Toshia Mori
Encyclopedia
Toshia Mori was a Japanese born actress, who had a brief career in American films during the 1930s. Born as Toshia Ichioka in Kyoto
, Mori moved to the United States when she was ten years old.
(1927) she was credited as Toshia Ichioka. In Streets of Shanghai (1927), she was credited as Toshiye Ichioka. In The Man Without a Face
she was also credited as Toshiye Ichioka. (The film is presumed lost.) Finally, she entered the sound era as Toshia Mori.
She played Miss Ling, in The Hatchet Man
(1932). In the same year, she played another Chinese character, "Butterfly", in Roar of the Dragon, an action-melodrama produced by David O. Selznick
. The storyline consisted of a group of Occidentals turning to an alcoholic riverboat captain Chauncey Carson (Richard Dix
) for help when they are trapped at a hotel in a Mandarin town under siege.
In 1932, Toshia became the only Asian and non-Caucasian actress to be selected as a WAMPAS Baby Star
, an annual list of young and promising film actresses. The whole WAMPAS jamboree may have actually led to the most significant film role of her career. For shortly afterwards, she was in Frank Capra
's film The Bitter Tea of General Yen
(1933), playing a role which was scheduled for Anna May Wong
at first. The story involved the erotically charged relationship between a missionary (Barbara Stanwyck
) and a Chinese warlord (Nils Asther
). The script also featured a vital character, "Mah-Li", a concubine whose scheming throws a spanner into the plots and plans of those around her. Capra and Columbia Pictures
, both extremely happy with her work, awarded her third billing. The final icing on the cake may have come from Time
magazine's review: "Stanwyck is satisfactory … but the most noteworthy female member of the cast is Toshia Mori, a sloe-eyed Japanese girl…"
She returned to minor characters in her subsequent films, in The Painted Veil
(1934), starring Greta Garbo
, she materializes as the centerpiece of "The Moon Festival" sequence. In Chinatown Squad (1935) she played "Wanda".
In the 1930s, she married a Chinese-American from San Francisco, Allen Jung. In Charlie Chan at the Circus
(1936), she was credited as Shia Jung. She was Su Toy, a sexy contortionist unsuccessfully pursued by Lee Chan (Keye Luke
). In Charlie Chan on Broadway
in 1937. Lee (Keye Luke
) gets himself hooked up with Ling Tse (Toshia Mori), pert employee of the Hottentot Club. This time she was credited as Tashia Mori.
In Port of Hate (1939), she played Bo Chang. Again, credited as Shia Jung, she earned the film's best reviews.
on his short films, Ripley's Believe It or Not. She died in The Bronx, New York, aged 83. She is interred at the Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York.
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
, Mori moved to the United States when she was ten years old.
Early life and career
She began her film career in the late 1920s in silent films as a teenager. In Mr. WuMr. Wu
Mr. Wu is a 1927 silent movie about a Chinese patriarch who tries to exact revenge on the Englishman who seduced his daughter.-Cast:*Lon Chaney - Mr. Wu/Grandfather Wu*Louise Dresser - Mrs. Gregory*Renee Adoree - Wu Nang Ping...
(1927) she was credited as Toshia Ichioka. In Streets of Shanghai (1927), she was credited as Toshiye Ichioka. In The Man Without a Face
The Man Without a Face (1928 serial)
The Man Without a Face is a 1928 adventure film serial directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet. The film is now considered to be lost.-Cast:* Allene Ray* Walter Miller* E. H. Calvert* Sojin* Gladden James* Richard Neill...
she was also credited as Toshiye Ichioka. (The film is presumed lost.) Finally, she entered the sound era as Toshia Mori.
She played Miss Ling, in The Hatchet Man
The Hatchet Man
The Hatchet Man is a Pre-Code film directed by William A. Wellman and starring Edward G. Robinson. Warner Bros. had purchased the David Belasco/Achmed Abdullah play The Honorable Mr. Wong about the Tong gang wars...
(1932). In the same year, she played another Chinese character, "Butterfly", in Roar of the Dragon, an action-melodrama produced by David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick was an American film producer. He is best known for having produced Gone with the Wind and Rebecca , both of which earned him an Oscar for Best Picture.-Early years:...
. The storyline consisted of a group of Occidentals turning to an alcoholic riverboat captain Chauncey Carson (Richard Dix
Richard Dix
Richard Dix was an American motion picture actor who achieved popularity in both silent and sound film. His standard on-screen image was that of the rugged and stalwart hero.-Early life:...
) for help when they are trapped at a hotel in a Mandarin town under siege.
WAMPAS Baby Stars
The WAMPAS Baby Stars was a promotional campaign sponsored by the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers in the United States which honored thirteen young women each year whom they believed to be on the threshold of movie stardom. They were selected from 1922 to 1934, and annual...
, an annual list of young and promising film actresses. The whole WAMPAS jamboree may have actually led to the most significant film role of her career. For shortly afterwards, she was in Frank Capra
Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...
's film The Bitter Tea of General Yen
The Bitter Tea of General Yen
The Bitter Tea of General Yen is a pre-Code 1933 film, directed by Frank Capra based on the novel by Grace Zaring Stone and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Nils Asther....
(1933), playing a role which was scheduled for Anna May Wong
Anna May Wong
Anna May Wong was an American actress, the first Chinese American movie star, and the first Asian American to become an international star...
at first. The story involved the erotically charged relationship between a missionary (Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
) and a Chinese warlord (Nils Asther
Nils Asther
Nils Anton Alfhild Asther was a Danish-born Swedish actor active in Hollywood from 1926 to the mid 1950s, known for his beautiful face and often called "the male Greta Garbo"...
). The script also featured a vital character, "Mah-Li", a concubine whose scheming throws a spanner into the plots and plans of those around her. Capra and Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
, both extremely happy with her work, awarded her third billing. The final icing on the cake may have come from Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine's review: "Stanwyck is satisfactory … but the most noteworthy female member of the cast is Toshia Mori, a sloe-eyed Japanese girl…"
She returned to minor characters in her subsequent films, in The Painted Veil
The Painted Veil (1934 film)
The Painted Veil is a 1934 drama film made by MGM. It was directed by Ryszard Bolesławski and produced by Hunt Stromberg from a screenplay by John Meehan, Salka Viertel, and Edith Fitzgerald, adapted from the 1925 W. Somerset Maugham novel The Painted Veil. The music score was by Herbert Stothart,...
(1934), starring Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo , born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, was a Swedish film actress. Garbo was an international star and icon during Hollywood's silent and classic periods. Many of Garbo's films were sensational hits, and all but three were profitable...
, she materializes as the centerpiece of "The Moon Festival" sequence. In Chinatown Squad (1935) she played "Wanda".
In the 1930s, she married a Chinese-American from San Francisco, Allen Jung. In Charlie Chan at the Circus
Charlie Chan at the Circus
Charlie Chan at the Circus is the 11th film produced by Fox starring Warner Oland as Charlie Chan. A seemingly harmless family outing drags a vacationing Chan into a murder investigation.- Plot :...
(1936), she was credited as Shia Jung. She was Su Toy, a sexy contortionist unsuccessfully pursued by Lee Chan (Keye Luke
Keye Luke
Keye Luke was a Chinese-born American actor. He was the first Chinese-American contract player signed with RKO, Universal and, later, MGM and is generally acknowledged as the leading Asian-American actor of this era of American cinema.-Background:...
). In Charlie Chan on Broadway
Charlie Chan on Broadway
Charlie Chan On Broadway is a Charlie Chan film. This is the 15th film starring Oland as Chan and produced by Fox.- Synopsis :It starts out with Chan in this exotic locale . He's there on business, but before he can do anything about his business, someone shows up dead...
in 1937. Lee (Keye Luke
Keye Luke
Keye Luke was a Chinese-born American actor. He was the first Chinese-American contract player signed with RKO, Universal and, later, MGM and is generally acknowledged as the leading Asian-American actor of this era of American cinema.-Background:...
) gets himself hooked up with Ling Tse (Toshia Mori), pert employee of the Hottentot Club. This time she was credited as Tashia Mori.
In Port of Hate (1939), she played Bo Chang. Again, credited as Shia Jung, she earned the film's best reviews.
Post-cinema life
After her film career ended, Mori worked as a researcher for Robert RipleyRobert Ripley
Robert LeRoy Ripley was an American cartoonist, entrepreneur and amateur anthropologist, who created the world famous Ripley's Believe It or Not! newspaper panel series, radio show, and television show which feature odd 'facts' from around the world.Subjects covered in Ripley's cartoons and text...
on his short films, Ripley's Believe It or Not. She died in The Bronx, New York, aged 83. She is interred at the Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York.
