T.H.A.T.
(Television History and Trivia)from
www.hologlobepress.com
by
Victor Edward Swanson,
Publisher
RULES OF USE
The material provided on this page is a service of Victor Swanson and The Hologlobe Press. The material may be used freely by a person, if the person does not use the material for commercial purposes. The material may be used by persons employed in the media, such as staffers of radio stations, but persons employed in the media must announce that the material has been taken from the website of The Hologlobe Press, the main Internet address to which is www.hologlobepress.com. Of course, the material is provided for fun or to teach.
Special Important Announcement
I now have a document at the website for The Hologlobe Press entitled A COVID-19 Document that Shows the Rottenness of the CDC, Many in the Medical Community, Many in the Media, and All the Democrats, such as Gretchen Whitmer, Andrew Cuomo, and Joseph Biden, and the document can be reached by using this COVID-19 link.
- - - T.H.A.T., Edition No. 218 - - -
What a year it has been for me in relation to finding crap television history on the Internet and elsewhere, such as in a book. Basically, in the beginning of the year, I was already writing material in to T.H.A.T. documents that would be used way into the middle of the year. For example, I showed up the nonsense information on the Internet about The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsu, a television series of the 1950s, that had Anna May Wong as the main performer (and that was done in T.H.A.T. #217), and I showed why no one should buy the book entitled Soupy Sales and the Detroit Experience: Manufacturing a Television Personality (which was done for T.H.A.T. #215). In this document, I start out with something that I wrote on February 10, 2022, and the something talked about is a television series called Ethel Barrymore Theater. When you are done reading that, you will find more in this edition of Television History and Trivia, and there is much more about Anna May Wong (so read to the end, if you want to learn more about Anna May Wong).
On the evening of February 9, 2022, I was ready to post Television History and Trivia #214 on the Internet, and in it was a paragraph that noted that I was going to talk about this and that in future editions of T.H.A.T., going into May 2022. Before I could post the document on the Internet, I came across information on the Internet that showed people had defective information about a series called Ethel Barrymore Theater. So, I had to add a few words to the paragraph about upcoming things. Finally, through this edition of Television History and Trivia, you will learn good information about Ethel Barrymore Theater.
I have to note for people, especially young people, that Ethel Barrymore was a part of an acting family in roughly the first fifty years of the 1900 (at least). In the early 1900s, people were sort of familiar with Ethel Barrymore as an actress and with her brothers--John Barrymore and Lionel Barrymore. By the way, another generation and more of Barrymores would be involved in acting, too, in the years to come, such as John Barrymore Jr. and Drew Barrymore, the latter of whom has a weekday television series on the air across the country today. John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, and Ethel Barrymore were involved with theater, theatrical movies, and television (at least).
Now that you have that information, I can present text from "Ethel Barrymore Theatre (TV series)" (which was a document on Wikipedia that was then dated February 9, 2022)--"Ethel Barrymore Theatre was a half-hour anthology series hosted by Ethel Barrymore and the last series produced by the DuMont Television Network. While produced by the network, the series was aired on Fridays at 8:30pm ET from September 21 to December 21, 1956 on DuMont Station WABD after the network had closed. The series may have been filmed in 1953, and was known as Stage 8 in syndication." [Later in the article, this is presented--"...The second episode produced by ITC in 1952 was Daughters of Mars, which starred Barrymore, Selena Royle, Elizabeth Risdon, and Phillip Terry....". So the article has conflicts with dates.] What a load of mess that quoted material is. [Note: Remember--I do not put footnotes in T.H.A.T. documents; information about where I get information exists on index cards in my fabulous files (a library that is made up of some 170,000 cards).] Ethel Barrymore Theater was a filmed series, and it had about a dozen episodes, all of which were 30-minutes long (though actually they were made to fit in a 30-minute time slot with commercials and such), and the series was not a network series, and it was a syndicated series. In the middle of 1952, at least two episodes were made, such as the second filmed episode, which was called The Daughters of Mars (and The Daughters of Mars began to be made in June 1952 or so). It is known that, in the spring of 1953, four episodes were in the can (ones with Arthur Kennedy, Edward Arnold, Walter Brennan, and Akim Tamiroff), and production resumed on more episodes, such as one called, then, "Fire in the Night" (which was the working title and not a final title it seems, since I have never found the title attached to an episode that aired). I can say that the text known as "...may have been filmed in 1953..." of the article in Wikipedia shows vagueness on the part of the writer. I have found no evidence that the DuMont Television Network was involved in the production of Ethel Barrymore Theater. If the series was produced by the DuMont Television Network in some way, it would seem very likely that the series would have ended up on the DuMont Television Network in, for example, the fall of 1952, when the network was still around, or in 1953. A person who looks over network schedules for the 1952-1953 and the 1953-1954 season will not find Ethel Barrymore Theater listed. By the way, I found information that said that the full title of the series in the