NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Flower Drum Song (film)

Flower Drum Song is a 1961 film adaptation of the 1958 Broadway musical play Flower Drum Song, written by composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist/librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The film and stage play were based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Chinese American author C.Y. Lee. The movie was unusual in featuring nearly all Asian American cast members (the only Caucasian part being a mugger), including dancers, though most singing voices were not by Asian talent. Starring were Nancy Kwan, James Shigeta, Benson Fong, Jack Soo, James Hong and original Broadway cast members Miyoshi Umeki and Juanita Hall. Henry Koster (May 1, 1905-September 21, 1988) was born Herman Kosterlitz in Berlin, Germany. ... Ross Hunter, born Martin Fuss (May 6, 1920 - March 10, 1996), was a noted Hollywood film producer. ... For work done with Richard Rodgers, see Rodgers and Hammerstein Oscar Hammerstein II (July 12, 1895 â€“ August 23, 1960) was a New-York born writer, producer, and (usually uncredited) director of musicals for almost forty years. ... Joseph Fields (February 21, 1895 - March 3, 1966) was a Tony Award-winning American playwright, theatre director, screenwriter, and film producer. ... Nancy Kwan on the cover of Life Magazine 1960 Nancy Kwan (born May 19, 1939) (Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Cantonese: Kwan Ka Shin) is an American actress, who played a pivotal role in the acceptance of actors of Asian descent in major Hollywood film roles. ... James Shigeta (born June 17, 1933) is an American film and television actor. ... Juanita Hall (born November 6, 1901, died February 28, 1968, Bay Shore, New York) was the first African American to win a Tony Award, for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Bloody Mary in the musical South Pacific in 1950. ... For more on his work with his two partners, see Rodgers and Hart and Rodgers and Hammerstein. ... Russell Metty (born 1906, died 1978) was an American cinematographer, who worked on many films during the forties, fifties and sixties. ... Universal Pictures is the main motion picture production/distribution arm of Universal Studios, a subsidiary of NBC Universal. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Broadway theatre[1] is the most prestigious form of professional theatre in the U.S., as well as the most well known to the general public and most lucrative for the performers, technicians and others involved in putting on the shows. ... The Fantasticks is the longest-running musical in history. ... Flower Drum Song was originally a novel by Chinese American author C.Y. Lee. ... For more on his work with his two partners, see Rodgers and Hart and Rodgers and Hammerstein. ... For work done with Richard Rodgers, see Rodgers and Hammerstein Oscar Hammerstein II (July 12, 1895 â€“ August 23, 1960) was a New-York born writer, producer, and (usually uncredited) director of musicals for almost forty years. ... A Chinese American is an American who is of ethnic Chinese descent. ... C.Y. Lee is the author of the best selling 1957 novel Flower Drum Song. ... An Asian American is a person of Asian ancestry or origin who was born in or is an immigrant to the United States. ... Mugging may refer to: A type of robbery. ... Nancy Kwan on the cover of Life Magazine 1960 Nancy Kwan (born May 19, 1939) (Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Cantonese: Kwan Ka Shin) is an American actress, who played a pivotal role in the acceptance of actors of Asian descent in major Hollywood film roles. ... James Shigeta (born June 17, 1933) is an American film and television actor. ... Benson Fong (é„ºç‚³é›„ pinyin: KuÃ ng BÇngxiÃ³ng; born October 10, 1916; died August 1, 1987) was a Chinese-American character actor. ... Jack Soo (born Goro Suzuki October 28, 1916 - January 11, 1979) was a Japanese-American actor. ... James Hong (å³æ¼¢ç« , PY: Wu Hanzhang, born February 22, 1929, in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is a Chinese American actor and the ex-president of the Association of Asian/Pacific American Artists (AAPAA). ... Miyoshi Umeki (born on April 3, 1929 in Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan) is an actress. ... Juanita Hall (born November 6, 1901, died February 28, 1968, Bay Shore, New York) was the first African American to win a Tony Award, for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Bloody Mary in the musical South Pacific in 1950. ...

