Hong Kong Phooey and the Fortune Cookie Caper
name: label: maker
content: Hanna-Barbera
notes: label: Description
content: Hong Kong Phooey and the Fortune Cookie Caper was published in 1975 as part of a series parodying kung fu TV and movies. It features a police janitor who turns into a sloppy crime fighter who is constantly saved by the police cat.
label: Description
content: This particular episode involves a Chinese food delivery man, Fred Wu, writing suspicious messages in fortune cookies for the policeman to find. An example of a message: “Bank holdup—Guess where?” The policeman gives up, and Hong Kong Phooey decides that it is his own case to solve. He travels to the fortune cookie factory, where he finds Fred Wu. Fred Wu requests an autograph, and admits to writing suspicious messages and inserting them into fortune cookies. The Hong Kong Phooey signs Fred’s autograph book in exchange of Fred’s confession.
label: Description
content: The mystique of fortune cookie creation and the anonymity of Hong Kong Phooey drive the plot. Keeping in mind that the series is a parody, Hong Kong Phooey is a clumsy hero who is credited with saving the day, as evidenced by the policewoman’s adoration for the masked man. The police cat does all the work and constantly saves Hong Kong Phooey. The pattern can be seen in the fortune cookies, which are taken seriously by the policeman as legitimate threats. Fred confesses that they were jokes. As far as the reader can tell, both Hong Kong Phooey and fortune cookie messages are jokes.
label: Description
content: Hong Kong Phooey and the Fortune Cookie Caper was intended for the younger population. Recognizing the tongue-in-cheek humor of the book, fortune cookies were considered as nothing more than light entertainment to the audience the book was intended for.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Illinois, Chicago
label: Associated Place
content: United States: Illinois, Chicago
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Asian Pacific American Business
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2012.3057.06
label: nonaccession number
content: 2012.3057
label: catalog number
content: 2012.3057.06
objectType: label: Object Name
content: children's book
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (inside material)
label: Physical Description
content: cardboard (outside material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 8 1/4 in x 6 3/4 in x 1/4 in; 20.955 cm x 17.145 cm x .635 cm