My mother loved film musicals. When a new one appeared in a movie theater anywhere near our small North Carolina town, she and Dad would hire a sitter for the latest little one, pack the rest of us into the station wagon, and go see films like “Porgy and Bess,” “South Pacific,” and “Flower Drum Song.” She purchased the records to the shows and played them so frequently that to this day I can croak out songs like “Summertime,” “Bloody Mary,” “Honey Bun,” and more.
Some online reviews by critics and viewers accuse these old shows of racial insensitivity, sexism, anti-feminist messaging, and gender stereotyping. If judged solely by our present prim progressivism, then these three musicals and others stand guilty as charged.
When these detractors fire off these cannonades of accusation, however, they condemn themselves for their lack of nuance and perspective. In his 1953 novel “The Go-Between,” L.P. Hartley opened with this frequently quoted line: “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” To forget or neglect this truth breeds presentism, the biases of the here and now inflicted on the past. It’s a distortion that can induce a smug arrogance when applied with too broad a brush.
If we can put aside our prejudices regarding the past, we may find in these old show tunes and stories a trove of riches.
The 1961 film version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “Flower Drum Song” is the perfect vehicle for test-driving this thesis.
A press photo from "Flower Drum Song," 1961. Public Domain
Stereotypes? Yes and No
Though some might put “Flower Drum Song” on trial for stereotyping Asians, that charge would result, at most, in a misdemeanor rather than a felony. With its heavily Asian cast, the movie was a breakthrough event in American culture. A week after its premiere in New York’s Radio City Music Hall, San Francisco’s Chinatown was the scene of a three-day celebration honoring the film and its cast.
Playwright David Henry Hwang, who is revising “Flower Drum Song” for the second time, praised the original work in a Playbill interview: “At an early age, I saw people who looked like me as actors and artistic leaders. … I’m thrilled to revisit and further revise this classic musical.”
Working with Hwang on this latest production, scheduled to open in late spring, director Lily Tung Crystal said:
“As a theater kid growing up, I’ll never forget the first time I saw ‘Flower Drum Song’—it was pure magic seeing faces like mine light up the silver screen in a major Hollywood production. The original has its share of flaws and stereotypes, but it nonetheless holds a special place in my heart.”
An interesting side note: While the original film only hinted at communism as a driving force behind some of its Chinese characters’ decision to flee to America, Hwang’s revision makes clear this reality.
At any rate, if you are looking for racism here, you’ll be sorely disappointed.
Press photo of Miyoshi Umeki in "Flower Drum Song," 1961. Public Domain
‘I Enjoy Being a Girl’
“Flower Drum Song” serves up a Shakespearean feast of romantic entanglements.The movie begins when shipboard stowaways Mei Li (Miyoshi Umeki) and her father arrive in San Francisco and seek out Sammy Fong (Jack Soo), a nightclub owner with whom she has a marriage contract. Fong, however, is infatuated with his club’s star performer, Linda Low (Nancy Kwan). He schemes to have Mei Li marry Wang Ta (James Shigeta), the Americanized son of the staunchly traditional Wang Chi-Yang (Benson Fong). But there’s a hitch. Wang Chi-Yang demands his right to select his son’s marriage partner.
From that point comes a flood of flirtations and misunderstandings. Linda Low, for instance, practices her coquetry on Wang Ta and agrees to wear his fraternity pin, hoping to make Sammy Fong jealous. Meanwhile, Wang Chi-Yang invites the more traditional Mei Li and her father into his home, where she is attracted to Wang Ta.
Today’s feminists would likely consider such women as Mei Li and Linda Low offensive anachronisms, but what critics miss is that both women are bucking up against the system and situation in which they find themselves. Linda Low offers a striking example of a woman aware of her own power, as demonstrated by her actions and her song “I Enjoy Being a Girl.” These lines give us a taste of that up-tempo piece:
When men say I’m cute and funny And my teeth aren’t teeth but pearls I just lap it up like honey I enjoy being a girl
I flip when a fella sends me flowers I drool over dresses made of lace I talk on the telephone for hours With a pound and a half of cream upon my face
I’m strictly a female female And my future I hope will be In the home of a brave and free male Who'll enjoy being a guy Having a girl like me.
