Posted by Frank R.A.J. Maloney on 07/04/06 15:38

Howard Brazee wrote:
> On Mon, 03 Jul 2006 07:28:41 -0500, Brian Epstein <Brian@departed.com>
> wrote:
>
>> The problem is, one movie depicts African Americans in a role they
>> actually LIVED. It is historical. The African Americans in Gone
>> With The Wind aren't seen dancing and singing artificial "shuck and
>> jive" the way they are in "Song Of The South." I imagine if Disney
>> ever did re-release the film, the NAACP and other human rights
>> groups would raise quite a stink.
>
> So musicals of that era should only have white folk in them? _Meet
> Me In St. Louis_ showed Saint Louis accurately (that neighborhood is
> now black)?
>

"That neighborhood"? You mean the back lot at MGM?

> Why has the musical _Flower Drum Song_ mostly disappeared? Because
> it isn't about white folk?

I suppose you know "Flower Drum Song" was revived and revised for Broadway
in 2002, with a new book by David Henry Hwang, and some changes to the
lyrics and numbers. It ran for 169 performances compared to the 600
performance-run of the original production.

I find it more than interesting that one of the more positive user comments
was by the son of Dong Kingman, the artist who created the beautiful opening
and closing title paintings for the film.

The son wrote in part: "In many ways a beautiful film, and a case can be
made, a pioneering one. Okay so it is a bit corny, a few young members of
audience uneasily snickered at the stereotypes, scenes could have been cut,
especially one fantasy sequence. Yet the Flower Drum Song endures and to
enjoy."

All of which confirms the opinions of this Irish-American that _Flower Drum
Song_ is far from the most egregious thing that has ever been filmed about
the Chinese in America.

--
Frank in Seattle
____

Frank Richard Aloysius Jude Maloney
"Millennium hand and shrimp."

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