Story of movie Flower Drum Song Film :
This article's lead section does not adequately summarize key points of its contents. (October 2013) |
Flower Drum Song is a 1961 film adaptation of the 1958 Broadway musical Flower Drum Song, written by the composer Richard Rodgers and the lyricist/librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The film and stage play were based on the 1957 novel of the same name by the Chinese American author C. Y. Lee.
| Flower Drum Song | |
|---|---|
1961 theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Henry Koster |
| Produced by | Ross Hunter |
| Screenplay by | Joseph Fields |
| Based on | Flower Drum Song by Oscar Hammerstein II Joseph Fields |
| Starring | Nancy Kwan James Shigeta Miyoshi Umeki Jack Soo Benson Fong Juanita Hall |
| Music by | Richard Rodgers |
| Cinematography | Russell Metty |
| Edited by | Milton Carruth |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 132 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English Cantonese |
| Budget | $4 million |
| Box office | $5 million (US/ Canada rentals) |
In 2008, Flower Drum Song was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Flower Drum Song became the first major Hollywood feature film to have a majority Asian cast in a contemporary Asian-American story. It would be the last film to do so for a third of a century, until 1993's The Joy Luck Club.
Screenplay
A young woman named Mei Li emigrates from China to Chinatown, San Francisco as an illegal immigrant with her father. After landing, the Lis seek the address of Madam Fong, the mother of Sammy Fong, to whom Mei Li has been promised in an arranged marriage. While asking where to find Madam Fong, Mei Li performs a flower drum song to earn money ("A Hundred Million Miracles"). Sammy is the owner of a night club, the Celestial Gardens (inspired by the actual Forbidden City nightclub) and is already romantically involved with his leading showgirl, Linda Low. The Lis arrive at the Celestial Gardens during a show ("Fan Tan Fannie").
Sammy does his best to dissuade Mei Li from marrying him, introducing her to Madame Liang, the sister-in-law of Master Wang. Liang and Wang bemoan the gap between immigrants and their offspring ("The Other Generation") as Master Wang's younger son, Wang San gives his own take on the gap to some younger children. However, dissolving the marriage contract is harder than either of them imagine. Master Wang is persuaded by Madame Liang to allow Mei Li to fall in love naturally with Master Wang's eldest son, Wang Ta, and the Lis move in with Master Wang. But Wang Ta is dazzled by the charms of Linda, who flirts with him ("I Enjoy Being a Girl"). He asks her to go on a date, and she convinces him to give her his fraternity pin to symbolize they are "going steady" during the date.
When Mei Li sees Wang Ta sneaking back in after the date, she mistakes his friendly greeting as a welcome to the household and starts to warm to America ("I Am Going to Like It Here"). Linda plans to use Wang Ta to force a real commitment from Sammy Fong out of jealousy, but Sammy gets wind of her scheme when Linda attends a party to celebrate both Wang Ta's graduation from university and Madame Liang's graduation from citizenship classes. Madame Liang compares the citizens of America to a mix of different ingredients ("Chop Suey"). At the party, Linda has Frankie Wing, the club emcee, pose as her brother to grant permission for Linda to marry Wang Ta. Mei Li, hearing this, becomes discouraged, while Ta and his father argue over his marriage plans. Ta argues that he is old enough to make his own decisions, but the father says that he will be the one to let Ta know when he is old enough.
At the New Year's Parade, Linda rides on a float and sings about Grant Avenue, Chinatown's "western street with eastern manners" ("Grant Avenue"). Sammy, in an effort to keep Linda from marrying Wang Ta, invites Wang Ta and his family to Celestial Gardens, where they see Frankie Wing recall girls he has known ("Gliding Through My Memoree") and Linda's nightclub act ("Fan Tan Fanny"). Wang Ta is shocked at her performance. He leaves, distraught, accompanied by his friend since childhood, the seamstress Helen Chao. Chao also grew up in America and deeply loves Wang Ta. Ta becomes drunk in his misery over Linda, and Helen ends up letting him stay for the night in her apartment, where she declares her unrequited love ("Love, Look Away").
In the morning, Mei Li comes to deliver a burned coat for Helen to mend, and becomes distressed when she discovers Wang Ta's clothing in Helen's kitchen. When Wang Ta wakes up (seconds after Mei Li leaves), he still does not notice Helen's affections, even as she pleads for him to stay, and he leaves quickly. He goes to speak with Mei Li, now realizing that she is a better match for him than Linda Low ("You Are Beautiful"), only to have Mei Li reject him, saying that she once loved him, but not anymore.
