#peter pan postcards

[zigazone]

Lost Boys, Tiger Lily and Micheal postcards from the Japan Disney Springs sketches of Never Land postcard book.

[hannahhook7744]

do post cards for Neverland and Camelot heights please ?

Neverland Postcard:

Camelot Heights Postcard:

(Bonus) Encanto Postcard:

[monkeyssalad-blog]

Peter’s Friends postcard by Margaret W Tarrant by totallymystified

[dewpostcards]

Received from Italy.

[dreamy-pill]

In My Brother’s Shadow AU

Anyone had this idea yet?

Stanley Pines is so used to hiding, he ends up personifying and replacing his twin brother’s shadow. Now, he’s either gone-gone or cursed. Stanford doesn’t realize his shadow is his brother until he tries sending out that postcard.

This is heavily inspired from Peter Pan. Can you guess who’s Wendy? For reference, Bill plays the role of Captain Hook.

- Unspecified origins, Stanley is transported halfway across the globe and ends up in Gravity Falls with his brother.

- Obviously, Stanford is so busy with getting his house being built he doesn’t realize his shadow is sentient until he’s apparently confronted with it. It’s the surprise of his life!

- At first he thinks his shadow is an anomaly. Stanford doesn’t begrudge the shadow for occupying in his impression. In fact, he becomes fascinated with it and its’ ambiguous nature. He ends up trying to ask his shadow a bunch of questions.

- Unfortunately, Stanley has to defer from Stanford’s inquiries because he cannot speak. The lack of back and forth communication makes Stanford somewhat falter. So, Stanley resorts to charades or shadow puppetry to answer Ford’s questions. He’s really good at shadow puppets.

- Stanley doesn’t tell Stanford he’s really Stanley.

- For awhile, it was just the two of them. They’d go out in the woods to document research on strange happenings. Stanford would refer to his shadow just by looking where the light hits the trees or the ground. For some reason, his shadow finds great joy in climbing trees.

- Even under the dim light of the kitchen, Ford is never really eating alone when he can see his shadow splayed out on the fridge or counters. It’s funny to think that Stanley will just be goofing off, all silent, while Ford is communicating for him.

- Maybe they make a game of it. Ford will fill the air with a narrative, Stanley will use his “shadow powers” to make interesting and detailed visuals of silhouettes to pop up on the walls.

- Maybe, in all the silence, Stanford yearned for some actual conversation. Stanley thinks his brother’s been alone by himself for too long, even with him as just his shadow. So, Stanford’s shadow (Stanley) is what inevitably convinces Ford to contact Fiddleford again.

Do you know that one scene from Nim’s Island? The scene where the author Alex Rider is about to back away from leaving the house but is pushed out by her imaginary character? I just thought of something similar happening to Ford when he’s somehow convinced by his shadow to call Fiddleford. You’ll have this whole tug-o-war scene between Stanford and his shadow, pulling on the phone chord, both being too stubborn to let it go.

- Fiddleford thinks Ford’s gone off the deep end when he sees him laughing along with his shadow.

- Mystery Trio (semi) established!

- Fiddleford attempts making an awkward one-sided conversations with Stanford’s shadow. Then over time, he becomes used to talking to the shadow, simply because of how exaggerated the shadow will change its shape to relay responses for him. It does get a good laugh out of Fiddleford each time. He considers the shadow a jokester, which is so unlike serious Stanford. That might offend him, but the trio do get a good laugh over it together.

- That little comparison could be the little hint that makes Ford slowly connect the dots, up until the postcard.

- Imagine seeing Stanley waving his arms frantically in the air on the cave walls momentarily before Ford sweeps his gaze to the painting on the wall of Bill, thus ignoring Stanley’s cry for his attention.

- Stanford still reads the inscription on the wall, leading to the winding road that causes Ford to focus more on Bill and drift further away from his shadow.

- Bill is delighted that Stanley is being pushed away.

- Bill gives Stanford the final hint about his shadow’s real identity.

