THE GALLERY OF MADAME LIU-TSONG aka MADAME LIU-TSONG (1951) – The great Anna May Wong starred in this Dumont Network program, which was THE FIRST U.S. TELEVISION SERIES WITH AN ASIAN-AMERICAN STAR. Wong had worked in Silent Films like Peter Pan and The Thief of Bagdad, then as Fu Manchu’s daughter in a few talkies.
After decades of dramatic roles on the big screen, Anna May Wong was offered this vehicle in which even her character’s name was rooted in her real past – Wong Liu-Tsong was Anna May’s birth name.
Madame Liu-Tsong ran her title gallery as well as a string of others. She also did her own detective work regarding thefts, fakes, murders and other crimes involving the world of international art and relics. Think of the female pawn shop detective Miss Hagar Stanley from 1898.
If this show had been done in the 1970s it likely would have been produced in the format of programs like Murder, She Wrote, Banacek, The Snoop Sisters and others. In 1951 it was a half-hour detective series which lasted just 13 episodes. (Some sources mistakenly claim 10 or fewer.) Continue reading
