Licensed to Kill (1997)

1. In '39 and '40 in the beginning of World War II we had

2. people willing and able to spend money for the first time after

3. The Depression enjoying entertainment.

4. It became a Liberty Port — San Fransisco did — we have all

5. Armed Services here — and they got liberty,

6. and so they went to the nightclubs.

7. So, it was wonderful for business and for show business

8. particularly.

9. Then when you come to having something unusual like Forbidden

10. City with Chinese entertainment — which they've never seen.

11. I mean, they came from the Middle West — they'd never even

12. seen a Chinese let alone a Chinese performer.

13. - There had not been a Chinese nightclub in America until that

14. time.

15. I was first to build a Chinese bar in San Fransisco and then I

16. was the first to build a Chinese night club — not only in San

17. Fransisco but in all of America.

18. - Forbidden City was a curiosity, a novelty,

19. it was exotic, it was...

20. universally well-known.

21. - Quite a scandalous place to be going because you had the

22. showgirls who were only partly dressed with skimpy costumes and

23. so on.

24. So this would be kind of a daring place to go.

25. - Everyday's a different kind fo funny.

26. - Yeah, it was a lot of fun...

27. - No kidding.

28. - No kidding.

29. Always something going on.

30. - Always something going on, wasn't this or that,

31. this or that.

32. - Of course what we did in the 30s and 40s were shocking to the

33. Chinese community and confusing for the caucasian people.

34. - They've never seen oriental do this type of singing and

35. dancing.

36. This was something new for everybody even for ourselves it

37. was new.

38. - No one took us very seriously until Forbidden City opened its

39. doors.

40. So we said, "Come on, let's show the world our stuff."

41. - At Forbidden City we used to get letters from Chinese people

42. telling us that we should be ashamed of ourselves doing what

43. we do for a living — dancing in a night club,

44. showing our legs — we should get a decent job and be

45. respectable.

46. Girls were taught to grow up and keep house.

47. We were supposed to get married at a certain time and we were

48. supposed to know how to take care of the house,

49. take care of the children and take care of your husband.

50. We didn't have ballet lessons, we didn't have piano lessons

51. when we were kids — this was just not part of the Chinese

52. culture.

53. - Any oriental boy that went into show business the same thing

54. like an oriental girl going into show business... the community

55. thought there was something wrong with them.

56. If your father was a grocer, when he passes away he expects

57. you to keep running the grocery store... you follow in your

58. father's footsteps.

59. I suppose my father hadn't passed away,

60. and I finished school and became a pharmacist,

61. a pill roller.

62. You know what I mean?

63. Oh God, I'd be bored stiff.

64. - In the 30s and 40s the Chinese people are very close-minded,

65. they're sure that anyone in show business have to be absolutely

66. insane, immoral, and everything else that's bad.

67. - The old-fashioned type, they didn't care for the modern

68. Chinese — which we were in modern dress and attire to

69. perform in a modern American way — that they just didn't realize

70. and didn't understand.

71. - Fortunately we lived in this small time where we didn't have

72. all these old-time Chinese on top of us, you know?

73. That was to our advantage.

74. That's how come we were a little more liberated.

75. - I was born in a small ton in Arizona — Clifton — Clifton,

76. Arizona — and we had to mingle with all the other population

77. which mostly were whites.

78. Our traditions were the American traditions,

79. this is what we learned in school.

80. Our Chinese traditions were not really that strong.

81. - In Inverness we were the only Chinese family there so

82. consequently that's one of the reasons I don't know too many

83. Chinese.

84. So I was brought up purely caucasian western,

85. and it wasn't until I went to a junior college that I looked and

86. I saw an oriental, and I said, "My gosh,

87. there's an oriental over there!"

88. I never thought of myself as one.

89. - Growing up at that time we would get in a little hustles,

90. tussles.

91. They would call us say "chinks,"

92. then we would fight.

93. In those days I used to fight them with my brothers.

94. They called us "chinks" and we called them a name.

95. I won't say what, but we do.

96. We have to retaliate, you see?

97. We'd get our exercise that way — bricks rolling and so forth

98. — chasing each other.

