Showing posts with label Wah Ming Chang. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wah Ming Chang. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 4, 2026

Wah Ming Chang and the Grammy Award Trophy

Wah Ming Chang was listed twice in the Catalog of Copyright Entries, Third Series, Works of Art, Volume 15, Parts 7–11B, Number 2, July–December 1961.  

Page 183: Chang, Wah Ming.
Grammy. See National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Hollywood, Calif. 


Page 244: National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Hollywood, Calif.
Grammy. [Old-fashioned gramophone in miniature, on pedestal; award]
Metal & wood work. Appl. author: Wah Ming Chang. © National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences; 4May59; GP31355. 


May 4, 1959 was the date of the first annual Grammy Awards honoring recording artists of 1958. Evidently, Chang submitted the copyright application on behalf of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences. Chang made a model of the trophy but it’s not clear he designed it. Bob Graves is credited for casting the first trophies. The word Grammy, related names and graphics were trademarked beginning in 1970.


Related Posts
Tyrus Wong and Wah Ming Chang: Two Behind the Scenes
Wah Ming Chang Bookshelf
Wah Ming Chang and Cleopatra
Views from Asian California, 1920-1965
Wah Ming Chang in Camera Craft
 
 
(Next post on Wednesday: Anna May Wong and James Wong Howe, 1928)

Wednesday, September 27, 2023

A Few Details About Greg Jein, Pop Culture and Baseball Fan, Collector, Conventioneer, Miniature Modelmaker, and Academy Award Nominee

Greg Jein’s collection of mostly science fiction models, props and costumes will be auctioned on October 14 and 15 at Heritage Auctions. Included are photographic items from The Green Hornet with Bruce Lee; Wah Chang’s Star Trek Tricorder and Salt Vampire creature hand; and photographs of Irene Tsu. The New York Times, September 16, 2023, highlighted some of the auction items. (On October 15 the Star Wars X-Wing fighter model sold for $3.1 million.)


Jein was born on October 31, 1945 in Los Angeles, California. In the 1950 United States Census, Jein (line 28) was the only child of Joseph and Annie who married on January 10, 1944. The California Marriage Record at Ancestry.com said his mother’s name, at the time, was Chuey L. Lee. Also in the household was Jein’s paternal grandfather, Chee Sing Jein also known as Jein Lun Lane. In Chinese American Names: Tradition and Transition (1998), Emma Woo Louie said 
... Joseph Jein, who grew up in Santa Barbara, California, recalled that his father adopted this spelling after becoming a Christian—the family name was originally spelled Gin (甄). This surname is also Americanized as Gene, Ginn, and Jean. ...
In Jade: An Asian American Magazine, Winter 1982, Volume 4, Number 4, Jein said
Because of the way my name is spelled, most people think I’m German. My last name derives from Gin, but after my grandfather became a Christian, he thought it sounded too much like the alcohol, so he changed it.

Jein attended Audubon Junior High, Dorsey High School and Los Angeles State College (California State University, Los Angeles). 

 1962 Circle, Dorsey High School yearbook;
yearbook staff had Jein and others on sports


In an interview at StarTrek,  Jein mentioned collecting television memorabilia in 1966 and attending a convention organized by Bjo Trimble

Jein was a Star Trek fan. His drawing of a Klingon warbird was featured on the cover of Inside Star Trek 2, August 1968. 


Jein contributed illustrations to ten issues of T-Negative: #3, September 1969; #4, December 1969; #5, February 1970; #6, April 1970; #8, August 1970; #12, October 1971; #13, December 1971; #15, May 1972; #19, February 1973; #23, July 1974. His article, “The Case of Jonathan Doe Starship”, was published in #27, April 1975. 

T-Negative 5, February 1970

T-Negative 6, April 1970

According to Close Encounters of the Third Kind: The Making of Steven Spielberg’s Classic Film (2007), Jein “earned a degree in fine arts from the Los Angeles State College of Applied Arts and Sciences”. Cinefex #2, August 1980, profiled Jein and explained how he got into film special effects. At Los Angeles State College, Jein “learned the tedious and frequently uncomfortable skill of fiberglassing”. Mastering this process helped him get work at a small effects outfit in Santa Monica. The project involved creating fiberglass props for the “Chicken of the Sea” show at San Diego’s Sea World. Jein worked with Bill Hedge who offered him a chance to work a pornographic parody of Flash Gordon. Jein accepted and met Dennis Muren, Jim Danforth, Rick Baker, and Doug Beswick who were working on Flesh Gordon.

