The Blue Lotus magazine issue 50

https://issuu.com/martinabradley/docs/the_blue_lotus_magazine_50

Sessue Hayakawa heart throb

Until recently, I had never heard of Sessue Hayakawa, although I have must have watched him as Colonel Saito in David Lean’s ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’ which, in the England of my youth, played on TV screens most Christmases, though I frequently confuse that film with Nagisa Ōshima’s ‘Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence’ (1983).

From that youth I only remember Asian characters, not Asian actors. The ‘Chinese’ detective Charlie Chan was, incidentally, written by the non-Asian Earl Derr Biggers for a series of ‘Mystery' novels. The character of Charlie Chan was occasionally played on screen by nine different actors over the years, these include George Kuwa (Keichii Kuwahara) in a 1926 serial, Kamiyama Sojin in a 1928 film, E. L. Park in a 1929 film, then Warner Oland in 16 films, 1931-37; Sidney Toler, in 22 films, 1938-47; Roland Winters in six films, 1948-52, and none of those actors were Chinese, although the early actors, George Kuwa and Sōjin Kamiyama, were Japanese. In 1981, the British actor of Russian descent Peter Ustinov (Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov) played the lead in Clive Donner’s ‘Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen’.

Then there was the Chinese character Fu Manchu in some 18 books written by another non-Asian writer, the British Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward, better known as Sax Rohmer. The character Fu Manchu continued after Rohmer’s death in 1959, and his total appearances are 25 to date.

In films, the dastardly evil criminal genius Fu Manchu had been played by Harry Agar(1924) Warner Oland (1929 - 1931), Boris Karloff (1932), Lou Marcelle (1939–1940), Henry Brandon (1940), John Carradine (1952), Glen Gordon (1956), Christopher Lee (1965 - 1969), Peter Sellers (1980) and Nicolas Cage (2007), and none of those actors were Asian.

All that was to change for me when that Hong Kong legend, Bruce Lee, came on the Kung Fu film scene during the 1970s. I was quickly to learn that not only did Hong Kong have its own films, but so did China. China’s first film being ‘Dingjun Mountain’ (1905) and Hong Kong’s ‘Zhuangzi Tests His Wife’ in 1913, though there is much debate about which really was first China, or Hong Kong.

The Japanese actor Sessue Hayakawa didn’t get to play either Charlie Chan or Fu Manchu, but between 1914–1966 he did act in 80 feature films (including ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’, 1957). 

Kintaro Hayakawa (later known as Sessue, and as Kinbo by his friends) was born into a Japanese samurai family, on the 10th of June 1890. He lived in Nanaura township, Boso Peninsular, Honshu Island, Japan, with his father Yoichiro Hayakawa, the Governor of Chiba Prefecture, his mother Kane and four elder siblings.

As a young man Kintaro Hayakawa was fit and skilled in ‘Kendo’ and ‘Judo’, and longed to be in the Japanese navy like his father had been, but mishap and illness prevented that. Hayakawa felt disgrace (renshi-shin) that he had failed his warrior family and, to atone, he attempted hari-kari (Japanese suicide). Miraculously he survived the sword cuts to eventually embark on a journey to San Francisco, America, in 1909, aged 19. Crossing the United States from the West to the East, then to North, Hayakawa became an undergraduate in the University of Chicago then, in 1913, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science.

Intending to return to Japan, for a political career, Hayakawa’s attention was soon taken by amateur dramatics in a small Japanese theatre in Los Angeles, where he was awaiting the boat to return home. After being bitten by the acting bug, he soon changed his name from Kintaro, which he deemed unsuitable for an acting career, to ‘Sessue’, which means snow in Japanese, as he originated from Japan’s main island harbouring the famous snow-capped volcano Mount Fuji. 

Sessue Hayakawa acted in black and white silent films at the beginning of his film acting career. He was seen by the great film producer Thomas H. Ince in Hayakawa’s own production of the play ‘Typhoon’, (made famous by the great Laurence Irving in the Haymarket, London. 1912), Ince soon persuaded Hayakawa to follow him and starred him in his production of the play with Reginald Barker directing. In that film, Hayakawa was supported by fellow Japanese countrymen and women Tsuru Aoki, Henry Kotani and Thomas Kurihara (1914), the latter two formed part of a Japanese actors support group in the US, until returning to Japan in 1920 to be leaders of cinema there.