spring of 1953 was The Ethel Barrymore Theatre of the Air, but that title seems not to have been used when the series debuted on television sets. A company called Interstate Television Corporation (which was based in Hollywood) was directly involved in the production of the series. That is fact! It is possible that, unknown to the public, the DuMont Television Network was involved in the production of the series in the beginning, and then the DuMont Television Network dropped out of the picture--pulled away from the series (financially and whatever). The article on Wikipedia puts forth the idea that the series was aired by WABD-TV (New York City, New York) starting on September 21, 1956, and that gives the impression that the series showed up for viewers in the country in the fall of 1956 as a network series of some type. In addition, a website called "The Classic TV Archive" has a webpage on the Internet about the series that notes that the series showed up in the fall of 1956 and was tied to the DuMont in some way. The show premiered way before the showings on WABD-TV. Ethel Barrymore Theater showed up in syndication for the 1953-1954 television season, and, for this report (particularly this paragraph), I will only talk about it being on WGN-TV, Chicago, Illinois, which was known as Channel 9. On Sunday, September 20, 1953, the series showed up for a weekly run at 9:30 p.m. on Sundays on WGN-TV, and the series ran through Sunday, December 13, 1953 [Note: It was replaced by Man Against Crime on Sunday, December 20, 1953.]. On WGN-TV, people got to see 13 episodes. The webpage for The Classic TV Archive" has one episode called "The Mix Up", but I could not find that title as a broadcast title, and what I found was "General Delivery" for the title of the episode, and if you take "The Mix Up" off of the list of episodes--14 episodes--on The Classic TV Archive" page, then you will find 13 episodes on that page, and that then makes sense.
In the previous paragraph, I report that the series had about a dozen episodes. Let me clear that up. I found a showing of a program called "The Infallible Uncle" under Ethel Barrymore Theatre in a newspaper TV-listing section for the Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) area for Friday, March 22, 1957. Actually, that episode belongs to Error Flynn Theatre. If the episode were a part of Ethel Barrymore Theater, then 14 episodes would be in the list for Ethel Barrymore Theater, but the episode does not belong to Ethel Barrymore Theater.
For the record, I report that WGN-TV was an affiliate of the DuMont Television Network, which would die on September 15, 1955 [Note: A lot of bad television historians and a lot of bad writers of articles push forth the idea that the DuMont Television Network disappeared in 1956, but that is crap.], and WGN-TV's showing of Ethel Barrymore Theater was not tied to the DuMont Television Network schedule.
I do not think Ethel Barrymore Theater was ever syndicated as Stage 8 or under Stage 8, given I can find nothing in trade magazines of the past that hint at that. However, I found that episodes Ethel Barrymore Theater were shown under the umbrella title known as Stage 8 on WNHC-TV, Channel 8, of the New Haven area of Connecticut in 1956 (at least) [Note: Really, Stage 8 was used in at least 1955 and 1956 by WNHC-TV.]. Here is an aside. In the Detroit area, there were a number of times when television stations ran episodes of off-network series (those that had originally aired on broadcast network television) or episodes of syndicated series under locally created umbrella titles, and there were times in the 1950s when episodes of a couple former network television series (on film) were grouped together under the same local umbrella title. Sometimes, by the way, syndicators had to change the titles of series for syndication since the series originally had the names of sponsors in the titles. Let me get back to WNHC-TV. In 1955 and 1956 (at least), the station used Stage 8 as a way to promote the idea of viewers' seeing programs on Channel 8 (WNHC-TV). People were supposed to remember the "8" (such as those shown in television listings in relation to Channel 8). Television listings for WNHC-TV during the 1955-1956 television season show that the station aired episodes (in repeat) of such television series as Fireside Theatre and Four Star Playhouse and Beulah under Stage 8 (as umbrella title) Also, I discovered episodes of Ethel Barrymore Theater were shown under Stage 8 in the 1955-1956 season. I report that television listings in newspapers in the 1940s and 1950s can be incomplete--they can give the title or umbrella title for a show to be shown, but they may not also give the actual name of the show or episode. The best that I can say is that episodes of Ethel Barrymore Theater were shown under Stage 8 (a locally used title) in March 1956 and April 1956 on WNHC-TV.
And I have to add--You should see that Ethel Barrymore Theater could not have been the last series produced by the DuMont Television Network, as is noted by Wikipedia [Note: The network produced a bunch of programs between 1953 and 1955.].
In relation to local television stations, I focus on those of the Detroit (Michigan, the United States of America)/Windsor (Ontario, Canada) area mostly for my work and files, and here is when Ethel Barrymore Theater was seen by people of the Detroit/Windsor area for the first time. On Monday, October 11, 1954, WWJ-TV, Channel 4, began to show the series, and it ran weekly on Mondays at 10:30 p.m.. The last episode was shown on December 27, 1954. By the way, WWJ-TV was an affiliate of NBC-TV, as it had been since June 1947. On Tuesday, May 1, 1956, CKLW-TV, Channel 9, which was based in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, and was across the Detroit River from Detroit, Michigan, began to run Ethel Barrymore Theater (on a weekly basis), and it was at first scheduled for 8:00 p.m. on Tuesdays, but after a few weeks, it was moved to Mondays at 8:00 p.m..