99. - And they used to ask me questions.

100. They said, "What nationality are you?"

101. I says, "I'm chop suey," and they go,

102. " What do you mean 'chop suey?'" And says,

103. "Well, you know, the dish is a mixture of everything,"

104. I says, "I'm Portuguese, Spanish,

105. and Fillipino and Chinese," and that was it... chop suey.

106. - Now that I think back to it I think the people in my

107. generation we really are very lucky to be in that generation

108. because I think it's such a wonderful blend of our Chinese

109. and our American ideas.

110. I suppose being more Americanized that our thoughts

111. might have been a little different or our goals might

112. have been a little different... and what we wanted

113. to do was something that wasn't being done by the orientals.

114. I was inspired by Frank Sinatra.

115. Most of the songs I sang when I first came over was mostly

116. Hawaiian songs and not very many of the popular songs... but when

117. I heard him sing I wanted to sing like him.

118. - Listened to the radio and I would sing along with the

119. radio... thought, "Gee, this is pretty snappy."

120. I kept it a secret of my desire to sing...

121. never sang in public.

122. - Oh yeah, my mom wanted to know where I went and I told her that

123. I saw Fred Astaire five times at the Variety Theater.

124. She understands.

125. She was lenient to me.

126. She says, "Well, that's the case,

127. but don't tell your father."

128. I don't know how I had the nerve to do it,

129. but I did it.

130. I think I must have been sort of a rebel also because I wanted to

131. be different.

132. - People have callings for certain things,

133. I just had to, it was in me.

134. It's like, people climb mountains,

135. it's there, they climb it.

136. So I had to dance.

137. Meet the oriental salute to Spring on California's

138. sunny strand.

139. Leagues of San Fransisco's Chinatown hail the season with

140. an age old dance.

141. But wait a minute, buttonless tops with honorable ancestors no

142. longer appeals to Miss Chinatown of today,

143. she's going modern in no uncertain manner.

144. Well, well, this is a surprise.

145. Decorous daughters of the east becoming streamline glamour

146. girls of the west who can step with the best of them.

147. What would Confucius say?

148. - I'm from Stockton which is a very boring provincial town...

149. With people extremely square and bias.

150. When I start to dance everybody in the town thought I'd

151. absolutely gone to the dogs and my family was insane.

152. I'm a Japanese American born in San Fransisco,

153. raised in Los Angles.

154. My mother was one of those woman that were very modern in those

155. days, and all our relatives and all her friends said to her,

156. "I think it's disgraceful that you're sending your daughter to

157. dancing school."

158. They don't do those kinds of things,

159. but my mother was determined that she wanted me to take

160. dancing lessons, and so therefore I continued dancing

161. lessons for many many years.

162. The time has come to pick up your feet.

163. So start in dancing and turn on the heat.

164. - My father...

165. he didn't react at all.

166. He didn't care for me dancing 'cause,

167. you know, we lived in Paolo Alto — that's only three miles to

168. Stanford.

169. I'm the oldest and he expect me to go to Stanford.

170. So one day he walked in the kitchen here I am practicing

171. dancing with a chair.

172. Now, he sees this and surprisingly he goes to my

173. mother and says, "You know our number one son?

174. Something wrong somewhere."

175. - My father was always playing music around the house — he

176. plays the ukulele and a mandolin and guitar — so we used to have

177. group of Hawaiian boys always at the house,

178. kind of like what you would call a "Hawaiian jam session."

179. As I remember way back I've always sang — you know —

180. always enjoy singing — and just thought of just very natural so

181. into it.

182. - My dancing lessons were seeing movies of Eleanor Powell...

183. and of the one great number I saw her do was in 'Broadway

184. Melody of 1936' when she danced without music,

185. and I came home and I practiced and practiced until I got the

186. thing down pat.

187. From then on every time she made a movie that was a dancing

188. lesson for me.

189. - I planned to go away and join the show.

