Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"I got off the ship in San Francisco and took the train to New England. The enthusiasm of the child was very strange. I just got off the ship and was on the train again, and I didn't feel tired. I looked at the grasslands and farmland next to the railroad tracks in fascination. If it hadn't appeared Throw in a train crash, a robbery and a shooting and the ride would be perfect.

We heard gunshots first, and then the women and children were frightened and started crying. Then two vicious robbers came over with revolvers. We were all so scared that we fell to the ground. After succeeding in the robbery, they shot the train driver and fled on horseback. They could only continue to move forward by telegraphing the train company to send another driver. "

Ronald returned to the hotel in New Haven and began to carefully read the book written by his ancestor Li Enfu. It turned out that he was a child from China who came to America to study in 1873 under the arrangement of Yong Hong, the first Chinese graduate of Yale.

This was an article he published in a newspaper after his marriage, recalling his childhood. It became very popular after it was published, and was finally compiled and published as.

"It just seems like my imagination is a little richer. The train robbers are too bizarre." After Ronald finished evaluating the plot, he continued reading.

“I was assigned to attend high school in Springfield, and everyone was assigned a family, and we had room and board with that family. A doctor named Henry Vaille was my host family.

When the train arrived at the Springfield train station, Sarah, the wife of the doctor who came to pick me up, put her arms around me and kissed me passionately. That was the first kiss I remember. This doesn't mean my mother doesn't love me, it's just that we express it differently. I will always remember this kiss. "

No wonder since my great-grandfather, everyone’s middle name abbreviation is V. This is probably Li Enfu’s tradition. All boys’ middle names are named Vaille to commemorate his unforgettable kiss.

Ronald figured out the origin of his middle name. No wonder all the men in the family, starting from his great-grandfather, had the same middle name.

After carefully putting all the family documents away, Ronald returned the car in New Haven, bought a bus ticket, returned to the Port Building Bus Terminal on Eighth Avenue in New York, immediately called a taxi, and headed home. Find aunt.

"Aunt, guess what I discovered? My ancestors are from China." Ronald excitedly put down the document and reported his findings to Aunt Karen.

"Oh, really?" Auntie rewarded her with biscuits and coffee.

"What, you knew this before?"

"I know something." Aunt Karen went to the back room and took out a wedding photo of herself and her dead husband. On it, her parents stood on both sides of her aunt and her husband.

Smile a lot.

"Your mother and I fell in love with your father and Steve respectively. But Steve and I's wedding ceremony was held in Staten Island, and your parents did get married in Massachusetts."

"Why?" Ronald was puzzled.

"It's funny to think about it now, but in the 1950s, anti-miscegenation laws had not been lifted in every state in the United States. In southern states, this was a felony that would lead to court annulment. Although New York State did not have this law, Stanton The conservative forces on the island are also not very accepting of intermarriage between Chinese and white women.

If it is discovered that your father is of Chinese descent and he marries your mother, we are afraid there will be trouble. Your mother, who was one of the most beautiful young women in Toteville at the time, was married to a man from out of state, and many local boys swore to compete with him. "

"Is it so exaggerated?" Ronald did not expect that racial discrimination in America was so serious before the civil rights movement.

"Yes, there were slaves on Staten Island before the Civil War. So for the sake of safety, they went to your father's hometown, Massachusetts, the most open and tolerant state in America."

"Oh, then why didn't you tell me before?" Ronald had to avoid conservative areas when he heard about getting married. He was also glad that he was not reborn in the 1950s and 1960s.

"I have always agreed with Dr. King's proposition that a person should be judged by his talents and achievements, rather than by his ethnicity and skin color. Look at you, your hair is dark blond and your eyes are amber. Even if you are your great ancestor As a Chinese, you only have one-sixteenth of your blood.

America is not about ethnicity, it is about personal struggle. You are of Chinese and British descent. On your mother's side there are French, German, maybe Nordic and Irish people. Where are you from? "

That's true. Ronald nodded and said, "I am an American."

The next day, Ronald's interest did not diminish and he went directly to the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue to look for the deeds of the great ancestor Li Enfu. Although I don't have much Chinese ancestry, I was Chinese in my previous life. When I encountered such a twists and turns and bizarre story, I wanted to find out what happened. This real incident that happened to me could almost be made into a movie.

"Yan Phou Lee", using Gaozu's English name as the key word, I can actually find some of his past deeds in the library's classification cards.

In 1887, the year of his wedding, in addition to publishing his first novel, he also published a very powerful article in a Boston newspaper.

