Nancy Chan: China's "Oomph Girl"

Here's a fun article about Nancy Chan from the May 2, 1941 issue of The Times Recorder (Zanesfield, Ohio). "The Oomph Girl", by the way, was the nickname given to Hollywood actress and popular pinup Ann Sheridan.

Chinese Have Their Own Oomph Girl
By ADELINE GRAY
AP Feature Service

SHANGHAI — Sweet-faced dynamic Nancy Chen, the oomph girl of Chinese motion pictures, is making China forget 4,000 years of history in which all her heroines were passive, subdued maidens.

Miss Chen, idol of all Cathay, reflects the changing times in her country. She is an advocate of women's freedom, equality of the sexes, and Westernization. She receives hundreds of fan letters a day and causes near-riots wherever she goes. And China loves it.

Nancy is the Western version of Miss Chen's real name, "Yunshang", which means "cloud-like gown". Off the set, she usually wears American-style clothing, and is accompanied by an English woman companion.

Family Ties in America
Nancy stands a little over five feet in her tennis shoes, weighs 110 pounds, and is unmarried. The delicate effect of her oval face, dark eyes and friendly smile is deceiving, for she is a bundle of spirits and vivacity.

Her private life, for a Chinese actress, has been far from sensational. She was born in Canton, daughter of a business family. Her grandfather was a merchant in the United States. During her last year in high school, she was discovered by a struggling film producer. Their first picture was a hit, and since then neither has had to worry about where the next bowl of rice was coming from.

Or rather, in Nancy's case, where the hors d'oeuvres were coming from. She serves foreign food to guests visiting her modern apartment in Shanghai's French concession, and entertains them with a piano selection or a dance.

As her appearances on the street are signals for mass demonstrations, Nancy exercises at home by playing badminton on the roof of her apartment. She drives her own automobile, a blue roadster, and swims well.

Butterfly Wu 'Resting'
Nancy has outstripped all other Chinese picture actresses in popularity in the past two years. Butterfly Wu, the dimpled darling of a few years ago, consort of generals and politicians, lives in semi-retirement in Hongkong, after contributing her own small share to China's enjoyment and to its history.

A living phrase, "Dancing with Butterfly" is dedicated to the night that the "Young Marshal" Chang Hsueh-liang was dancing with Butterfly in a Peiping hotel while the Japanese army was staging the Manchurian "incident" which cost Chang his country.

Nancy Chen makes about six pictures a year. Her salary is a secret, but it probably wouldn't buy a month's supply of lipstick for a Hollywood star.

Her roles are a film novelty in China. Butterfly Wu and former film and stage favorites always portrayed, in gloomy films, the good but victimized girl, the weak and passive tool of fate. Nancy portrays only the warrior girl, the girl on horseback.

"Maiden in Armor", which made her an overnight sensation, was the story of a girl who donned male attire and as an army commander helped to rid her country of ancient barbarians. Many of her other pictures show her as a general leading troops to victory, or as a court maiden who, to save her country, marries a barbarian chieftain.

*The photo above comes from A Movie Queen Chan Yunshang [一代影后陳雲裳].