Filmography
| Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
| 1927 1927 in film -Events:*January 10 - Fritz Lang's science-fiction fantasy Metropolis premieres in Germany.*April 7 - Abel Gance's Napoleon often considered his best known and greatest masterpiece, premiers at the Paris Opéra and would demonstrate techniques and equipment that would not be used for years to... |
Mr. Wu Mr. Wu Mr. Wu is a 1927 silent movie about a Chinese patriarch who tries to exact revenge on the Englishman who seduced his daughter.-Cast:*Lon Chaney - Mr. Wu/Grandfather Wu*Louise Dresser - Mrs. Gregory*Renee Adoree - Wu Nang Ping... |
|
|
| 1927 1927 in film -Events:*January 10 - Fritz Lang's science-fiction fantasy Metropolis premieres in Germany.*April 7 - Abel Gance's Napoleon often considered his best known and greatest masterpiece, premiers at the Paris Opéra and would demonstrate techniques and equipment that would not be used for years to... |
Streets of Shanghai |
|
|
| 1928 1928 in film -Events:Although some movies released in 1928 had sound, most were still silent.* July 28 - Lights of New York is released by Warner Brothers. It is the first "100% Talkie" feature film, in that dialog is spoken throughout the film... |
The Man Without a Face The Man Without a Face (1928 serial) The Man Without a Face is a 1928 adventure film serial directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet. The film is now considered to be lost.-Cast:* Allene Ray* Walter Miller* E. H. Calvert* Sojin* Gladden James* Richard Neill... |
|
|
| 1932 1932 in film -Events:*Cary Grant's film career begins*Katharine Hepburn's film career begins*Shirley Temple's film career begins*Disney released Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon in three-strip Technicolor film.*Santa, first sound film made in Mexico released.... |
Secrets of Wu Shin | ||
| 1932 1932 in film -Events:*Cary Grant's film career begins*Katharine Hepburn's film career begins*Shirley Temple's film career begins*Disney released Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon in three-strip Technicolor film.*Santa, first sound film made in Mexico released.... |
The Hatchet Man The Hatchet Man The Hatchet Man is a Pre-Code film directed by William A. Wellman and starring Edward G. Robinson. Warner Bros. had purchased the David Belasco/Achmed Abdullah play The Honorable Mr. Wong about the Tong gang wars... |
Miss Ling, Secretary | |
| 1932 1932 in film -Events:*Cary Grant's film career begins*Katharine Hepburn's film career begins*Shirley Temple's film career begins*Disney released Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon in three-strip Technicolor film.*Santa, first sound film made in Mexico released.... |
Roar of the Dragon | Butterfly | |
| 1933 1933 in film -Events:* March 2 - King Kong premieres in New York City.* June 6 - The first drive-in theater opens, in Camden, New Jersey.* British Film Institute founded.... |
The Bitter Tea of General Yen The Bitter Tea of General Yen The Bitter Tea of General Yen is a pre-Code 1933 film, directed by Frank Capra based on the novel by Grace Zaring Stone and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Nils Asther.... |
Mah-Li, Concubine | |
| 1934 1934 in film -Events:*January 26 - Samuel Goldwyn purchases the film rights to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from the L. Frank Baum estate for $40,000.*February 19 - Bob Hope marries Dolores Reade... |
The Painted Veil The Painted Veil (1934 film) The Painted Veil is a 1934 drama film made by MGM. It was directed by Ryszard Bolesławski and produced by Hunt Stromberg from a screenplay by John Meehan, Salka Viertel, and Edith Fitzgerald, adapted from the 1925 W. Somerset Maugham novel The Painted Veil. The music score was by Herbert Stothart,... |
Centrepiece |
|
| 1935 1935 in film -Events:*Judy Garland signs a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .*Seven year old Shirley Temple wins a special Academy Award.*The Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment started in order to educate the Bantu peoples.-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:... |
Chinatown Squad | Wanda | |
| 1936 1936 in film The year 1936 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May 29 - Fritz Lang's first Hollywood film Fury, starring Spencer Tracy and Bruce Cabot, is released.*November 6 - first Porky Pig animated cartoon... |
Charlie Chan at the Circus Charlie Chan at the Circus Charlie Chan at the Circus is the 11th film produced by Fox starring Warner Oland as Charlie Chan. A seemingly harmless family outing drags a vacationing Chan into a murder investigation.- Plot :... |
Su Toy, Contortionist |
Keye Luke Keye Luke was a Chinese-born American actor. He was the first Chinese-American contract player signed with RKO, Universal and, later, MGM and is generally acknowledged as the leading Asian-American actor of this era of American cinema.-Background:... ); credited as Shia Jung |
| 1937 1937 in film The year 1937 in film involved some significant events, including the Walt Disney production of the first full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.- Events :*April 16 - Way Out West premieres in the US.... |
Charlie Chan on Broadway Charlie Chan on Broadway Charlie Chan On Broadway is a Charlie Chan film. This is the 15th film starring Oland as Chan and produced by Fox.- Synopsis :It starts out with Chan in this exotic locale . He's there on business, but before he can do anything about his business, someone shows up dead... |
Ling Tse, receptionist | |
| 1938 1938 in film The year 1938 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*January — MGM announces that Judy Garland would be cast in the role of "Dorothy" in the upcoming Wizard of Oz motion picture. Ray Bolger is cast as the "Tinman" and Buddy Ebsen is cast as the "Scarecrow". At Bolger's insistence,... |
Port of Hate | Bo Chang | Credited as Shia Jung |
Further reading
- The Wampas Baby Stars: A Biographical Dictionary, 1922-1934 (ISBN 0-7864-0756-5) includes biographies of every actress selected, including lists of films in which she appeared.
External links
- The WAMPAS Baby Stars
- The Bitter Tea of General Yen A page on the 1933 Toshia Mori movie
- Toshia Mori
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJxW_lyXYFg1933 "Stars Of Tomorrow". Young stars of 1933 featured in this newsreel with Johnny Mack BrownJohnny Mack BrownJohnny Mack Brown was an All-American college football player and film actor originally billed as John Mack Brown at the height of his screen career.-Early life:...
and Willy PoganyWilly PoganyWilliam Andrew Pogany was a prolific Hungarian illustrator of children's and other books.-Biography:...
]