Piccadilly (1929)

Co-Presented by the Center for Asian American Media

Intro, book talk & signing with Katie Gee Salisbury, author of Not Your China Doll. Books available at the theater thanks to co-presenter Green Apple Books.

“Wong’s role of Shosho, the red-hot dancing star of London’s Piccadilly nightclub, shows her at her dramatic and erotic peak.” – Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune

Anna May Wong stars in E.A. Dupont’s PICCADILLY, the mesmerizing silent masterpiece about a maid who overcomes her station to become the toast of London. As his nightclub suffers to a convoluted love triangle among the staff, Wilmot (Jameson Thomas) has a chance encounter with scullery maid Shosho (Wong) and enlists her talents as both a beauty and a dancer to reignite the club’s spark. This rediscovered classic also stars Gilda Gray as the enchanting dancer Mabel, who shines alongside Wong, and Alfred Junge’s astonishing set design looks better than ever thanks to brilliantly restored footage by the British Film Institute.

About Not Your China Doll

“Here at last is a biography of a groundbreaking and inspiring woman that is well-researched, thoughtful, enlightening, nuanced, and honest. The access Salisbury had to Anna May Wong’s family and friends places this biography above all others.”—Lisa See, New York Times bestselling author of Lady Tan’s Circle of Women

Set against the glittering backdrop of Los Angeles during the gin-soaked Jazz Age and the rise of Hollywood, this debut book celebrates Anna May Wong, the first Asian American movie star, to bring an unsung heroine to light and reclaim her place in cinema history.
 
Before Constance Wu, Sandra Oh, Awkwafina, or Lucy Liu, there was Anna May Wong. In her time, she was a legendary beauty, witty conversationalist, and fashion icon. Plucked from her family’s laundry business in Los Angeles, Anna May Wong rose to stardom in Douglas Fairbanks’s blockbuster The Thief of Bagdad. Fans and the press clamored to see more of this unlikely actress, but when Hollywood repeatedly cast her in stereotypical roles, she headed abroad in protest.
 
Anna May starred in acclaimed films in Berlin, Paris, and London. She dazzled royalty and heads of state across several nations, leaving trails of suitors in her wake. She returned to challenge Hollywood at its own game by speaking out about the industry’s blatant racism. She used her new stature to move away from her typecasting as the China doll or dragon lady, and worked to reshape Asian American representation in film.
 
Filled with stories of capricious directors and admiring costars, glamorous parties and far-flung love affairs, Not Your China Doll showcases the vibrant, radical life of a groundbreaking artist.

About Katie Gee Salisbury

Katie Gee Salisbury has spoken and written about Anna May Wong on MSNBC, in the New York Times and in Vanity Fair. She also writes the newsletter Half-Caste Woman. She was a 2021 Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship finalist and gave… More about Katie Gee Salisbury