Jadin Wong

Jadin Wong was born "Anna May Wong" (named by her mother after the eponymous Chinese-American Hollywood star) in Stockton, California, after which the family moved to San Francisco, and ran away to Hollywood as a teenager. She started singing in public at 6 years old, where she was paid. At age 16, she ran away from home to Hollywood to become a dancer. On the night she ran away, her mother secretly left some hard-earned cash for her to support herself, despite her father's objection.

Hollywood would shortly find Jadin Wong knocking at its doorstep. But with no contacts and very little money, she was soon hungry and tired, sleeping on park benches and dancing in the street. It just so happened that luck turned her way, and not for the first time. Producer Norman Foster (director) of 20th Century Fox passed by Jadin one day and invited her to lunch at a nearby restaurant. She was soon taken home to meet his wife, the Hollywood actress Claudette Colbert.

Jadin’s first among dozens of films was Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation, released in 1939. Other films include Around the World (1943), Year of the Dragon (1985) and, at age 92, The Pink Panther (2006).

Wong married three times. Her first husband was Li Sun from Singapore, whom she divorced. She then married Edward Duryea Dowling.[3][4] This was her longest marriage. More than a decade after his death, she married baseball champion Gil Chichester.[5]

Wong was a celebrity, diva and grand dame who discovered John Lone. She performed ballet right into her 90s, where she was caught by an interviewing journalist doing splits and pirouettes as "morning exercise". She studied with Balanchine and trained in classical ballet and jazz.

She was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at Lincoln Center, New York in winter of 2002. Her thank you speech quoted in The New York Times was, "Age is just a number, and I have an unlisted number."

She performed in Hong Kong, Paris, Cuba, Germany and New York during her younger days in Charlie Low's Forbidden City.

In the 1970s she changed career again setting up the Jadin Wong Talent Management company, whose clients include David Henry Hwang, John Lone, Joan Chen, Lou Diamond Phillips, Lucy Liu, Bai Ling and Kai Wong.[6]

She was instrumental in the success of Asian Americans in Hollywood such as Ming-na Wen, Linda Wang and Vivian Wu.

During WW2, Wong represented the United States military and was airflown into Germany to perform for discouraged, despairing American soldiers being attacked by the Nazis and to boost military morale.

Jadin Wong performed many dances and shows for the terribly homesick American army boys to resist the Nazis and the Axis powers. She was subsequently targeted by the Nazis and the German fighter planes opened fire onboard the helicopter she was on, causing it to explode in mid-air.

The USAF pilot instructed for everyone to evacuate immediately, but Jadin Wong refused to as she was convinced that the German paparazzi and press would be there to photograph her in a mess, in a state of chaos and defeat, and perhaps even use it as propaganda to weaken American morale.

She refused to jump off the exploding helicopter before quickly putting on her make-up. As a result, she was one of the last to survive the exploding helicopter. Before jumping off, she was convinced she was going to die but prayed to God for mercy as she still had an elderly mother to take care of, and promised to be a good Catholic if she was allowed to live.

She landed in a tree in the middle of the Black Forest, but alive.

Sure enough, more paparazzi were ready there to shoot her with their cameras after that. But she was already prepared to pose in all-American victoriousness for them.

She traveled extensively to entertain American troops during World War II and nearly sacrificed her life for her country when she was nearly blown up by German enemy planes near the Black Forest.

She was recognized by President Ronald Reagan for her role in entertaining the nation's troops and by the U.S. House of Representatives for her cultural contributions to the nation. She was invited by President George Bush to the White House in 2004. Norman Mineta presented her with the honours.

Wong retired from performing on Broadway and cabaret comedy and went into theatrical agenting in the mid-seventies, where she cast John Lone for Bernardo Bertolucci and his project, The Last Emperor. She and brought David Henry Hwang the playwright to fame with her theatrical connections. Her last protege was Kai Wong.

Wong married into the blueblood family of New York theatre, the Chichesters, and the Jewish circle of playwrights and artists. Before Barbra Streisand became famous, Streisand was the opening act for Wong's show in New York. Streisand was subsequently replaced by Ben Stiller who performed as the opening act for Jadin Wong's stand-up comic routine "Two Wongs don't make One White". She committed herself to the passion of her late husband, Edward Duryea Dowling, by supporting the Shubert Theatre. She often scrimped on herself to buy the best Broadway concert tickets to support Broadway and would give them out to the wider community. She remains an honorary member of the Loews Theatre. She was featured in the New York Times in 2003 and 2004 as one of the most glamorous grand dames of New York. She was remembered for her polite humor, "You know what they say about Chinese ladies.... and I kick tush."

Edward Duryea Dowling suffered from a sudden heart-attack one night, and Jadin Wong carried him out of the apartment to the ambulance. Many paparazzi photographers recorded the heartbreaking moment.

She refused to give up even after her beloved husband passed away, and went straight back to perform and to open theatres with her stand-up comedy. However, due to the stress, she suffered from hematohidrosis, literally sweating blood. This was worse especially under her arms and due to the great stress, grief and emotional pressure she was experiencing as a recent widow, she started bleeding in the middle of the comedy routine. She ignored it and pretended nothing happened, covered it up with her ermine coat and continued to the end, receiving standing ovations.

Jadin Wong was interviewed at the end of 2002 by broadcast journalist Budd Mishkin.

After decades of mourning, and staying single and a widow for Edward Duryea Dowling, and also mourning the loss of her own mother, Pauline Wong née Fong, Gil Chichester, a baseball champion, proposed to her.

Wong was featured in Time, Newsweek and The New York Times. She resided in Manhattan and died at the age of 96.

• Jadin Wong at IMDb
• 1966 article on Wong
• 2005 New York 1 documentary on Jadin Wong at 90
• Obituary of Jadin Wong by Film Business Asia industry trade for International and Asian cinema industry
• Obituary of Jadin Wong by Variety industry trade for Hollywood
• Obituary of Jadin Wong by Playbill industry trade for Broadway
• Jadin Wong ephemera, 1930-1996, held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
• Jadin Wong and Edward Duryea Dowling papers, 1936-2000, held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
• "Jadine Wong". Oakland Tribune, 20 Feb 1941, Page 25 (Full text via Newspapers.com.). Retrieved on 17 May 2016.(photograph)
• Jadin Wong Chichester and her life - New York Community Trust, held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts