Last week while I was in Taipei, Vanness also happened to be in Taipei for a few days for some press conferences. Because it has been so many years since I was last in Taiwan, this was my first time visiting his Taipei apartment. He has quite a collection of sneakers and vinyl toys, so much so that he tried really hard to give away some of his collection to me to clear up some space in his apartment.
Let me know if you want to get rid of any of these. I would love to have them take up some space in my home.
Before Bruce Lee type-casted all asian men in Western Cinema to become experts in martial arts and before Jacky Chan type-casted all asian men in Western Cinema to become experts in the performance art of Cirque du Soleil. There was Sessue Hayakawa a Japanese immigrant who became “a romantic idol to the female movie-going public”… in the United States… “with his popularity Hayakawa’s salary soared to over $5,000 a week in 1915.” Yes… rub your eyes again… asian men were once romantically idolized by American women in Western Cinema.
“Sessue Hayakawa (早川 雪洲 Hayakawa Sesshū?, June 10, 1889 – November 23, 1973) was a Japanese and American Issei (Japanese immigrant) actor who starred in American, Japanese, French, German, and British films. Hayakawa was the first and one of the few Asian actors to find stardom in the United States as well as Europe.[1] Between the mid-1910s and the late 1920s, he was as well known as actors Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks. He was one of the highest paid stars of his time; making $5,000 a week in 1915, and $2 million a year via his own production company during the 1920s. He starred in over 80 movies and has two films in the U.S. National Film Registry. His international stardom transitioned both silent films and talkies.”
It’s been almost 6 years since the last time I came back to Taiwan to visit my family. It feels really good to be home.
Thanks for the warm welcome, Dad!