She and her father leave Master Wang's house and pursue the marriage contract between Mei Li and Sammy Fong. Sammy has already proposed to Linda, who daydreams about wedded life ("Sunday"). Unfortunately, now that Mei Li is pursuing Sammy again, he and Linda will be unable to marry as the contract with Mei Li is binding. Sammy enumerates his many faults ("Don't Marry Me") in a last-ditch attempt to convince Mei Li to break the contract. Before the wedding, Wang Ta goes to see Mei Li, and they both realize that they are deeply in love with one another. They agree to try to come up with a way to get Mei Li out of her marriage contract.
The day of the wedding, right before she is to sip from a goblet (which would seal her marriage to Sammy), Mei Li declares that, because she entered the United States illegally, the contract is null and void. Wang Ta can thus marry Mei Li, and Sammy decides to marry Linda right there as well, resulting in a double wedding.
- Nancy Kwan – Linda Low (singing dubbed by B.J. Baker), a showgirl at Celestial Gardens, Sammy's nightclub
- James Shigeta – Wang Ta, older son of Master Wang Chi-Yang
- Miyoshi Umeki – Mei Li, arranged bride for Sammy Fong
- Benson Fong – Wang Chi-Yang, master of the Wang household
- Jack Soo – Samuel Adams "Sammy" Fong, owner of the Celestial Gardens nightclub
- Juanita Hall – Madame Liang, sister-in-law of Master Wang Chi-Yang
- Reiko Sato – Helen Chao (singing dubbed by Marilyn Horne), a seamstress raised in America with unrequited love for Wang Ta
- Patrick Adiarte – Wang San, younger son of Master Wang Chi-Yang
- Kam Tong – Dr. Han Li (singing dubbed by John Dodson), Mei Li's father
- Victor Sen Yung – Frankie Wing, emcee at the Celestial Gardens
- Soo Yong – Madame Yen Fong, Sammy's mother
- James Hong – Headwaiter at the Celestial Gardens
Although the score of Flower Drum Song did not produce many hit tunes, the song "I Enjoy Being a Girl" has been recorded by such performers as Doris Day, Peggy Lee, Pat Suzuki, and Phranc, and it has been used in other movies and shows. Parodies of the song including a U.S. Gap company commercial with Sarah Jessica Parker. There are over a dozen versions of the song on YouTube, including parodies based on Harry Potter and Battlestar Galactica.
Compared to the musical on which it is based, the film rearranged the order of the songs. According to David Henry Hwang, the song "Like a God" was dropped from the film because studio executives were worried it could "offend audiences in the American South". Alfred Newman, the conductor and music supervisor, wrote a letter to producer Ross Hunter protesting the excision of music arrangers from the credits during post-production; Hunter agreed to reinsert a credit for Ken Darby, the associate music supervisor.
Soundtrack
| Flower Drum Song: The Motion Picture Sound Track | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Various artists | |
| Released | 1961 |
| Length | 50:34 |
| Label | Decca |
The 1961 soundtrack album from the film was critically praised; Variety lauded Newman's "rousing orchestration". Shortly after its release by Decca Records, both the monaural and stereo versions of the soundtrack charted on the list of bestselling records, according to Billboard Top LP's list. For the film soundtrack album, the performers were credited by role, not name, since "several of the performers in the movie don't do their own singing." The singing voice of the character Linda Low (portrayed by Nancy Kwan) was dubbed by B. J. Baker, a Caucasian studio singer who had worked with Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, The Righteous Brothers, and Sam Cooke.
The torch song "Love, Look Away" sung by Helen Chao (portrayed by Reiko Sato) was also dubbed in by the American opera singer Marilyn Horne, who was offered the job by Alfred Newman, the film's conductor and musical supervisor, after Horne's triumphant début with the San Francisco Opera in Wozzeck. Horne and Newman were friends through her extensive background singing on film soundtracks. In addition, Dr. Han Li (portrayed by Kam Tong) is dubbed by John Dodson.
The film soundtrack was reissued on CD by Decca Broadway on September 24, 2002, which added a bonus track of "Love, Look Away" (2:27), recorded by Rosemary Clooney around 1958.
All tracks written by Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics).
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