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Auction History Result 7j0716 MR. WONG IN CHINATOWN LC 1939 Asian detective Boris Karloff finds clue, censored dead woman! Date Sold 10/22/2024 Sold For: Login or Register to see sold price. An Original Vintage Theatrical Movie Lobby Card (LC; measures 11" x 14" [28 x 36 cm]) (Learn More) Mr. Wong in Chinatown, the 1939 William Nigh San Francisco California Chinese detective mystery crime thriller ("Based on the 'James Lee Wong' series in Collier's Magazine written by Hugh Wiley") starring Boris Karloff (in the title role as James Lee Wong), Marjorie Reynolds, Grant Withers, Peter George Lynn, Huntley Gordon, and Angelo Rossitto (as the "Mute Dwarf"). Note that there was a character called "Mr. Wong" in the 1935 movie "The Mysterious Mr. Wong", and he was played by Bela Lugosi. In 1938, "Mr. Wong, Detective" was made, starring Boris Karloff in the title role, and this Mr. Wong was an Chinese detective and had no relationship to the earlier Bela Lugosi character (this was based on a series of "James Lee Wong" stories in Collier's Magazine written by Hugh Wiley). This proved popular, and there were four more movies with Karloff playing Mr. Wong in 1939 and 1940. In 1940, he left the role, and one more movie was made, "Phantom of Chinatown", starring Keye Luke in the lead role, but that was the last of the series (perhaps it was the loss of Karloff that ended the series, or perhaps 1940 was not a good time for U.S. movies with an Asian hero). NOTE: Click on linked names to see a biography. Important Added Info: This is a most unusual card. The card originally had a dead woman in the lower right, and censors in Canada at that time were fanatical about not showing dead women or guns. We can't say for certain that this card was used in Canada, but it seems extremely likely, and some truly demented person put a great deal of effort into painting over the dead woman, and creating a patterned green area (no doubt supposed to be carpet), and they finished out the bottom of Karloff's shoe and his kneeling leg! It is surprisingly well done, and we leave it to the bidders to decide whether this is a major defect or a cool addition to the card (but the card also has a number of other defects, as described below). Also note that we have a scan of both the front and the back of this lobby card, which should greatly help you see what defects it has. Condition: fair. The card was censored with paint in the lower right (see above). Otherwise, the card only has some tiny brown dot stains scattered in the blank borders. Given this card's most unusual defects, please look closely at our super-sized images before bidding on it. Learn More about condition grades 
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