- Stanford crushes the postcard in his hands. He whirls around and stares down at his shadow (maybe Ford gave his shadow a nickname?). The red light from the control room casts a sinister and eerie feeling in the atmosphere. Stanford confronts his shadow about his suspicions.

You know how Peter Pan’s shadow had to be sewn back to him from his feet? What if, instead of Stanford being pushed through the portal, Stanley is ripped away from Stanford. In the actual sense, like Ford loses his shadow and Stanley becomes lost after losing his one connection to who he used to be. Like, Stanley becomes lost in a dark void, endlessly shapeshifting in hopes of finding an impression similar to his original.

- Years later, Ford still has no shadow. He realizes too late that his brother is not who he used to be anymore. Stanley becomes a distressed mass of a conglomeration of forms of all the figures he tried fitting into over the years.

[ilovemesomevincentprice]

What’s your take on Vincent’s personal life? From what I’ve gathered he wasn’t greatest husband and father - cheated on wives, neglected children like crazy. I like him as an actor but kinda wish I’ve never dived into research of his personal affairs lol.

He's a human. Humans make mistakes. Of course he had done things in his life that he probably wished he could take back. From what I've heard, he didn't neglect children. I've heard he was a wonderful father. His first wife took his son Barrett to live with her, so he only got visitation. But he loved him. The letters to Mary early in their marriage shows how much he cared about his son.

He did have sexual trysts with men throughout his marriages. It was a day and age when gay, bi, etc., had to sneak around and do that. Doesn't mean he's a bad person. He was finding who he was. I'm sure he loved his wives. I'm positive he did. But he had to do what he had to do. He was bisexual, after all. Which makes him even sexier in my book.

Victoria, his daughter, has said on MANY MANY MANY occasions that she loved her parents and she is so thankful that she had the two parents she had (Vincent and Mary). The many pictures I've seen, and from all I've heard, Vincent loved his daughter with everything in him. He sent postcards, money, etc.

Also, his job called on him to go here, there, everywhere to film movies, TV shows, etc. of course, you can't always take your kid to work. Not on a movie set, anyway.

She did get to see him live as Peter Pan though. She was two years old and her mom took her to see him as captain hook. She became scared. Seeing her father with a hook as a hand, and scaring little kids on stage was too much for her, bless her, and she began to cry.

Her mom took her backstage to see that her dad was still her dad. He kissed her boo boo away and she went from tears to smiling. That doesn't sound like neglect. To me, anyway.

As far as cheating, he did cheat. But then again, the number or people who cheat on a daily basis, are a dime a dozen. Is it right? No. But do people make mistakes? Yes. He did end up divorcing Mary after he met coral, but I did hear from his daughter that he and Mary were still close friends. He sent her post cards, called her, and even bought her her favorite perfume (Joy) every single year until shortly before his death when he could no longer do so. According to his daughter, Victoria, it wasn't always easy for them to remain friends, because of Coral.

He's a celebrity. A human being. So, his personal life sounds like any personal life to me. Shit happens. Even to celebrities of his calibre. And he's still alright with me. :)

PS. Here's some of my favorite photos of he and his daughter. Doesn't look like neglect to me...

[vintagelasvegas]

Peter Pan Motel, 110 N 13th St, Las Vegas.

Opened in '63, demolished 2023. Postcard photo: Frank Parker, 2971 S. Clyde St, Las Vegas. 2023 photo by Mike Stone.

[keyishacolecat]

do you have any book recommendations? pls i need lots 💙💙

this is such a loaded question friend. but lucky for u, i am procrastinating assignments, my take out has yet to arrive, and i just finished another book!

horror fic has been my choice for the last several books

the centre by ayesha manazir siddiqi is about a young Pakistani woman living in the UK. she's a translator for Urduru films. language and translation are central to this book. people are becoming fluent in a matter of weeks in complex languages.... the centre is gorgeous if not entirely mysterious, magical even. but whats the catch?? beautifully written. vivid details. anisa is a flawed, honest, and genuine feeling mc, as are the people in her life. i just finished it a couple hours ago n i miss my girls.