190. My father, of course, won't hear of it.

191. So, I plan and the night I was running away from home I had to

192. climb out a window — I can't go through the front door — and I

193. thought nobody knew, especially my mom.

194. So I was climbing out of the window,

195. she reaches into her jacket and she gave me $40 — which was a

196. lot of money in those days.

197. She says, "You may need this.

198. Be careful."

199. That really shook me up.

200. - So I hitchhike from Paolo Alto to Los Angeles after I graduate

201. from Palo Alto High School.

202. - I went to Hollywood.

203. I was very young, very dumb and no money.

204. - When I got there I didn't know what to do,

205. where to go to get a job as a dancer.

206. - Walked into these agents offices...

207. "Well, don't call us, we'll call you."

208. - But if a white boy came in he'd get the job first before me.

209. - We had to be much better than the American dance team — the

210. caucasian — or else we wouldn't get the bookings.

211. - They said, "We'll use you on Chinese New Year's."

212. "That's once a year!

213. Do you use Italians on Italian New Year and Jewish people and

214. Jewish New Year?

215. Now, come on!"

216. I would get awfully hungry.

217. - I started... as a cocktail waitress in a little bar— I

218. think I was about 17 at the time or 18.

219. - And then this fellow that owns the bar asked me,

220. he said, "You want to be a singing bartender?"

221. I says, "Singing bartender?"

222. I say, "What do I do?"

223. - I was — to use the old expression — I was to go out

224. and "hustle" the customers for songs in order to make tips.

225. - I had a little trouble at first.

226. Some of the musicians didn't want a Chinese girl in the band

227. I guess.

228. - They were just not educated the fact that we had any talent in

229. any other field, I supposed, cook or laundry boy.

230. - After traveling around I finally wound up in San

231. Fransisco because I had heard about this Chinese club which

232. featured Chinese entertainers and it was called the Forbidden

233. City.

234. Good evening ladies and gentlemen,

235. this is San Fransisco after dark... wonderful,

236. fascinating San Fransisco.

237. This is Sutter Street, and its showtime.

238. Perhaps as yet you have not quite made up your mind as to

239. just where you're going on your vacation this year.

240. Well, this woman knows exactly where she is going.

241. She is one of the dancing stars of Charlie Low's fabulous

242. Forbidden City in San Fransisco.

243. Her name is Mai Tai Sing, and she's America's most beautiful

244. Chinese entertainer... and Mai Tai Sing knows great

245. entertainment when she sees it.

246. - Let's see.

247. Let's go back to the Forbidden City days...

248. it opened up in, what, December?

249. I think it was December '38.

250. It more or less I think gave us all a chance to get into the

251. business.

252. - It was hard, you know, it wasn't easy,

253. but somewhere along the line there's always someone to help

254. you break the ice.

255. If they give you a chance to prove yourself... then you're

256. fine...

257. but you have to be given that chance.

258. - Good evening friends, I am Charlie Low,

259. your host at Forbidden City in San Fransisco.

260. You have just met Mai Tai Sing and Tony Wing,

261. two young people from the all-star Chinese review here at

262. the nation's most unusual and outstanding oriental nightclub.

263. Always trying to be the fashion nice guy.

264. San Fransisco — and other states as well,

265. other cities as well — have not seen a Chinese nightclub with an

266. all Chinese floor show, and the time was ripe for something like

267. that.

268. I had a lot of criticism about it because Chinese will say,

269. "Chinese people don't drink hard liquor,"

270. and they were totally wrong.

271. We catered mostly to white trade.

272. The old-fashioned Chinese in Chinatown have no

273. foresight... satisfied in their little business... run it for

274. maybe 30/40 years, but I'm a little different.

275. Came from Nevada at a young age...

276. I had vision, different ideas and thoughts in the back of my

277. head...

278. I knew I would have a lot of trouble,

279. a lot of hard work in recruiting a good Chinese floor show,

280. but I was quite lucky.

281. - When the call came for girls to join a chorus lines,

282. the girls form out of town applied.

