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86-480: Sidney Toler (born Hooper G. Toler Jr. , April 28, 1874 – February 12, 1947) was an American actor, playwright , and theatre director . The second European-American actor to play the role of Charlie Chan on screen, he is best remembered for his portrayal of the Chinese-American detective in 22 films made between 1938 and 1946. Before becoming Chan, Toler played supporting roles in 50 motion pictures, and

172-482: A murder mystery play which is the longest-running West End show , it has by far the longest run of any play in the world, with its 29,500th performance having taken place as of February 2024. Contemporary playwrights in the United States are affected by recent declines in theatre attendance. No longer the only outlet for serious drama or entertaining comedies, theatrical productions must use ticket sales as

258-463: A "benevolent Other" who is "one-dimensional". The films' use of white actors to portray East Asian characters indicates the character's "absolute Oriental Otherness;" the films were only successful as "the domain of white actors who impersonated heavily-accented masters of murder mysteries as well as purveyors of cryptic proverbs. Chan's character "embodies the stereotypes of Chinese Americans, particularly of males: smart, subservient, effeminate." Chan

344-747: A British-born actress credited as Viva Tattersall when Toler and she performed together and co-wrote the plays Dress Parade (1929) and Ritzy (1930). Their marriage lasted until Toler's death. Sidney Toler died on February 12, 1947, at his home in Los Angeles from intestinal cancer . He is buried at Highland Cemetery, Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas, USA. Monogram continued the Charlie Chan series with actor Roland Winters , who appeared in six Chan features. Playwright The earliest playwrights in Western literature with surviving works are

430-465: A Chinese detective called Sidney Wang, a parody of Chan. In 1980, Jerry Sherlock began production on a comedy film to be called Charlie Chan and the Dragon Lady . A group calling itself C.A.N. (Coalition of Asians to Nix) was formed, protesting the fact that non-Chinese actors, Peter Ustinov and Angie Dickinson , had been cast in the primary roles. Others protested that the film script contained

516-503: A Japanese actor, as Chan. A year later Universal Pictures followed with The Chinese Parrot , starring Japanese actor Kamiyama Sojin as Chan, again as a supporting character. In both productions, Charlie Chan's role was minimized. Contemporary reviews were unfavorable; in the words of one reviewer, speaking of The Chinese Parrot , Sojin plays "the Chink sleuth as a Lon Chaney cook-waiter … because Chaney can't stoop that low." For

602-483: A Key (1925). The character was not central to the novel and was not mentioned by name on the dust jacket of the first edition. In the novel, Chan is described as "very fat indeed, yet he walked with the light dainty step of a woman" and in The Chinese Parrot as being " … an undistinguished figure in his Western clothes." According to critic Sandra Hawley, this description of Chan allows Biggers to portray

688-615: A Mexican version of Charlie Chan called El Monstruo en la Sombra (Monster in the Shadow), starring Orlando Rodriguez as "Chan Li Po" (Charlie Chan in the original script). The film was inspired by La Serpiente Roja as well as the American Warner Oland films. During the 1930s and 1940s, five Chan films were produced in Shanghai and Hong Kong. In these films, Chan, played by Xu Xinyuan (徐莘园), owns his detective agency and

774-484: A board game, The Great Charlie Chan Detective Mystery Game (1937), and a Charlie Chan Card Game (1939), have been released. On May 21, 2020 digital casino website Play'n GO released Charlie Chance in Hell to Pay, a slot machine game, for desktop and mobile browsers. This is not an officially branded game, however, the game's main character Charlie Chance is directly based on the original Charlie Chan character, sharing

860-512: A form of playwright. Outside of the Western world there is Indian classical drama , with one of the oldest known playwrights being Śudraka , whose attributed plays can be dated to the second century BC. The Nāṭya Shāstra , a text on the performing arts from between 500BC-500AD, categorizes playwrights as being among the members of a theatre company, although playwrights were generally the highest in social status, with some being kings. In

946-582: A novel by Harriet Lummis Smith . Three of his plays reached Broadway: The Golden Days (1921), which starred Helen Hayes , The Exile (1923), and Ritzy (1930). Toler earned fame as an actor on the Broadway stage, working for David Belasco for 14 years. He was best known for his comedy roles, from the detective-butler in On the Hiring Line (1919)—a performance that The New York Times called "one of

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1032-475: A number of films, agreed; when asked if he thought that the character was demeaning to the race, he responded, "Demeaning to the race? My God! You've got a Chinese hero! " and "[W]e were making the best damn murder mysteries in Hollywood." Other critics, such as sociologist Yen Le Espiritu and Huang Guiyou, argue that Chan, while portrayed positively in some ways, is not on a par with white characters, but

1118-544: A number of stereotypes; Sherlock responded that the film was not a documentary. The film was released the following year as Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen and was an "abysmal failure". An updated film version of the character was planned in the 1990s by Miramax . While this Charlie Chan was to be "hip, slim, cerebral, sexy and... a martial-arts master," and portrayed by actor Russell Wong , nonetheless

1204-419: A person who has "wrought" words, themes, and other elements into a dramatic form—a play. (The homophone with "write" is coincidental.) The first recorded use of the term "playwright" is from 1605, 73 years before the first written record of the term "dramatist". It appears to have been first used in a pejorative sense by Ben Jonson to suggest a mere tradesman fashioning works for the theatre. Jonson uses

1290-654: A playwright, winning awards for his play The Phoenix at both the New York International Fringe Festival in 1999 and the Route 66 American Playwriting Competition in 2000. Today, theatre companies have new play development programs meant to develop new American voices in playwriting. Many regional theatres have hired dramaturges and literary managers in an effort to showcase various festivals for new work, or bring in playwrights for residencies. Funding through national organizations, such as

1376-510: A positive Chinese character in an American film, a departure from the sinister East Asian stereotypes in earlier movies like Thief of Baghdad (1924) and Harold Lloyd 's Welcome Danger (1929), which incited riots that shut down the Shanghai theater showing it." Oland's visit to China was reported extensively in Chinese newspapers, and the actor was respectfully called "Mr. Chan". In Neil Simon's Murder by Death , Peter Sellers plays

1462-882: A professional actor in 1892, playing the heavy in a performance of a melodrama called The Master Man in Kansas City . In 1894, he joined the Corse Payton company and toured for four years. His success in leading roles at the Lee Avenue Academy in Brooklyn brought an invitation to join the company of Julia Marlowe . He toured with her for two years, playing the Duke of Buckingham in When Knighthood Was in Flower . In Brooklyn, Toler played leads with

1548-404: A similar name, trademark moustache and sharp dress sense. This game was followed by two sequels in 2021, Charlie Chance XREELZ and Charlie Chance and the Curse of Cleopatra. The character of Charlie Chan has been the subject of controversy. Some find the character to be a positive role model , while others argue that Chan is an offensive stereotype . Critic John Soister argues that Charlie Chan

1634-525: A source of income, which has caused many of them to reduce the number of new works being produced. For example, Playwrights Horizons produced only six plays in the 2002–03 seasons, compared with thirty-one in 1973–74. Playwrights commonly encounter difficulties in getting their shows produced and often cannot earn a living through their plays alone, leading them to take up other jobs to supplement their incomes. Many playwrights are also film makers . For instance, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock began his career as

1720-585: A stage adaptation of novel Keeper of the Keys for Broadway in 1933, with William Harrigan as the lead. The production ran for 25 performances. A Charlie Chan comic strip , drawn by Alfred Andriola , was distributed by the McNaught Syndicate beginning October 24, 1938. Andriola was chosen by Biggers to draw the character. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , the strip was dropped;

1806-562: A stricter interpretation of Aristotle, as this long-lost work came to light in the late 15th century. The neoclassical ideal, which was to reach its apogee in France during the 17th century, dwelled upon the unities , of action, place, and time. This meant that the playwright had to construct the play so that its "virtual" time would not exceed 24 hours, that it would be restricted to a single setting, and that there would be no subplots. Other terms, such as verisimilitude and decorum, circumscribed

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1892-632: Is Hans Sachs (1494–1576) who wrote 198 dramatic works. In England, The Second Shepherds' Play of the Wakefield Cycle is the best known early farce. However, farce did not appear independently in England until the 16th century with the work of John Heywood (1497–1580). Playwright William Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted. Most playwrights of

1978-515: Is a fictional Honolulu police detective created by author Earl Derr Biggers for a series of mystery novels. Biggers loosely based Chan on Hawaiian detective Chang Apana . The benevolent and heroic Chan was conceived as an alternative to Yellow Peril stereotypes and villains like Fu Manchu . Many stories feature Chan traveling the world beyond Hawaii as he investigates mysteries and solves crimes. Chan first appeared in Biggers' novels and then

2064-416: Is aided not by a son but by a daughter, Manna, played first by Gu Meijun (顾梅君) in the Shanghai productions and then by Bai Yan (白燕) in postwar Hong Kong. Chinese audiences also saw the original American Charlie Chan films. They were by far the most popular American films in 1930s China and among Chinese expatriates; "one of the reasons for this acceptance was that this was the first time Chinese audiences saw

2150-399: Is both; when Biggers created the character, he offered a unique alternative to stereotypical evil Chinamen, a man who was at the same time "sufficiently accommodating in personality... unthreatening in demeanor... and removed from his Asian homeland... to quell any underlying xenophobia." Critic Michael Brodhead argues that "Biggers's sympathetic treatment of the Charlie Chan novels convinces

2236-537: Is in safe hands. Charlie will go marching on to cheerful tunes in the person of Sidney Toler. It isn't an imitation Warner Oland characterization that Toler delivers, but it is a thoroughly satisfying, neatly shaded Charlie Chan." Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin : "As for Toler, he does a superlative job. He has sensibly formulated his own characterization, a lighter, more affable and less formal Charlie Chan. We think audiences will accept him." Motion Picture Herald : "[The preview was] attended by top-ranking executives,

2322-502: Is representative of a model minority , the good stereotype that counters a bad stereotype: "Each stereotypical image is filled with contradictions: the bloodthirsty Indian is tempered with the image of the noble savage; the bandido exists along with the loyal sidekick; and Fu Manchu is offset by Charlie Chan." However, Fu Manchu's evil qualities are presented as inherently Chinese, while Charlie Chan's good qualities are exceptional; "Fu represents his race; his counterpart stands away from

2408-542: Is still useful to playwrights today is the " French scene ", which is a scene in a play where the beginning and end are marked by a change in the makeup of the group of characters onstage rather than by the lights going up or down or the set being changed. Notable playwrights: Greek theater was alive and flourishing on the island of Crete. During the Cretan Renaissance two notable Greek playwrights Georgios Chortatzis and Vitsentzos Kornaros were present in

2494-494: The Ancient Greeks . William Shakespeare is amongst the most famous playwrights in literature, both in England and across the world. The word "play" is from Middle English pleye , from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsperson or builder (as in a wheelwright or cartwright ). The words combine to indicate

2580-406: The Ancient Greeks . These early plays were for annual Athenian competitions among play writers held around the 5th century BC. Such notables as Aeschylus , Sophocles , Euripides , and Aristophanes established forms still relied on by their modern counterparts. We have complete texts extant by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides . The origins of Athenian tragedy remain obscure, though by

2666-722: The Great Depression . Oland died in 1938, and the Chan film Charlie Chan at the Ringside was rewritten with additional footage as Mr. Moto's Gamble , an entry in the Mr. Moto series, another contemporary series featuring an East Asian protagonist; Luke appeared as Lee Chan, not only in already shot footage but also in scenes with Moto actor Peter Lorre . Fox hired another white actor, Sidney Toler , to play Charlie Chan, and produced eleven Chan films through 1942. Toler's Chan

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2752-624: The National Endowment for the Arts and the Theatre Communications Group , encouraged the partnerships of professional theatre companies and emerging playwrights. Playwrights will often have a cold reading of a script in an informal sitdown setting, which allows them to evaluate their own plays and the actors performing them. Cold reading means that the actors haven't rehearsed the work, or may be seeing it for

2838-463: The Yellow Peril stereotypes he found when he came to California, explicitly conceived of the character as an alternative: "Sinister and wicked Chinese are old stuff, but an amiable Chinese on the side of law and order has never been used.": It overwhelms me with sadness to admit it … for he is of my own origin, my own race, as you know. But when I look into his eyes I discover that a gulf like