It here is something interesting. Since CKLW-TV was willing to pick up the series in repeat form, it seems the series was not bad. Also, we know at least some episodes were run as a part of some package of half-hour films in 1956 (at least). It might be that at least some of the episodes still exist today. Episodes could be packed away in boxes with episodes of other old series that were run in, for example, syndication in 1956 (at least).
I have yet another special paragraph for this document. On Thursday, February 10, 2022, I went on eBay to see if anything tied to Ethel Barrymore Theater was there. I found copies of scripts for two episodes of the series--"The Gentle Years" and "Mimsel's Man". I was able to look at several pages of each script. Incidentally, the seller was someone using the moniker "The Movie Wizard" (themoviewizard), and I have no idea who that is, and The Movie Wizard pushed out the wrong information that the scripts were from 1956. See how crap information gets passed around (maybe all over the world). When I looked at what few pages were available for both scripts, I was able to determine some of the main characters in "Mimsel's Man" were Mimsel, Van, and Peter and that some of the main characters in "The Gentle Years" were Isaac, Mattie, and Inga. The Movie Wizard was asking $300.00 (U.S. money) for each script. On the front of each script, it was reported that Interstate Television Corporation was located at 4376 Sunset Drive, Hollywood 27, California (and that covers 1952 and 1953).
I did not find the title Stage 8 used by any stations other than WNHC-TV in 1955 and 1956, but while doing tracking in 1956, I did find a full-page advertisement in a trade magazine that talked about Stage 7. The full-page advertisement was in Television magazine for April 1956. Here is some text from the page--"...The first dramatic anthology of first run films in syndication television . . . new, all new, top quality productions--in an anthology which brings you 'inside STAGE 7' to see Hollywood's stars in dramatic stories: comedy, adventure, romance, real life...." and "...Lifted from the network, the continuing series is now being produced exclusively for local or regional advertisers . . .. the first time you can have a big-time network success--which got highest Nielsen, Videodex and ARB ratings--produced for you first run for market-by-market use....". The advertisement came from a company called Television Programs of America, Inc..
Hey, get a load of this! While searching for stuff about Stage 8, I came across a listing for Stage 8 that noted that a show (or an episode of some series) called Boomerang was scheduled to be broadcast during the week of Sunday, January 8, 1956 (at 6:00 p.m. on the particular day). In the previous edition of T.H.A.T., I talked about (at length) The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong or Madame Liu-Tsong. One of the episodes of that series was called "Boomerang". Hum! Is it possible that WNHC-TV bought a package of half-hour films that had episodes of a number of series, such as one from The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong or Madame Liu-Tsong? Maybe at least one episode of The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong or Madame Liu-Tsong could be hidden away unbeknownst to people in the package of stored film stories that were broadcast under Stage 8 on WNHC-TV in 1956 (at least). No! I found none of the other episodes related to the series with Anna May Wong were shown under Stage 8. In addition, on Friday, September 18, 1953, at 7:00 p.m. (the time for Eastern affiliates), CBS-TV broadcast an episode of Schlitz Playhouse of the Stars, which was on film, and that episode was called "Boomerang" (a half-hour program). In "Boomerang", one of the performers was John Barrymore Jr., and that performance was the television debut for John Barrymore Jr., and the story was about a half-million dollars of missing jewels. That was probably the "Boomerang" that was shown on WNHC-TV in January 1956.
And that is my story of Ethel Barrymore Theater up to this day.
[Note: I am not done talking about Anna May Wong, and you should not miss the final section of this document.]Announcement for the novice again (reworked in March 2019): To get useful television-delivered news or Internet-delivered news, try Breitbart News Network (the history of which goes back to 2007), WorldNetDaily.com, Newsmax TV (which was started up in 2014), CNS News (which is on the Internet and which was launched on June 16, 1998), and One America News Network (a.k.a. OAN), since the entities do not blindly support Barack Obama-type people (communists, socialists, progressives, liberals, and Shariaists), as do CNN, MSNBC, NBC-TV, CBS-TV, and ABC-TV (Note: To learn about bad journalism, you might tune in to CNN, MSNBC, NBC-TV, CBS-TV, and ABC-TV from time to time to see how they differ from the better places mentioned). I note that the Fox News Channel is evolving into a rotten channel, becoming like those that I have put down in this paragraph. If you are unclear of my intentions, I say in different words that you should boycott CNN, MSNBC, NBC-TV, CBS-TV, and ABC-TV and even now much of what is on the Fox News Channel and hope they lose more ratings and advertising revenues, since they are expendable, and it is time for you to find the guts to be mean and heartless and cancel them--since they are hurting you. In 2019, "The Drudge Report" was sold, and it should be treated as suspect for now. [Note: Everyone in the Democratic Party in the country is rotten, and the Republican Party establishment has shown itself to be socialistic and communistic within the last few years, and only a few of the rotten people tied to the Republican Party are U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, and Chris Christie.]