Among various changes for the film, the song "Like a God" was changed from a song into a beat poetry presentation. The singing voice of the character Linda Low was B. J. Baker, a non-Asian studio backup singer who worked with Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, the Righteous Brothers and Sam Cooke, among others. Elvis Aron Presley (January 8, 1935 â€“ August 16, 1977), often known simply as Elvis and also called The King of Rock n Roll or simply The King, was an American singer, musician and actor. ... Francis Albert Sinatra (December 12, 1915 â€“ May 14, 1998) was a jazz oriented popular singer and Academy Award-winning actor. ... Bobby Darin (May 14, 1936 â€“ December 20, 1973) (born Walden Robert Cassotto) was one of the most popular American big band performers and rock and roll teen idols of the late 1950s. ... The Righteous Brothers were the musical duo of Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

Plot synopsis

A young woman named Mei Li arrives as an illegal immigrant from China with her father to San Francisco to enter into an arranged marriage with the owner of a night club, Sammy Fong (inspired by the actual Forbidden City nighclub). Her intended is already involved with his leading showgirl, Linda Low, and does his best to dissuade Mei Li from marrying him, and he sends her to live in the house of Master Wang where he presents her as prospect for Master Wang's son, Wang Ta. Dissolving the marriage contract is harder than either of them imagine. Master Wang is persuaded to allow Mei Li to fall in love with Master Wang's son Wang Ta. But Wang Ta is dazzled by the charms of Linda, who enjoys being a girl, and succeeds in landing a date, and give her his fraternity pin. Linda uses Wang Ta to get a real commitment from Sammy Fong, who gets wind of her plan when Linda gets another club employee to play her brother and grant his permission for Linda to marry Wang Ta. Mei Li leaves, discouraged, while Helen tells her she does not believe Ta loves Linda. Ta argues that he is old enough to make his own decisions, but the father says that when he is old enough, he will let Ta know. Illegal immigration is the act of moving to or settling in another country or region, temporarily or permanently, in violation of the law or without documents permitting an immigrant to settle in that country. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... Marriage Ã -la-mode: The Marriage Contract by William Hogarth: a satire on arranged marriages. ... The Forbidden City was a nightclub and cabaret in San Franciscos Chinatown during the 1940s and 1950s. ... A Las Vegas showgirl, from the Folies Bergere. ... I Enjoy Being a Girl is an album by folk singer-songwriter Phranc, released in 1989. ...

Sammy arranges to have Wang Ta see Low's nightclub act, where his is shocked. He leaves, distraught, accompanied by friend since childhood, the seamstress Helen Chao who also grew up in America and deeply loves Wang Ta. But Ta is fixated between the traditional Mei Li and the man trap Linda Low. She lets him stay for the night in her apartment. In the morning, Mei Li delivers a burned coat for Helen to mend, and she is distressed by Wang Ta's clothing on her kitchen table. When Wang wakes up, he still does not notice Helen's affections who pleads for him to stay, but he leaves quickly. Helen sings "Love Look Away" about unrequited love. In the end, Sammy proposes to Linda, and Wang Ta marries Mei Li, and Helen ends up empty handed. In the novel, Ta's rejection leads her to suicide, and the character is written out of the 2002 version entirely. Image File history File links MiyoshiUmeki. ... Image File history File links MiyoshiUmeki. ... Miyoshi Umeki (born on April 3, 1929 in Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan) is an actress. ...

Cast

Nancy Kwan on the cover of Life Magazine 1960 Nancy Kwan (born May 19, 1939) (Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Cantonese: Kwan Ka Shin) is an American actress, who played a pivotal role in the acceptance of actors of Asian descent in major Hollywood film roles. ... Traditional Chinese (Traditional Chinese: æ£é«”å—/ç¹é«”å—, Simplified Chinese: æ£ä½“å—/ç¹ä½“å—) refers to one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. ... Pinyin (拼音, Pīnyīn) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to Hànyǔ Pīnyīn (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of... Cantonese is a major dialect group or language of the Chinese language, a member of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. ... James Shigeta (born June 17, 1933) is an American film and television actor. ... Benson Fong (é„ºç‚³é›„ pinyin: KuÃ ng BÇngxiÃ³ng; born October 10, 1916; died August 1, 1987) was a Chinese-American character actor. ... Jack Soo (born Goro Suzuki October 28, 1916 - January 11, 1979) was a Japanese-American actor. ... Juanita Hall (born November 6, 1901, died February 28, 1968, Bay Shore, New York) was the first African American to win a Tony Award, for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Bloody Mary in the musical South Pacific in 1950. ... James Hong (å³æ¼¢ç« , PY: Wu Hanzhang, born February 22, 1929, in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is a Chinese American actor and the ex-president of the Association of Asian/Pacific American Artists (AAPAA). ... Miyoshi Umeki (born on April 3, 1929 in Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan) is an actress. ...

