Flower Drum Song

Flower Drum Song written by C.Y. Lee in the 1950's and adapted into a musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein in 1961 was a compelling story and rather enjoyable despite it being a musical. I tend to usually dislike musicals, the only ones I'd enjoy watching would be 'Pas Sur La Bouche' and 'The Sound of Music'… and well perhaps, 'Beauty and the Beast', but I must say Flower Drum Song was quite a compelling story! I find it pleasing because each singing and dance number made sense, it was called for, people didn't just break into song like some musicals do, which I find quite difficult to relate to, but in this film, whenever the characters sing, it was them actually singing in a night club or to each other to express their feelings more fully.

This film was nominated for 5 Academy Awards, including Best Music, and it is a wonderful tale about the problems with assimilation into the United States, about cultural differences, as well as generational conflicts; I really was able to identify with this story, because I too am a foreigner to America. It is mainly if not entirely an Asian-American cast and depitcts society in San Francisco during the 40's and 50's. It was done in such a beautiful way that even though the set may have been built in a Universal lot in Hollywood, it became so real with the set design and costumes that we felt as though we were in the 'real' China-town in San Francisco in the 1950's as well as being able to experience the way people lived back then.

'I Enjoy Being A Girl', 'Chop Sui' and 'A Hundred Million Miracles' were my favourite singing/dance numbers. The film went from comical, to sweet, to respectful, to uplifting, every moment was relatable I think not only to Asians, but Americans as well. What I found rather interesting though, was that it was an entire Asian cast, rightfully so, as it is a story about their culture, however there was one actress named Juanita Hall, an African American, singer/actress, who got no honorable mention at all, except in the credits. She had a reputable and grand part in the film, many lines and even some singing and dancing, yet even in the behind the scenes features, not one person brought up her name. They even spoke of the extras in the film and all other major characters in the film, but never once was a word uttered about her. The other actors who made a phenomenal and timeless show were Nancy Kwan, James Shigeta, Jack Soo, Benson Fong and Miyoshi Umeki.

I think that nowadays Asian's are still not offered many leading roles; however I believe that Rodgers and Hammerstein who did other great classics like 'The King and I' opened the doors for actors of different races other than Caucasians in a pleasant and grandeur scale. We can see Hispanics and African Americans having much more play in Film and Television these days, and slowly also other races are being able to be brought into the foreground in making their acting debuts.