Friday, October 27, 2017

Flower Drum Song in The Saturday Evening Post

The Saturday Evening Post
July 25, 1959

Ladies’ Home Journal ran a full-page advertisement
featuring Pat Suzuki outside the Shubert Theatre in
Boston. As it turned out, the photographer would
become her husband as explained in the August 1961
issue of Ladies’ Home Journal (below).




Ladies’ Home Journal
August 1961
page 3: Mark Shaw, photographer for The Kennedys 
on Vacation (cover and page 32), met his wife while 
on a Journal assignment in 1958. Mrs. Shaw is the 
vivacious Pat Suzuki, who rose to stardom in Flower 
Drum Song. “In fact,” says Mark, “I met her the very 
day the show opened in Boston. I was shooting a 
picture of Pat for a Journal ad, using the title of her 
hit song from the show, “I Enjoy Being a Girl.” 
Evidently Mark enjoyed it too. They have  nine-month-
old son, David—“who was born just about the time 
John F. Kennedy Jr. arrived in the world.”
















Related Posts
C.Y. Lee’s The Flower Drum Song
Flower Drum Song in Boston, October 1958
Flower Drum Song, November 1958
Flower Drum Song on Broadway, December 1958
Flower Drum Song, 1959
George Lee in “Ten Times Better”
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Friday, October 20, 2017

Flower Drum Song in Boston, October 1958

A Broadway musical was based on C.Y. Lee’s
1957 novel, The Flower Drum Song. Before
the Broadway opening there was a tryout run at
at Boston’s Shubert Theater in October 1958.

Four-page program
October 1958


















On Stage
October 27, 1958

Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein 2nd
Book by Oscar Hammerstein 2nd and Joseph Fields
Based on the novel by C.Y. Lee

Directed by Gene Kelly
Choreography by Carol Haney
Scenery Designed by Oliver Smith
Costumes Designed by Irene Sharaff
Lighting by Peggy Clark
Orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett
Musical Director Salvatore Dell’isola
Dance Arrangements by Luther Henderson, Jr.

CAST
(In Order of Appearance)
Juanita Hall as Madam Liang
Rose Quong as Liu Ma
Patrick Adiarte as Wang San
Ed Kenney as Wang Ta
Keye Luke as Wang Chi Yang
Larry Storch as Sammy Fong
Conrad Yama as Dr. Li
Miyoshi Umeki as Mei-Li
Pat Suzuki as Linda Low
Harry Shaw Lowe as Mr. Lung the tailor
Jon Lee as Mr. Huan
Arabella Hong as Helen Chao
Peter Chan as Professor Cheng
Jack Suzuki as Frankie Wing
George Minami as Waiter
George Young as Mr. Poon
Chao Li as Dr. Lu Fong
Eileen Nakamura as Madam Fong
Harry Shaw Lowe as Old Man

DANCING ENSEMBLE
Fumi Akimoto
Paula Chin
Helen Funai
Pat Griffith
Mary Huie
Marion Jim
Betty Kawamura
Baayork Lee
Wonci Lui
Jo Anne Miya
Denise Quan
Shawnee Smith
Maureen Tiongco
Yuriko

Jose Ahumada
Victor Duntiere
George Li
David Lober
Robert Lorca
George Minami
David Toguri
George Young

CHILDREN
Linda and Yvonne Ribuca
Susan Lynn
Luis Robert Hernandez

(Page order has been rearranged.)

Illustration by Sam Norkin, October 26, 1958

Related Posts
Author C.Y. Lee in Magazines
George Lee in “Ten Times Better”

(Next post on Friday: Flower Drum Song
in The Saturday Evening Post)
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Friday, October 13, 2017

Jessica Yu, Filmmaker

“What a thrill. You know you’ve entered new territory
when you realize that your outfit cost more than your film.”
—Jessica Yu, March 24, 1997
Academy Awards Acceptance Speech Database























Directors Guild of America
Internet Movie Database

(Next post on Friday: Flower Drum Song in Boston, October 1958)


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Friday, October 6, 2017

More Stories from the Pagan Pagoda

Leonhardt People’s Center in
The American Museum of Natural History,
New York City
May 23 and 24, 1992
Excerpts from a new monologue play
written and performed by Alvin Eng
(click image to enlarge)
























(Next post on Friday: Jessica Yu, Filmmaker)

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