DO you actually have a source for your "facts" or do you just make them up as you go along?
Internment of Japanese didn't begin until 1942, AFTER Pearl Harbor, and FIVE YEARS after this film was released!
I seriously doubt that the federal government made ANY such decree about Japanese actors. Even 75 years ago, we, the people of the United States, had a little piece of paper known as the Constitution. Yes, at times we have been known to push the envelope on Constitutional rights, sometimes past the breaking point. And indeed, we've been known to suspend parts of it during wartime and other emergencies. But there was no war for America in 1937, and suspending the rights of Japanese to find work would have raised quite a ruckus... yes, EVEN in those horrible, dark, unenlightened days of 1937!
What is apparently the truth, (which I only learned from reading other messages here), is that the Chinese government, not the American one, effectively vetoed the possibility of actors of Japanese descent participating in this movie.
Gawwd, please do a little research before you make claims like these!
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digitaldiva
13 years ago
Hi djrosenblatt,
I think there is a great deal of misinformation about Hollywod and race but this whole discussion about Japanese actors is unbelievable.
I'm five years late getting into the discussion but in Section II of the production code under sex, section 6 which prohibited miscegenation of the races (specifically black and white in the code but also used with Asians), studios were prohibited in using actors of color. Anna Mae Wong had worked opposite white actors prior to the code being inforced, see her work in Shanghai Express, but was used in the same roles after the code went into effect. She wrote that the minute Paul Muni was cast, she knew she wouldn't have a chance to act in The Good Earth.
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djrosenblatt
13 years ago
OK, first of all, I think we agree that if such rules were in effect, this was Hollywood promulgating them - not the U.S. government (as was claimed by john-4316)!
Secondly, I don't think you meant it when you wrote "studios were prohibited in using actors of color", right? What you meant is that you couldn't have an actor of one race playing the lover or spouse of an actor of another.
But I wonder whether the miscegenation rule would have applied in this case (to Anna Mae Wong)? Paul Muni's character was Chinese, so I wonder whether it was the race of the actor, or of his/her character, that mattered. It would be interesting to see the rule.
Badgers? We don't need no stinkin' badgers! But if you could show us something in a nice possum...
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digitaldiva
13 years ago
Hi djrosenblatt,
Sorry about that, I thought I was clear about the miscegenation clause. They could not be cast as the love or erotic interest of white actors. The clause specifically mentions white and black but according to people who studied the effects of the code, it affected Asian actors too. Wong herself wrote that when she read Muni was cast, she realized she wouldn't be considered for the lead role. She had worked opposite white actors in her silent films and early talkies and went to Europe where she was offered a wider range of roles.
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