slewfoot by brom is set in 17th century Connecticut. our protag, Abitha, is not from this town but she does he best to adhere to the Puritan standards, if not for her well being, than that of her husband's. something stirs in the outskirts of the village, in the forest and beyond. she finds help from an unlikely source while also fostering a deep inner power of her own. these characters felt so well thought out, the writing is magnetic and the action is well paced. it puts so many preconceived notions right on their head. i loved this book and can't wait to read brom's other novel, the child thief, a retelling of peter pan and the lost boys!

sister, maiden, monster by lucy a. synder was oh so gay and oh so cosmically horrendous. this is like h.p. lovecraft wasn't a weird racist. this is like if biblically accurate angels were once just women in love. this is horrifying, visceral, and relevant to our COVID world. i was gawking at so many of the details. there are so many monster themes actually, it's perfect. the story is told through 3 povs of 3 different women. and we love women! and horror! i didn't expect to pick this one up but I'm so glad i did.

mary: an awakening of terror by nat cassidy do u know what it's like to be virtually invisible? forgotten? disaffected? do u know the pure joy of having a precious collection, adding to it over time, and it being almost ur only reason for living anymore?? then you're a lot like mary. and mary is a lot like plenty of women who get the chance to live beyond adolescence, who are cast out by society-- deemed invaluable. mary is utterly lost at a time in her life she feels she should have it all figured out. she goes back to her hometown, an ambiguous small town in the middle of the desert, and some unlikely characters help her piece things back together. i finished this book feeling so close to mary. we are friends now. there is mystique, horror, fables, myths, bad guys, mysterious architecture, and well mary is not the most reliable narrator. loved this one too.

the last house on needless street by catriona ward i had no idea where this book was going and i loved piecing the narrative together through several characters and their povs. it forces u to confront ur own biases regarding mental health. u are sympathetic to the characters in the most painful, heart wrenching ways. there is murder. there is mystery. there is missing children. there are cats. this book surprised me and it was fun to have to find a couple reddit threads to be sure i was understanding the story correctly. i felt like i read this kind of fast! which is always fun too.

brother by ania ahlborn this one pissed me off a bit. but in a good way because i was so deeply invested. this one is set in Appalachia. i'm not one for stereotypes, especially bc i think Appalachians have a bad rep and it's of no fault of their own. that being said, the insular feel of the book and the absolute claustrophobia those mountains create in this story were like a character in it of itself. our protag, michael, knows there's something beyond. he's seen them on colorful postcards. but his own mind and his own heart seem utterly trapped here. this one is heartbreaking. it's horrifying. and it'll make u dizzy from the amount of times u change ur mind. excited to read her other novel, Seed, because this one stuck with me so much!

a couple honorable mentions that fit the theme:

the vegetarian by han kang korean food. infidelity. art. nightmares. inexplicable mindfucks! this story was scary because it felt very.. possible? no monsters this time. no spells. just... the mind deteriorating. could happen to any of us.

a certain hunger by chelsea g. summers what if girlbossing is just a quick pivot from sociopathy?? what if the crimes are so much more gratifying than say, fame or fortune or even love?? women can be sociopaths too, you know!! this one is fun bc the protag is crazy and it's fun to slip into these characters. cathartic even. omg did i mention, she's a foodie too! just like me :-)

[retromouseketeer]

Postcard caption: 12 Colorful Scenes From Fantasyland Disneyland Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom Price 15 cents

Interior caption: Here as you cross over the ancient drawbridge of Sleeping Beauty's Castle you enter into a timeless world of imagination. Truly a magic land of wonders and excitement for the young and young-in-heart of all ages. It is here you'll become a part of the Peter Pan story, flee with Snow White from the Wicked Witch, enter the wonderful world of Alice in Wonderland. You'll soar aloft with Dumbo, the flying elephant… ride with Casey Jr., "the little train that can," as he huffs and puffs up Impossible Hill. In Storybook Land you'll cruise in Canal Boats, gliding past Cinderella's dream castle, Pinocchio's Village, the Three Little Pigs and see many other enchanting scenes from Walt Disney's film fantasies. All these and many more make up the world of Fantasyland.

