OK, so I'm doing research on the 1967 Julie Andrews movie Thoroughly Modern Millie in preparation to write a review of the stage version of same. For those of you who don't know, both the movie and stage version include a bizarre, uneasy, racist subplot about a white slavery kidnapping ring run by immigrants from Hong Kong. I am not kidding.
Anyhoo, I go to my favorite website of all time, IMDB, to refresh my memory of the cast, and what do I find?
Jack Soo .... Oriental #1
Pat Morita .... Oriental #2
Wow. All I can say is Wow.
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FWIW - True, the 1967 movie has the white slavery subplot. But the reason it's there is because it's spoofing silent films of the 20's, and that's the kind of plots they used. I know it doesn't take away the fact that it's culturally insensitive - but even in 1967 it was not meant to be taken seriously. The utter ludicrousness of that premise is part of the joke. Unfortunately, the Broadway show doesn’t spin the plot with the same “wink” – instead they put everything out there literally. Maybe because in 1967 there were lots of moviegoers who could still fondly recall the 1920’s – whereas there are very few left alive today. Theatergoers wouldn’t get the reference to “Perils of Pauline” and all those serials.
In my opinion, that decision by the Broadway creative team stripped “Millie” of it’s sharpest wit: it’s satirical comment on that decade. It also leaves the show open to charges of racism. (They are obviously aware of this possibility, because they rewrote Mrs. Meers as an American woman pretending to be Chinese – so they wouldn’t have an Oriental villain.)
As for Mr. Soo and Mr. Morita – they were both wonderful in the film, IMHO. For an earlier musical role, take a look at Mr. Soo in “Flower Drum Song”.
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