[Note: Here is an example of Chris Christie's rottenness. On Sunday, February 6, 2022, Chris Christie was a guest on This Week with George Stephanopoulos (of ABC-TV), which had Martha Raddatz as the host, and Christ Christie pushed out crap. For example, Chris Christie said--"...And let's face it. Let's call it what it is. January 6 was a riot that was incited by Donald Trump...an effort to intimidate Mike Pence and the Congress into doing exactly what he said in his own words last week--overturn the election. And he's trying to do a cleanup on aisle one here...." and "...He actually told the truth by accident. He wanted the election to be overturned....". That is bullshit!]Announcement: Recently, I have added some new documents to the collection of my documents at the website for The Hologlobe Press. One of the documents is entitled A Document that Dispels Myths and Nonsense of Science-Fiction Books, Movies, and Television Shows (A Logic Puzzle), which can be reached through this Myths link. Another document is And So You Think You're Going to the Moon, Mars, or the Stars..., which can be reached by using this Moon link. And yet another of the documents is entitled And the Stupid Women Shall Lead--and Lead Every Good Individual into Shit, Driven on by Communism, Feminism, and Defective Female Beliefs and Little-Girl Thinking, which can be reached through this Stupid Women link. And here are other documents--A Review of What Television Controlled by Socialists and Communists Worked to Sell as Truth in Relation to the U.S. President Donald J. Trump Impeachment (at Impeachment) and T.H.A.T. Special Edition--The First Helicopter-based Traffic Reporters on Radio for the Detroit area of Michigan (at Helicopter Traffic).
So I have another Looking at the Movies feature, and it is tied to the previous edition of Television History and Trivia, or it goes beyond the stuff of the previous edition, which was mostly about Ms. Anna May Wong and The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong. While doing research on Anna May Wong, I came across information that an actress named Michelle Krusiec played Anna May Wong in four episodes of a 2020 series for Netflix called Hollywood. I looked at some videos on YouTube featuring Michelle Krusiec, and one was called "Brave New Shakespeare Challenge - THOMAS MORE with Michelle Krusiec | The Public Theater" (which runs two-minutes and fifty-six seconds), and my first reaction to the video (which was designed to be a dramatic presentation) was that the video was an ugly piece (going beyond the acting and showing some of the underlying true nature of Michelle Krusiec). Michelle Krusiec, like Lucy Liu and Sandra Oh, often comes off as an angry Asian-type actress, who tries to sell the idea that Hollywood is racist against Asian performers. In found a video on YouTube called "Michelle Krusiec ("Hollywood"): Redemption for bitter actress Anna May Wong | GOLD DERBY", in which Tony Ruiz interviewed Michelle Krusiec, such as about her playing Anna May Wong in Hollywood, and, in the video, Michelle Krusiec talks about how Anna May Wong did not get the part of O-Lan in the movie called The Good Earth (of 1937) and about how a German-born actress got the part, and that actress was Luise Rainer. Michelle Krusiec noted that Luise Rainer receive an Oscar for the performance in the movie, and Michelle Krusiec hinted Anna May Wong's not getting the part was related to Hollywood racism against Anna May Wong, but Michelle Krusiec did not note that, in around 1936, Luise Rainer had much more clout than Anna May Wong had in relation to getting hired for The Good Earth. For one, MGM made The Great Ziegfeld, for which Luise Rainer received an Oscar, and MGM was the maker of The Good Earth, and it seems Anna May Wong was not tied to MGM (through contract and the like), and, for example, in 1938 and 1939, as I noted in the previous edition of Television History of Trivia, Anna May Wong was tied to Paramount, and between 1935 and 1939, four of the five fiction films that were released with Anna May Wong were distributed by Paramount--Daughter of Shanghai (1937), Dangerous To Know (1938), King of Chinatown (1939), and Island of Lost Men (1939) [Note: One other film during the period--When You Were Born (1938)--was distributed by Warner Bros., and, in 1934, Paramount distributed Limehouse Blues, which had Anna May Wong.]. I know not what the contract arrangement was between MGM and Luise Rainer, and she may have been given the part in The Good Earth in some way related to contract stuff--she may have had to do so many pictures for MGM in a given time. [Note: Countless reasons can exist for why Luise Rainer got the part and Anna May Wong did not get the part before thinking about racism.] Oh, Michelle Krusiec did not note that Luise Rainer was one of those actresses who could give tears on cue or note Luise Rainer was given high praise as an actress in the middle of the 1930s. I remind you that, in the previous edition of Television History and Trivia, I reported that I could see Anna May Wong was not suited to act in some types of roles because of her persona and body structure, and I noted how, because in real life she seemed to be highly formal, she came off as stiff (in body) at times. Michelle Krusiec hinted that, if Anna May Wong would have gotten the part of O'Lan in The Good Earth, Anna May Wong would have gotten an Oscar. It may not have been so, given Anna May Wong may not have done well enough as O'Lan to get an Oscar nomination and then win an Oscar. In the previous edition of Television History and Trivia, I passed along a movie with Anna May Wong to watch as a Looking at the Movies feature. In this edition, I am going to