'Bagel-face'
I don't know which performance to laugh at more: Alec Guinness in "yellow-face" or Roz Russell in "bagel-face."
Both are playing well-delineated stereotypes, neither of which emanates from their own personal background.
Yes - Alec is awful trying be a Japanese man: the only clue we have are his face slanted eyes and his substituting "r" for "l" when he speaks. I almost lost it when he says "The hardest word in the English language is 'rorri-pop'."!
But Roz' performance is even worse. All she does is deliver lines in a "complaining" tone, no variety to her delivery - when we all know the stereotype of the Brooklyn Jew she is trying to achieve is VERY expressive.
I blame the director - he could have gotten a little more enlivened performances from these two.
Of course, I blame the producers ultimately for miscasting in the first place.
I think another Caucasian actor would have done more playing an Asian stereotype - although the ultimate irony is that the play/movie is a plea for acceptance of the Japanese people - this production avoids casting one as the major male lead.
"Don't call me 'honey', mac."
"Don't call me 'mac'... HONEY!"