In the
Barathiraja film ‘PUthiya Varpugal’ -
Bakkiyaraj and Rathi would love in the song ‘thamthana thamthana thalam varum’ –
written by Gangai Amaran to the pleasant music of Maestro Illayaraja – the song
is remembered for the white gown performers dancing around the hero and heroine
– their names would not hit the cast list and some of them would end up leading
a miserable life !
Miles away in US – came the movie ‘The Red Lantern’ in 1919 – a silent drama film starring Alla Nazimova, who
plays dual roles, and directed by Albert Capellani. One of the actresses who
appeared in a side role in that, rose to prominence and is about to feature in
the currency of America !
Wong was working at
Hollywood's Ville de Paris department store when Metro Pictures needed 300
female extras to appear in Alla Nazimova's film The Red Lantern (1919). Without
her father's knowledge, a friend of his with movie connections helped her land
an uncredited role as an extra carrying a lantern. Wong worked steadily for the next two years
as an extra in various movies, while still a student, Wong came down with an
illness identified as St. Vitus's Dance which caused her to miss months of
school. She was on the verge of emotional collapse when her father took her to
a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine. The treatments proved
successful, though Wong later claimed this had more to do with her dislike of
the methods…. .. ..
The United States dollar is the official currency of the US and its territories as set by the US constitution. The US dollar is divided into 100 cents or units with the circulating money consisting of Federal Reserve Notes. The US coins are produced by the US Mint while the banknotes are produced by Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Most of the coins and bank notes have faces of past prominent people including presidents and statesmen as a recognition and honor for their contribution to the history of the US.
Presidents dominate the
design of paper currency and coins of the United States. The law of the US
prohibits the use of faces of living presidents or persons as an image on the
banknotes and coins. George Washington, the founding father and the first
president of the United States, is on both sides of the one dollar bill. He has
been on the one dollar bill since 1869, seven years after the bill was put into
circulation. George Washington has also been on the observe side of the quarter
coin since 1924. The first $1 Federal
Reserve note was issued in 1963, and its design—featuring President George
Washington and the Great Seal of the United States—remains unchanged.
Not a post on US Presidents
but on an actress – Wong ! Wong Liu
Tsong (1905 – 1961), known professionally as Anna May Wong, was an American
actress, considered the first Chinese American Hollywood movie star, as well as
the first Chinese-American actress to gain international recognition. Her
varied career spanned silent film, sound film, television, stage, and radio. As
one of the first women depicted on the reverse of the quarter in the 2022–2025
American Women quarters series, she is also the first Asian American to appear
on US currency.
Born in Los Angeles to
second-generation Taishanese Chinese-American parents, Wong became infatuated
with films and began acting in films at an early age. During the silent film
era, she acted in The Toll of the Sea (1922), one of the first films made in
colour, and in Douglas Fairbanks' The Thief of Bagdad (1924). Wong became a fashion
icon and had achieved international stardom in 1924. In 1934, the Mayfair
Mannequin Society of New York voted her the "world's best dressed
woman." In the 1920s and 1930s, Wong was acclaimed as
one of the top fashion icons.
Frustrated by the
stereotypical supporting roles she reluctantly played in Hollywood, Wong left
for Europe in March 1928, where she starred in several notable plays and films,
among them Piccadilly (1929). She spent the first half of the 1930s traveling
between the United States and Europe for film and stage work. Wong was featured
in films of the early sound era, such as Daughter of the Dragon (1931), Java
Head (1934), Daughter of Shanghai (1937), and with Marlene Dietrich in Josef
von Sternberg's Shanghai Express (1932). In 1935, Wong 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. In the late 1930s, she starred in
several B movies for Paramount Pictures, portraying Chinese and Chinese
Americans in a positive light.
She paid less attention to
her film career during World War II, when she devoted her time and money to
help the Chinese cause against Japan. Wong returned to the public eye in the
1950s in several television appearances. In 1951, Wong made history with her
television show The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong, the first-ever U.S. television
show starring an Asian American series lead.
She had been planning to return
to film in Flower Drum Song when she died in 1961, at the age of 56, from a
heart attack.
Actress Anna May Wong is set
to become the first Asian American to be featured on US currency. She will
appear as part of an effort to feature notable women on American quarters. The
quarter will enter general circulation on Monday. It will feature President George Washington
on one side and Wong on the other. Ventris
Gibson, director of the US Mint, called Wong "a courageous advocate who
championed for increased representation and more multi-dimensional roles for
Asian American actors". "This quarter is designed to reflect the
breadth and depth of accomplishments by Anna May Wong, who overcame challenges
and obstacles she faced during her lifetime," she said.
Interesting ! –
from a side actress to one featured in currency of a Nation. The American Women
Quarters Program began this year and will feature five women each year until
2025. Native Hawaiian hula teacher Edith Kanaka'ole has been named as one of
the selections for 2023.
19th Oct 2022.
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