[wonderlandleighleigh]

To the AO3 hackers I say this:

Smut!

Give me smut and nothing but!

A dirty novel I can′t shut

If it's uncut And unsubt- le

I′ve never quibbled If it was ribald

I would devour

where others merely nibbled

As the judge remarked

the day that he

Acquitted my Aunt Hortense

"To be smut It must be ut- Terly without redeeming social importance."

Por- Nographic pictures I adore

Indecent magazines galore

I like them more If they're hard core

(Bring on the obscene movies,

murals, postcards, neckties

Samplers, stained-glass windows, tattoos, anything!

More, more, I′m still not satisfied!)

Stories of tortures

Used by debauchers

Lurid, licentious, and vile

Make me smile

Novels that pander

To my taste for candor

Give me a pleasure sublime

(Let's face it, I love slime.)

All books can be indecent books

Though recent books are bolder

For filth (I′m glad to say) is in

The mind of the beholder

When correctly viewed

Everything is lewd

(I could tell you things about Peter Pan And the Wizard of Oz, there's a dirty old man!)

I thrill To any book like Fanny Hill

And I suppose I always will If it is swill And really fil Thy

Who needs a hobby like tennis or philately?

I've got a hobby: rereading Lady Chatterley

But now they′re trying to take it all

Away from us unless

We take a stand, and hand in hand

We fight for freedom of the press

In other words Smut! (I love it)

Ah, the adventures of a slut

Oh, I′m a market they can't glut

I don′t know what

Compares with smut

Hip hip hooray!

Let's hear it for the Supreme Court!

Don′t let them take it away!

[jessesthesis]

Tacita Dean, Ship of Death, 2001

SUMMARY

Ship of Death belongs to a portfolio of twenty black and white photogravures with etching collectively entitled The Russian Ending. The portfolio was printed by Niels Borch Jensen, Copenhagen and published by Peter Blum Editions, New York in an edition of thirty-five; Tate’s copy is the fifth of ten artist’s proofs. Each image in the portfolio is derived from a postcard collected by the artist in her visits to European flea markets. Most of the images depict accidents and disasters, both man-made and natural. Superimposed on each image are white handwritten notes in the style of film directions with instructions for lighting, sound and camera movements, suggesting that the each picture is the working note for a film. The title of the series is taken from a convention in the early years of the Danish film industry when each film was produced in two versions, one with a happy ending for the American market, the other with a tragic ending for Russian audiences. Dean’s interventions encourage viewers to formulate narratives leading up to the tragic denouements in the prints, engaging and implicating the audience in the creative process. Dean’s interest in narrative and the mechanisms of the film industry are also evident in her other work. Her installation Foley Artist, 1996 (Tate T07870) depicts cinematic sound engineers recording acoustic effects for a short soundtrack. The Roaring Forties: Seven Boards in Seven Days, 1997 (Tate T07613) is a series of chalkboard drawings that use the conventions of the filmic storyboard to suggest dramatic events taking place in tempestuous waters of the southern Atlantic Ocean. The Uncles, 2004 (collection of the artist) is a film about the artist’s own family connections to the first two Chief Executives of Ealing Studios, Basil Dean (1888-1978; Chief Executive 1931-37) and Michael Balcon (1896-1977; Chief Executive 1937-59). The grainy black and white source image for Ship of Death shows a waterlogged boat in a stormy sea. Water cascades over the sides of the vessel, and the violent pitch of the waves has rendered the mast a dark blur. In its impressionistic depiction of a tempestuous seascape the photograph recalls the work of Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851; see A Disaster at Sea, circa 1835, Tate N00558). The image also relates to Dean’s own fascination with adventures and misadventures at sea (see Disappearance at Sea, 1996, Tate T07455). Dean’s notations superimposed on the found image emphasise the fiction that the picture is the still from a film. At the top left corner are the words ‘last scene’ and the work’s title. A shrouded figure is highlighted with the legend ‘ferryman’. ‘Slow movement’ suggests a long camera pan across the scene. The bottom right corner includes more allusive references to the image. The water is labeled ‘Styx’ and an arrow pointing off towards the right bearing the words ‘exit’ and ‘Hades’ suggests the ship’s descent to the underworld. The phrases ‘bye bye’, ‘it’s over’, ‘whence they say that no man ever returns’ and ‘end’ reinforce the finality of the ship’s fate.