This was a speech delivered by Lee Eun-fu at Yale University, which directly addressed the anti-Chinese movement that was raging on the West Coast at that time. At that time, in the Chinese settlement in San Francisco, white people shouted the slogan "The Chinese must leave" and legislated not to accept the naturalization of Chinese immigrants, but also to drive them away and return to their hometowns.

Li Enfu countered this with a speech that "the Chinese must stay", pointing out the huge contribution of Chinese Americans to the construction of the trans-America railway, and also pointed out that Chinese Americans are a civilized race with a long and great history, and are taught by philosophers like Confucius. . The full text was published in the newspapers of the time.

It is said that a New York State senator happened to hear Li Enfu's speech at the Central Church in New Haven. He jokingly said that Li Enfu must leave, otherwise he would not be able to run for the Senate position with such an orator.

In the author introduction of the article, some of Li Enfu’s resume was also mentioned.

He was in a public high school and got first place in English every year. He was also an important player on the school's baseball team. Rong Hong, who was in charge of students studying in the United States at the time, saw that he had a talent for language and specially arranged for him to take the Yale exam to advocate for the improvement of the treatment of Chinese in China.

When he first came to the United States, he happened to encounter the famous train robber Jesse James in San Francisco and robbed him, killing more than 30 people. Fortunately, the students are safe and sound, otherwise we would not be able to hear such a wonderful speech today.

"It seems that we really encountered a train robber?" Ronald then realized that it turned out that Gao Zu did not write it, but it was a real story. Then the value of this book needs to be re-evaluated. Maybe it contains Li Enfu’s real historical memories.

In another report first published in the Boston Globe in 1890, Ronald also found a report on the divorce of Li Eunfu and Yin Elizabeth Jerome.

In New England, especially Massachusetts and Connecticut, the folk customs are relatively free and open. When Li Enfu married a girl from the Jerome family, the people were not affected by the anti-Chinese sentiment on the West Coast. There was not much discrimination against Li Enfu, but the couple went out together. Often surrounded by people.

But after Li Enfu wrote this article against anti-Chinese, he was hated by conservative forces. When he went to San Francisco to investigate the deportation of Chinese workers and was preparing to write a series of reports, Yin Lisabai's mother had a problem with him, and the two eventually divorced.

Jerome's family only has one daughter, Elizabeth, so he unusually published his daughter's divorce statement and his will arrangement in the newspaper, and had a Quaker priest witness that after his death, his property of $100,000 (approximately equal to One million in the early 1980s) was left to his daughter to raise a pair of children.

After staying in New York for several days, Ronald went to the library every day to look for traces of his ancestors. Finally his agent couldn't take it anymore and called to catch Ronald.

"Ronald, are you writing any new scripts? I heard from your aunt that you go to the library every day?" Niceta received several new scripts for Ronald to direct, and hoped that Ronald, who was stranded in New York, would hurry up. Back to Los Angeles.

"Aha, no. I did find my father's family information. My grandfather and great-grandfather, I found their history. I have been looking for their historical traces these two days. Do you know? My grandfather and My great-grandfathers were both fighter pilots and died on the European battlefield.”

"Hahaha, that would be a perfect fit. Katzenberg from Paramount called me personally. He found someone to write a script about a naval fighter pilot, and he wanted to invite you to direct it."

"Oh, World War I or World War II?" Ronald recalled that when he was filming a Saab commercial, he searched for a long time before finding some air combat movies shot in the latter part of World War II.

"No, if you are interested in the latest fighter jet, come to Los Angeles and we will talk to Katzenberg as soon as possible."

"Okay, I'll go back right away. Also... I've recently become interested in the history of Japanese and Chinese Americans. Can you help me find any dramas about these ethnic groups in Asia that are suitable for adaptation into scripts?"

"Why? Are Asian stories popular now? What rumors have you heard in New York?" Niceta was very perceptive.

Ronald was about to tell him about his Chinese ancestry, but remembered the discriminatory words his aunt said about white conservatives, and swallowed his words back.

"Well, the Chinese Americans in Detroit and the Chinese Americans here in New York are marching again, and the Japanese Americans are also participating. The momentum is huge, and the murderers are going to be prosecuted in federal court. I'm wondering, will this be a hot spot? And' The image of Master Miyagi in "The Dragon King" is very good. I heard from Jodie Foster that she was also deeply impressed by this role. Maybe this is also a hot spot?"

"What, you saw Judy? Well, come back as soon as possible, and I will help you find it as soon as possible."

Changxiang Chinese website

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