, 71
Hollywood (miniseries), 330
Hollywood Walk of Fame star for, 314–15
home and car bought by, 78–79
in Hong Kong, 210–15, 217–19, 242
in Honolulu, 187–88
Howe’s friendship with, 82, 83
as icon of China in Germany, 102
image of, on US quarter, 311, 316
Impact, 297–98
international fame of, 81
Island of Lost Men, 269
in jail, 87
in Japan, 188–89
Java Head, 173–74
King of Chinatown, 269
Lady from Chungking, 278–79
languages learned by, 106, 138, 146, 177, 214, 226, 239–40
late 1920s publicity photo, 105
legacy of, 305
The Letter, 304–5
on Liangyou cover, 201
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, 307
in live performances, 131–36, 147, 176–77, 252, 288
on living her life, 62
in London, 122–36
Madame Chiang’s snub of, 286–87
“Manchuria,” 159–61
in Manila, 214–15
marriage prospects for, 83–84
and Mary’s suicide, 273
measles contracted by, 25–26
middle name chosen by, 58–59, 62
modeling by, 47
move to new house by, 304
moving back in with family, 90
Mr. Wu, 91, 93
in Nanking, 227–28
and Nazimova, 53, 56, 57
New Chinese Recipes preface by, 288
new womanhood in Germany defined by, 120–21
Old San Francisco, 93–94, 153
1001 Marvels, 176–77
On the Spot, 146–49, 185, 269, 273
Outside the Law, 59–60
Paramount portrait of, 244–45
Pavement Butterfly, 116–19
in Peking, 230–42
personal career crisis for, 85–86, 94–95
Peter Pan, 81, 82
Piccadilly, 96–97, 123–30, 153, 170, 303, 327
playing hooky from school, 44
and popularity of The Thief of Bagdad in Germany, 77
Portrait in Black, 307–8, 310
portrait with porcelain cat, 291
in post–World War II period, 293–94
and The Power of Positive Thinking, 303
prejudice experienced during childhood, 1–2
Prisoner of Japan, 278
and Production Code, 70
production company started by, 79, 81
reason for going to Germany, 110
The Red Lantern, 50–51, 53–56
religion embraced by, 307
return from China to America by, 242, 247–48
return from Europe to America by, 141, 145
and Richard’s gift shop, 306
romance of Maschwitz and, 251–54
salary of, 60, 166–67, 269, 279
sale of real estate by, 301
Santa Monica home of, xiv, 272
school years of, 36–40, 72
sexual orientation of, 163–64, 258, 259
in Shanghai, 194–200, 202–8, 221, 222, 225–27, 242
Shanghai Express, 81, 160, 163–67, 169, 196
at Sierra Madre Lodge, 300–301
Song, 107–10
as “speaking actress,” 86
stereotypes exposed by, 157–58
A Study in Scarlet, 169
study of Chinese drama by, 239–41
talk on makeup given by, 171
in television, 299–300, 304–7
television addiction of, 302–3
The Thief of Bagdad, 73–77, 153, 173
Tiger Bay, 171–72
The Toll of the Sea, 64–68, 170
trip to postwar London, 303–4
Tuneful Songs and Intriguing Costumes, 176
turning point in career of, 268–69
in “twilight” of film career, 269, 294, 309
unique girlhood of, 36–40
unique signoff of, 107
USO tours of, 276, 287
Van Vechten’s portraits of, 174, 259–60
vaudeville tours, 86–88, 176–77
visiting family in China, 216–17
vocal delivery of, 135, 137–39
and Vollmöller, 94–95
on voyage to China, 185–91
and war news from China, 255, 257
and war relief for China, 261–64, 267–68, 279, 280, 287
wax statue of, 91
When Were You Born?, 269
Where the Wind Rocks the Bamboo, 267, 305–6
The Willow Tree, 288
work in family laundry, 1–2, 60, 72
World War II activities of, 280
Wong, James
childhood acting with Anna May, 44
meeting Anna May in Shanghai, 195
stolen identity of, 248
support for education of, 293
during World War II, 257
Wong, Lee Toy (mother), 25, 62, 83
on losing soul through pictures, 62
and marriage for Anna May, 83
measles contracted by, 25–26
Wong, Margaretta, 58, 312
Wong, Marion
career of, 79–80
The Curse of Quon Gwon, 80
Wong, Mary, 58, 180
The Good Earth, 180
suicide of, 273, 337
during World War II, 257, 261
Wong, other Chinese family names and, 198
Wong, Richard, 273
and Anna May’s evening engagements, 280
and Anna May’s move to new house, 304
early life of, 216, 217
gift shop opened by, 306
and sale of real estate, 301
study of photography by, 293
World War II service of, 287
Wong, Roger, 273
Wong family
in Chang On, 216–17
children in, 8, 11
and editorial racism, 11
and Japan’s attacks on China, 257
and Mary’s suicide, 273
portrait of, 26–27
return to America by, 263
return to China by, 180, 185–86
on South Flower Street, 25
See also individual family members
Wong Kung Saw (association), 24, 25
Wong Laundry, 1–3, 7
Anna May’s work in, 1–2, 60, 72
destruction of, 180
establishment of, 8
as fortunate choice of business, 20
squalid living conditions surrounding, 13
Wong Lee Toy (mother)
and Anna May in The Red Lantern, 55
arrival in Los Angeles, 18
death of, 148
family portrait, 26, 27
gravesite of, 312
Wong Lew Ying (Lulu), 8
American name of, 58
with Anna May in Berlin, 98
family portrait, 26, 27
in Germany, 99, 106, 113
in Hong Kong, 211
measles contracted by, 25–26
school years of, 36–40
on visit to family in China, 215, 216
Wong Liu Tsong, 11, 59, 108, 313
See also Wong, Anna May
Wong Sam Sing (father)
and Anna May in The Red Lantern, 55
Anna May’s apartment built by, 90
and Anna May’s truancy, 44
arrival in Los Angeles, 18
on being proud of race, 38
in Chang On, 216–17
on Chinese New Year, 185
family portrait, 26–27
first wife and son of, in China, 8
laundry business of, 1–3, 8, 20, 24, 25
and marriage for Anna May, 83
marriage to Gon Toy, 8
and measles epidemic, 26
return to China by, 181, 185–86
Wood Dragons, 7
Woolf, Virginia
on change in human character, 124
To the Lighthouse, 124
working class, appeal of nickelodeons for, 44
“Work of Art in the Age of Its Reproducibility, The” (Benjamin), 111
World of Suzie Wong, The (Mason), 64, 309
World of Yesterday, The (Zweig), 100
World War I
Hollywood during, 41
limits on US military buildup following, 271–72
postwar period, 99–101, 103
World War II
Anna May in charity fundraisers during, 266–67, 272–73
Burma in, 277, 278
celebrity USO tours during, 287
European Theater in, 280
internment of Japanese during, 274–76, 281
Madame Chiang Kai-shek’s America visit during, 281–87
mood in California at start of, 272
movie industry during, 275–80
official start of, 270
Pacific Theater in, 280
precursors to, 242–44
United States brought into, 273–74
US anti-Japanese sentiment during, 274
US neutrality at beginning of, 266, 272
war relief for China, 261–64, 266–68, 279, 280, 287–88
Willkie’s goodwill tour during, 282–84
as windfall for Hollywood, 257
World Wide Pictures, 169
Wot Fat Chop Suey, 188
Wu, Butterfly
with Anna May in Shanghai, 225–26
farewell party hosted by, 242
The Flower of Freedom, 225
Singsong Girl Red Peony, 224, 225
Twin Sisters, 225
wedding of, 225
Wu, Mrs., 203
Wu Tieh-cheng, 202, 203
Wyler, William, The Letter, 304–5

xenophobia
and cultural appropriation of objects and images, 125
Johnson-Reed Act on immigration, 78
Nativist Era, 42
in 1920s America, 152
in Southern California, 10–11
Xu Xinfu, 226

Yamaoka, Iris, 275
Yamaoka, Otto, 275
The Black Camel, 275
The Letter, 275, 304
Libeled Lady, 275
The Naked City, 275
Yan, Hilda, 272–73
Year of the Dragon, 7
Year of the Horse, 27
yellowface
Bogle on, 158
Broken Blossoms, 52
Chaney’s characters, xv, 61
Chu Chin Chow, 173
The Circle of Chalk, 135
as component of art deco, 157
The Good Earth, 178–80
The Hatchet Man, 286
The Letter, 305
Mr. Wu, 92
in 1960s, 309
On the Spot, 147
The Red Lantern, 59, 60
“yellow films,” 51, 52, 59, 79
“Yellow Peril,” 8, 10, 33, 51, 159
Yellow Traffic, The, 51
Yeoh, Michelle, 157
Yokohama, 188–89
Young, Loretta, 286
Young, Ming, The Toll of the Sea, 68
Young, Robert, The Black Camel, 275
Yu, Mr., 106
Yu Dafu, “Malady of Spring Nights,” 203
Yu-Kia-Li, 114

Zanuck, Darryl F.
The Jazz Singer, 93
Old San Francisco, 93–94
Zau, Sinmay, 207
Zhang Jingyao, 232
Zhang Shichuan
Singsong Girl Red Peony, 224
Star Studio, 224, 226
Zhang Xueliang, 199–200, 225
Zheng Zhengqiu, 224
Ziegfeld Follies, 177
Zukor, Adolph
“Famous Players in Famous Plays,” 32, 43
Paramount built by, 168
Shanghai Express, 161
Zweig, Stefan, 100