Musical numbers

I Enjoy Being a Girl I Enjoy Being a Girl is a song from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Flower Drum Song. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Although Flower Drum Song is not one of the most successful of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals, its song "I Enjoy Being A Girl" has been widely used in other movies. The song has become familiar to many Americans, perhaps most recently with Sarah Jessica Parker in a nationally broadcast Gap commercial. It was covered by lesbian folksinger Phranc. As of October 2006, there were 13 versions of the song on YouTube, including performances by Pat Suzuki and parodies based on Harry Potter and Battlestar Galactica. Sarah Jessica Parker (born March 25, 1965), is a Golden Globe and Emmy-winning American actress and an Emmy-winning producer, with a portfolio of television, movie, and theatre performances. ... Look up Gap in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A lesbian is a woman who is romantically and sexually attracted only to other women. ... â€œFolk songâ€ redirects here. ... Phranc Phranc (born Susan Gottlieb in 1958) is an influential singer-songwriter from California whose career has spanned several decades. ... YouTube is a popular free video sharing website which lets users upload, view, and share video clips. ... Pat Suzuki is a Japanese- and Asian-American female singer most famous for her role and cast recording of the Broadway hit musical Flower Drum Song, especially I Enjoy Being A Girl (song) Pat Suzuki was born in Cressy, (Northern) California on September 23, in the early 1930s. ... This article is about the Harry Potter series of novels. ... Battlestar Galactica. ...

Awards and nominations

The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. ... The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is awarded each year to a cinematographer for his work in one particular motion picture. ... This Academy Award was first given for movies made in 1948 when separate awards were given for black-and-white and color movies. ... As defined by Rule Sixteen of the Academy Awards Rules, the Academy Award for Original Music Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer. ... The Academy Award for Sound Mixing is an Academy Award that recognizes the finest or most aesthetic sound mixing or recording, and is generally awarded to the production sound mixers and re-recording mixers of the winning film. ...

2006 DVD release

The 1961 movie was released on DVD by Universal on November 7, 2006, with extra features on the making and casting of the movie. It includes interviews of Henry Hwang, Pat Suzuki, and Nancy Kwan, and pictures from the 1958 and 2002 rehearsals and practice sessions, as well as pictures of Rogers, Hammerstein, and Fields. November 7 is the 311th day of the year (312th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 54 days remaining. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

References

External links

Categories: Musical films | Films based on plays | 1961 films | Hollywood films about Chinese people Rodgers (left) and Hammerstein (right), with Irving Berlin (middle) and Helen Tamiris, watching auditions at the St. ... Oklahoma! (1943) was the first musical play written by composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist/librettist Oscar Hammerstein II (see Rodgers and Hammerstein). ... Carousel is a 1945 stage musical by Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (book and lyrics) that was adapted from Ferenc Molnars play Liliom. ... play the music Fast, lively ... South Pacific is a musical play, with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. When it first opened on Broadway on April 7, 1949, it was produced by Leland Hayward and directed by Joshua Logan. ... The King and I is a musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, with a script based on the book Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon. ... ... Pipe Dream is a musical adaptation of John Steinbecks book Cannery Row. ... Rodgers and Hammersteins Cinderella is the name of a musical written for television by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II based upon the fairy tale, Cinderella. ... Flower Drum Song was originally a novel by Chinese American author C.Y. Lee. ... The Sound of Music is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, based on the book The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp. ... State Fair is a musical with a book by Tom Briggs and Louis Mattioli, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and music by Richard Rodgers. ...

Contents

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