283. The Chinese families in San Fransisco looked down on such

284. things, and the girls there didn't apply so we ere the only

285. game in town.

286. - As I said, we weren't very experienced dancers,

287. you know, we were just mediocre dancers,

288. but to the public we were cute.

289. We got away with murder to tell you the truth.

290. - Oh yes, we did have a lot of fun with the girls.

291. - We did indeed!

292. - Because all our lives we had had real dancers...

293. at the Moxie Theater and the Warfield.

294. We had trained dancers and then to come into the Forbidden City

295. and these darling Chinese girls that tried.

296. They tried so hard.

297. They really tried.

298. See Charlie wanted us to do the precision like things because he

299. had seen the shows at the Warfield Theater and we had a 16

300. line and everybody loved all the tiller work.

301. So that's what we were trying to do.

302. We were trying to do what we have always done to Charlie.

303. Well, that was a thing.

304. - Mm-hm.

305. - And then the drummer...

306. They had to do the down beat on the hop and the kick is on the

307. upbeat, well they had never heard of an upbeat and a down

308. beat.

309. So I had to teach them.

310. I had to teach the drummer had to catch the kick at the top of

311. the beat.

312. Various things like this...

313. - But it was fun.

314. Very few people understand this is what goes to

315. make part of the show.

316. - I was using my mother's maiden name — I was using Tony Costa

317. — and then when I went to work there Charlie says that he had

318. to change my name to a Chinese name 'cause he says,

319. "After all," he says, "We're advertising all-oriental review

320. — Chinese review," and I says, "Can I be a Wong?"

321. And he says, "No, you got to be a Wing.

322. There's too many Wongs in this show now,

323. Gladys Wong..."

324. He's naming all the Wongs.

325. He says, "I have to have a different name."

326. So that's how I got the name of Tony Wing.

327. I was labeled as a Chinese Sophie Tucker.

328. People likened me to her style of entertaining.

329. I really didn't care too much for the label so to speak,

330. but it was commercial so I stuck with it.

331. - And then Charlie asked me again,

332. and I says, "Okay, I'll work for you,

333. but what do I have to do?"

334. He says, "You have to buy a tuxedo,

335. you have to wear a stiff shirt and a bowtie,"

336. and I says, "That's all, I don't want that.

337. If I'm going to sing I'm going to go that way I am,"

338. and he says, "No you can't it's a nightclub.

339. Everybody has to dress like that."

340. I says, "I monkey suit?

341. You're crazy!

342. I will never work in a monkey suit."

343. - When I started to work at the Forbidden City as a pianist

344. there the business was very bad at that point.

345. Then came the idea with Mr Steel — the PR man — that suggested

346. the idea of the Chinese bubble dancer...

347. and then Charlie Low bought that idea.

348. - Oh, yes!

349. Chinese Sally Rand, very popular.

350. She was a coed in UC Berkley

351. — a UC coed — and she was a

352. junior over there.

353. She was born and raised in Inverness,

354. California — just over in Marin County — and she was young and

355. beautiful.

356. - The poor girl never danced.

357. She walked around for three choruses — which is a long time

358. in music — holding a bubble or holding a pair of fans,

359. and people were laughing and hysterical at her because it's a

360. very long time.

361. Only thing when it comes to turns,

362. she would lose her balance — it was hard with two 25 pound fans

363. — and she would fall on the tables and put her finger on

364. people's chow mien and say, "Excuse me,

365. is this okay?"

366. "Help yourself."

367. So Charlie said to me — he called everybody Susie —

368. "Susie, you got to stop that.

369. She's falling all over the table."

370. "She'll learn."

371. - When I first performed I think I was numb.

372. I think I was scared silly too... because I had never done

373. anything like that before.

374. I knew if I wanted to get ahead I had to attract enough

375. attention to get publicity.

376. So I purposely, I think, did a lot of things that I normally

377. would not have done.

378. - They used the line "is it true what they say about Chinese

379. girls?"

