Cigarette case used by Anna May Wong
date: label: date made
content: around 1930s
name: label: user
content: Wong, Anna May
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Cigarette case used by Anna May Wong. The rectangular case is made of two tortoise shell-styled cellulose acetate trays joined on one long side by a gold metal hinge and the other by a metal clasp. Inside, two scallop shell-styled gold metal clasps are affixed on opposite ends of the trays for holding cigarettes. The exterior front of the case is decorated with carved illustrations of five cranes in flight, at the upper left corner, and a Chinese design motif, at the bottom right corner.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Anna May Wong (1905-1961) was a groundbreaking Chinese American film star, model, and style icon who fought racist prejudice against Asian Americans that limited her opportunities and obscured her legacy. Born Wong Liu Tsong, she grew up in Los Angeles's Chinatown obsessed with movies, and took her stage name at the age of 11 while trying to break in to the burgeoning film industry there. She first appeared as an extra in the 1919 film The Red Lantern and received her first screen credit in the 1921 film Bits of Life; that year she dropped out of high school to pursue her career as an actress. Despite gaining critical acclaim for her acting in notable films such as The Toll of the Sea (1922), The Thief of Bagdad (1924), Daughter of the Dragon (1931), and Shanghai Express (1932), Wong found her opportunities limited to a range of roles as “Dragon Lady”, doomed lover of a white man, or sensual concubine, embodying harmful stereotypes about Asian women. Meanwhile, she became a major style icon, helping to popularize the flapper look as well as Asian-inspired fashion in her simultaneous career as a model. She lobbied for the role of the sympathetic Chinese lead O-Lan in the major MGM feature The Good Earth (1935), but producers instead hired white Louise Rainer for the role, a major disappointment for Wong. She found greater freedom and success in Europe, where she appeared in classic films like Piccadilly (1929), and embarked on a highly publicized tour of China. In later life, she used her fame to support the allied war effort in WWII and continued to work in B movies, radio, and television, becoming the first Asian American actor to headline a television series with Dumont's The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong (1951). She was attempting a film career comeback with a role the major musical Flower Drum Song when she died in 1961.
topic: label: Subject
content: Tobacco Use
label: Subject
content: Chinese Americans
label: Subject
content: Asian Americans
label: Subject
content: Actors
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
label: See more items in
content: Popular Entertainment
label: Exhibition
content: Entertainment Nation
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Anna Wong
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2022.0275.02
label: accession number
content: 2022.0275
label: catalog number
content: 2022.0275.02
objectType: label: Object Name
content: cigarette case
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: cellulose acetate (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 7 in x 2 1/2 in x 1 in; 17.78 cm x 6.35 cm x 2.54 cm