2924-547: The 20th Century Fox Radio Service. Walter Connolly initially portrayed Chan on Esso Oil's Five Star Theater , which serialized adaptations of Biggers novels. Ed Begley , Sr. had the title role in N.B.C.'s The Adventures of Charlie Chan (1944–45), followed by Santos Ortega (1947–48). Leon Janney and Rodney Jacobs were heard as Lee Chan, Number One Son, and Dorian St. George was the announcer. Radio Life magazine described Begley's Chan as "a good radio match for Sidney Toler's beloved film enactment." Valentine Davies wrote

3010-449: The 4th century BCE, Aristotle wrote his Poetics , in which he analyzed the principle of action or praxis as the basis for tragedy. He then considered elements of drama: plot ( μύθος mythos ), character ( ἔθος ethos ), thought ( dianoia ), diction ( lexis ), music ( melodia ), and spectacle ( opsis ). Since the myths on which Greek tragedy were based were widely known, plot had to do with

3096-543: The 5th century it was institutionalised in competitions ( agon ) held as part of festivities celebrating Dionysos (the god of wine and fertility ). As contestants in the City Dionysia's competition (the most prestigious of the festivals to stage drama), playwrights were required to present a tetralogy of plays (though the individual works were not necessarily connected by story or theme), which usually consisted of three tragedies and one satyr play. For

3182-538: The American entertainment industry, led by George Takei , most of whom were against the films. Collections such as Frank Chin 's Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian-American Writers and Jessica Hagedorn's Charlie Chan Is Dead are put forth as alternatives to the Charlie Chan stereotype and "[articulate] cultural anger and exclusion as their animating force." Fox has released all of its extant Charlie Chan features on DVD, and Warner Bros. (the current proprietor of

3268-663: The Columbia Theatre Stock Company and sang baritone with the Orpheum Theatre's operatic stock company. In 1903, he made his Broadway debut in the musical comedy, The Office Boy . Over the next nine years, Toler had his own theatre companies in Portland, Maine , and Halifax, Nova Scotia —at one point having 12 stock companies on the road. He began a prolific career as a playwright, writing The Belle of Richmond , The Dancing Master , The House on

3354-445: The English language [whose] powers of observation, logic, and personal rectitude and humility made him an exemplary, entirely honorable character." Ellery Queen called Biggers's characterization of Charlie Chan "a service to humanity and to inter-racial relations." Dave Kehr of The New York Times said Chan "might have been a stereotype, but he was a stereotype on the side of the angels." Keye Luke, an actor who played Chan's son in

3440-561: The Middle Ages, the earliest of which is The Play of the Greenwood by Adam de la Halle in 1276. It contains satirical scenes and folk material such as faeries and other supernatural occurrences. Farces also rose dramatically in popularity after the 13th century. The majority of these plays come from France and Germany and are similar in tone and form, emphasizing sex and bodily excretions. The best known playwright of farces

3526-645: The Monogram Chans. With the release of Charlie Chan in the Secret Service (1944), the effects of a more limited budget were apparent. Production values were no match for those of Fox; Monogram's budgets were typically about 40% of what Fox's had been. In fairness to Monogram, the new Toler films continued to please exhibitors and moviegoers, with The Chinese Cat , The Shanghai Cobra , and Dark Alibi often cited as favorites by fans. Cast changes were again made: Sen Yung left Hollywood to serve in

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3612-548: The Monogram library) has issued all of the Sidney Toler and Roland Winters Monogram features on DVD. Modern critics, particularly Asian Americans, continue to have mixed feelings on Charlie Chan. Fletcher Chan, a defender of the works, argues that the Chan of Biggers's novels is not subservient to white characters, citing The Chinese Parrot as an example; in this novel, Chan's eyes blaze with anger at racist remarks and in

3698-611: The Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 and the end of the 17th century, classical ideas were in vogue. As a result, critics of the time mostly rated Shakespeare below John Fletcher and Ben Jonson. This period saw the first professional woman playwright, Aphra Behn . As a reaction to the decadence of Charles II era productions, sentimental comedy grew in popularity. Playwrights like Colley Cibber and Richard Steele believed that humans were inherently good but capable of being led astray. The Italian Renaissance brought about