Jein’s earliest film credits were the 1974 films Flesh Gordon (effects technician and special miniature constructor) and Dark Star (special effects). His film and television work include Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977); Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979); 1941 (1979); The Hunt for Red October (1990); V (1983); Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994); Fantastic Four (2005); Avatar (2009); Oblivion (2013); Interstellar (2014); and Mulan (2020). The starship USS Gregory Jein appeared in Star Trek: Picard.

Jein shared Academy Award visual effects nominations on Close Encounters of the Third Kind with Roy Arbogast, Douglas Trumbull, Matthew Yuricich and Richard Yuricich, and 1941 with William A. Fraker and A.D. Flowers. 

Jein was a guest at the 1984 San Diego Comic-Con.

Souvenir Program Book

Jein can be found in many publications at the Internet Archive as Greg Jein and Gregory Jein

Star Trek The Next Generation
Behind the Scenes card #26, 1993

Public records at Ancestry.com said Jein resided at 3770 Cherrywood Avenue in Los Angeles. 

Jein passed away on May 22, 2022 in Los Angeles. The Hollywood Reporter, June 29, 2022, published an obituary. 

Further Reading and Viewing
Fansided, Truths about Greg Jein from the friends who knew him best 
Memory Alpha, Gregory Jein
StarTrek, Remembering Gregory Jein, 1945–2022
National Public Radio, ‘Star Wars’ Red Leader X-wing model heads a cargo bay’s worth of props at auction
 
Related Post
Tom Jung
 

A Few Details About Greg Jein’s Family History

Greg’s roots are in “Toy-shan, Kwangtung, China” (Taishan, Guangdong, China), where his paternal grandfather, Jein Chee Sing aka Jein Lun Lane, was born on August 22, 1862 according to his Petition for Naturalization application (at Ancestry.com) which was signed on May 2, 1956. On June 8, 1956 in Los Angeles, he was naturalized as Lun Lane Jein.   



The application said his lawful admission for permanent residence was at San Francisco on December 2, 1897. Aboard the steamer Gaelic, Jein Chee Sing, a grocer, was number 42 on the passenger list (below) which said he was landed on December 2, 1897. 


The passenger list also said his last residence was in Santa Barbara, California. Another passenger list, at Ancestry.com, dated July 26, 1888 listed a “Jain Chee Sing”, number 657, whose case went to court. I believe “Jain Chee Sing” was the same person as Jein Chee Sing.


In Santa Barbara, Jein Lun Lane operated the Shanghai Company. 

Morning Press, January 4, 1898

While visiting San Francisco, Jein Lun Lane met his future wife. The San Francisco Examiner, October 4, 1903, reported their upcoming marriage. 
Ward of Mission to Marry Next Tuesday
The wedding of Miss Chew Kum Lom, a ward of the Presbyterian Mission, and Jein Lun Lane, which will take place next Tuesday night, will be an interesting event. Half a thousand invitations are out, and the guests will include some of the most prominent Presbyterian people of this city. The girl is a favorite with visitors to the Mission, and ever since she was old enough to go into company she has been entertained in many of the beautiful Western Addition homes. 

The romance of these two Chinese young people began two months ago during the visit of the merchant to this city. He caught eight of the girl on her way back to the Mission from a fancy afternoon tea. In gay silk clothes, and with arms full of flowers, Miss Chew made so pretty a picture that Jein Lun Lane decided that he must make tho acquaintance of the winsome maiden. 

Through the influence of a mutual friend, Miss Chew and Jein Lun Lane met, and soon after became engaged. 

The merchant is a heavy taxpayer and the proprietor of the largest Chinese bazaar in Santa Barbara. He has built and furnished an artistic house, which will be his gift to his bride. He has already given her a casket of jewels.

