"No, thank you," says Yu Ming.
I was surprised to find this news item when I was flipping through the pages of International Screen No. 34 (August, 1958). Lucilla Yu Ming appearing on Broadway in Flower Drum Song?! How's that for an alternate reality!
I presume she was being considered for the role of Mei Li, the fresh-off-the-boat picture bride. I've been unable to find further confirmation that she was indeed under consideration for the role, but in American newspapers it was already being announced by the end of July that the role was given — not surprisingly — to Miyoshi Umeki, who had just won an Oscar for her supporting role in Sayonara (1957). It was the first time an Asian actress was nominated for an Academy Award and would not be repeated until fifty years later when Rinko Kikuchi was nominated for her supporting role in Babel (2006).
Miyoshi Umeki starred in Flower Drum Song for its entire 17-month run on Broadway and received a Tony nomination in 1959 for Best Actress. In 1961 she reprised her role in the film version of the play. Umeki seems to have attained the glittery heavens of Hollywood, but by the end of the 60s she was playing a housekeeper in The Courtship of Eddie's Father and retired after the show was canceled in 1972.
As much as I'm curious to see what it would have been like to have Yu Ming star in Flower Drum Song, it is undeniably a good thing that she stayed in Hong Kong. Indeed, she went on to garner a Best Actress award at the Asia Film Festival two years in a row for her roles in Her Tender Heart (1959) and All in the Family (1959), and she also won Best Actress at the first Golden Horse Awards for her work in Sun, Moon and Star (1961). Not only that, Yu Ming became a huge star in Japan when she starred alongside Japanese heartthrob Akira Takarada (of Godzilla fame) in a trilogy of films co-produced by Cathay/MP&GI and Toho: A Night in Hong Kong (1961), Star of Hong Kong (1962), and Tokyo, Hong Kong, Hawaii (1963). Who needs Hollywood?!
Anyway, here is the article from International Screen. A scan of the original is also available as a PDF.
Broadway Beckons to Yu MingLeading Mandarin movie star Li Li-hwa went to the United States mainly to make pictures. Her first in Hollywood "China Doll" has been completed. The undisputed best actress in Asia Lin Dai went over there to study English and dramatics. She has also achieved her purpose. Yu Ming, a third eminent stellar actress of Mandarin movies, has gone to the States after having been signed up by MP&GI. She makes the trip just "to see the world." However, the hawk-eyed producers and talent scouts lost little time in contacting her. That world-known song-and-dance-man Gene Kelly met her in San Francisco. He wants her in a new musical stage show "Flower Drum Song". If the terms and part are all right and she signs the contract, she will probably return to New York from Hollywood in September to start rehearsing. Usually shows of this stature run for over two years. The songs of "Flower Drum Song" are the works of that inimitable team Rogers and Hammerstein.
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