break tradition. I usually present movies aired by a Detroit-area television station within the first few years of existence of the station, and this time, I go beyond the limit. On Thursday, April 6, 1961, The Good Earth (as a part one) was shown by Channel 9, CKLW-TV, and the movie was hosted by the famous Bill Kennedy (of Bill Kennedy Showtime), and part two was shown on the next day. That seems to be the first showing on television in the Detroit area for the movie. The Good Earth is the presentation of Looking at the Movies. See whether or not you can see Anna May Wong playing O'Lan well, and see how Luise Rainer did, and see if you think Anna May Wong would play well with Paul Muni (as Wang Lung), having chemistry. I know not if Anna May Wong did a screen test with Paul Muni during the consideration process for the role. If she did, maybe it was deemed by the producers of the film (for MGM) that Luise Rainer did better than Anna May Wong did. Take a look at The Good Earth. And, by the way, look up Michelle Krusiec in videos, and see if you think Michelle Krusiec could play the part of O'Lan. I do not think Michelle Krusiec could play the part well, often looking angry and not having pleasantness in the face naturally (though she has the model look).
[Note: On May 11, 2022, I sent Television History and Trivia #217 to Ms. Michelle Krusiec. On May 12, 2022, I received an email from Ms. Grace Godfrey, who was associated with Michelle Krusiec, and Grace Godfrey reported that Michelle Krusiec was having trouble viewing the document (which was sent as an attachment document). I sent another copy of Television History and Trivia #217 out, sending it to Grace Godfrey, and my knowing some of what was in the document--such as attacks against people working to sell the racism-against-Asians idea--I expected nothing from Michelle Krusiec. Since May 12, 2022, I have received no comments from Michelle Krusiec or her associates.]
Now, I have a commentary section, and it is used to show up and put down the idea that Hollywood was racist--or, really, "systemically racist"--against Anna May Wong, such as in the 1930s, forcing her to always do so-called stereotypical Asian parts, an idea being pushed along by, for example, a bunch of somewhat young Asian actresses of today--feminists and supporters of socialism--such as Sandra Oh and Michelle Krusiec [Note: I talked about a woman named Nicole Chung in the previous edition of Television History and Trivia.]. I can say that, in most cases, each actor and each actress of between the 1920s and 1961 (where I am going to stop the time range because Anna May Wong died in 1961) played the same type of role as a rule, and the physical nature of the person was often the reason for that or was the driving force for that. Laurel and Hardy played the same type of roles, and The Three Stooges played the same types of roles, and Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis played the same type of roles, and Marilyn Monroe played the same type of roles, and Audie Murphy played the same type of roles, and Walter Brennan played the same type of roles, and Clark Gable played the same types of roles, and John Wayne played the same types of roles, and Shirley Temple (as a child) played the same types of roles, and Freddie Bartholomew played the same types of roles, and Katherine Hepburn played the same types of roles, and Mae West played the same types of roles, and Doris Day played the same types of roles, and I could go on and on and on. One reason people push the idea that Anna May Wong was in "stereotypical Asian roles" is she often played the same types of parts, often not A-list parts, and one theme that they bring up is the story of The Good Earth, which had Luise Rainer as the main female lead, and, as I have already noted, Luise Rainer was tied to MGM around the time the movie was made and Anna May Wong was not. Some people (not I) suggest Anna May Wong was given a chance to play in the movie, though not in the lead position, and Anna May Wong turned down what was offered--thinking (it seems) she was better and deserved to be the star (as all actresses think). I contend that Anna May Wong was mostly destined for B-type roles, simply because of what she was and what she could do--her persona did not really hint at A-type roles in A-type movies of the 1930s and 1940s for her [Note: Anna May Wong designed her image, such as in the 1920s, and that image set the stage for what she would get to do, as happens with almost every performer.]. Here, I contend such Asian-type actresses as Sandra Oh, Michelle Krusiec, and Lucy Liu are only B-type actresses, too, and, in essence, they will only really be thought of as being B-type characters in movies and television shows, and that might make them angry (beyond that of being the standard angry feminists). In the previous edition of Television History and Trivia, I showed information that stated that Anna May Wong only showed up in New York City from Hollywood to be involved in the making of The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong (a 1951 television series) a few days before the first episode was supposed to air live, and I have wondered why Anna May Wong did not show up much sooner, given the series was supposed to be her acting debut on television, and I would think Anna May Wong--who was past her heyday in films--would really want to make the series a big deal so that she could revive her career, being a part of the new medium of television. By the way, in the 1950s and 1960s, such actresses as Loretta Young, Lucille Ball, Gale Storm, Ida Lupino, Barbara Stanwyck, June Allyson, Doris Day, Donna Reed, and Bette Davis took up working in television filmed