[PARTLETON, Bill] [WONG, Anna May] Studio Photograph, Affectionately Inscribed by Anna May Wong
N.p.: N.p., N.d.
Original 10” x 8” b&w studio publicity photograph. Very well preserved.
STUDIO PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPH OF ANNA MAY WONG, INSCRIBED BY HER TO MAKE-UP ARTIST BILL PARTLETON: ‘To Billy, with pleasant recollection of the hours spent with the make- up department. Best always, Anna May Wong’. Additionally signed by Wong in Chinese above the inscription.
The first Chinese-American film star, Anna May Wong [1905-1961] travelled to Europe to work in 1928, keen to free herself from Hollywood’s constant typecasting of her based on her ethnicity. (The named characters she played in Hollywood in the late 1920s include ‘A Flower of the Orient’, ‘Mandarin’s Sweetheart’ and ‘The Captain’s Chinese Love’.) Her performance in Piccadilly (1929) established her as a major star on both sides of the Atlantic.
Bill Partleton [1911-1975] was a distinguished make-up artist.
His career began on the Will Hay comedy Oh, Mr. Porter! (1937); one of his last credits is Robin Hardy’s cult classic The Wicker Man (1973). We can find no record of Partleton and Wong working together, but in the early 1930s, Partleton would have been working in a junior position, and without screen credit. This photograph’s inscription, referring to ‘hours spent with the make-up department’, suggests very strongly that the pair worked together during Wong’s European stay.
[PARTLETON, Bill] [WONG, Anna May] Studio Photograph, Affectionately Inscribed by Anna May Wong
N.p.: N.p., N.d.
Original 10” x 8” b&w studio publicity photograph. Very well preserved.
STUDIO PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPH OF ANNA MAY WONG, INSCRIBED BY HER TO MAKE-UP ARTIST BILL PARTLETON: ‘To Billy, with pleasant recollection of the hours spent with the make- up department. Best always, Anna May Wong’. Additionally signed by Wong in Chinese above the inscription.
The first Chinese-American film star, Anna May Wong [1905-1961] travelled to Europe to work in 1928, keen to free herself from Hollywood’s constant typecasting of her based on her ethnicity. (The named characters she played in Hollywood in the late 1920s include ‘A Flower of the Orient’, ‘Mandarin’s Sweetheart’ and ‘The Captain’s Chinese Love’.) Her performance in Piccadilly (1929) established her as a major star on both sides of the Atlantic.
Bill Partleton [1911-1975] was a distinguished make-up artist.
His career began on the Will Hay comedy Oh, Mr. Porter! (1937); one of his last credits is Robin Hardy’s cult classic The Wicker Man (1973). We can find no record of Partleton and Wong working together, but in the early 1930s, Partleton would have been working in a junior position, and without screen credit. This photograph’s inscription, referring to ‘hours spent with the make-up department’, suggests very strongly that the pair worked together during Wong’s European stay.
