Life Takes An Interesting Turn

A couple days ago I put a notice on Nextdoor asking if anyone had piano music they were no longer using: classical, opera, songs from the 20s and 30s. A young woman wrote back to me, saying she had the complete score for an early silent Anna May Wong film, and she had always wanted to hear it played. You probably should read that again—I had to. The Toll of the Sea (1922) is Anna’s first starring role; she was 17. It’s also the first 2-color film by Technicolor, and the gorgeous red and green palette is quite wonderful. Many of the titles are hand-painted to take advantage of this innovation. The sexist racist story is a Madame Butterfly variant, and does not have a happy ending. 
My Nextdoor friend is doing a project on the Chinese-America actress, who was often passed over for roles that were then assigned to white women in yellow-face; Wong was a beautiful gifted performer at a low-point in Hollywood history, and was most often cast as the exotic evil siren, a situation that resulted in her moving to London to access roles that were equal to her talent.  It seems like I’ve known her name all my life, and now I’m up for watching all Anna May Wong’s films.

So, the score. Fifty pages of complicated music, complete with instructions on what to do if there are delays due to problems with the projector. I’ll give it a try, but I wish I was a real piano player and could do this project justice. Turns out Nextdoor provides very Bliplike connections.