programs, not feeling it beneath them (it seems), and that did well for them (and they are yet seen on television today in their television performances). Maybe, Anna May Wong could have had a better career if she would have pushed to make The Gallery of Liu-Tsong (at least the start) a better product. It must be remembered that Anna May Wong was a party girl and had been for years, and Anna May Wong turned out to be an alcoholic, who would die of a heart attack. Her alcoholism could have stunted her career (affecting her face adversely, as alcoholism can do, making her look more tough and stern later in life). I note that Anna May Wong was never married, and people of today believe she was a lesbian, and that seems to make, for example, Michelle Krusiec (who played Anna May Wong) happy. Maybe Anna May Wong's being a lesbian stunted her career, since in the 1930s and 1940s and 1950s, a performer's being lesbian or gay was downplayed to moviegoers, given it was thought to be freaky behavior (which might block people from deciding to see the performer in a lead part in movies). I contend Anna May Wong's being an Asian gal gave her a chance to be in movie roles, and if she were not Asian, she might have had done fewer roles by being just another actress standing around in Hollywood, given her persona did not hint at A-list stuff. I have seen materials that hint that Anna May Wong was "bitter" about the way Hollywood treated her, but maybe her "bitterness" was not so well founded (and at least some of the bitterness could have been defective, it better attributed to her misunderstanding her qualities and nature). And it must be remembered Anna May Wong left high school at a young age to take up working in films, and it is very possible Anna May Wong developed a "big head," resulting in her thinking she was such a great star who was able to hob-nob with Hollywood elites, and fame adversely affected her view of life. Now young Asian gals--actresses (with probably "big heads")--are pushing the idea about racism--"systemic racism" of the country and in the country--against Anna May Wong by Hollywood, which I think is crap. And so goes fame!
Now, I have to carry the topic about Anna May Wong on further, and it comes about by my having seen a video on YouTube called "How Luise Rainer Won Two Oscars In A Row" (which lasts 12 minutes and 35 seconds), and it was posted on YouTube on May 1, 2018, and it was posted on the Internet by "Be Kind Rewind." When a person is unwilling to announce on YouTube video the name of the person who created the video or is responsible for the video, that makes me suspect about the video if the video comes off as a political piece, which "How Luise Rainer Won Two Oscars" does. For example, when the video came up, this information was presented underneath the screen--"In 1938, Luise Rainer became the first actor to ever win consecutive Academy Awards. In this episode I explain how she benefited from the studio system, how freelancing disadvantaged her opponents, and how white privilege influenced the casting of The Good Earth....". The idea about "white privilege" is something that a modern-day communist or socialist or progressive, who are rotten people, would bring up try to sell the idea that the United States of America was founded as a racist country. It is crap! The video sort of rambles, bringing in topics that need not be mentioned. The video was narrated by a woman, so "Be Kind Rewind" seems to be a woman (but maybe not), and that is all that a person can determine. I would like to know who "Be Kind Rewind" really is so that I can determine if the person is tied to some leftist entity. Be Kind Rewind brings up the idea in the video that Anna May Wong did not get to play with Paul Muni in The Good Earth, because, at the time, people of different races could not be linked romantically on screen, and it is reported by Be Kind Rewind that Anna May Wong did not want to play the part of the concubine (the second wife) in The Good Earth because it would undermine Chinese, and, really, it is said that Anna May Wong refused the part. In May 1937, a number of newspapers around the country picked up and published a story called (at least by The Morning Chronicle) "They Stare at Anna May Wong". One part of the article was--"...Probably the major disappointment of Anna May's successful career came when, after dozens of tests, she was not selected for the role of the second wife in The Good Earth. The reason they gave for the turn-down, she says, was that Anna May Wong, the Frosted Willow Blossom, didn't look Chinese....". Hold it! If Anna May Wong did not want the part of the second wife, why did she do screen tests for the part? Maybe the 1937 article is a lie, and Anna May Wong did not test for the part, but I believe the 1937 article to be more correct than what people of today--who seem to be communists or socialists or progressives--are pushing, when what is being pushed is the modern-day "white privilege" theme, which is crap. In the video by Be Kind Rewind, the narrator does bring up this line--"...Others suffered from the oppressive hand of white privilege....". By the way, I can see why Anna May Wong did not get the role that ended up being done by Luise Rainer, since a Hollywood moral code blocked her. Of course, the code was blocking others too for doing things--so she was not the only one. It is not as if Anna May Wong's not getting the role was something that doomed her career, as I have shown by noting her work for Paramount. Based on seeing Anna May Wong in movies that exist today, I can see that maybe Anna May Wong was a little stiff in the screen tests for the part of the concubine [Note: Make sure to see the previous edition of Television History and Trivia.]