Welcome to the World of China Dolls! Here you will find information about the world of the 1940s—from the nightclubs of San Francisco Chinatown to life during WWII. Click on a tab below to begin your exploration.
Here are three of Lisa’s favorite videos of women who were performers at the Forbidden City nightclub.
Dorothy Toy Interview
Mary Tom Interview
Dorothy Toy Dancing
Bibliography
Clubs & Performers
Ching, Larry. Till the End of Time. Forbidden City, 2003. CD.
Chun, Gloria Heyung. Of Orphans & Warriors: Inventing Chinese American Culture and Identity. Rutgers University Press, 2000. Print.
Dong, Lorraine. “The Forbidden City Legacy and its Chinese American Women.” Asian American Women and Gender: A Reader. Ed. Franklin Ng. Taylor & Francis, 1999. Web.
Erenberg, Lewis A. Steppin’ Out: New York Nightlife and the Transformation of American Culture 1890-1930. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1981. Print.
Forbidden City. Dir. Arthur Dong. Perf. Larry Ching, Frances Chun, Charlie Low. Deep Focus Productions, 1989. Film.
Gorman, Amy. Aging Artfully: 12 Profiles: Visual & Performing Women Artists Aged 85-105. 2006. Berkeley: Pal Publishing, 2009. Print.
Hollywood Chinese: The Chinese in American Feature Films. Dir. Arthur Dong. Perf. Turhan Bey, Joan Chen, Tsai Chin. Deep Focus Productions, 2007. Film.
Kwan, SanSan. “Performing a Geography of Asian America: The Chop Suey Circuit.” TDR: The Drama Review 55.1 (2011): 120-36. Print.
Lai, Him Mark. Him Mark Lai: Autobiography of a Chinese American Historian. Ed. Judy Yung. UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press and Chinese Historical Society of America, 2011. Print.
Lee, Anthony W. Picturing Chinatown: Art and Orientalism in San Francisco. University of California Press, 2001. Print.
“Life Goes to the “Forbidden City”: San Franciscans Pack Chinatowns No. 1 Nightclub.” Life Magazine. 9 Dec. 1940. 124-26. http://www.moviefanprincess.com/blog/ForbiddenCity_Life.pdf. Web.
Long Story Short. Dir. Christine Choy. DreamVille Entertainment, 2008. Film.
O’Liam, Dugal. “Playboy of the Eastern World.” True: The Man’s Magazine. 21.124 Sep. 1947: 34-6, 114-17. Print.
“Of Thee I Sing, Baby.” Time Magazine. 29 Dec. 1941. 46. Print.
Spiller, Harley. “Late Night in the Lion’s Den: Chinese Restaurant-Nightclubs in 1940s San Francisco.” Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture 4.4.
Frank, Rusty E. Tap! The Greatest Tap Dance Stars and their Stories 1900-1955 Revised Edition. 1990. New York: Da Capo Press, 1994. Print.
Robbins, Trina. Forbidden City: The Golden Age of Chinese Nightclubs. New Jersey: Hampton Press, 2010. Print.
Waggoner, Susan. Nightclub Nights: Art, Legend, and Style, 1920-1960. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 2001. Print.
You Don’t Know Jack. Dir. Jeff Adachi. Perf. George Takei, Nancy Kwan, Hal Kanter. AAMM Productions, 2011. Film.
Yun, Leong Gor. Chinatown Inside Out. New York: Barrows Mussey, 1936. Print.
Yung, Judy. Images of America’s San Francisco Chinatown. Arcadia Publishing, 2006. Print.
—. Unbound Feet: A Social History of Chinese Women in San Francisco. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995. Print.
Zolotow, Maurice. “The Night-Club Business.” American Mercury. Oct. 1941. 411-420. Print.
Clothes & Costumes
Nunn, Joan. Fashion in Costume: 1200-1980. Schocken, 1984. Print.
Walford, Jonathan. Forties Fashion: From Siren Suits to the New Look. Thames & Hudson, 2008. Print.
Yarwood, Doreen. The Encyclopedia of World Costume. Bonanza Books, 1988. Print.
WWII & Internment
Chang, Iris. The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II. 1997. New York: Basic Books, 2011. Print.
Katsuichi, Honda. The Nanjing Massacre: A Japanese Journalist Confronts Japan’s National Shame. 1987. Ed. Frank B. Gibney. Trans. Karen Sandness. New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 1999. Print.
The Home Front War: World War II and American Society. Ed. Kenneth Paul O’Brien and Lynn Hudson Parsons. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1995.Print.
