And While We’re Talking of Pal Joey, Let’s Remember Judy Dan

Talking of Pal Joey yesterday….Quite a few Chinese-American actors pop up in the film – George Chan played the pianist – it was his last movie and he sadly died shortly after completing filming. Also Jane Chung plays a flower seller that interacts with Sinatra. You can also spot the lovely Judy Dan in a few scenes as the Barbary Coast nightclub hatcheck girl. Judy Dan (Judy Duyu) was actually Shanghai born in 1930 the daughter of film director Dan Duyu and the actress Yin Mingzhu. Dan and Yin were a Shanghai celebrity couple after he made and she starred in Hai Shi, The Sea Oath in 1922, arguably China’s first romance movie. Judy, their daughter was born in 1930…

Dan Duyu

Yin Mingzhu

The family moved to Hong Kong and Judy apprently worked in some capacity for Cathay Pacific where she was talent spotted. She entered and won the Miss Hong Kong competition travelling to America in 1952 to take part in the Miss Universe contest. she was the Third Runner Up. And so a few pics of Judy Dan…

Spotting the Chinoiserie in Pal Joey

George Sidney’s 1957 movie Pal Joey is a classic of course – Frank Sinatra as the rat nightclub host, Rita Hayworth as the stripper turned heiress who takes a shine to him and Kim Novak as the poor naive showgirl who comes to dote on him. It’s also a movie that shows some great exterior shots of the old International Settlement bar and strip joint strip of San Francisco – the name was, so some say, meant to remind sailors of good times they’d had in the Shanghai International Settlement. However, there’s a few other items of interest too..

But the point here is to mention Rita Hayworth’s chinoiserie heavy pad….silk screens, Ming horses, Guangyin statues…..

Rita Hayworth is the former stripper turned millionaire heiress Vera Prentice-Simpson. She lives in a swank pad up on San Fran’s Nob Hill and clearly has an eye for the Chinois…

Team Work in the Flowery Republic – Doing Business in 1913 China as a romantic endeavour

Bizarrely in 1913 the Cincinnati Enquirer Semi-Monthly Magazine decided to include an article on doing business in China by Carl Crow in a special “Romance” issue!! Slightly odd to say the least, as they admit themselves, but apparently

Slightly odd to say the least, as they admit themselves, but apparently Crow managed an article that “reads like a romance” – reaching a bit perhaps…

Anyway, you can decide for yourself. Of course I wouldn’t post anything about doing business in China normally – too, too boring but this is a) by Carl Crow b) oddly billed as a romance and c) from 1913 and d) has some cool artwork on the page….click on the pages and they should enlarge….

A little more on the USPO in Shanghai

I noted the USPO in Shanghai in 1935 was the only overseas PO the USA had at that time. The USPO maintained a United States Postal Agency at the Shanghai American consulate through which Americans could use the US Post Office to send mail to and from the US mainland and US territories. Starting in 1919 the 16 current regular US stamps were overprinted for use in Shanghai with the city’s name, “China”, and amounts double their printed face values.

Fascinating Facts for the New Year – Shanghai – The Home of the Only Overseas US Post Office in 1935

Who knew…

New Year’s Day – Perfect for going to visit a Macanese pawn shop

The restored Tak Seng On Pawnshop in Macao opens today as a heritage exhibition detailing the history of Macau’s pawnshop business. Macao’s Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) undertook the restoration of Tak Seng On back in 2000. In the process, the old architectural exterior design of the pawnshop, the internal decorations, as well as the instruments and procedures required for a pawnbroker’s business records, were reinstated in accordance with the basic layout of the early period of the Republic of China. And, as of January 1st 2016, you can go in and check it out…
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The New Year’s Eve Special at Fresno’s Old Shanghai Cafe

I’ve blogged before about The Old Shanghai Cafe which stood at 1405 Kern Street in Fresno. For New Year’s Eve 1932 it was reservations only and a late night till 3am. And if you didn’t want to cook at home then they were doing fried noodles for 25 cents a quart! Bargain!!

When Christmas was Shanghai’s Tax Bonanza Time

I posted the other day on the record tax receipts recorded in Shanghai on December 27th 1947. However the whole Christmas period was a pretty solid one for the taxman, even with hyperinflation boosting the numbers. One has to ask if they did so well on soft drinks on Christmas Eve in Shanghai what were the tax revenues on the hard liquor?