. When I saw the video by Be Kind Rewind, I knew I had to see the review of the movie that was in Variety, since, in 1937, the movie reviews in Variety could be trusted. The review gave praise to everyone in the cast, though it did say that Luise Rainer did not look Chinese enough, but the review did note that Luise Rainer, who is an "actress" (truly an "actress"), did well. In the end, the review, which noted that the film was a little slow at times and could have been cut down a bit, stated--"...It is a remarkable screen production....". In essence, Be Kind Rewind was pushing the issue that there was "systemic racism" involved in Anna May Wong's not getting the part of O'Lan in The Good Earth, but the video makes too many errors to be trusted. I did a little more research into Anna May Wong in old newspapers, and I only did a little since Television History and Trivia documents are designed to talk about video stuff and television, and it is not my job to write up a good history of Anna May Wong. I found information in an article that said that Anna May Wong sent a postal card to Gail Patrick (an actress) in around May 1936, and Anna May Wong and Gail Patrick would appear in Dangerous to Know (of 1938), and so it seems Gail Patrick and Anna May Wong were friends (at least for a while), and it is surprising, then, that Anna May Wong did not make an appearance in Perry Mason (between 1957 and 1961), given Gail Patrick Jackson (formerly known as Gail Patrick) was the executive producer of the series. I found that, in 1938, Anna May Wong refused to cut her long hair for a movie role (so she wore a wig), and, in 1939, she reported that she would never wear a skimpy sarong like that which Dorothy Lamour was noted for wearing, and the film related to the thought was Island of Lost Men, and Anna May Wong said "...I'll stick to Chinese styles....". Oh, in 1937, Anna May Wong made it clear she would not get married, saying that she was already too old (being 32 years of age) to get married, and I note that Gail Patrick got married in 1974 to John Velde Jr. (and she was well over 32 years of age then) [Note: Anna May Wong's saying that she would never marry could have--later--held her back from romantic roles, if the codes were later weakly enforced.]. In the end, Anna May Wong was popular in Europe and the United States of America, and it is illogical to say that Anna May Wong's not getting a role in The Good Earth drove her to hate or resent Hollywood, and I state that her not getting a role cannot be attributed to "systemic racism" in the country, since that theme goes way too far and over the top, as I show, and if she was bitter later in her career, it could be the result of many things, such as she was no longer in with the in-crowd or did not get as much star recognition as she was hoping for. It could be argued well that Anna May Wong was one person who helped the moral codes of 1934 come into use in Hollywood, having been a player in Shanghai Express (of 1932) with Marlene Dietrich, in which lesbianism had been a hinted-at theme; in the early 1930s, for example, people were complaining about the morals pushed in movies, and so conduct codes began to be enforced in a more earnest way in 1934 by the Hollywood studios (following the public's saying that things had gone too far, even making heroes out of bad people or criminals). [Note: I can argue well that the television industry has gone too far in recent years. Now, every show seems to have a gay or a lesbian or have a gay and a lesbian, and I bet every show will soon have a transsexual, and there is girl-girl kissing regularly or boy-boy kissing regularly. And while on the subject, I report that Emmys and Oscars seem to be given out only because an actor or an actress is related to the LGBTQ+ community. Be Kind Rewind was so concerned about studios' influencing who gets Oscars, such as in relation to MGM and Luise Rainer, and now look what there is. Things are worse than they were in the 1930s. Maybe, that is why people are not watching the Oscar shows on television these days. By the way, the casting of television shows is corrupted and phony, and it seems a show or series has to have one white, one black, one Asian, one Latino, one gay, one lesbian...., and each has to look like a model, and the gals all look like flat-chested models. It is phony and fake, and it looks phony and fake!]I have to report this information. In early 1950s, it seems Anna May Wong had gastrointestinal problems (at least somewhat serious problems), and, in December 1953 and January 1954 (at least), it seems--based on a few news stories in newspapers--that Anna May Wong was quite ill, and doctors had to provide blood transfusions a number of times. When I first learned the information of the previous sentence, I thought, given Anna May Wong was a party girl in the past, it seems she could have had a bad bleeding ulcer in 1953 and 1954. I did a little more research, and it seems that she had cirrhosis of the liver in later years, such as in the late 1950s, and the blood transfusions could have been related to liver trouble. Remember--a party girl can be involved with using a lot of alcohol and even some illegal drugs (even in the 1920s and 1930s). The health problems for Anna May Wong of the 1950s (at least) could have affected her ability to do acting, and that is why she did not do much in the way of film in the 1950s (though I have run across stories in old newspapers that hinted she got tired of acting, which can happen in the acting business). Also, her health could have blocked her from being on Perry Mason as a guest performer in the late 1950s or very early 1960s.
