Made-Up Asians: Yellowface During the Exclusion Era

Lee, Esther Kim

doi:doi:10.3998/mpub.12121434

Esther Kim Lee

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Made-Up Asians traces the history of yellowface, the theatrical convention of non-Asian actors putting on makeup and costume to look East Asian. Using specific case studies from European and U.S. theater, race science, and early film, Esther Kim Lee traces the development of yellowface in the U.S. context during the Exclusion Era (1862–1940), when Asians faced legal and cultural exclusion from immigration and citizenship. These caricatured, distorted, and misrepresented versions of Asians took the place of excluded Asians on theatrical stages and cinema screens. The book examines a wide-ranging set of primary sources, including makeup guidebooks, play catalogs, advertisements, biographies, and backstage anecdotes, providing new ways of understanding and categorizing yellowface as theatrical practice and historical subject. Made-Up Asians also shows how lingering effects of Asian exclusionary laws can still be seen in yellowface performances, casting practices, and anti-Asian violence into the 21st century.

Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Figures
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1. “A Dumb Chinese Slave”
Chapter 2. “Chinee by Nature”
Chapter 3. “How to Make-Up”
Chapter 4. “Dainty as Needs Be”
Chapter 5. “The Oriental Eye”
Epilogue
Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index

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Drawing of Joseph Grimaldi performing a Chinese character in a clown costume

Grimaldi as Whang-Fong singing “Thinks-I-to-Myself, Thinks-I"

From Chapter 1

Fig. 1. Grimaldi as Whang-Fong singing “Thinks-I-to-Myself, Thinks-I.” A drawing insert in Thinks-I-to-Myself, Who, Thinks-I-to-Myself; A Serio-Ludicro, Tragico-Comic Tale, vol. II, 9th ed. London: Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, 1816.

Mrs. Barnes as Aladdin

From Chapter 1

Fig. 3. Mrs. Barnes as Aladdin. George C. D. Odell, Annals of the New York Stage, vol. 2 [1708–1821]. New York: Columbia University Press, 1927, 454. Originally from the Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University.

Drawing of Charles Burke posing as six different characters with the actor’s portrait in the center

Mr. C. Burke, American Comedian. In Comedy, Drama, Farce & Burlesque

From Chapter 1

Fig. 4. The bottom image is of Charles Burke as Kazrac (Kasrac). “Mr. C. Burke, American Comedian. In Comedy, Drama, Farce & Burlesque.” University of Illinois Theatrical Print Collection. Courtesy of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Rare Book and Manuscript Library. http://imagesearch-test1.library.illinois.edu/cdm/ref/collection/actors/id/527

Photograph of Charles T. Parsloe wearing baggy clothes and a hat with long braided hair

Charles T. Parsloe, Jr. as Kazrac (Kasrack) in Aladdin; Or, the Wonderful Lamp in 1862

From Chapter 1

Fig. 5. Charles T. Parsloe Jr. as Kazrac (Kasrack) in Aladdin; Or, the Wonderful Lamp in 1862. Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University.

Photograph of Blanche Bates in a shoulder-and-up pose wearing makeup, costume, and wig to look like a Japanese woman

Blanche Bates as Yo-San from the cover of “Souvenir Programme” for The Darling of the Gods at the 1904 St. Louis World Exposition

From Chapter 4

Fig. 17. Blanche Bates as Yo-San. The photo appears on the cover of a “Souvenir Programme” for The Darling of the Gods at the 1904 St. Louis World Exposition. From the author’s personal collection.

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Made-Up Asians: Yellowface During the Exclusion Era

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Grimaldi as Whang-Fong singing “Thinks-I-to-Myself, Thinks-I"

Mrs. Barnes as Aladdin

Mr. C. Burke, American Comedian. In Comedy, Drama, Farce & Burlesque

Charles T. Parsloe, Jr. as Kazrac (Kasrack) in Aladdin; Or, the Wonderful Lamp in 1862

Blanche Bates as Yo-San from the cover of “Souvenir Programme” for The Darling of the Gods at the 1904 St. Louis World Exposition

Made-Up Asians: Yellowface During the Exclusion Era

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