380. There was an old standard joke that had gone around for years

381. and years about their sex being different than caucasian gal,

382. you see.

383. So a lot of people... I really think they kind of believe it.

384. They say, "We'll see for ourselves."

385. "We'll come up and see this girl and see if she's any different

386. than anybody else."

387. That's the way it all got started.

388. - They would all laugh.

389. I was always being ripped by friends and other people,

390. and I always took it good-naturedly — I didn't get

391. annoyed at it — and I'd play along with it.

392. They say, "Is it true what they say about Chinese girls?"

393. And I say, "Oh, sure.

394. Didn't you know?"

395. It's just like eating corn on the cob.

396. - And from that day on they were all the way out to the street,

397. the people just came in there by the hundreds.

398. So that was how the place got started.

399. If it wouldn't have been for that idea I think we would have

400. probably gone out of business entirely.

401. - And of course night clubbing was the thing.

402. There were several very good clubs in town and they were all

403. patronized by the servicemen, but I think they came to the

404. Forbidden City because we were different.

405. The Chinese line was a novelty and the Chinese girls,

406. I guess, were looked upon as being exotic and mysterious

407. and...

408. So business picked up and we started a boom.

409. Cute little Chinese dolls.

410. Oh yes, we were told by the servicemen we were all wanted

411. dates and whatnot.

412. We'd sit outside with them between shows...

413. have our little sodas...

414. sometimes we'd have a bite to eat...

415. we were just like ordinary people.

416. What they thought I think more amused me more than anything

417. else because I thought of myself as an American.

418. Good evening ladies and gentlemen,

419. welcome to Charlie Low's Forbidden City.

420. - Everybody who came into town, that was one of the places they

421. headed for because they heard the Forbidden City had great

422. food, great entertainment, great music,

423. they could dance all night if they wished to.

424. - Forbidden City used to serve a dinner for a dollar and a half,

425. right?

426. - Dollar.

427. - A Dollar!

428. - Saturday, dollar-and-a-half.

429. - Saturday, dollar-and-a-half... for dinner!

430. - The nightclub was so busy we clocked at 2200 a day in and

431. out.

432. The bar was — not to exaggerate — it was four deep... four deep

433. all night long.

434. - To see Chinese girls performing very similar to a westerner was

435. quite exciting.

436. - Peyton Place... it was worse than that.

437. I never sing.

438. Larry and Vicky are married.

439. A lot of the kids are married, but... gee-whiz!

440. - A lot of drinking and fooling around.

441. Not all bad.

442. That was the life, boy, let me tell you.

443. - Did he know how to run a club.

444. He was such a good table hopper because he talked to

445. everybody.

446. He talked to each table... everybody that came in

447. was a friend.

448. He treated them all very much as if he had known them forever.

449. - A lot of big shots he was talking to.

450. A lot of show people talk.

451. A lot of big shots too... like Bing Crosby,

452. you know, Bob Hope, you know, all those...

453. - You've seen that wall.

454. - I definitely felt the location was wonderful,

455. it was close enough to Chinatown that you felt when they said

456. Forbidden City and Chinese entertainment that you were

457. going to see it because you had to walk up and Sutter was only a

458. couple blocks away from the actual Chinatown.

459. You felt secure.

460. You didn't feel unsafe on Sutter Street.

461. - A lot of caucasian people came there naturally because they

462. wouldn't go over to Chinatown because for one thing it was

463. hard to park in there and also it was mostly an entire Chinese

464. community.

465. So they hadn't gotten used to that kind of a mix yet,

466. you see?

467. - They were afraid of the dark, they've heard about the Tung

468. wars — which was years and years ago — but this is up to

469. date and they're now going to experience first hand.

470. They can look out here comes a knife or something.

471. - They invented a serious Chinese thing even though it was a

472. nightclub they expected what they saw in Chinese opera and

473. the things that you had seen in pictures.

474. - They had these images that oriental people were a little

475. more mystical, you know?

476. Maybe the cues down the back, and the slippers and the little

477. robes of some sort and the fans.