And Ed Holden (who was an Asian man) in his "Oh So! says Frank Watanabe" column for the edition of the Imperial Press (of El Centro, California) of May 27, 1936, which was partially about Anna May Wong's trip in China in 1936, stated--"Anna May Wong's first visit to China resulted in something of the furore for Lindbergh on his return from Paris. She was, of course, known through her films, but she had no conception of her popularity in the land of her ancestors. Shanghai made her arrival an excuse for a fete day, the like of which is not remembered by the oldest inhabitant. Shop and store windows displayed her likeness and almost every movie theater offered an elaborate decorative tribute to the talented daughter of a Los Angeles laundryman.".
I have a final thought about Michele Krusiec. On Sundays at 6:30 p.m., MeTV airs a weekly program called Collector's Call, and it is hosted by Lisa Whelchel, who was a regular performer years ago in the prime-time series for NBC-TV called The Facts of Life. On Collector's Call, Lisa Whelchel comes off as pleasant. I do not know her political stance, which, if it supports socialism and communism, shows she is not so great in mind stuff. However, on Collector's Call, Lisa Whelchel comes off as pleasant. I have seen a Michelle Krusiec in things over the years, and I do not think she would do the part of hosting Collector's Call well, and the problem is the underlying persona of Michelle Krusiec, which is not pleasant, and the facial structure lacks niceness, and often Anna May Wong's facial structure lacked pleasantness or cuteness in the 1940s and 1950s. Michelle Krusiec, like most actresses, can be limited in what roles suit her by what shows on the face. [Note: I have to add that, often when I go to YouTube, a video called "Nice Girls Crew Trailer!" automatically shows up these days in the group of videos that I might want to see (as determined by YouTube and cookie stuff), and the image presented shows Michelle Krusiec, and she does not look "nice" in any way, and it is a turn off.]
Remember: The Prisoner with Patrick McGoohan was a television show that was produced across the pond and shown on CBS-TV in the late 1960s, and I urge you to find The Prisoner on DVD, maybe from a library, and watch it, and you should show it--all the episodes--to teenagers, or buy it as a present for teenagers.
Stay well!Vic
P.S.: You are urged to see my document entitled One of "The Rules of Man"--A Rule About Health Care that No Politician May Supersede with Law, which can be reached through this Rule1 link. I have deduced that all the Democrats and most Republicans support the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 and have no intention of killing it, though it should be killed for violating, for one, "The Rules of Man." For example, Republicans Jeb Bush and Chris Christie support the rotten law, and that is one reason that I define them as stupid men and not men who are good enough--in this day and age--to be the U.S. President. I note that the "mandate"--which forces everyone to buy government-approved health-care insurance--violates one of "The Rules of Man," and it is a rule that is attacked in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. Anyone who supports the "mandate" is not a good enough person or a smart enough person to be the U.S. president--the mandate is "enslavism," and the "mandate" allows government people--who are often usually bad people, as history shows--decide what health care a person can get, and that is bad.
copyright c. 2022
Date published: June 10, 2022
The Hologlobe Press
Postal Box 5263
Cheboygan, Michigan 49721
The United States of America
To see the next edition of T.H.A.T.,
click on: T.H.A.T. #219.
To see the previous edition of T.H.A.T.,
click on: T.H.A.T. #217.
To see the catalog page for T.H.A.T. editions,
click on: T.H.A.T..
To see information about the news business in
the country and its failures and its betrayal of
the American public, click on: T.H.A.T. #55.
To go to the main page of The Hologlobe Press,
click on: www.hologlobepress.com.
To see information about the impeachment trial
of U.S. President Donald J. Trump, which shows
why Democrats have the minds of killers, click
on: Impeachment Trial.
For further reading, you should see the document
entitled Never Forget These Media Darlings ? --
A Guide for the Individual in the United
States of America, which can reached by
using this link: Media.
For further reading, you should see the document
entitled Film and Television Production
Tax Credits: The Bad Side of the Issue,
which can be reached through this link:
Tax Credits.
For further reading, you should see the document
entitled Political Lessons for the Individual Woman
and the Individual Man in the United States of
America, which can be reached by hitting this
link: Lessons.
For further reading, you should see the document
entitled Nonsense Statements and Quotations
of Barack Obama, which can be reached at
this link: Quotes.
For further reading, you should see the document
about censorship, Fairness?: A Guide for the
Individual Woman and the Individual Man
in the United States of America, which can be
reached at this link: Fairness.
For further reading, you should see the document
entitled National Health Care and Mass Failure:
The Reasons it is a Dead Issue, which can be
reached at this link: Health.
For further reading, you should see the document
entitled A Collection of Words--Just Words--
That Show Dangerous People, which can be
reached through this link: Words.Keep in mind: T.H.A.T. documents and Michigan
Travel Tips documents published since the middle
of 2008 contain more quotations and statements
of Barack Obama's that you should see. To see
the editions of Michigan Travel Tips, you should
go to the catalog page, which can be reached by
hitting this link: Travel.###