Anna May Wong Steps into the Spotlight
HISTORY This Week
The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios
4.5 • 4.2K Ratings
🗓️ 30 May 2022
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
June 4, 1939. Anna May Wong steps off an ocean liner to greet her fans in Australia. In many ways, she is a classic Hollywood actor. Glamorous and famous. She’s made some sixty movies that have been seen around the world. But in other ways, Anna May Wong is singular. She’s the first–and at this time only–Chinese American movie star. But behind the scenes...she is reaching the end of her rope. How did a Chinese American girl from a poor family defy expectations to become an international star? And what is now fueling her Hollywood rebirth?
Thank you to our guests: Professor Shirley Lim, author of Anna May Wong: Performing the Modern; and actor Michelle Krusiec, from Netflix's "Hollywood."
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The History Channel, original podcast. |
| 0:05.0 | History this week, June 4, 1939. |
| 0:09.0 | I'm Sally Helm. |
| 0:15.0 | At the bottom of the steps, someone hands anime wang a huge basket of flowers. |
| 0:21.0 | She smiles gratefully and tries to loop the handle of the basket over her shoulder. |
| 0:26.0 | But it's peppy awkward and she has to lower it to hang on her forearm. |
| 0:31.0 | In her other hand, wang is holding another bouquet of flowers. |
| 0:37.0 | It feels like a classic freeze frame in the life of a movie star. |
| 0:42.0 | She's stepping off an ocean liner to greet her fans in Australia. |
| 0:46.0 | She's holding flowers, flowers, and more flowers. |
| 0:49.0 | She's wearing a floor length fur coat. |
| 0:53.0 | In many ways, anime wang is the classic Hollywood star. |
| 0:59.0 | She's glamorous and famous. |
| 1:01.0 | She's made some 60 movies that have been seen around the world. |
| 1:05.0 | But in other ways, she is completely singular. |
| 1:10.0 | She's the first and at this time only, world famous Chinese American movie star. |
| 1:17.0 | Wang already has tons of fans in Australia. |
| 1:20.0 | And in a newscast, she addresses her Chinese fans in particular, |
| 1:25.0 | calling them in Taiwanese her friends. |
| 1:28.0 | It's a tranquil moment. |
| 1:30.0 | She's in a garden wearing yet another fur coat. |
| 1:34.0 | But behind the scenes, anime wang is reaching the end of her rope. |
... |
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