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A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. Between 1919 and 1961, pioneering Chinese American actress Anna May Wong established an enduring legacy that encompassed cinema, theater, radio, and American television. Born in Los Angeles, yet with her US citizenship scrutinized due to the Chinese Exclusion Act, Wong—a defiant misfit—innovated nuanced performances to subvert the racism and sexism that beset her life and career. In this critical study of Wong's cross-media and transnational career, Yiman Wang marshals extraordinary archival research and a multifocal approach to illuminate a lifelong labor of performance. Viewing Wong as a performer and worker, not just a star, To Be an Actress adopts a feminist decolonial perspective to speculatively meet her as an interlocutor while inviting a reconsideration of racialized, gendered, and migratory labor as the bedrock of the entertainment industries.
Anna May Wong, born in Los Angeles in 1905 to a Chinese family that did not support her ambition, is the only Asian-American actress to have achieved stardom during Hollywood's Golden Age. Staying single to avoid endangering her career, she became the darling of the intelligentsia, inspiring poems, songs, and crowds of admirers in the British Isles, Europe, and China. She leaves a legacy of some 60 film appearances, numerous stage and television shows, and several radio spots. This book covers Anna May Wong's entire career and personal life. Detailed filmographic entries, with critical commentary as well as cast and technical credits, synopses, and newspaper and magazine reviews, are followed by Wong's stage work and radio and television appearances.
Of the few historical shortlists women make as influencers in the arts; the same few names are recognized; making the catalogue of powerful and gifted females feel like an small and exclusive club. The truth is; however; that far more women than we know can be credited with contributions to the industries in which they honed their crafts. In 1940; when the world was at war and the Civil Rights Movement had yet to turn the page of history; Hattie McDaniel became the first black woman to win an Academy Award. She and Anna May Wong fought hard to pave the way for actresses of color and fight against racial stereotypes. Maria Tallchief was the first; and one of the only; Native American prima ba...
A book chronicling the 1939 visit of famous movie star Anna May Wong to Australia, coupled with a contemporary design project - new lucky shoes for the star - written and curated by University of Melbourne based senior lecturer Derham Groves.
One of the Atlantic's "Books to Get Lost in This Summer" Best Books of August 2023: New York Times Book Review, Christian Science Monitor, InsideHook, BookRiot, WNET AllArts, Arlington Magazine A trenchant reclamation of the Chinese American movie star, whose battles against cinematic exploitation and endemic racism are set against the currents of twentieth-century history. Born into the steam and starch of a Chinese laundry, Anna May Wong (1905–1961) emerged from turn-of-the-century Los Angeles to become Old Hollywood’s most famous Chinese American actress, a screen siren who captivated global audiences and signed her publicity photos—with a touch of defiance—“Orientally yours.”...
Rudyard Kipling and Sir Henry Rider Haggard--close friends--wrote about adventure and the exotic in very different ways. Examined together, their works illuminate each other. The writings of both have been adapted to the screen, stage, television, and radio numerous times (with varying degrees of fidelity) and this is a complete guide to those adaptations. In the main section of the book each original literary work is summarized, followed by a complete filmography and an analysis of each film based on that story or poem. Additional sections provide information on adaptations for radio, stage, and television. Photographs are included from films ranging from The Jungle Book (Kipling) to King Solomon's Mines (Haggard).
Evelyn Brent's life and career were going quite well in 1928. She was happily living with writer Dorothy Herzog following her divorce from producer Bernard Fineman, and the tiny brunette had wowed fans and critics in the silent films The Underworld and The Last Command. She'd also been a sensation in Paramount's first dialogue film, Interference. But by the end of that year Brent was headed for a quick, downward spiral ending in bankruptcy and occasional work as an extra. What happened is a complicated story laced with bad luck, poor decisions, and treachery detailed in this first and only full-length biography.
The years between 1850 and 1930 witnessed the first large-scale migration of peoples from East Asia and South Asia to North America and the emergence of the US as an imperial power in the Pacific. This period also produced the first instances of Asian North American writing, theater, and film. This exciting collection examines how the many literary and cultural works from this period approached questions of migration, exclusion, and identity. Covering an extensive ranges of topics including anticolonialist writing, the erotics of queer modernist poetry, interracial desire, and the racial gaze in silent film, the book shows the diverse and multi-ethnic nature of literary and cultural production at a crucial period in modern formations of race as well as literary and cultural aesthetics.
'A deeply researched, hugely empathic biography.' HELEN O'HARA 'Sure to enthral anyone fascinated by audacious, before-their-time women.' KAREN ABBOTT 'This superbly detailed book does Wong's story proper justice.' BOB STANLEY ' A must read, for anyone who loves pop culture or cares about representation in Hollywood.' PHIL YU Set against the glittering backdrop of Los Angeles in the gin-soaked Jazz Age and the rise of Hollywood, this debut book celebrates Anna May Wong, the first Asian American movie star, to bring an unsung heroine to light and reclaim her place in cinema history. In her time, Anna May was a legendary beauty, witty conversationalist, and fashion icon. Plucked from her famil...
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