Tho wedding will take place in the large reception room of the Mission. The Rev. Dr. Condit will officiate. 
The San Francisco Call, October 6, 1903, marriage license notice said 
Jein Lun Lane, 27, Santa Barbara, and Chew Kum Lon, 18, 920 Sacramento street. 
The 1910 United States Census counted the Jein family of five (lines 62 to 66) in Santa Barbara at 414 West Islay Street. 


On June 11, 1913, Greg’s father, Joseph, was born in Santa Barbara. 

The Morning Press, April 18, 1916, reported Jein Lun Lane’s retirement. 
Chinese Hints Now Ready to Retire 
Shanghai Company to Close After Twenty-Nine Years Continuous Business
Twenty-nine years’ continuous business in this city is a record of which any firm could well be proud, especially when coupled with a reputation for honesty and square dealing. This is the record of the Shanghai company, dealers in oriental gods, 716 State street. Twenty-nine years ago Jein C. Sing and Jung Yung came to Santa Barbara and opened their first store. As the years passed their reputation for reliability increased and their stock was accordingly enlarged from time to time. Business acumen and pertinacity have brought their reward, and now they are retiring from the cares of business, comfortably fixed, so far as the comforts of this world are concerned, content to rest with their well earned laurels. Mr. Yung will return in the near future to Canton, China, his old home, where he has been but three times in the twenty-nine years. His last visit to the land of his birth was eight years ago. Mr. Sing is well satisfied with Santa Barbara, and will remain here, as he desires his children to finish their course in the public schools. The firm will close out their business with a sale which will be announced in the advertising columns of the Morning Press tomorrow morning.
Jein Lun Lane changed his mind as told in the Morning Press, December 2, 1916. 
Chinese Merchant Opens New Store
Jein Lun Lane, a Chinese merchant who was interested in the Shanghai company throughout its twenty-nine years’ business in this city, discontinued only a short time ago, has made arrangements to reembark in the same line of trade, Chinese and Japanese fancy goods, and his store will be opened today at 1228 State street, under the name of the Jein Curio company. The new concern will carry a large stock of fine goods, especially appropriate to the Christmas holidays, and Jein Lun Lane will be glad to welcome to the establishment all of the many friends he has made during his long career as a dealer in Santa Barbara.
Morning Press, December 2, 1916

Mission Santa Barbara: Early Days in Alta California (1917) included a Classified Business Directory. 
Art Goods
Jein Curio Co., Chinese and Japanese Art Goods, 1228 State St.
In the 1920 census, Jein Lun Lane and his wife, Helen, had five children, David, Nora, Helen, Joseph and Barbara (lines 83 to 89). They lived at the same address, 414 West Islay Street.


The Santa Barbara County telephone directory, January 1926, had this listing: “Jein Curio Co 1228 State 2811-J”.

According to the 1930 census, the Jein family (lines 9 to 15), resided at 418 West Islay Street. 


In 1931 Joseph graduated from Santa Barbara High School. 

Olive and Gold yearbook

The 1940 census said Joseph, a cook, and his sister, Dorothy, lived with their parents (lines 72 to 75) at the same address. 


On October 16, 1940, Joseph signed his World War II draft card. He was described as five feet seven inches, 150 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair. His veteran’s file (at Ancestry.com) said he served in the Navy. Joseph enlisted on December 10, 1942 and was discharged on November 25, 1945. 


Joseph married Chuey L. Lee on January 10, 1944 somewhere in California. 

The Handbook of Chinese in America (1946) included the following entry. 
甄倫合古玩店 Jein Curio Co., 1228 State St., Tel. 27122
Greg’s uncle, David, passed away on March 14, 1949. 

The Santa Barbara News-Press, January 24, 1962, reported Jein Lun Lane’s passing. 
Funeral services for Jein Lun Lane, 98, who died at his home at 418 Islay St. Monday will be held in the Chapel the Chimes in Inglewood Park Cemetery at 1 pm Saturday. Friends may call at the Welch Ryce Associates mortuary until 9 am Saturday. 

Mr. Jein was known here as a curio and art dealer. Jein operated Curio Co at 1228 State St. from 1917 to 1945 when he retired. He is survived by his wife Mrs. Helen Jein whom he married in San Francisco in 1903. 

