Here's a cheeky photo of Linda and Grace Chang courtesy of Oldflames (who happens to be a big Lin Dai fan). Linda looks like she's playing big sister, but in fact she was one and a half years younger than Grace. Cheeky, indeed!
Don't forget that Lin Dai week continues at Glenn's blog A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed with his reviews of Love Without End (1961) and Madam White Snake (1962).
Here's a little holiday cheer for all of you from myself and from Oldflames — who has generously shared his amazing collection here on my blog all year long.
With lovely Grace Chang as Santa's helper, you're guaranteed double the joy this festive season!
from Oldflames
Or if you find yourself in the mood for a "blue" Christmas, why not let sexy Helen Li ring your bell!
Have you ever wondered how I keep Soft Film so soft? Well, it's no secret. Like Gracie, I use Lux Soap. Are you tired of those unsightly blemishes caused by a bad diet of constipating film criticism? Then lighten up and use a little Lux. Remember: Soft Film is sexy!
* Thanks as always to Oldflames for keeping me well supplied with the good stuff!
Gosh... this 1950s Cadbury's ad featuring "Chocolate Girl" Grace Chang is absolutely adorable. With her sweet smile and eye-catching, milky brown cheongsam, Gracie is as irresistible as a piece of chocolate.
A great big thanks as always to Oldflames for sharing his Hong Kong movie treasures with us!
Because there's no such thing as too much Grace Chang, here are two items that Oldflames kindly sent me to share with all of you: a fabulous photo of Grace flashing her signature megawatt smile and a positively smashing, pink Mambo Girl flyer.
And as if that weren't enough, here is the film's legendary opening scene. Take it away, Gracie!
"My life was changed was changed by Mambo Girl." So begins Paul Fonoroff's tribute to the Grace Chang film that introduced him to the rich history of Hong Kong cinema. In a similar way, my life was changed when I saw Grace for the first time in The Wild Wild Rose at the Hong Kong Film Archive in 2002. I had read about her and seen pictures of her in Paul's book Silver Light: A Pictorial History of Hong Kong Cinema, 1920-1970. But when I finally saw Grace on the big screen — vamping it up in the movie's first song sequence, belting out a saucy version of "Habanera" from Bizet's Carmen — shivers literally went up and down my spine. I felt like the film's hapless protagonist who falls madly, and dangerously, in love with her.
Grace Chang exerts that kind power over those who see her for the first time. Whenever I try to describe her high-voltage charisma, I inevitably think of Nigel the guitarist in This is Spinal Tap, explaining how the group got its title as "England's loudest band". It's because, he says, their amps go to 11: "You see, most blokes will be playing at 10. You’re on 10, all the way up, all the way up... Where can you go from there? Nowhere. What we do, is if we need that extra push over the cliff... Eleven. One louder." That perfectly describes Grace Chang's screen presence. On a scale of 1 to 10, Grace goes to 11.
This post goes out to Grace Chang's nephew Curtis, who recently contacted me after discovering my post about her appearance on the Dinah Shore Show. He forwarded it to her, and she was evidently quite surprised and pleased to see it.
I'm sure I'm not the only one here who wishes Grace the very best and would like her to know how much pleasure and joy her films and songs still bring us some 50 years later.
Ladies and gentleman, the one and only Grace Chang...!
I'm sure you won't find this song on any of Grace Chang's greatest hits CDs, but "The Flying Car Song" from the 1959 film Our Dream Car is so charming that even people like me, who dislike cars and the inherently selfish culture of the automobile, will find themselves whistling along, nodding their heads in agreement to such memorable lines as "I can drive as fast as I like without any worries / It's like a rocket flying in the sky / I'm so happy that I can fly". So fasten your seat belts and let the lovely Miss Grace take you on a road trip back to the golden days of capitalist consumer culture!
During the late 50s, Hollywood and the American public seem to have engaged in a kind of summer romance with Asia (that is, at least with "freedom-loving" Asia). I suppose it started in 1955 with a trio of postcard films that showcased in glorious color the exotic sights of Hong Kong and Tokyo: Soldier of Fortune (featuring a young Grace Chang in a walk-on role), House of Bamboo (starring Shirley Yamaguchi, aka Li Xianglan), and Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing. And since nothing complements an exotic postcard view better than a genuine exotic beauty, Hollywood was on the prowl for Asian actresses.
Then, as now, there were quite a few Hong Kong stars who were tempted by the promises of Hollywood. In 1956, Li Lihua was courted by Cecil B. De Mille and signed a contract to star in one of his films but ended up instead in Frank Borzage's China Doll. Pearl Au Kar-wai was brought to New York by Otto Preminger in 1958 to prepare for her role in his never started film, The Other Side of the Coin. Around the same time, Helen Li Mei was invited by Jantzen to represent the Far East in a swimwear fashion show. She made the papers in an unexpected way when she refused to pose in the "immodest" swimsuit that was waiting for her. Lin Dai also traveled to the States in 1958, to visit Hollywood studios and audit drama classes at Columbia University. But by 1960, the summer romance was coming to and end: The World of Suzie Wong was its last kiss.