478. - The caucasians' perception of Chinese entertainers in those

479. days was very interesting to me because they've always viewed

480. Chinese in a very stereotype manner.

481. Fooy.

482. - On a couple of occasions I've heard people say,

483. "Chinese jazz?

484. They don't have any rhythm...

485. and their legs are terrible.

486. They've got terrible legs.

487. I think they're bow-legged."

488. - Hey, speak English?

489. Say baby, how do you say "give me a little kiss" in Chinese?

490. - Scram?

491. - What's the difference, the dame's probably got bow legs

492. anyway.

493. - Oh, yeah?

494. Is that so, you big bozo.

495. Bow legs, huh?

496. Listen to me.

497. - Guys would come in and say," That chink,"

498. they'd say, "That chinaman," you know,

499. "That slant eye..."

500. Being in the business we had to take some of that.

501. We're supposed to take some of that,

502. but we don't.

503. - We were not anything different, it's just that to show we were

504. able to present a package of an all-Chinese entertainment...

505. American entertainment.

506. And now with your kind indulgence we would like very

507. much to entertain you with a song or two... and it goes

508. something like this.

509. - It was a razzle dazzle situation.

510. It was unbelievable because they got sung by American music,

511. and it was kinda like a half and half.

512. They expected something more mystical like out of the orient

513. and then all of the sudden they get this MC that's popping the

514. jokes and Charlie was a "Hi, fellas.

515. How you doin'?"

516. You know, "Come on in."

517. They felt at home.

518. They loved it.

519. It was a parody of Little Egypt doing a snake

520. number with her hands.

521. You know, how your hands look the shape of a snake and how the

522. snake would come after you, and you get like that and look at

523. it.

524. Like me... the snake would look at me and then go like that with

525. my eyes crossed, and I would do a parody of Little Egypt.

526. - I met Bobby and Mary they were in the chorus in Forbidden City,

527. and Walton Bigastaff was the choreographer,

528. and I suggested doing a trio.

529. I'd done all these duos, I thought,

530. "Well, it will be something different."

531. And they were very pretty, and I designed the clothes so that

532. they both wore the same thing.

533. I was the one in the middle.

534. I had to lift those two gals, but they were very young and

535. light and we had a lot fo fun.

536. - We decided after working at Charlie's for awhile that we

537. were experienced enough to try to put some acts

538. together... expand our horizons as far as entertainment was

539. concerned.

540. So we got ourselves an agent and we booked ourselves.

541. We did a lot of entertainment to the GIs,

542. we had all the Red Cross work and we had the Stage Door

543. Canteen and we saw a lot of bonds.

544. It was very interesting playing in little towns and what we

545. called "one night stands."

546. - Corpus Christie... I said to my agent,

547. "How do you find these places!"

548. The town was so small — how small was it?

549. — there wasn't a Chinese restaurant.

550. Every town has a Chinese restaurant,

551. not Corpus Christie!

552. I walked into town, people followed me for blocks.

553. My producer thought there was a parade.

554. At that time I was black with bangs,

555. a china doll and the chop sticks.

556. People would stop me on the street and say,

557. "You speak-a English?"

558. I says, "No, not a damn word.

559. What do you want to know?"

560. - And I remember I was in a town somewhere in Oklahoma and

561. somebody came up to me in a club I was working in and said,

562. "Can I touch you?

563. I've never seen a Chinese before,"

564. and he touched me.

565. I guess he expected us to be very different,

566. you know, things like that.

567. - They thought we were so cute and so dainty and... as one guy

568. put it, they thought if they touched us we would break.

569. In other words, we were little china dolls.

570. - I think the first time I went down south,

571. I went with the show, and when I got off the train station — I

572. don't know if I should say this or not — never been

573. exposed to the south — so I got off the train station and I

574. wanted to go to the ladies' room.

575. So I went to the ladies' room and I saw the sign says "Black"

576. and "White."

577. So I stood there and I said, "Now,

578. where should I go?

