Sayonara stars (from left to right) James Garner, Marlon Brando, Red Buttons and Miyoshi Umeki are shown in a scene from the 1957 film, "Sayonara."
Posted on 09/05/2007 1:13:25 PM PDT by Borges
Miyoshi Umeki, 78, a Japanese-born singer and actress who became the first Asian performer to win an Academy Award, for "Sayonara" (1957), distinguished herself onstage in "Flower Drum Song" and played a housekeeper on the TV series "The Courtship of Eddie's Father," died Aug. 28 at Licking Park Manor nursing home in Licking, Mo. She had cancer.
"Sayonara," based on a best-selling James A. Michener novel, was about forbidden romance between U.S. servicemen and Japanese women during the Korean War. Ms. Umeki's naive character marries an Air Force sergeant, played by Red Buttons, and the relationship leads to his persecution and their double suicide. Ms. Umeki and Buttons won Oscars for their supporting parts.
For much of the 20th century, movies or plays featuring Asian characters used actors without accounting for the distinctions among various ethnic groups. Ms. Umeki's work ethic overrode any concerns about playing the Chinese mail-order "picture bride" Mei Li during the Broadway run of "Flower Drum Song" (1958).
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I saw Miyoshi Umeki in “Flower Drum Song” when I was in middle school, and always kind of had a crush on her afterward. I was jealous of Red Buttons, and I never could understand how Bill Bixby could remain single with her right there in front of him.
R.I.P.
And Italians have acted as Indians while Nordic types with heavy make up have played Orientals. So why the PC slant in the article?
Iron Eyes Cody is Deeply Saddened.
Note to self: Can no longer make fun of retired father who lives at "Longwood".
Singing “A Hundred Million Miracles” in “Flower Drum Song”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvLUKmprbSU
A Hundred Million Miracles
My father says that children keep growing,
Rivers keep flowing too.
My father says he doesn’t know why,
But somehow or other they do.
—They do! some how or other they do.—
A hundred million miracles,
A hundred million miracles are happ’ning ev’ry day,
And those who say they don’t agree
Are those who do not hear or see.
A hundred million miracles,
A hundred million miracles are happ’ning ev’ry day,
—Miracle of changing weather:—
When a dark blue curtain is pinned by the stars,
Pinned by the stars to the sky,
Ev’ry flow’r and tree is a treat to see,
The air is very clean and dry.
Then a wind comes blowing the pins all away,
Night is confused and upset!
The sky falls down like a clumsy clown,
The flowers and the trees get wet.—Very wet!—
A hundred million miracles,
A hundred million miracles are happ’ning ev’ry day,
And when the wind shall turn his face,
The pins are put right back in place!
A hundred million miracles,
A hundred million miracles are happ’ning ev’ry day!
In ev’ry single minute so much is going on,
Along the Yangtse Kiang or the Tiber or the Don.
A hundred million miracles!
A swallow in Tasmania is sitting on her eggs,
And suddenly those eggs have wings and eyes and beaks and legs!
A hundred million miracles!
A little girl in Chungking, just thirty inches tall,
Decides that she will try to walk and nearly doesn’t fall!
A hundred million miracles!
A hundred million miracles, a hundred million miracles,
A hundred million miracles are happ’ning ev’ry day!
My father says the sun will keep rising over the eastern hill.
My father says he doesn’t know why but somehow or other it will.
—It will! somehow or other it will.—
(Reprise)
—Miracle of making music:—
When an idle poet puts words on a page,
Writes on a page with his brush,
A musical friend writes the notes to blend
Suggested by an idle thrush.
Then a young soprano reads what they wrote,
Learns every note, every word,
Puts all they wrote in her lovely throat,
And suddenly a song is heard!
—Very Pretty!—
A hundred million miracles, a hundred million miracles,
A hundred million miracles are happ’ning ev’ry day!
LOL! One of your tamer ones. My favorite was the the computer monitor on the copy machine.
I met ol' Iron Eyes years ago when he was passing for an American Indian. We had him in one of our local small town parades that I helped put on and he was showing solidarity with the (real) Indians of the local Paiute/Shoshone Tribe. Later I found out it was a facade and that he was really of Italian descent!
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