3784-473: The Sands , and more than 70 other plays. One particular success was a war play called The Man They Left Behind , which was presented by 67 companies in a period of three months and by 18 different companies in a single week. In 1921, Paramount Pictures released two films based on Toler's plays: The Bait , adapted from The Tiger Lady , and A Heart to Let , based on Agatha's Aunt , which Toler adapted from

3870-460: The U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II , ultimately earning the rank of captain. Yung's Number Two Son Jimmy was replaced by Benson Fong as Number Three Son Tommy (and once by Number Four Son Eddie -- Edwin Luke , real-life brother of Number One Son Keye Luke). Mantan Moreland played the ever-present and popular Birmingham Brown, who brought comedy relief (and African American audiences) to

3956-614: The Wild (1935), Three Godfathers (1936), The Gorgeous Hussy (1936), Double Wedding (1937), The Mysterious Rider (1938), and Law of the Pampas (1939). Since 1931 Twentieth Century-Fox had been producing very successful detective mysteries featuring the Oriental sleuth Charlie Chan . They became vehicles for character actor Warner Oland , who starred in these pictures until his death on August 6, 1938. The studio then began

4042-515: The action. According to Mantan Moreland, Toler gallantly refused to leave the series: "Mr. Toler couldn't stand for very long and had to rest a lot. I told him he should be in a hospital. And he said to me, 'Manny, if I quit the picture I'll put all these people out of work.'" Toler mustered enough strength to complete his last film, The Trap . The film was scripted and staged with Toler's fragile physical condition in mind: Toler's scenes are limited, and he doesn't make his entrance until 16 minutes into

4128-420: The ancient Greeks, playwriting involved poïesis , "the act of making". This is the source of the English word poet . Despite Chinese Theatre having performers dated back to the 6th century BC with You Meng , their perspective of theatre was such that plays had no other role than "performer" or "actor", but given that the performers were also the ones who invented their performances, they could be considered

4214-404: The arrangement and selection of existing material. Character was determined by choice and by action. Tragedy is mimesis —"the imitation of an action that is serious". He developed his notion of hamartia , or tragic flaw, an error in judgment by the main character or protagonist , which provides the basis for the "conflict-driven" play. There were also a number of secular performances staged in

4300-437: The character as nonthreatening, the opposite of evil Chinese characters, such as Fu Manchu , while simultaneously emphasizing supposedly Chinese characteristics such as impassivity and stoicism. Biggers wrote six novels in which Charlie Chan appears: The first film featuring Charlie Chan, as a supporting character, was The House Without a Key (1926), a ten-chapter serial produced by Pathé Studios, starring George Kuwa ,

4386-625: The comedy high spots of the week"—to Cool Kelly the iceman in It's a Wise Child (1929–30). In 1929, Toler made his first film, Madame X , and in 1931, after the Boston run of It's a Wise Child , he moved to Hollywood. He played supporting roles in films for various studios, including White Shoulders (1931), Tom Brown of Culver (1932), Blonde Venus (1932), The Phantom President (1932), Speak Easily (1932), The World Changes (1933), Spitfire (1934), Operator 13 (1934), The Call of

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4472-607: The common depiction of Asians as evil or conniving which dominated Hollywood and national media in the early 20th century. However, in later decades critics increasingly took a more ambivalent view of the character. Despite his good qualities, Chan was also perceived as reinforcing condescending Asian stereotypes such as an alleged incapacity to speak idiomatic English and a tradition-bound and subservient nature. No Charlie Chan film has been produced since 1981. The character has also been featured in several radio programs , two television shows , and comics . The character of Charlie Chan

4558-408: The creative genius of this nation's culture." Huang also suggests that critics of Charlie Chan may have themselves, at times, "caricatured" Chan himself. Chan's character has also come under fire for "nuggets of fortune cookie Confucius" and the "counterfeit proverbs" which became so widespread in popular culture. The Biggers novels did not introduce the "Confucius say" proverbs, which were added in

4644-460: The end of 1946, age and illness were affecting Toler. Diagnosed with cancer, the 72-year-old Toler was so ill during the filming of Dangerous Money (1946) and Shadows Over Chinatown (1946) that he could hardly walk. Monogram hired Toler's original foil, "Number Two Son" Sen Yung (now billed as Victor Sen Young) for Toler's last three films, quite probably to ease the burden on Toler; the comic byplay of Young and Moreland relieved Toler of much of

4730-553: The end, after exposing the murderer, Chan remarks "Perhaps listening to a 'Chinaman' is no disgrace." In the films, both Charlie Chan in London (1934) and Charlie Chan in Paris (1935) "contain scenes in which Chan coolly and wittily dispatches other characters' racist remarks." Yunte Huang manifests an ambivalent attitude, stating that in the US, Chan "epitomizes the racist heritage and

4816-469: The film did not come to fruition. Actress Lucy Liu was slated to star in and executive-produce a new Charlie Chan film for Fox. The film was in preproduction by 2000; as of 2009, it was slated to be produced, but it also did not come to fruition. On radio, Charlie Chan was heard in several different series on three networks (the NBC Blue Network , Mutual , and ABC) between 1932 and 1948 for

4902-426: The film rights from the author's widow. He had hoped to film more Charlie Chan pictures independently, to be released through Fox, but Fox had already discontinued the series and had no interest in reviving it. Toler approached Philip N. Krasne , a Hollywood lawyer who financed film productions, and Krasne brokered a deal with Monogram Pictures . James S. Burkett produced the films for Monogram. The budget for each film

4988-450: The films, but one novel features Chan remarking: "As all those who know me have learned to their distress, Chinese have proverbs to fit every possible situation." Huang Yunte gives as examples "Tongue often hang man quicker than rope," "Mind, like parachute, only function when open," and "Man who flirt with dynamite sometime fly with angels." He argues, however, that these "colorful aphorisms" display "amazing linguistic acrobatic skills." Like

5074-445: The first film to center mainly on the character of Chan, Warner Oland , a white actor, was cast in the title role in 1931's Charlie Chan Carries On , and it was this film that gained popular success. Oland, a Swedish actor, had also played Fu Manchu in an earlier film. Oland, who claimed some Mongolian ancestry, played the character as more gentle and self-effacing than he had been in the books, perhaps in "a deliberate attempt by

5160-484: The first time, and usually, the technical requirements are minimal. The O'Neill Festival offers summer retreats for young playwrights to develop their work with directors and actors. Playwriting collectives like 13P and Orbiter 3 gather members together to produce, rather than develop, new works. The idea of the playwriting collective is in response to plays being stuck in the development process and never advancing to production. Charlie Chan Charlie Chan

5246-556: The heaving Pacific lies between us. Why? Because he, though among Caucasians many more years than I, still remains Chinese. As Chinese to-day as in the first moon of his existence. While I – I bear the brand – the label – Americanized.... I traveled with the current.... I was ambitious. I sought success. For what I have won, I paid the price. Am I an American? No. Am I, then, a Chinese? Not in the eyes of Ah Sing. The "amiable Chinese" made his first appearance in The House Without

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5332-431: The last strip ran on May 30, 1942. In 2019, The Library of American Comics reprinted one year of the strip (1938) in their LoAC Essentials line of books ( ISBN   978-1-68405-506-7 ). Over decades, other Charlie Chan comic books have been published: Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created Prize Comics ' Charlie Chan (1948), which ran for five issues. It was followed by a Charlton Comics title which continued

5418-490: The latter part of the 16th century. The plays of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing , Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Friedrich Schiller , and other Sturm und Drang playwrights inspired a growing faith in feeling and instinct as guides to moral behavior and were part of the German romanticism movement. Aleksandr Ostrovsky was Russia's first professional playwright). Author and playwright Agatha Christie wrote The Moustrap ,

5504-461: The main reason was that Fox was curtailing virtually all of its low-budget series. Fox's other "B" series — Jane Withers , Michael Shayne , and The Cisco Kid — also ended that year. Only Laurel and Hardy remained in Fox's "B" unit, until it shut down at the end of 1944. With Fox no longer producing Chan films, Toler bought the screen rights to the Charlie Chan character from Eleanor Biggers Cole,