Also surviving are four daughters, Nora May Jung and Helen Soo Hoo of Los Angeles and Barbara Chow-Jowe [1915–2007] and Dorothy Yip [1923– ] of San Francisco; a son, Joseph Jein of Los Angeles; six grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
According to the California Death Index, Greg’s mother, Helen, passed away on March 29, 1982. Greg’s father, Joseph, passed away on February 22, 1991. 

Related Posts


(Updated December 3, 2025; next post on Wednesday: Yun Gee in The Young Companion 良友)


Friday, May 1, 2015

Views from Asian California, 1920-1965

An Illustrated History by Michael Brown
1992 (self-published)




















A private collection of artwork by artists of Chinese and Japanese descent in California. Below is a list of the Chinese American artists, most of whom are represented by artwork. Dates are from the book.

Eva Fong Chan (1897–1991), profile
Wah Ming Chang (1917– ), profile, two wood block prints, etching, and pastel drawing
George Chann (1915– ), profile and three oil paintings
David Paul Chun (1899– ), profile one woodcut and two lithographs
Yun Gee (1906–1963), profile
Hon-Chew Hee (1905– ), profile and two oil paintings
Dong Kingman (1911– ), profile and two watercolors
John Kwok (1920–1983), profile
Chee Chin S. Cheung Lee (1896– ), profile, watercolor and oil painting
Jake Lee (1915–1992), profile and watercolor
Peter Lowe (1913–1990), profile
Keye Luke (1911–1991), profile
Wing Kwong-Tse (1902– ), profile and watercolor
Nanying Stella Wong (1914– ), profile
Tyrus Wong (1910– ), profile
Gary Woo (1928– ), profile and oil painting
Jade Fon Woo (1911–1893), profile and two watercolors
Ling-fu Yang (1889–1978), profile
Richard Yip (1919–1981), profile and two watercolors
Lai Yong (1840–?), profile
John Chin Young (1909– ), profile and watercolor
Si Chen Yuan (1911–1974), profile and oil painting

(Next post on Friday: Tyrus Wong and Venus Water-Coloring Pencils)

Friday, April 24, 2015

Wah Ming Chang and Cleopatra

Life
October 6, 1961
cover and page 97





















Paguita
April 2, 1961

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Wah Ming Chang, Tim Barr and Gene Warren were partners in Project Unlimited, a TV and film prop company.

Life and Sculpture of Wah Ming Chang
David Barrow and Glen Chang
1989
pages 16 and 19: [Project Unlimited] fabricated the headdresses worn by Elizabeth Taylor in “Cleopatra,” one of which appeared on the October 6, 1961 cover of Life Magazine.
 

Friday, April 17, 2015

Wah Ming Chang Bookshelf

Catalog of Copyright Entries, Third Series, Works of Art, Volume 7, Parts 7–11A, Number 1, January–June 1953
page 29: Centaur Productions.
page 30: Chang, Wah Ming.
 
Catalog of Copyright Entries, Third Series, Commercial Prints and Labels, Volume 7, Parts 7–11B, Number 1, January–June 1953
page 29: Centaur Productions.
page 30: Chang, Wah Ming.

Catalog of Copyright Entries, Third Series, Works of Art, Volume 7, Parts 7–11A, Number 2, July–December 1953
page 197: Centaur Productions.
page 198: Chang, Wah Ming.

1954 Burbank, California Telephone Directory
page 132: Centaur Productions (Normal D Crutcher Gene F Warren and Wah Ming Chang) toy mfrs 125 E Linden av
page 134: Chang Wah Ming (Centaur Productions) r Los Angeles

Catalog of Copyright Entries, Third Series, Works of Art, Volume 8, Parts 7–11A, Number 2, July–December 1954
page 169: Centaur Productions, Inc.
Chang, Wah Ming.
page 170: Chang, Wah Ming.

Catalog of Copyright Entries, Third Series, Works of Art, Volume 14, Parts 7–11B, Number 1, January–June 1960
page 22: Chang, Wah Ming.
page 93: Project Unlimited, Inc.

Catalog of Copyright Entries, Third Series, Works of Art, Volume 15, Parts 7–11B, Number 2, July–December 1961
page 183: Chang, Wah Ming.
page 241: Miller, Mackay, Hoeck & Hartung, Inc.
page 244: National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Hollywood, Calif.
Grammy. [Old-fashioned gramophone in miniature, on pedestal; award]
Metal & wood work. Appl. author: Wah Ming Chang. © National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences; 4May59; GP31355.