“How To Tell Japs From the Chinese.” Life Magazine.22 Dec. 1941. 81-82. Print.
“How To Tell Your Friend From the Japs.” Time Magazine. 22 Dec. 1941. 33. Print.
Saiki, Patsy Sumie. Ganbare! An Example of Japanese Spirit. 1982. Hawaii: Mutual Publishing, 2004. Print.
Soga, Yasutaro. Life Behind Barbed Wire: The World War II Internment Memoirs of a Hawai’i Issei. University of Hawai’i Press, 2008. Print.
“The U.S. At War.” Time Magazine. 15 Dec. 1941. 17-28. Print.
Yee, Marjorie. Duty & Honor: A Tribute to Chinese American World War II Veterans of Southern California. Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, 1998. Print.
Treasure Island
James, Jack, and Earle Vonard Weller. Treasure Island: “The Magic City,” 1939-1940; The Story of the Golden Gate International Exposition. San Francisco: Pisani Printing and Publishing Company, 1941. Print.
Pipes, Jason. Images of America: San Francisco’s Treasure Island. Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2007. Print.
Reinhart, Richard. Treasure Island: 1939-1940, San Francisco’s Exposition Years. Mill Valley: SQUAREBOOKS, Inc., 1978. Print.
The San Francisco Fair: Treasure Island, 1939-1940. Ed. Patricia F. Carpenter and Paul Totah. San Francisco: Scottwall Associates, 1989. Print.
Film & Other Media (In case you wanted them separate, I copied the films and cds here. Otherwise, they’re all under “Clubs and Performers.”)
Ching, Larry. Till the End of Time. Forbidden City, 2003. CD.
Forbidden City. Dir. Arthur Dong. Perf. Larry Ching, Frances Chun, Charlie Low. Deep Focus Productions, 1989. Film.
Hollywood Chinese: The Chinese in American Feature Films. Dir. Arthur Dong. Perf. Turhan Bey, Joan Chen, Tsai Chin. Deep Focus Productions, 2007. Film.
Long Story Short. Dir. Christine Choy. DreamVille Entertainment, 2008. Film.
You Don’t Know Jack. Dir. Jeff Adachi. Perf. George Takei, Nancy Kwan, Hal Kanter. AAMM Productions, 2011. Film.
Geography
In this section you’ll find links to the major cities and places that play a role in the lives of Grace, Ruby, and Helen. Just scroll through the tabs under “Geography” to begin exploring.
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San Francisco
Scroll down for the San Francisco locations featured in China Dolls.
Clubs
Forbidden City — Click for video
Forbidden City Today–Click for more
Shanghai Low — Click for more about Chinatown nightclubs
Club Shanghai
Club Mandalay
San Francisco City
China Clippers Terminal
Video on Treasure Island
Treasure Island Then — Learn more
Treasure Island Today
Angel Island — Learn More
Golden Gate International Exposition
Click for photos and video
Johnny Weissmuller and Esther Williams at the G.G.I.E. Aquacade — Click for more
Embarcadero
Union Square 1940s
Learn more about Union Square today
Mark Hopkins Hotel
Restaurants
Los Angeles
See the 1940’s Los Angeles experienced by Grace, Helen, and Ruby.
Entertainment
Coconut Grove
Grauman’s Chinese Theatre
Grauman’s Chinese Theatre 1940s
The Rialto Theatre
The Orpheum Theatre
Paramount Pictures
Hotels
Restaurants
Plain City
See what Plain City life would have been like for Grace growing up in the 1930s. Some of these photos were taken by social realist photographer Ben Shahn on behalf of the Farm Security Administraion during the Great Depresson.
Plain City Fair Advertisement
Post Office
Gas Station
Plain City Main Street
Main Street
Chop-Suey Circuit
Click to learn more about the Chop-Suey Circuit
Advertisements for Acts on the Chop-Suey Circuit
Miami
View some images of Miami nightlife!
Click to learn about Miami’s Latin Quarter!
Advertisement for Miami’s Latin Quarter
The Beachcomber Hotel
New York
Scroll down to find out more about the China Doll and other NYC night spots popular in the 1940s.
New York, The Wonder City – 1947
CHINA DOLL:
The China Doll
China Doll Poster
China Doll Program
Other New York Spots:
Click to learn about The Stork Club and the nightclub handsignals said to have originated there.
Copacabana
The Rainbow Room
Leon and Eddie’s
The Victoria Hotel
Sardi’s
Music
China Dolls Playlist
This has the songs and some of the artists mentioned chapter by chapter in the novel.
Chapter 1: A Measly Girl
“All of Me”
Chapter 2: Calling to the Heavens
Chapter 3: A Real Chinese Girl
“Let Me Play With It”
“My Darling Clementine”
“Let Me Call You Sweetheart”
Chapter 4: A Few Glorious Minutes
“Someone to Watch Over Me”
*“Let Me Play With It”
Chapter 5: White Snow Blossoms
“Begin the Beguine”
“Heart and Soul”
“Cheek to Cheek”
*“Let Me Call You Sweetheart”
“Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-De-Ay”
“Loch Lommond”
“Si, Mi Chiamano Mimi”
“Minnie the Moocher”
“Pick Yourself Up”
Chapter 6: A Lone Wolf
Chapter 7: Pistols and a Cowboy Hat
“All or Nothing at All”
“Back in the Saddle Again”
Chapter 8: Let the Boy Talk
[Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Kay Kyser, The Dorseys]
“Love Walked In”
Chapter 9: Carried by the Wind
“Night and Day”
*“Let Me Play With It”
“You’d Be So Easy To Love”
Chapter 10: A Tide of Emotions
Chapter 11: Wisps of Clouds
Chapter 12: Just a Kid
“I’ll Never Smile Again”
Chapter 13: The Jimjams
Chapter 14: Extreme Joy Begets…
Chapter 15: Dancing on the Edge
“The Japs Won’t Have a Ghost of a Chance”
“On a Little Street in Singapore”
Chapter 16: A Succulent Dish
“Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition”
Chapter 17: Whirlpool Valley
Chapter 18: Good Luck, Bad Luck
“You’re a Sap, Mr. Jap”
“We’re Going to Find a Fellow Who Is Yellow and Beat Him Red, White, and Blue”
“I Cain’t Say No”
“Strip Polka”
“Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree”
“Here Comes the Navy”
Chapter 19: Sequins, Top Hats, Chiffon
“I’ll Be Seeing You”
Chapter 20: Every Particle of Happiness
[Carmen Cavallaro]
Chapter 21: Letters
“Don’t Fence Me In”
“God Bless America”
“Shuffle Off to Buffalo”
Chapter 22: A Wind-Chime Voice
“The G.I. Jive”
Chapter 23: Dying Ashes Will Burn Again
“In the Mood”
“Moonlight Serenade”
“Pennsylvania 6-5000”
“Chattanooga Choo Choo”
Chapter 24: V for Victory
Chapter 25: Sunny-Side Up
“Brazil”
“You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To”
“That Old Black Magic”
“Avalon”
“It’s Been a Long, Long Time”
Chapter 26: Woo Woo of the Week
*“It’s Been a Long, Long Time”
“Let’s Do It”
Chapter 27: A Camellia Drops
Chapter 28: Movie Talk
*“Let Me Play With It”
“On a Slow Boat to China”
Chapter 29: The Dark Shadow Side
“Indian Love Call”
Chapter 30: Once a Chorus Girl
*“Let Me Play With It”
* Repeated Song
[ ] Artist mentioned
People
This section highlights both the real-life figures mentioned in the novel and the inspirations for particular characters. Please click the photo learn more about the people behind “China Dolls”! (In alphabetical order.)
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Historical Links
Click the photos on this page for more information about the historical events depicted in the novel.
BEFORE 1930:
(“Young Aristocrats,”
Pictures of Old Chinatown
by Arnold Genthe, 1908)
WORLD WAR II:
“Conquer By The Clock” WWII Propaganda
WOMEN IN THE WAR:
“Ladies, It’s Your War, Too” WWII Short
The Story Behind Rosie the Riveter
Topics
PERFORMANCE:
“Tap Dance History: From Vaudeville to Film” | The History of Tap Dance
Lindy Hop Instructional Video
FASHION:
“Make Do and Mend” — Teaching Women How to Conserve Resources
Cutex Advertisement
Velva Leg Film Advertisement
FOOD & DRINK:
Photos & More
In this section you’ll find photos and other information about the China Dolls era.
Photos
Forbidden City Dancers
Forbidden City Dancers
Tony Wing and Forbidden City Dancers
Click for the article that inspired Grace & Ruby’s “Pic” Interview
Videos
Forbidden City Reel
Travelogue about San Francisco Chinatown, featuring the Forbidden City and the Chinese Telephone Exchange
Grant Avenue Follies
Noel Toy Fan Dance