5590-418: The most sought-after reviewers and commentators, and invited guests... quite a few of these strangers to Chan went into ecstasies." Besides Toler, another change was made in the series. Replacing Keye Luke as Chan's Number One Son, Lee, was Sen Yung as Number Two Son, Jimmy. Toler's Chan, rather than merely mimicking the character that Oland had portrayed, had a somewhat sharper edge that was well suited for

5676-696: The numbering (four issues, 1955). DC Comics published The New Adventures of Charlie Chan , a 1958 tie-in with the TV series; the DC series lasted for six issues. Dell Comics did the title for two issues in 1965. In the 1970s, Gold Key Comics published a short-lived series of Chan comics based on the Hanna-Barbera animated series. In March through August 1989 Eternity Comics/Malibu Graphics published Charlie Chan comic books numbers 1 - 6 reprinting daily strips from January 9, 1939 to November 18, 1939. In addition,

5762-499: The other Asian Hawaiians." Some argue that the character's popularity is dependent on its contrast with stereotypes of the Yellow Peril or Japanese people in particular. American opinion of China and Chinese Americans grew more positive in the 1920s and '30s in contrast to the Japanese, who were increasingly viewed with suspicion. Sheng-mei Ma argues that the character is a psychological over-compensation to "rampant paranoia over

5848-407: The period typically collaborated with others at some point, as critics agree Shakespeare did, mostly early and late in his career. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. In England, after the interregnum , and Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, there was a move toward neoclassical dramaturgy. Between

5934-530: The picture. The Trap was filmed in July and August of 1946, and released in November that same year. Toler's Monogram output matched his Fox output: 11 films for each studio. On August 29, 1906, Toler married actress Vivian Marston (born Josephine Gasper) of Boston, Massachusetts. She died in Hollywood on October 7, 1943, after an illness of seven months. Four weeks later, he married sculptor Vera Tattersall Orkow,

6020-570: The racial other." In June 2003, the Fox Movie Channel cancelled a planned Charlie Chan Festival, soon after beginning restoration for cablecasting, after a special-interest group protested. Fox reversed its decision two months later, and on 13 September 2003, the first film in the festival was aired on Fox. The films, when broadcast on the Fox Movie Channel, were followed by round-table discussions by prominent East Asians in

6106-465: The rapid changes of the times, both political and cultural. When needed, Charlie Chan now displayed overt sarcasm, usually toward his son Jimmy. Through four years and 11 films, Toler played Charlie Chan for Twentieth Century-Fox. In 1942, though, following the completion of Castle in the Desert , Fox concluded the series. The wartime collapse of the international film market may have been a factor, but

6192-485: The reader that the author consciously and forthrightly spoke out for the Chinese – a people to be not only accepted but admired. Biggers's sympathetic treatment of the Chinese reflected and contributed to the greater acceptance of Chinese-Americans in the first third of [the twentieth] century." S. T. Karnick writes in the National Review that Chan is "a brilliant detective with understandably limited facility in

6278-572: The same production schedule, with each scene filmed twice the same day, once in English and then in Spanish. The film followed essentially the same script as the Anglophonic version, with minor additions such as brief songs and skits and some changes to characters' names (for example, the character Elmer Benbow was renamed Frank Benbow). A Cuban production, La Serpiente Roja (The Red Snake), followed in 1937. In 1955, Producciones Cub-Mex produced

6364-550: The search for a new Charlie Chan. Thirty-four actors were tested before the studio decided on Toler. Twentieth Century-Fox announced its choice on October 16, 1938, and filming began October 24 on Charlie Chan in Honolulu , which had been originally scripted for Warner Oland and Keye Luke. Toler's interpretation of the Chinese detective in Charlie Chan in Honolulu was very well received. Box Office Digest : "Charlie Chan

6450-500: The series. Monogram's Charlie Chan films were profitable and successful; they boasted tricky screenplays with many surprise culprits and murder devices, and frequent appearances by "name" character actors. After 1943 Sidney Toler was playing Charlie Chan exclusively, except for a single instance in 1945. The Fred Allen comedy It's in the Bag! cast Toler as a plainclothes detective who speaks without prepositions -- like Charlie Chan. By

6536-485: The studio to downplay an uppity attitude in a Chinese detective." Oland starred in sixteen Chan films for Fox, often with Keye Luke , who played Chan's " Number One Son ", Lee Chan. Oland's "warmth and gentle humor" helped make the character and films popular; the Oland Chan films were among Fox's most successful. By attracting "major audiences and box-office grosses on a par with A's" they "kept Fox afloat" during

6622-557: The subject matter significantly. For example, verisimilitude limits of the unities. Decorum fitted proper protocols for behavior and language on stage. In France, contained too many events and actions, thus, violating the 24-hour restriction of the unity of time. Neoclassicism never had as much traction in England, and Shakespeare 's plays are directly opposed to these models, while in Italy, improvised and bawdy commedia dell'arte and opera were more popular forms. One structural unit that

6708-407: The title role. After Oland's death, American actor Sidney Toler was cast as Chan; Toler made 22 Chan films, first for Fox and then for Monogram Studios . After Toler's death, six films were made, starring Roland Winters . Readers and moviegoers of America greeted Chan warmly. Chan was seen as an attractive character, portrayed as intelligent, heroic, benevolent, and honorable; this contrasted with

6794-416: The widow of Chan's creator, Earl Derr Biggers . Toler had hoped that if he could find someone to produce new Charlie Chan films, starring himself, Fox would distribute them. Fox declined, having already dropped the series, but Toler sold the idea to Monogram Pictures , a lower-budget film studio. Philip N. Krasne , a Hollywood lawyer who invested in film productions, partnered with James S. Burkett to produce

6880-441: The word in his Epigram 49, which is thought to refer to John Marston or Thomas Dekker : Jonson described himself as a poet, not a playwright, since plays during that time were written in meter and so were regarded as the province of poets. This view was held as late as the early 19th century. The term "playwright" later again lost this negative connotation. The earliest playwrights in Western literature with surviving works are

6966-596: Was a highly regarded comic actor on the Broadway stage . Hooper G. Toler Jr., who was called Sidney Toler from childhood, was born April 28, 1874, in Warrensburg, Missouri . The Toler family moved to Anthony, Kansas in the 1880s, then to Wichita, Kansas . He showed an early interest in the theater, acting in an amateur production of Tom Sawyer at the age of seven. He left the University of Kansas and became

7052-420: Was created by Earl Derr Biggers . In 1919, while visiting Hawaii , Biggers planned a detective novel to be called The House Without a Key . He did not begin to write that novel until four years later, however, when he was inspired to add a Chinese-American police officer to the plot after reading in a newspaper of Chang Apana and Lee Fook, two detectives on the Honolulu police force. Biggers, who disliked

7138-544: Was featured in a number of media. Over four dozen films featuring Charlie Chan were made, beginning in 1926. The character, featured only as a supporting character, was first portrayed by East Asian actors, and the films met with little success. In 1931, for the first film centering on Chan, Charlie Chan Carries On , the Fox Film Corporation cast Swedish actor Warner Oland ; the film became popular, and Fox went on to produce 15 more Chan films with Oland in

7224-403: Was less mild-mannered than Oland's, a "switch in attitude that added some of the vigor of the original books to the films." He is frequently accompanied, and irritated, by his Number Two Son, Jimmy Chan, played by Victor Sen Yung , who later portrayed "Hop Sing" in the long-running Western television series Bonanza . When Fox decided to produce no further Chan films, Sidney Toler purchased

7310-502: Was reduced from Fox's average of $ 200,000 to $ 75,000. For the first time, Chan was portrayed on occasion as "openly contemptuous of suspects and superiors." African American comedic actor Mantan Moreland played chauffeur Birmingham Brown in 13 films (1944–1949) which led to criticism of the Monogram films in the forties and since; some call his performances "brilliant comic turns", while others describe Moreland's roles as an offensive and embarrassing stereotype. Toler died in 1947 and

7396-418: Was succeeded by Roland Winters for six films. Keye Luke, missing from the series after 1938's Mr. Moto rework, returned as Charlie's son in the last two entries. Three Spanish-language Charlie Chan films were made in the 1930s and 1950s. The first, Eran Trece ( There Were Thirteen , 1931), is a multiple-language version of Charlie Chan Carries On (1931). The two films were made concurrently and followed

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