Charlie Chan

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1938 titlecard
1938 titlecard
Number One Son with the seat of his pants on fire in Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo
Number One Son with the seat of his pants on fire in Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo

Charlie Chan is a fictional Chinese-American detective created by Earl Derr Biggers, reportedly in part under inspiration from the career of Chang Apana. Chan is the hero of a number of books and dozens of movies. At first a sergeant (but later promoted) in the Honolulu Police Department, he and his wife have eleven children (the oldest of which is colloquially known as "Number One Son") and live in a house on Punchbowl Hill. He is a large man but moves gracefully.

Contents

[edit] Novels and films

Charlie Chan appeared in six novels by Earl Derr Biggers published from 1925 to 1932. The first three novels were each adapted to film during the 1920s, by different studios, but the best-known Charlie Chan movies are those of the long-running series that began in 1931 with Charlie Chan Carries On, starring Warner Oland for Fox Film Corp. Oland starred in a further fifteen Chan movies, up to the time of his death, after which the mantle passed to Sidney Toler. By this time, Fox had merged and been succeeded by 20th Century Fox, which produced eleven more Charlie Chan films through 1942. Toler then bought the screen rights himself, and arranged a new series for Monogram Pictures in 1944. Monogram made another eleven Chan films starring Toler and then six starring Roland Winters after Toler's death. The progression of Chan films from Oland to Toler (under the two incarnations of Fox), and especially to Monogram's films (whether with Toler or Winters), involved lower budgets and variable scripts, and generally less modern respect.

[edit] Radio

On radio, Charlie Chan was heard in different series on four networks (Blue, NBC. ABC, MBS) between the years 1932 and 1948. Walter Connally initially portrayed Chan as part of Esso Oil's Five Star Theater, which serialized adaptations of Biggers novels.

Ed Begley had the title role in NBC's The Adventures of Charlie Chan with Leon Janney as Number One Son. Radio Life magazine described Begley's Chan as "a good radio match for Sidney Toler's beloved film enactment.

[edit] Comics, games and spinoffs

A Charlie Chan comic strip drawn by Alfred Andriola was syndicated from 1938 to 1942. There was also The Great Charlie Chan Detective Mystery Game (1937) - a board game, and the Charlie Chan Card Game (1939).

Over the years several Charlie Chan comic books have also been published first by Prize Comics (5 issues, 1948), which later moved to Charlton Comics (4 issues, 1955). DC Comics published a title ("The New Adventures of Charlie Chan") that tied in with the new TV show and lasted 6 issues in 1958. Later, Dell Comics did the title for 2 issues in 1965.

In 1957-1958, "The New Adventures of Charlie Chan", starring J. Carroll Naish in the title role, were made independently for TV syndication in a series of 39 episodes, by Television Programs of America.

The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, an animated series made in the 1970s by Hanna-Barbera Productions and starring former Chan co-star Keye Luke, was noteworthy because it was the only occasion on which Charlie Chan has been played by an actor of Chinese descent. (Two Charlie Chan films made in the 1920s had starred Japanese actors; and several of the Chan sons had been played by Chinese American actors in the later movies, including Keye Luke as the eldest son, Sen Yung (later Victor Sen Young) as son #2, Benson Fong as son #3, and Keye Luke's brother, Edwin Luke, as son #4.)

Two offbeat Chan films appeared to little fanfare years after the main canon. The Return of Charlie Chan in 1973 was a made-for-TV film starring Ross Martin. It had a challenging plot, but was otherwise unengaging. Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen in 1981, was a theatrical feature starring Peter Ustinov, Angie Dickinson, and Michelle Pfeiffer. Apparently intended as a satire, it was not seen as a comic success, although critics noted its visual appeal.

The character of Chan was parodied in the 1976 comedy film Murder by Death, featuring Peter Sellers made-up as "Sidney Wang" in elaborate Chinese costume and using heavily affected speech.

A new Charlie Chan movie is being planned, with Lucy Liu handling the title part, the plot being described as "The granddaughter of a renowned detective makes a name for herself in the world of crime-busting."

[edit] Controversy and criticism

The pre-1950 film character exhibited many positive traits: intelligent, stalwart, kind, responsible, and heroic in the pursuit of usually white villains who were able to outwit the police or government establishments which hired him. During his time as well as later, the films have come under criticism from at least one group concerned with Asian-Americans, on the grounds that Chan was played only by white actors in makeup rather than by any Chinese/Asian performer. Thus, the portrayal of Chan by white actors has been likened to blackface films and has been referred to as yellowface.

Many feel that the Chan films of the 1930s and 1940s both created and perpetuated Asian racial stereotypes. Critics make the objection that the negative caricature of Charlie Chan has at least as much of an effect on the audience as do his positive traits. The thesis that the Chan pictures are "demeaning to the race" was argued against, however, by none other than Keye Luke, himself an Asian-American who appeared in many of the Chan films: "Demeaning to the race? My God! You've got a Chinese hero!" (For more of Luke's observations about the series, see Ken Hanke's book Charlie Chan at the Movies.)