Movie Magic: The Story of Special Effects in the Cinema
John Brosnan
St. Martins Press, 1973
Chapter 8: The Science Fiction Films
page 196: (about George Pal and the film, The Time Machine)
…Other special effects on The Time Machine were handled by Gene Warren, Tim Barr and Wah Chang. A sequence they handled is the one showing the Time Traveller and his machine being entombed in rock as he continues to speed into the future, then later showing the rock melting away as a result of thousands of years or erosion…

Warren, Barr and Chang, who had formed themselves into the company called Project Unlimited, again worked for Pal on his The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, a film which contained a lot of three-dimensional animation, as did Pal’s next film The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao.














 

 

Broadway & Hollywood: Costumes Designed by Irene Sharaff
Irene Sharaff
Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1976
page 86: mask for The King and I
page 95: For the film Can-Can

... The heads of the animals, birds, and insects were executed by Wah Chang, a sculptor with whom I worked on several pictures, whose talents included a wonderful sense of fantasy and a sense of humor which added greatly to this ballet. ...
page 107: For the film Cleopatra
... Wah Chang executed the elaborate crown out of papier-maché. ...
page 111: photograph of Elizabeth Taylor wearing headdress



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Classic Movie Monsters
Donald F. Glut
Scarecrow Press, 1978
page 324: The Lost Island



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Illustrated History of the Chinese in America
Ruthanne Lum McCunn
Design Enterprises of San Francisco, 1979
page 124: credits and awards



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Film Tricks: Special Effects in the Movies
Harold Schechter and David Everitt
Another Harlan Quist Book, 1980
pages 131 to 132: 

In 1960 George Pal put time travel onto the screen in his adaptation of H.G. Wells’s The Time Machine. Pal’s special effects team of Gene Warren, Tim Baar and Wah Chang had to create the impression of a man traveling into the future and then faced the task of depicting a nuclear war and the post-holocaust world of 802,701 A.D. The Time Machine’s limited budget required that a great deal of ingenuity be employed….

Ingenuity also played a part in one of the effects for the nuclear war sequence, but an oversight made the initial results backfire disastrously. For this scene Gene Warren and Wah Chang had to come up with a blanket of molten lava to flow through the streets of London. The clever solution to the problem was to shoot the scene on a miniature street and use oatmeal as an inexpensive and realistic-looking substitute for the lava….
page 174: George Pal’s tom thumb (1958)…
…a virtual army of toy wooden figures that spring to life whenever the grown-ups aren’t around. The Yawning Man is one of these, an endearingly dopey-looking character who can’t keep his eyes open and manages to stay awake only long enough to sing tom asleep. The figure, which was animated by Gene Warren, had a series of interchangeable wax faces sculpted by the marvelous special-effects craftsman Wah Chang.

The fabulous jewel-encrusted dragon that appears in the “Singing Bone” segment of Pal’s The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962) was also designed and constructed by Wah Chang. This fire-breathing monster, which looks a hundred feet long in the film, was actually a three-foot model made of foam rubber over a fully articulated steel armature and brought to life by stop-motion artist Jim Danforth….


















Who’s Who in California
Who’s Who Historical Society, 1981
page 96: Chang, Wah Ming

The Outer Limits: The Official Companion
David J. Schow
Ace Science Fiction Books, 1986
pages: acknowledgments, 67, 70, 71, 77, 81, 143, 153, 169, 171, 172, 173, 175, 215–216, 227, 228, 249, 310, 311, 316, 361



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Chinese Americans
William Daley
Chelsea House, 1987
page 81



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enterprise Incidents: The Second Star Trek Tribute Book
Schuster and Schuster, 1988
pages 56 to 63: “Wah Chang: From Disney to Star Trek”
Eight-page illustrated interview with Wah Chang, special FX designer who worked on the 1960s Star Trek and designed alien make-ups, the tricorder and the original Romulan ship from “Balance of Terror”.



















