Anna May Wong Abroad

The Harvard Theatre Collection has an exhibition running this summer about the Chinese American star Anna May Wong. Curated by Karintha Lowe, a recent Harvard Ph.D. in American Studies, the exhibition explores the years that Wong spent performing in Europe during the 1920s and 1930s.

The exhibition runs from May 15 through August 30 at Houghton Library and was planned in conjunction with the release of a new digital collection of Anna May Wong materials at the library, which you can explore here.

Among the highlights of the digital collection are:

  • A working manuscript and orchestration for the bittersweet ballad “I’m Anna May Wong
  • Ernest Irving’s score for her London stage debut in The Circle of Chalk (1929)
  • Manuscript scores for songs written and adapted by Anna May Wong for the Viennese operetta Die Chinesische Tänzerin (1930)
  • Introductory texts in Spanish, Italian, German, Danish, and French for performances she gave while touring around Europe in the 1930s.
  • Typescripts and translations of materials used in Anna May Wong’s solo show, including her Shanghai Express monologue and a lyric sheet for “Half-Caste Woman” by Noel Coward

Links to the full range of materials digitized from the library’s assorted Anna May Wong collections for this project can be found via HOLLIS:

Discovering American Drag

Information about Houghton Library’s hours should you care to visit before the exhibition closes can be found here. Please note that the library will be closed for the holidays from December 23 through January 2. Registration links for the two remaining curator-led tours can be found here:

Wednesday, 12/21 @ 12:30pm: https://libcal.library.harvard.edu/calendar/main/american-drag-tour-1221  

Wednesday, 1/4 @ 5:15pm: https://libcal.library.harvard.edu/calendar/main/americandrag-tour-0104

Other links:

William Dorsey Swann, the first “Queen of Drag.”

For a wonderful resource on the history of drag kings see this website put together by Mo B. Dick and Ken Vegas.

Gladys Bentley’s “Overlooked” obituary in the New York Times.

Nancy Terry’s photograph album documenting her love affair with the Jewel Box Revue is available digitally: MS Thr 2083

Minette’s tales of life as a drag performer in Boston’s Scollay Square: Recollections of a Part Time Lady

Last but not least, Sir Lady Java in their own words: