| Comments |
| |
| I was a fan of the 1940s detective mystery films and detective mystery comics when growing up in the late 1940s and 1950s. I enjoyed The Charlie Chan and Mr. Wong film series. Unfortunately, in Winnipeg, Canada, our family didn't get either of those 2 newspaper comic strip series in our newspaper. Why I bring this up is because of the inherent racism in The United States of America, that made the producers of these films to NOT use actors of Chinese descent, to play the parts of Chinese-American series lead character, because, at that time, a significant portion of The US population did not want to see non-Caucasian in the lead (protagonist) role in a film OR comic strip, especially if he would be shown to be more successful than the Caucasian American characters (some of whom-often police chiefs were depicted as bumbling and incompetent.
As a Jewish family, who suffered ill treatment in various countries, and had to run away from them in various diasporas (Roman Palestine, Spanish Inquisition, Russian Czars' Pogrum campaigns, Hitler's Europe), we had family all over The World, with very mixed blood of almost all of the so-called races. So, I was always cognisant of the importance of being realistic, thus being historically accurate, and using the most realistic-acting, speaking, and looking person for the part. Even as a youngster of 5 and 6, I thought it silly that for The Charlie Chan films, Swedish actor, Warner Oland (an obvious Caucasian), and Hungarian, Sidney Toler (and not a particular "oriental-looking" Hungarian) were used as lead men. The producers had no problems "allowing" the unwise, semi-bumbling, "Number One Son" be played by someone of Chinese origin, because such an character wouldn't be making Nordic, Caucasian-Americans look bad. On the contrary, just like they enjoyed making fun of silly, incompetent African-American characters, they loved the same with undesirable foreigners, with any shade of darker skin, and ways different from their own. And, of course, The "Mr. Wong" series lead was played by famous British actor, William Pratt (AKA Boris Karloff), who looked a lot less Chinese than I do (and I'm a redhead with sappy white skin, freckles, and light blue eyes).
I understand why the films would try to feed the racist desires of a sizable portion of their expected market. But, I wouldn't have guessed that the newspaper comics editors would expect to get more regular readership having their Chinese detectives look like Caucasians! I was shocked to find out, after moving to USA, and becoming an adult, that the Mr. Wong newspaper strip had their artist draw Mr. Wong exactly as Boris Karloff looks, and even advertise "as played by....Boris Karloff", and that Charlie Chan in his newspaper strip, was drawn as Sidney Toler.
"Popular Comics" contained the "Mr. Wong" strip for several years. Issue No. 40 is a good example. The artwork (penciling and inking) by Jim Gary is quite good. The stories were good, too. I'm not sure if they ALL came from the film series, but I would guess they did, as they only list Stephen Slesinger, Inc., who wrote the original stories for the films. The stories were good enough to be average, to a little above average for that genre.
Here is a link to that book:
/?dlid=29545 |
|
| "The benevolent and heroic Chan was conceived as an alternative to Yellow Peril stereotypes and villains like Fu Manchu." - American Western.
"famous British actor William Pratt (Boris Karloff)" played both Fu Manchu and Mr. Wong.
Karloff's father was the son of an Asian mother, and Karloff's mother was also part Asian.
When he came to play the character of Mr. Wong, detective, he broke ground by not resorting to the pidgin dialect and pseudo Confucian quips that marred the Charlie Chan films. |
|
| | |
| Additional Information |
| |
| Publication | June 1939 | Price: 0.10 USD | Pages: 1 | Frequency: monthly |
| |
| Content | Genre: Humor |
| |
| Content | Genre: Humor |
| Notes | Four single panel gags.
On inside front cover. |
| |
| Comic Story | Episode 3 (4 pages) |
| Synopsis | Exploring the island the kids discover dinosaurs. |
| Content | Genre: Adventure | Characters: The Hurricane Kids [Alan Burnham; Dave Burnham] |
| Notes | © 1939 by R.S. Callender |
| |
| Cartoon | The Deep Sea Fish; Born Thirty Years Too Soon; The Slow Starter; The Crammer (1 page) |
| Content | Genre: Humor |
| Notes | Four single panel gags. |
| |
| Synopsis | Jane and jimmy's father is killed by Hackett. |
| Content | Genre: Western-frontier | Characters: Tex Thorne; Topaz (a horse); Jane Hoskins; Jimmy Hoskins; Mr. Hoskins (death); Brim (villain); Clamp Hackett (villain); Jerky (villain) |
| Notes | © 1939 by Stephen Slesinger, Inc. |
| |
| Featuring | Popular Crossword Puzzles by Our Readers |
| Credits | Script: Wally Yoshimura; Dolores Street | Letters: typeset |
| |
| Content | Genre: Anthropomorphic-funny Animals | Characters: Rudy Elephant; Mr. Hippo |
| |
| Advertisement | Fireworks |
| |
| Synopsis | Granville is talking of the finer things in life. |
| Content | Genre: Humor | Characters: Herky; J. Granville Gurk; Noodles Nelson |
| |
| Comic Story | Mr. Wong, Detective (4 pages) |
| Synopsis | Investigating the death of Simon Dayton, Mr. Wong is at the scene of another murder. |
| Content | Genre: Detective-mystery | Characters: Mr. Wong; Captain Sam Street; Christian Wilk (death); Countess Olga D'Lantrec; Lee Tong; Anton Mohl [Mr. Granich] (villain); Mr. Winters; Officer Devlin; Theodore Meisle |
| Notes | Third chapter of a five-part adaptation of the 1938 Monogram Pictures movie "Mr. Wong, Detective" starring Boris Karloff.