Hayakawa’s smouldering good looks soon had the ladies swooning. His career was built, not just on good acting, but on his oriental ‘bad boy’ appeal to women. He was undoubtedly a precursor to the matinee idol Rudolf Valentino, and had quickly became cinema’s hottest property. At the height of his career Hayakawa was reputed to be earning over 2 million dollars a year, the equivalent to 28 million dollars in modern terms.

In Kalton C. Lahue’s book ‘Gentlemen to the Rescue’ it’s indicated that…

“He owned a greystone castle at the corner of Franklin and Argyle in Hollywood (since replaced by a motel), where lavish entertainment in the early twenties was almost continuous—weekly luncheons were held for 150, buffet suppers for 900 with three different orchestras playing, and sit-down dinners hosted for 250 guests. Seven servants ran the place while Sessue and his wife, Tsuru Aoki (also a screen star) worked hard and played hard. Charles Ray with his solid gold doorknobs had nothing on the most cunning Oriental of the screen—Hayakawa owned a gold-plated Pierce-Arrow complete with liveried footman…”

A slew of best selling films, including ‘Typhoon’ and ‘The Cheat’ (directed by Cecil B. DeMille, 1915), helped Hayakawa make a name which was in every way equal to Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks. However, in the 1930s, Japan went from being friend of the United Staes of America to being an enemy. It became harder for Japanese actors to exist in US cinema. 

During the Second World War, Hayakawa was in France, fighting with the Resistance against the invading German army. He was rediscovered there by Humphrey Bogart's production team and was offered a role in the film ‘Tokyo Joe’ (1949), and later ‘Three Came Home’ (1950).

As well as acting, Hayakawa wrote several plays, painted watercolours, performed martial arts, wrote ‘Zen Showed me the Way’ (his autobiography, 1960), and in 1961 became a Zen master as well as a private acting coach.

Other film roles followed, up to and including ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’ in which Hyakawa was nominated for ‘best supporting actor’ in the 1958 Academy Awards. He died in 1973.

Cuisine Colchester (published in Travellers World India)

I currently hang my somewhat battered (travel worn) hat in the East of England, in the small British town of Colchester with a long history of diversity. I’d been away from my home town for 17 years, living first in India, then Malaysia and finally in Cambodia. Because of the current pandemic (Covid 19) I have, momentarily, returned back to Colchester to take stock.

Before the Romans came the place now known as  Colchester was home and settlement to a Celtic tribe - the Trinovantes.  In 44 AD it became the ‘first recorded town in Britain’, as the first capital of Roman Britain (known then as Camulodunum,  fortress - dunum of Camulos, god of war) in the nearly five hundred year history of Roman Britain. There are the remains of Roman villas and of walls built by the Romans still in evidence around the town and, incidentally, the Romans had brought with them all sorts of strange things, like figs, cherries, plums, damsons, mulberries, dates, olives, turnips, apples, pears, celery, carrots, cucumbers, asparagus, lentils, pine nuts, almonds, walnuts and sesame as well as coriander, dill and fennel,  grapes, wine and the cultivation of oysters, for which Colchester is now renown.

When I left, Colchester, like many small British towns, had presented a very limited range of cuisines. Wimpy (Britain’s first burger joint opened in London, 1954), then the American Kentucky Fried Chicken (1964) and McDonalds (1974) moved in to vie with the ‘traditional’ fish and chip shops (1863). 

Although the first Chinese (Cantonese) restaurant was opened in London in 1908 (by Chung Koon, a ship’s chef), Chinese restaurants and takeaways didn't really develop until after W.W.II with the influx of Hong Kong Cantonese migrants. 

Indian (Bengali) restaurants had their beginnings with British East India Company Army officer Sake Dean Mahomed, who founded London's first Indian restaurant, the ‘Hindoostane Coffee House’ in 1810. But Indian food in the UK  didn’t take off until the 1970s, when large numbers of people from East Pakistan (which was becoming  Bangladesh) came to England. 

The recent discovery of an ancient kebab shop (circa 1215) in Dunwich marks it as being ‘Britain’s oldest kebab shop’, yet it wasn’t until 1966 that Turkish (kebab) takeaways began their rise across the UK.