The portrayal of the black sidekicks and servants of the Chan family in some of the movies has also been controversial. These characters, however, were a popular and recurring fixture in the Chan films, particularly the character of Birmingham Brown, portrayed by the inventive comedian Mantan Moreland.

In 2003, the Fox Movie Channel discontinued the Fox Chan films, soon after beginning restoration for special cablecasting. After a lengthy delay, Fox finally began releasing these restored versions on DVD in 2006, beginning with volume one (Charlie Chan in London, Charlie Chan in Paris, Charlie Chan in Egypt, and Charlie Chan in Shanghai) on June 30. (The first six Monogram productions, all starring Sidney Toler, were released by MGM in 2004, and found a ready audience despite their humble reputations.) The films, when broadcast on the Fox Movie Channel, were followed by roundtable discussions by prominent Asian-Americans in the entertainment industry, led by George Takei.

In 1993, author Jessica Hagedorn edited a compilation of Asian American literature, titled "Charlie Chan is Dead: An Anthology of Contemporary Asian American Fiction." The appellation was a contemporary response to pervasive Asian-American stereotypes.

[edit] Cultural references

  • "Searchin'," a song recorded in 1957 by the R&B group the Coasters, makes reference to Chan and other fictional detectives such as Sam Spade, Bulldog Drummond, Boston Blackie and Sherlock Holmes. The song "Bad Detective," recorded by the Coasters in 1964 and the New York Dolls in 1974, also refers to Charlie Chan as well as his assistant Birmingham.
  • In the Beastie Boys hit 1986 song "Brass Monkey" Adrock spits the lyric "Adrock gets nice with Charlie Chan".
  • Jazz Saxophonist Charlie Parker used "Charlie Chan" as his pseudonym when recording in 1953 with Miles Davis on the album Collectors' Items and on the all-star album Jazz at Massey Hall, in honor of his wife, "Chan" Parker.
  • Mr. White (played by Harvey Keitel) in the film Reservoir Dogs expresses his annoyance at Joe Cabot's reciting of names from his old address book: "Toby? Toby Wong. Toby Wong? Toby Wong. Toby Chung? Fucking Charlie Chan."
  • The 2001 USA Films movie entitled Gosford Park makes many references to the Charlie Chan films, with one of the supporting characters being a fictionalized producer (a Morris Weissman instead of the actual producer, John Stone) responsible for producing the films. The fictionalized producer in the film has come to this shooting party to research for his next film, Charlie Chan In London.
  • In Terry Pratchett's Discworld book Witches Abroad, the witch, Nanny Ogg calls over a Genuan waiter with "Oi, Charlie Chan!"
  • The Grateful Dead song "US Blues" contains the lyric, "Shake the hand that shook the hand of P.T. Barnum and Charlie Chan."
  • Fred Allen often parodied the Chan character on his radio show with his detective "Won Long Pan".

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] By Earl Derr Biggers

[edit] By others

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Early Chan films

[edit] With Warner Oland

  • The Black Camel (1931)
  • Charlie Chan Carries On (1931) - this film is widely considered lost. However, the film was also filmed in Spanish with a Spanish-speaking cast under the title Eran Trece. This version is available. See the article for more information.
  • Charlie Chan's Chance (1932) lost
  • Charlie Chan's Greatest Case (1933) lost
  • Charlie Chan's Courage (1934) lost
  • Charlie Chan in London (1934)
  • Charlie Chan in Paris (1935)
  • Charlie Chan in Egypt (1935)
  • Charlie Chan in Shanghai (1935)
  • Charlie Chan's Secret (1936)
  • Charlie Chan at the Circus (1936)
  • Charlie Chan at the Race Track (1936)
  • Charlie Chan at the Opera (1936)
  • Charlie Chan at the Olympics (1937)
  • Charlie Chan on Broadway (1937)
  • Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo (1938)

[edit] With Sidney Toler

  • Charlie Chan in Honolulu (1938)
  • Charlie Chan in Reno (1939)
  • Charlie Chan at Treasure Island (1939)
  • City in Darkness (1939)
  • Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise (1940)
  • Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum (1940)
  • Charlie Chan in Panama (1940)
  • Murder Over New York (1940)
  • Dead Men Tell (1941)
  • Charlie Chan in Rio (1941)
  • Castle in the Desert (1942)
  • Charlie Chan in the Secret Service (1944)
  • The Chinese Cat (1944)
  • Meeting at Midnight (1944)
  • The Shanghai Cobra (1945)
  • The Red Dragon (1945)
  • The Scarlet Clue (1945)
  • The Jade Mask (1945)
  • Shadows Over Chinatown (1946)
  • Dangerous Money (1946)
  • Dark Alibi (1946)
  • The Trap (1946, AKA: Murder at Malibu Beach)

[edit] With Roland Winters

  • The Chinese Ring (1947)
  • Docks of New Orleans (1948)
  • Shanghai Chest (1948)
  • The Golden Eye (1948)
  • The Feathered Serpent (1948)
  • The Sky Dragon (1949)

[edit] Further reading

Elaine H. Kim, Asian American Literature, an introduction to the writings and their social context, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1982 (especially the chapter on Charlie Chan).

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Source: Translated from German Wikipedia Article.

[edit] Places Named Charlie Chan

[edit] External Links

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