© 1939 by Stephen Slesinger, Inc. |
| |
| Synopsis | Toby and Oomog wind up on a haunted island and Oomog fights a ghost. |
| Content | Genre: Adventure; Humor | Characters: Toby; Oomog |
| Notes | Writer and art identification by Hames Ware. |
| |
| Credits | Letters: typeset |
| Content | Genre: Jungle |
| |
| Comic Story | The Jack Markey Gang [Part 1] (4 pages) |
| Synopsis | The Markey brothers decide to start a gang thinking the cops will never get them. |
| Content | Genre: Crime | Characters: Mrs. Kane; Sheriff Kane (death); Officer Art Shank (death); Butch (villain); George Markey (villain); Jack Markey (villain); Mike Markey (villain); Slick (villain); Tom Markey (villain, death) |
| Notes | © 1939 by Phillips H. Lord Inc. |
| |
| Content | Genre: Anthropomorphic-funny Animals | Characters: Blackie Bear; Billy Penguin |
| |
| Text Article | Winners of the February Contest |
| Credits | Letters: typeset |
| Content | Genre: Non-fiction |
| |
| Content | Genre: Humor | Characters: Albert |
| Notes | Four single panel cartoons. |
| |
| Synopsis | The Black Rider kidnaps Babs. |
| Content | Genre: Western-frontier | Characters: Bronc Peeler [also as Black Rider]; Babs Dalton; Fritz; Bat Wilson (villain); Jose (villain) |
| Notes | © 1939 by Stephen Slesinger, Inc. |
| |
| Synopsis | Tommy is forced to land his plane in a mountainous area. |
| Content | Genre: Adventure; Aviation | Characters: Tailspin Tommy [Tommy Tomkins]; Skeets Milligan; Ted |
| |
| Featuring | Popular Comics Quiz Contest |
| Content | Genre: Non-fiction |
| |
| Comic Story | G-Men vs the Living Masks! (4 pages) |
| Synopsis | Buddy is captured by the bad guys. |
| Content | Genre: Crime | Characters: Larry Lane; Bill; Buddy Barton; Jim; Dr. Toro (villain); Red Johnson (villain); Slim York (villain); Trigger Dolan (villain) |
| Notes | © 1939 by Stephen Slesinger, Inc. |
| |
| Synopsis | Red Mack is freed by a loyal crewmember. |
| Content | Genre: Adventure | Characters: Shark Egan; Curly; Harp; Kanaka Lew; Limey; Mary McDermot; Red Mack |
| |
| Featuring | Popular Conundrums |
| Credits | Letters: typeset |
| Content | Genre: Humor |
| |
| Cartoon | No Collateral; Freedom |
| Content | Genre: Humor |
| Notes | Two single panel cartoons. |
| |
| Cartoon | The Dry Wash; The Worry Wart |
| Content | Genre: Humor | Characters: Worry Wart |
| Notes | Two single panel cartoons. |
| |
| Featuring | Popular Stamp Club |
| Credits | Letters: typeset |
| Content | Genre: Non-fiction |
| |
| Comic Story | Trigger Smith (6 pages) |
| Synopsis | Trigger is sworn in as a state marshall after learning of the death of his brother. |
| Content | Genre: Western-frontier | Characters: Trigger Smith [also as Arizona Jones]; Buck Mason; Jean Mason; Joe Smith (death); Lopez; Sheriff Smith; Bud Mason (villain, death); Gallop (villain) |
| Notes | © 1939 by Stephen Slesinger, Inc. |
| |
| Synopsis | After saving Arrius, Ben Hur is adopted by the Roman man. |
| Content | Genre: Drama; Historical | Characters: Ben Hur; Esther; Malluch; Quintus Arrius; Simonides |
| Notes | Third chapter of a 7-part adaptation of the novel "Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ" by Lew Wallace.
© 1939 by Stephen Slesinger, Inc. |
| |
| Synopsis | Noodles asks Herky for advice about women. |
| Content | Genre: Humor | Characters: Herky; Flossy Flush; Noodles Nelson |
| |
| Synopsis | The Masked Pilot figures out that someone wants to kill Dwight Ellis. |
| Content | Genre: Adventure; Aviation | Characters: The Masked Pilot; Dwight Ellis; Marian Brook; Tom |
| Notes | © 1939 by Stephen Slesinger, Inc. |
| |
| Synopsis | Noodles convinces himself that the new kid is against him. |
| Content | Genre: Humor | Characters: Herky; Julius Smaltz; Noodles Nelson |
| |
| Content | Genre: Humor |
| Notes | Five single panel cartoons.
On inside back cover. |
| |
| Advertisement | Announcing - the New Daisy Lone Scout Carbine (1 page) |
| Notes | Back cover. |
| |
| The data in the additional content section is courtesy of the Grand Comics Database under a
Creative Commons Attribution License.
More details about this comic may be available in their page here |
