Anything
But Silent
Anna May Wong in PICCADILLY
Tuesday, May 14th at 7:30 PM
With live accompaniment by Ben Model
And discussion with Katie Gee Salisbury, author of Not Your China Doll
$18 Public | $12 Members
E.A. Dupont's silent masterpiece stars the sultry Anna May Wong in
her greatest role. After many years of supporting roles in Hollywood, Wong left
for Europe in search of better work. And did she find it! Her electric,
sexually-charged performance in Piccadilly is a
revelation. Wong is mesmerizing as Shosho, the Chinese scullery maid at a
Piccadilly nightclub who overnight becomes the toast of London - and the object
of desire of all around her. Piccadilly was the brilliant apex to
director E. A. Dupont’s trilogy of theater films (Varieté and Moulin
Rouge), showcasing his signature mix of magnificent acting, dazzling
imagery and balletic camera movements. (1929, 108 mins)
Set
against the glittering backdrop of Los Angeles during the gin-soaked Jazz Age
and the rise of Hollywood, Not Your China Doll celebrates Anna
May Wong, the first Asian American movie star, to bring an unsung heroine
to light and reclaim her place in cinema history.
Before
Constance Wu, Sandra Oh, Awkwafina, or Lucy Liu, there was Anna May Wong. In
her time, she was a legendary beauty, witty conversationalist, and fashion
icon. Plucked from her family’s laundry business in Los Angeles, Anna May Wong
rose to stardom in Douglas Fairbanks’s blockbuster The Thief of Bagdad.
Fans and the press clamored to see more of this unlikely actress, but when
Hollywood repeatedly cast her in stereotypical roles, she headed abroad in
protest. Anna May starred in acclaimed films in Berlin, Paris, and London. She
dazzled royalty and heads of state across several nations, leaving trails of
suitors in her wake. She returned to challenge Hollywood at its own game by
speaking out about the industry’s blatant racism. She used her new stature to
move away from her typecasting as the China doll or dragon lady, and worked to
reshape Asian American representation in film. Filled with stories of
capricious directors and admiring costars, glamorous parties and far-flung love
affairs, Not Your China Doll showcases the vibrant, radical
life of a groundbreaking artist.
Author Katie Gee Salisbury has spoken and written about Anna
May Wong on MSNBC, in the New York Times and in Vanity
Fair. She also writes the newsletter Half-Caste Woman. She was
a 2021 Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship finalist and gave the TED Talk “As
American as Chop Suey.” A fifth-generation Chinese American from Southern
California, she now lives in Brooklyn. This is her first book.