Artists in California, 1786–1940
Edan Milton Hughes
Hughes Publishing Co., 1989
page 89: Chang, Wah Ming



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Life and Sculpture of Wah Ming Chang
David Barrow and Glen Chang
1989

















Views from Asian California, 1920–1965: An Illustrated History
Michael D. Brown
M. Brown, 1992
page 14: profile

Sci-Fi TV: From the Twilight Zone to Deep Space Nine
James Van Hise
Harper, 1995
Chapter 3: From Inner Mind to Outer Limits
page 38: 
...The special effects for The Outer Limits were by Project Unlimited, which also worked with George Pal on such films as The Time Machine and The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao. Projects [sic] Unlimited was founded by Gene Warren, Tim Barr and Wah Chang. “We were in from about the beginning of Outer Limits the first year,” Chang recalls….

“In the case of Outer Limits, as with most of these TV things, they were very hurried. We would get a rough script and in some cases a lot of the masks had to be fitted to the actor who was wearing it, so we’d have to take a life mask. Sometimes they wouldn’t cast the character until a week before they were going to shoot, so you’d be working day and night to get the thing done.”
page 40: 
...In the episode the creature is never seen head to toe in one shot but rather we see its face, then a glimpse of an arm, and a shot of its legs. The effect is quite weird. Because of the way it was photographed, the creature seemed like it couldn’t possibly be a man in a suit but seemed like it must be some sort of huge marionette. But Wah Chang has a photograph he took of the costume when it was finished and was being worn by the stuntman. The trick was that the stuntman had to wear the costume while crouching, with his hand supported by stilts.

“It was a very difficult thing,” Chang confirms, ”and it really took an athlete to wear this thing. That was worn by stuntman Janos Prohaska….We had a number of actors on Outer Limits who were not well-known at that time, like Robert Culp, who went on to become stars.”
page 52: 
...“The Invisible Enemy” is an effective episode about a spaceship crew on Mars investigating the disappearance of the previous mission on the planet….

Project Unlimited provided the effects, using a hand puppet monster made by Wah Chang….

















Wah Ming Chang: Artist and Master of Special Effects
Gail Blasser Riley
Enslow, 1995



















Cinefantastique
Number 11/12, July 1996
Props and Features: Creatures by Wah Ming Chang





















The Art of Star Trek
Judith Reeves-Stevens
Simon and Schuster, 1997
pages 12–13: A Wah Chang Gallery

Inside Star Trek: The Real Story

Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman
Pocket Books, 1997
page 50: 
The huge rubber heads of the Keeper and her cohorts were created by Wah Chang, a designer-sculptor with whom I had worked on The Outer Limits. He also created some unusual creatures that were kept captive, along with Captain Pike, in the Talosians’ “menagerie.” Wah would later become a source of other creatures and devices for Star Trek ...
page 118: 
Then I called Wah Chang and Gene Warren at Project Unlimited, the prop design and manufacturing house that had supplied The Outer Limits with many of its special props and creatures. They had designed and constructed the Talosians’ heads in the first pilot and would later create the Balok effigy for “The Carbomite Maneuever,” the salt-sucking monster for “Man Trap,” and the reptilian Gorn adversary fought by Kirk in “Arena.” In Star Trek’s second season, their most beloved creatures were the prolific, but cute, furry little critters in “The Trouble with Tribbles.”

Gene and Wah had a good working arrangement. Gene handled the business end of things, and Wah, an extremely talented sculptor, designed and fabricated whatever wild creatures or props were needed.

Wah Chang also designed and built the famous flip-open communicators used by Kirk and company when they beamed down from the ship to the planet below, and the medical tricorder used by Doctor McCoy….
page 119: 
I called a meeting with Wah Chang and Gene Warren. I struck a deal and gave them Matt’s detailed working drawings, and they departed, with Wah already planning how he would execute Matt’s phaser pistol design, in addition to building the two other props. He finished everything perfectly and made several beautiful hero models of all three props, and all the dummy mockups that I knew the show would require.