[zigazone]

Tinker Bell and Peter Pan postcards from the Japan Disney Springs sketches of Never Land postcard book.

Wendy didn’t get a postcard, Tink Won. #StupidWendyBird

I think I’m the only Pink shipper in existence 😭

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🦇 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 (jazelle's version)

🦇 thank you to everyone who tagged me in this fun challenge!

🦇 I know my post schedule has been off a bit. I have a TON of content planned for the month, but I'm missing photos, hence the delays.

❓ 𝘲𝘰𝘵𝘥: do we share any of the same favorites?

🦇 here are just a few of my favorite things! 💜 tv show: Buffy, Charmed, Lost Girl, Ted Lasso, TOH 💜 season: autumn 💜 color: purple & black 💜 character: Scheherazade 💜 book: Arabian Nights 💜 hobby: poetry writing (@mywordsarewings) 💜 place: California 💜 movie: Peter Pan (2003), Bottoms (2023) 💜 song: Love Through Postcards - The Scene Aesthetic

[oftimeslostlongago]

welcome to london, NEAL CASSIDY! did anyone ever tell you that you look just like MICHAEL RAYMOND JAMES? well, no matter, we hear that you are 35 and working as a BARTENDER. we also hear that you currently HAVE your memories from ONCE UPON A TIME and have a tendency to be EMPATHATIC as well as DECEATFUL.

Once upon a time, Baelfire was living a normal life. As normal as it could be when your grandparents were Peter Pan and the Black Fairy. But he hadn't known that at the time. His village had seemed safe and quiet enough, and this his mother ran off with a pirate, though his father told him that she was killed. As he got older, boys were being recruited to fight in the ogre war. It led to his father becoming The Dark One, protecting him from being taken. But it led to new problems, and eventually Baelfire went to the Blue Fairy and got a seed to take them to a world without magic. But when the portal opened, his father stayed, and Baelfire fell alone, eventually ending up in Neverland. It was there he met Hook, and though he spent a happy time on the boat, he soon realised that Hook had lied to him about his mother and so went to land. For 200 years he was stuck under Pan's rule, before he escaped.

When Neal met Emma, he wasn't expecting to fall in love, but that was exactly what happened. Then August arrived, telling him the truth about who Emma was and her destiny. Realising he had to let her go, he went along with August's plan, on the condition he give her the money and the car. He heard nothing until a postcard arrived confirming the curse was broken. He still stayed away until Emma, his father, and Henry showed up. That was how he learnt he had a son. Guilt taking over that he had somehow been worse than his father, he'd been an absent father. Eventually he agreed to return to Storybrooke, but it was an action that would lead to his death, sacrificing himself to save the people he loved.

Then Neal woke up in London. He'd been there once before but that was centuries ago. He has his memories, and just wants to get back to his family.

[auberginesdonthavelimbs]

[ID. A black and white video of Tom Lehrer singing and apparently playing the piano (ofscreen). He's a white man with short hair and glasses, shown from the shoulders up. His accent is mostly American but he occasionally switches into other accents for rhymes or other effects. The shot occasionally cuts to audience members reacting, and pans across at least a hundred people applauding at the end. End ID]

Lyrics:

Smut! Give me smut And nothing but! A dirty novel I can't shut If it's uncut And unsubt- Tle

I've never quibbled If it was ribald I would devour Where others merely nibbled As the judge Remarked the day That he acquitted my Aunt Hortense: "To be smut It must be ut- Terly without redeeming social importance."