It was against this backdrop of intercultural courtship that Grace Chang made her American television debut on The Dinah Shore Show (October 25, 1959), along with a host of "favorite entertainers of the Orient". (BTW, the show was originally telecast in color, but I've only ever seen black-and-white recordings of it.) According to an article from the November 1959 issue of International Screen, Grace "scored a sweeping victory" with her appearance on the show, which was estimated to have been seen by 60 million Americans. I'm sure she made just as great an impression then as she has today with those who have seen her films on DVD. And evidently, she was popular enough for Capitol Records to release an album of her Chinese songs in 1961.
Anyway, enough of my blabbing! Without further ado, here is the lovely Miss Grace Chang singing "The Autumn Song" on The Dinah Shore Show.
And to end the show, here is Grace Chang, Yukiji Asaoka, and Dinah Shore singing, appropriately enough, "Getting to Know You" from The King and I.
I think I may have spoken too soon when I declared Lam Fung the Hong Kong Hula Hoop Queen last week. Grace Chang makes a strong showing in this photo set from New Screen No. 2 (1959).
Grace's joi d'vivre is infectious, and I love her finish. Hmmm... what do you think?
I was very surprised today to stumble across this ad from the November 25, 1961 issue of The Gleaner, a newspaper from Kingston, Jamaica. I didn't even know there were Chinese in Jamaica, yet alone theaters showing Chinese movies!
It just so happens that The Girl With a Thousand Faces (1959) is showing as part of the Evan Yang retrospective at the Hong Kong Film Archive, in conjunction with the Hong Kong International Film Festival. Sadly, I won't be going this year. So, to console myself, and all the other Grace Chang fans who can't make it, here is an encore presentation of a clip from The Girl With a Thousand Faces that I posted last August.
In a previous post I mentioned that Grace Chang had a small role in Soldier of Fortune (1955), a big Hollywood production starring Clark Gable and Susan Hayward. Well, I just finished watching the film, which is available on DVD, and her role is indeed a very small one — less than one minute in fact. It's too bad that she couldn't have had more screen time. Grace's trademark charm and mega-kilowatt smile are all there, and she looks glorious in pristine CinemaScope DeLuxe color. Also amazing is the abundant location footage of 1950s Hong Kong, including such landmark sights as the Peninsula Hotel, the Peak Tram, and Victoria Harbour. Clark Gable and Susan Hayward are pretty cool too! This Cold War adventure romance was a pleasant surprise, and I highly recommend it to Hong Kong movie fans.
Clark Gable traveled to Hong Kong in November, 1954 to shoot location scenes for Soldier of Fortune (1955), in which he plays an expatriate Chicago gangster living in Hong Kong who helps an American woman save her photojournalist husband held captive in Communist China.
I don't know the circumstances of his meeting with Li Lihua, but she must have made quite an impression on him. According to Dorothy Kilgallen in her "Around New York" gossip column, "Clark Gable... still exchanges pash notes with Miss Li Li-hua..." (June 30, 1955).
BTW, Soldier of Fortune did feature an up-and-coming Hong Kong star in a small role... none other than the lovely Grace Chang!
Don't be a dirty old man, Clark... watch your hand!
Here are some truly rare treasures that I recently discovered on YouTube. None of these films are available on VCD or DVD, and it's very likely that they never will be.
Grace Chang in Girl with a Thousand Guises (1959) As this clip delightfully shows, Girl with a Thousand Guises was a vehicle for the singing and dancing talents of Grace Chang. In the film she plays two roles, one of which is an aspiring actress. Evidently, the story features many parallels with Grace's real life, like auditioning for the movies behind her family's back.
Chung Ching in Songs of the Peach Blossom River (1956) This is the film that established Chung Ching as a major star and set the trend for Hong Kong musicals in the late 50s. "Silver Voice" Yao Lee provides Chung Ching's singing voice, as she would do in many subsequent films.
Jeanette Lin Tsui in Girl in Disguise (1956) This remake of a popular 1936 Shanghai film was Lin Tsui's third film. She plays a young lady forced to disguise herself as a man because her father, ashamed of not producing a male heir, has been lying been to gramps about her sex ever since she was born.
Grace Ting Ning in Mischievous Girl (1959) This is Ting Ning's third film. With this one exception, she worked exclusively with Shaw Brothers from 1958 until her retirement in 1963. Her singing voice is provided here by the ubiquitous Yao Lee.