The studio’s prop makers complained to their union, and their union complained to the studio that the new props couldn’t be used; Wah Chang was not a union member. They insisted that we use only props built by union members at the studio.
page 120: 
…The union played hardball, so I decided to play hardball, too. “We didn’t hire Wah. He designed and built these things himself, independently of us.” (It was only a little fib. He had designed and built the “tricorder” and communicator props. But definitely not independently.) I continued, “And when we happened to see them, we liked them so much that we bought them outright, on the spot.”
page 214: 
…When creatures were required, outside specialists were consulted. Wah Chang designed and built the Gorns for “Arena.” They were green and resembled some aquatic creatures he had created for The Outer Limits. The full-body suits were made of rubberlike compound, but owing to their weight and limited flexibility, even stuntmen needed great endurance to wear them.
page 215: photograph of Gorn costume

page 338: 
…I hadn’t told them that Wah Chang was crippled from the effects of polio. So Ed and Gregg could only watch and react in stunned sympathetic silence as Wah Chang made a stiff-legged torturous entry, both of his legs encased in jointed metal braces that had to be unlocked at the knees before he could sit. After introductions were made, Gene Warren unlocked Wah Chang and we all sat down.

…Wah Chang and I did all the talking. We discussed design, cost, and delivery date while Eddie and Gregg just sat there, listening.

When the meeting was over, Wah Chang straightened out the braces and locked them into place, a process that resulted in lots of metallic clicking noises. With Wah Chang’s legs now rigidly extended out in front of him, he needed help to rise. Gene Warren, in a well-practiced move, helped lift him to his feet. Wah Chang departed, the way he entered, clicking and clanking as he slowly strode, stiff-legged, toward the door. Braces locked at the knees, Wah Chang had to swing each leg from the hip. Throughout it all, Gene Warren stayed close, for support…
page 439:
Wah Chang (Star Trek prop and creature designer-builder) worked on many other shows designing masks and headdresses for such major films as The King and I and Can-Can. Elizabeth Taylor wore one of his most spectacular creations in Cleopatra. Now retired from prop and costume making, he resides in Carmel Valley, California with his wife, Glen. He is widely recognized as an accomplished sculptor.





















Star Trek Sketchbook: The Original Series
Herbert F. Solow and Yvonne Fern
Pocket Books, 1997
pages 222 to 254: Last chapter is devoted to Wah Ming Chang. It includes newspaper articles from the 1920s; a letter from Walt Disney; photograph of him and others with their Academy Award for the special effects on The Time Machine; photographs of masks for the film, The King and I; material from the TV series, Star Trek; a photograph of his wife, Glen; and several photographs of Wah Ming Chang.





















Who Was Who in American Art
Edited by Peter Hastings Falk
Sound View Press, 1999
page 614

It Came from Bob’s Basement: Exploring the Science Fiction and Monster Movie Archive of Bob Burns
Bob Burns
Chronicle Books, 2000
pages 54–55: Wah Ming Chang: Genius

Leading the Way: Asian American Artists of the Older Generation

Irene Poon
Gordon College, 2002
pages 14 (profile), 15 (photograph), 65 (photographs of mask used in the film The King and I, and Star Trek communicator), and 96 (selected bibliography)

Filmfax
92, August/September 2002
pages 58–65, 84: Wah Ming Chang, Master of Monster Macabre!
Profile and interview illustrated with 30 photographs and drawings





















The Dinosaur Filmography
Mark F. Berry
McFarland & Company, 2005
pages 9, 10, 60, 84, 85, 86, 91, 103, 192, 281, 318, 338, 354, 355, 356, 409, 410


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Asian American Art, A History 1850–1970
Gordon H. Chang, Mark Dean Johnson and Paul J. Karlstrom
Stanford University Press, 2008
pages 300–301
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Two Guys Named Joe: Master Animation Storytellers Joe Grant and Joe Ranft
John Canemaker
Disney Editions, 2010
page 140

A New History of Animation
Maureen Furniss
Thames & Hudson, 2016
pages 184, 195, 197, 200

They Drew as They Pleased: The Hidden Art of Disney’s Late Golden Age, The 1940s—Part Two
Didier Chez
Chronicle Books, 2017
page 17
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year’s Cartoons on Television and Film
William D. Crump
McFarland, 2019
pages 129–130: Hardrock, Coco and Joe: The Three Little Dwarfs 




 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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(Updated March 2, 2026; next post on Friday: Wah Ming Chang and Cleopatra)