Here, too, the nightclub singer and inveterate flirt reminds us of something our culture so often forgets, that romance and the differences between men and women are mysteries and pleasures, not political footballs.
A collage of press photos for the 1961 film "Flower Drum Song." Public Domain
Chop Suey Meets the Melting Pot
Perhaps the film’s most pertinent point for viewers today is its take on immigration and assimilation.Patriarch Wang Chi-Yang is the film’s strongest defender of the old ways and customs of his former homeland. He dresses in traditional Chinese clothing, refuses to open a bank account, and seeks to keep Chinese opera alive, though his audience is dwindling. He is especially agitated by the Americanization of his sons. Here, for example, he is at loggerheads with the older of the two over marriage:
Wang Ta: This is not China. It’s a different world. And here a man has a right to choose his wife.
Wang Chi-Yang: And here he also has the right to get divorced and pick a new one.
An exchange with his younger son, who is dressed in a baseball uniform, humorously illustrates this gap between the generations:
Wang San (Patrick Adiarte): So long, Pop. Don’t take any wooden chopsticks!
Wang Chi-Yang: You! You go right back and finish your breakfast! What language is he using? I have a feeling he has been disrespectful, but I am not sure.
Madame “Auntie” Liang, Wang’s sister-in-law (Juanita Hall): No, no. That is American-style slang.
The two then engage in a duet lamenting this growing divide, singing: “What are we going to do about the other generation? How will we ever communicate without communication?”
Yet it is Auntie Liang who provides a grand example of willing assimilation into the culture. When she becomes a citizen, Wang Chi-Yang’s old friend the Professor (Ching Wah Lee) asks: “And are you also proud of this fine American citizen in your family, Master Wang?
Wang Chi-Yang: To become an American citizen it took her five years. She was Chinese in nine months.
Auntie Liang: I am happy to be both Chinese and American.
Wang Chi-Yang: You are like the Chinese dish the Americans invented. What do they call it?
Wang Ta: Chop suey.
Wang Chi-Yang: That is it. Everything is in it. All mixed up.
Rather than being deflated by Wang’s critique, Auntie Liang breaks into a song celebrating her reinvented idea of the American melting pot. Here are the ending lyrics of “Chop Suey”:
Hear that lovely La Paloma, Lullaby by Perry Como. Dreaming in my Maid'nform bra, Dreamed I danced the Cha-Cha-Cha. Chop suey, chop suey! Mixed with all the hokum and bally hooey. Something real and glowing grand. Sheds a light all over the land. Boston, Austin, Wichita, and St. Louey, Chop suey. Chop suey, chop suey! Chop suey, chop suey!
The song is silly but signals the blending of culture and a salute to “something real and glowing grand” that “sheds a light all over the land.”
Nancy Kwan in "Flower Drum Song." Public Domain
A Takeaway for All of Us
The musical’s stance on citizenship offers food for thought for all Americans today, whatever their opinion on immigration. If someone wishes to come to these shores to find life and freedom, then they must become American. They need not give up their old ways—their ethnic foods, their customs, their code for living—but they must give up their old allegiance to another country.Hints of this shift occur throughout “Flower Drum Song.” Sammy Fong’s full name, we discover, is Samuel Adams Fong, an honorific lifted from a leader in the American Revolution. One character attempts to quote Abe Lincoln: “You can only fool half the people at a time.” Auntie Liang says, “In my citizenship class, I have learned: ‘We, the people of the United States, are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happy times.’”
Chop suey is a stir-fried American-Chinese dish featuring meat and crunchy vegetables in a thickened soy sauce. That dish is at its most savory with lots of ingredients that go together and complementary spices.
America works best with that same recipe.
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