Por- Nographic pictures I adore Indecent magazines galore I like them more If they're hardcore Bring on the obscene movies, murals, postcards, neckties, samplers, stained-glass windows, tattoos, anything! More, more, I'm still not satisfied!

Stories of tortures Used by debauchers Lurid, licentious, and vile Make me smile Novels that pander To my taste for candor Give me a pleasure sublime Let's face it, I love slime.

All books can be indecent books Though recent books are bolder For filth, I'm glad to say, is in The mind of the beholder When correctly viewed Everything is lewd I could tell you things about Peter Pan And the Wizard of Oz, there's a dirty old man!

I thrill To any book like Fanny Hill And I suppose I always will If it is swill And really fil- Thy Who needs a hobby like tennis or philately? I've got a hobby: rereading Lady Chatterley But now they're trying to take it all away from us unless We take a stand, and hand in hand We fight for freedom of the press In other words

Smut! I love it Ah, the adventures of a slut Oh, I'm a market they can't glut I don't know what Compares with smut

Hip hip hooray! Let's hear it for the Supreme Court! Don't let them take it away!

not proshipper not anti but a secret third thing (person who has a career in the media and, through covering legislative politics, has watched "associating with problematic fiction or entertainment is an indicator of moral degeneracy" rapidly become a mainstream GOP position that they are encoding in legislation to target the queer community under the guise of protecting children, thus coming to the conclusion that positioning the "can people enjoy things that would be immoral IRL in their fiction" debate as a proship v anti fandom debate is akin to pretending that "should we have the death penalty" is a discussion that only matters in Death Note discourse — the extent and manner to which fiction affects reality is an issue that is immediately relevant to today's US politics, and to summarize my opinions on the matter in fandom terms would be to diminish the ways this debate is affecting america Right The Fuck Now. and i have stopped taking "this person is bad for shipping the wrong anime thing and being horny about it" in any sort of good faith ever since I saw it literally used as part of a GOP smear campaign against a transgender state legislator in an attempt to defend the right from backlash after they used their supermajority in the Montana house to prevent her from speaking on the floor. Anyway I think everyone on this site, especially Americans, could benefit from ceasing to think in proship v anti vocabulary and instead developing coherent political positions on the nature of fiction that do not directly align with current fascist political tactics)

[monkeyssalad-blog]

