The Legacy of a Name
old photographs, family lore & having a movie star aunt with Anna Wong
The story of how I met Anna Wong, niece of Anna May Wong, is a rather felicitous one. About five years ago, I was in Los Angeles to open the latest installment of a photo exhibition I created called Thank You Enjoy. The show highlights the lives of Chinese restaurant workers in New York. I had received a grant to tour the exhibition around the country, so I was excited to be able to bring it to my hometown. In July 2019, it opened at Lisa Derrick Fine Arts, a gallery on Chungking Court in Chinatown, steps away from where my great-grandfather Sam Ward’s general store used to be and where my mom grew up for the first five years of her life.
While all of this was going on, I had already begun work on the book proposal for Not Your China Doll. The project had been on the back burner for years, but with things winding down for Thank You Enjoy, I felt a renewed sense of urgency to get the book underway. I knew that Anna May Wong had several living relatives, but I had no idea how to contact them or whether they would even be open to talking to me.
Then fate stepped in. Lisa Derrick posted the opening reception for Thank You Enjoy on Facebook and several of her friends replied with enthusiasm. One of them was Anna Wong, whose profile photo was a picture of Anna May Wong. I put two and two together and asked Lisa if Anna Wong was who I guessed she was. She confirmed my hunch and let Anna know that I’d like to meet her at the reception.
The day of the opening was one of those summer scorchers. Even with all the doors and windows open inside the gallery, it was boiling. When Anna arrived she gamely agreed to chat with me for a few minutes. The only cool place we could find was in the alleyway at the back of the building.
(I didn’t know it at the time, but the gallery’s landlord was actually my mother’s cousin and the building had been in my great aunt’s family for many decades. In fact, my mom’s siblings and their cousins recalled playing in the store one year when the kids all had pet chickens running around. Talk about fate.)
I couldn’t believe I was speaking to the Anna Wong, niece of Anna May Wong. How had the stars aligned so perfectly? Anna and I clicked almost immediately. She knew who my great-grandfather was, and we got each other in the way that Chinese Americans whose families have been in this country for several generations usually do. The rest, as they say, is history.
Anna is such a warm and generous person. She has gone above and beyond in her efforts to support Not Your China Doll: she understood my vision for the book and how I wanted to portray AMW in a new light from the very beginning; she shared family stories and her aunt’s personal effects with me; she opened the door to so many important contacts; and most importantly, she acted as a sounding board when I had doubts or questions about her aunt.
In the years since I embarked on this journey, I have watched Anna take on an increasingly prominent role in preserving and speaking out about her aunt’s important legacy. Watching all the incredible milestones that have come to pass under her guardianship—the biopic, the U.S. quarter, the Barbie—has been truly breathtaking. I know her aunt must be smiling down on all that she’s doing to memorialize her.
Anna graciously made time to chat with me about her movie star aunt and how she came to learn about her legendary career.
How did you first learn about your famous aunt, Anna May Wong? Was she someone who was talked about often in your family growing up?
We had some photos of her around the house. My father was an avid photographer and loved taking photos. (Our baby books have many of those photos with the old school white frames around them!!) As I got older, he started telling me about her and her history as a film star.
Your father, Richard Wong, and your aunt were very close. He lived with Anna May for more than twenty years, first at Moongate, and later at a smaller residence when she decided to downsize in the 1950s. Based on correspondence with Carl Van Vechten from both Anna May and your father, it seems clear that your father did a lot to support your aunt, whether it was fixing up their property in Santa Monica, or simply being a loving presence in her life when her career was in decline. How would you describe their relationship?
Yes, they were very close, despite the age difference of 17 years. Carl Van Vechten was a good friend of the family. The letters you found during your book research are definitely indicative of this. My father loved to write letters. In fact, he used to help sign AMW’s glossy black and white fan photos! Every now and then I stumble across a photo of them on eBay and can’t believe how much they are asking for them!
During AMW’s trip to China, she made a documentary of her travels there. There is a shot of my very young father walking in one of the scenes when she visited her family’s ancestral village in the countryside. I always find that very touching.
My father was very handy to have around the house and I guess you could say he was Moongate’s handyman! When my father was a child, AMW had a motherly presence and babied him. As he got older, they became more of contemporaries. One of the eBay photos I’ve seen is of them leaving a premiere! My father was there when she passed as well. He also was so proud of her achievements and accolades.
What are some of the memorable stories you heard about Anna May Wong from your father?
My father told me she loved to give dinner parties. Entertaining was her jam. She also would serve Chinese food and tell guests about each dish. He always told me about her strong personality, her desire for Asians to be equal in the industry. She wanted Asians to be in featured roles, not just small side roles. He also told me about her sense of humor. She loved to laugh!
Although you never got to meet Anna May because you were born after she died, your Aunt Lulu was still around and kickin’ for quite some time. I’m sure she had so many interesting stories and memories from her time traveling with Anna May and acting as her chaperone/secretary. Could you tell us what Lulu was like? And any stories she might have passed on to you?
Aw, yes—my wonderful Aunt Lu! She was the oldest of the Wong siblings. She was quite a character. One family story is that when I was a toddler, she would chase after me, her arms spread out like wings, screaming “awk, awk” (which I was told is the Cantonese word for love ). I, of course, was terrified and would run away. She wouldn’t hold me or my sister, Amy, as babies because she was afraid she would drop us. We saw her for dinner in Chinatown at least three Sundays a month. She had a house just outside of Chinatown.
She loved traveling with Anna May. She was less like a chaperone and more of a companion. Anna May was very close to my father, Richard (in my opinion, they were the closest), but in truth, all of the siblings were close to each other in different ways and in different periods of their lives. I think this was because of the age span between all of them. I think my Aunt Lu also had some small, non-speaking roles in some of Anna May’s movies. AMW had a very strong sense of family, despite her parents not wanting her to pursue acting and the fact that she and her siblings were separated by big age gaps.
You share your name—Anna May Wong—with your aunt. Can you tell us the story behind why your parents named you that? What has it meant to you to carry on her namesake?
I share her American name, Anna May Wong, and her Chinese name, Wong Liu Tsong. My father was hoping his first child would be a girl (unlike the usual Asian wish that the first born is a boy!). It was always the plan that the first girl child would be named after AMW. I didn’t find out about the amazing history of my name until I was old enough to understand it. But once I did start to learn about my amazing aunt, boom! I began to read all about her, look at all her photos, and listen to family stories about her from whoever had any. Most of them came from my father. I am both immensely proud and humbled to have such a name. It’s such an honor! Fun family fact: my sister Amy’s middle name is May as well. My father loved the idea of us both having the same initials.
Over the last several years, you have been proactive in speaking out about your aunt’s legacy and working to revive her memory. What motivates you to do this work?
Yes, I do speaking engagements and film openings that involve my aunt. I do this because I want the world to know how strong her legacy is. She would have been 119 years old this year and she is still making history today on U.S. quarters and with her Barbie doll. I want people to know how her struggle and tenacity has helped so many Asians. I’m very happy that places like the Smithsonian and the Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles have featured her in exhibits and displays that also include her history.
If you had to choose your top 5 favorite films of your aunt’s, what would they be?
(tied for first) Pavement Butterfly (1929) & Daughter of Shanghai (1937)
The Red Lantern (1919)
Island of Lost Men (1939)
The Toll of the Sea (1922)
So much kismet behind the writing of this book, wow! Thank you for sharing these stories with us.
Keep them coming!