579. Where do I belong?"

580. I was stunned for a while.

581. I didn't know they had such things!

582. But you learn, you know?

583. So I thought, "Well, I'm not black so I must go to the white

584. one."

585. - And I said to Louise in Chinese,

586. "We're not black and we're not white,

587. which one do we go in to?"

588. And she says, "Let's go in the black one."

589. - I boarded the bus and no sooner that I boarded the bus I

590. realized, "This is segregated... where do you sit

591. Toy?"

592. I looked in the rear.

593. I looked at the front.

594. Fortunately, there was something open in the middle of the

595. bus..."Okay, kid.

596. Go for it."

597. So I sat down in the middle of the bus,

598. but nobody sat down beside me.

599. So, oh well.

600. One learns to let it roll off of you when you feel discrimination

601. staring you in the face.

602. - Oh, yeah.

603. Sure.

604. There's always the white people that come in they always have

605. something to say about the Chinese,

606. especially during the war...

607. and some of them took us for Japanese instead of Chinese,

608. and they would call us — like they always do — "yellow

609. belly," and all that kind of stuff.

610. - There were quite a few entertainers at that time who

611. were not Chineses per se, they would be Japanese...

612. Portuguese...

613. mixtures...

614. some of the Japanese entertainers were shipped off,

615. some of them had to flee town...

616. in order to avoid the camps.

617. I really don't much like looking back at that period because it

618. was... to me it was very sad.

619. - During the World War II when all the Japanese were being

620. interned in California, my partner and I were in New York

621. and we received an offer and a telegram it was okay,

622. we got this big deal to go to Hollywood to be with Kay Kyser

623. in this movie, and we were so happy over it because it would

624. have been a big break in our show business life.

625. - And we received a phone call, and the immigration officer

626. mentions that..."Understand that Toy — your partner — is

627. Japanese and you must leave California or she will have to

628. go to the internment camp, that is the law now."

629. - And we ended up by going back to New York and starting all the

630. way from scratch, and it was very hard for us.

631. We had to start right form the bottom again.

632. - After the war and into the 50s, the night club business starting

633. going down hill mainly because things started to change.

634. The boys came home.

635. They weren't interested in going to nightclubs,

636. they were interested in making a family.

637. People didn't want to spend the money on entertainment —

638. particularly nightclubs, theater... television.

639. And television was in its infancy,

640. but people were staying home watching to see what happened on

641. the set, and you had an awful lot of competition from other

642. areas that didn't exist before.

643. - So it really hurt a great deal for show business,

644. and particularly when you have a wonderful thing like a novelty

645. like the Forbidden City who really was a draw.

646. People really made an effort to come and see.

647. They had no reason to go anymore because they had already seen

648. Forbidden City.

649. They had already seen most of the acts that were there.

650. - The novelty wore off.

651. It showed because we had about six nightclubs in San Fransisco

652. — in Chinatown — and it ended up with only the Forbidden City

653. and the Sky Room.

654. The Sky Room was the last one to fold.

655. - We had to more or less compete with the clubs that were

656. springing up at that time — the discos and the topless bars —

657. now I'm taking you into the 60s — the little go-go dancers...

658. On the other hand we had the big Los Vegas shows — the big

659. spectaculars that they were putting on that was attracting

660. so many people — and our shows just couldn't compete with these

661. so — as far as I was concerned — the end of an era of show

662. business.

663. - And so ladies and gentlemen that concludes the first edition

664. of our shows here at the Forbidden City.

665. May I say to you one and all that you have been a most

666. delightful audience and on behalf of the cast and yours

667. truly, I'd like very much to thank you.

668. - Well, I always wanted to be an entertainer,

669. I wanted to sing, and I got in with the rest of them.

670. I felt that I'm able to get into the so-called job market of the

671. mainstream and prove myself that I could do that regardless of

672. race or background.

673. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.

674. Thank you very much everyone,

675. and now, ladies and gentlemen, we'd like to give you a

676. presentation of a medley of the favorites by that Yankee Doodle

677. man George M Cohan.