Anna May Wong by Truus, Bob & Jan too! Via Flickr: German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5028/2, 1930-1931. Photo: Atelier Manassé, Wien (Vienna). Anna May Wong (1905-1961) will become the first Asian American to be on U.S. currency. She was the first Chinese American movie star, and the first Asian American actress to gain international recognition. Frustrated by the stereotypical supporting roles she reluctantly played in Hollywood, Wong left for Europe, where she starred in such classics as Piccadilly (1929). The U.S. Mint will begin shipping coins featuring Anna May Wong on Monday 23 October 2022. Anna May Wong (Chinese: 黃柳霜; pinyin: Huáng Liǔshuāng) was born Wong Liu Tsong (Frosted Yellow Willows) near the Chinatown neighbourhood of Los Angeles in 1905. She was the second of seven children born to Wong Sam Sing, owner of the Sam Kee Laundry in Los Angeles, and his second wife Lee Gon Toy. Wong had a passion for movies. By the age of 11, she had come up with her stage name Anna May Wong, formed by joining both her English and family names. Wong was working at Hollywood's Ville de Paris department store when Metro Pictures needed 300 girl extras to appear in The Red Lantern (Albert Capellani, 1919) starring Nazimova as a Eurasian woman who falls in love with an American missionary. The film included scenes shot in Chinatown. Without her father's knowledge, a friend of his with movie connections helped Anna May land an uncredited role as an extra carrying a lantern. In 1921 she dropped out of Los Angeles High School to pursue a full-time acting career. Wong received her first screen credit for Bits of Life (Marshall Neilan, 1921), the first anthology film, in which she played the abused wife of Lon Chaney, playing a Chinaman. At 17, she played her first leading part, Lotus Flower, in The Toll of the Sea (Chester M. Franklin, 1922), the first Technicolor production. The story by Hollywood's most famous scenarist at the time, Frances Marion, was loosely based on the opera Madame Butterfly but moved the action from Japan to China. Wong also played a concubine in Drifting (Tod Browning, 1923) and a scheming but eye-catching Mongol slave girl running around with Douglas Fairbanks Jr in the super-production The Thief of Bagdad (Raoul Walsh, 1924). Richard Corliss in Time: “Wong is a luminous presence, fanning her arms in right-angle gestures that seem both Oriental and flapperish. Her best scenes are with Fairbanks, as they connive against each other and radiate contrasting and combined sexiness — a vibrant, erotic star quality.” Wong began cultivating a flapper image and became a fashion icon. in Peter Pan (Herbert Brenon, 1924), shot by her cousin cinematographer James Wong Howe, she played Princess Tiger Lily who shares a long kiss with Betty Bronson as Peter. Peter Pan was the hit of the Christmas season. She appeared again with Lon Chaney in Mr. Wu (William Nigh, 1927) at MGM and with Warner Oland and Dolores Costello in Old San Francisco (Alan Crosland, 1927) at Warner Brothers. Wong starred in The Silk Bouquet/The Dragon Horse (Harry Revier, 1927), one of the first US films to be produced with Chinese backing, provided by San Francisco's Chinese Six Companies. The story was set in China during the Ming Dynasty and featured Asian actors playing Asian roles. Hollywood studios didn't know what to do with Wong. Her ethnicity prevented US filmmakers from seeing her as a leading lady. Frustrated by the stereotypical supporting roles as the naïve and self-sacrificing ‘Butterfly’ and the evil ‘Dragon Lady’, Wong left for Europe in 1928.” In Europe, Anna May Wong became a sensation in the German film Schmutziges Geld/Show Life (Richard Eichberg, 1928) with Heinrich George. The New York Times reported that Wong was "acclaimed not only as an actress of transcendent talent but as a great beauty (...) Berlin critics, who were unanimous in praise of both the star and the production, neglect to mention that Anna May is of American birth. They mention only her Chinese origins." Other film parts were a circus artist on the run from a murder charge in Großstadtschmetterling/City Butterfly (Richard Eichberg, 1929), and a dancer in pre-Revolutionary Russia in Hai-Tang (Richard Eichberg, Jean Kemm, 1930). In Vienna, she played the title role in the stage operetta 'Tschun Tschi' in fluent German. Wong became an inseparable friend of the director, Leni Riefenstahl. According to Wikipedia, her close friendships with several women throughout her life, including Marlene Dietrich, led to rumours of lesbianism which damaged her public reputation. London producer Basil Dean bought the play 'A Circle of Chalk' for Wong to appear in with the young Laurence Olivier, her first stage performance in the UK. Her final silent film, Piccadilly (Ewald André Dupont, 1929), caused a sensation in the UK. Gilda Gray was the top-billed actress, but Variety commented that Wong "outshines the star", and that "from the moment Miss Wong dances in the kitchen's rear, she steals 'Piccadilly' from Miss Gray." It would be the first of five English films in which she had a starring role, including her first sound film The Flame of Love (Richard Eichberg, Walter Summers, 1930). American studios were looking for fresh European talent. Ironically, Wong caught their eye and she was offered a contract with Paramount Studios in 1930. She was featured in such films as Daughter of the Dragon (Lloyd Corrigan, 1931) as the vengeful daughter of Fu Manchu (Warner Oland), and with Marlene Dietrich in Shanghai Express (Josef von Sternberg, 1932). Wong spent the first half of the 1930s travelling between the United States and Europe for film and stage work. She repeatedly turned to the stage and cabaret for a creative outlet. On Broadway, she starred in the drama 'On the Spot', which ran for 167 performances and which she would later film as Dangerous to Know (Robert Florey, 1938). Anna May Wong became more outspoken in her advocacy for Chinese American causes and for better film roles. Because of the Hays Code's anti-miscegenation rules, she was passed over for the leading female role in The Son-Daughter (Clarence Brown, 1932) in favour of Helen Hayes. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer deemed her ‘too Chinese to play a Chinese’ in the film, and the Hays Office would not have allowed her to perform romantic scenes since the film's male lead, Ramón Novarro, was not Asian. Wong was scheduled to play the role of a mistress to a corrupt Chinese general in The Bitter Tea of General Yen (Frank Capra, 1933), but the role went instead to Toshia Mori. Her British film Java Head (Thorold Dickinson, J. Walter Ruben, 1934), was the only film in which Wong kissed the lead male character, her white husband in the film. In 1935 she was dealt the most severe disappointment of her career when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer refused to consider her for the leading role of the Chinese character O-Lan in the film version of Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth (Sidney Franklin, 1937). Paul Muni, an actor of European descent, was to play O-lan's husband, Wang Lung, and MGM chose German actress Luise Rainer for the leading role. Rainer won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance. Wong spent the next year touring China, visiting her father and her younger brothers and sister in her family's ancestral village Taishan and studying Chinese culture. To complete her contract with Paramount Pictures, she starred in several B movies, including Daughter of Shanghai (Robert Florey, 1937), Dangerous to Know (Robert Florey, 1938), and King of Chinatown (Nick Grinde, 1939) with Akim Tamiroff. These smaller-budgeted films could be bolder than the higher-profile releases, and Wong used this to her advantage to portray successful, professional, Chinese-American characters. Wong's cabaret act, which included songs in Cantonese, French, English, German, Danish, Swedish, and other languages, took her from the U.S. to Europe and Australia through the 1930s and 1940s. She paid less attention to her film career during World War II but devoted her time and money to helping the Chinese cause against Japan. Wong starred in Lady from Chungking (William Nigh, 1942) and Bombs over Burma (Joseph H. Lewis, 1943), both anti-Japanese propaganda made by the poverty row studio Producers Releasing Corporation. She donated her salary for both films to United China Relief. She invested in real estate and owned a number of properties in Hollywood. Anna May Wong returned to the public eye in the 1950s with several television appearances as well as her own detective series The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong (1951-1952), the first US television show starring an Asian-American series lead. After the completion of the series, Wong's health began to deteriorate. In late 1953 she suffered an internal haemorrhage, which her brother attributed to the onset of menopause, her continued heavy drinking, and financial worries. In the following years, she did guest spots on television series. In 1960, she returned to film playing housekeeper to Lana Turner in the thriller Portrait in Black (Michael Gordon, 1960). She was scheduled to play the role of Madame Liang in the film production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song (Henry Koster, 1961) when she died of a heart attack at home in Santa Monica in 1961. Anna May Wong was 56. For decades after her death, Wong was remembered principally for the stereotypical sly ‘Dragon Lady’ and demure ‘Butterfly’ roles that she was often given. Matthew Sweet in The Guardian: “And this is the trouble with Anna May Wong. We disapprove of the stereotypes she fleshed out - the treacherous, tragic daughters of the dragon - but her performances still seduce, for the same reason they did in the 1920s and 30s.” Her life and career were re-evaluated by three new biographies, a meticulous filmography, and a British documentary about her life called Frosted Yellow Willows. Wikipedia: “Through her films, public appearances, and prominent magazine features, she helped to ‘humanize’ Asian Americans to white audiences during a period of overt racism and discrimination. Asian Americans, especially the Chinese, had been viewed as perpetually foreign in U.S. society but Wong's films and public image established her as an Asian-American citizen at a time when laws discriminated against Asian immigration and citizenship.” Anna May Wong never married, but over the years, she was the rumoured mistress of several prominent film men: Marshall Neilan (14 years older, supposedly Wong's lover when she was 15), director Tod Browning (23 years older, when she was 16) and Charles Rosher (Mary Pickford's favourite cinematographer, who was nearly 20 years older, when Wong was 20). But no biographer can say for sure that any of the affairs occurred. Sources: Richard Corliss (Time), Matthew Sweet (The Guardian), Jon C. Hopwood (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb. 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