After seventeen years being away from Colchester, imagine my surprise when I discovered that Colchester has since become genuinely multi-ethnic and multicultural, enabling Colchestrians to embrace a momentous food evolution. Of course, food magazines, foodie TV shows and the fact that Colchester has an international university with a vast array of nationalities on its doorstep, has all helped to create the fusion of cuisines now available in restaurants and takeaways here.

In these glorious summer days, wandering around Colchester town you can witness a plethora of ‘burger’ places which, happily, include a menu of burgers ‘inspired by the flags of the world’, including the ‘Moroccan Burger’ which harbours falafel, vegan harissa mayo, pomegranate, pickled vegetables, hummus and a spiced apricot tagine paste, and the ‘Mexican’ with toasted Bretzel bun, fajita chicken, guacamole, deep fried jalapenos, onion, bell pepper, tequila and lime salad, sour cream, elemental cheese and salsa roja, courtesy of  ‘The Flag Burger’.

Aside from burgers, Colchester’s British Indian cuisine has evolved from Colchester’s first Indian restaurant - ‘Curry India’ (1964) and later the 1970s Bangladeshi dominance to include ‘South Indian’ Dosa (plain, Masala Dosa, Paneer Cheese Dosa, Egg Dosa etc etc etc) Uttapa (Plain or with tomato or onion) and the ‘North Indian’ Channa Batura, as well as the ubiquitous Tandoori or Tikka this that or the other. Now in Colchester (which has a long history with the British Army’s Gurkha Regiment) there is a ‘Gurkha’ restaurant serving ‘spiced kheer’ and ‘Gulab Jamun’, another advertises a ‘blend of Nepalese, Indian & Tibetan cuisine’ which also features the succulent Nepali ‘Momos’ (steamed or fried dumplings).

Not just Indian, but Chinese food in Colchester has moved past ‘Sweet and Sour Pork balls’ and ‘Egg Fried Rice’ to feature delicacies including Cantonese Dim Sum (which translated means ‘touch the heart’) with my favourites like ‘Chicken Feet in Black Bean Sauce’, ‘Char Siu Cheung Fun’ and ‘Pork & Prawn Dumplings’ (Siu Mai). Colchester’s  first ‘Chinese ‘ restaurant was ‘The Rice Bowl’, established in 1962. 

Elsewhere in Colchester you can find a version of ‘Malaysian NasiLemak’, and ‘Malaysian Sambal Kangkong’ as well as ‘Sliced Beef in Malaysian Rendang’, and even a fairly decent ‘Char Kuey Teow’ from the North Hill Noodle House. There are a variety of other Southeast Asian foods like Vietnamese ‘Beef Pho’, Indonesian ‘Chicken Laksa’ and  ‘King Prawn Pad Thai’. Aside from those there is ‘Inihaw na Liempo’ (Filipino Chargrilled pork belly slices, served with Jasmine rice, cherry tomatoes and cucumber slices) and ‘Pancit Bihon’ or Filipino rice noodles in an eatery hosting food from The Philippines.

Aside from all those delectable Asian eateries, Colchester presents a host of (Turkish) kebab eateries serving Shish Kofte Kebab, Lamb Shish Kebab and all the usual suspects. There is a Mauritian restaurant serving ‘Red Lentil Soup Aka Dhall Chow Chow’ and Mushroom And Grilled Pepper Curry Aka 'Rougaille De Champignons’. And some Trinidadian Cuisine (serving traditional ‘Curry Fine Beans’ with other dishes including ‘Potato and Pumpkin and Pepper Roti’), as well as African cuisine including ‘Nigerian Red Stew / Sauce with White Rice and Plantain’, ‘Cow foot in a spicy palm oil paste’ and ‘Isi-Ewu’ (spicy goat head delicacy amongst the Igbo people of Nigeria). And not to forget the various places experimenting with all kinds of pizza, including the usual Domino's Pizza, Pizza Express, Papa John’s, White Label Detroit Pizza and one exciting restaurant ‘Cuckoo Dough’, which will whip you up an amazing ‘Everyone’s Favourite’ of harissa lamb and pomegranate pizza (using double fermented sourdough), for lunch.

Since I’ve been back I’m wonderfully impressed by the great variety of cuisines that even a small British town can offer. In the supermarkets there are a multitude of ingredients which you can easily find to create dishes from a wide variety of cuisines, including flavourings such as the Middle Eastern ‘Sumac’, the North African ‘Harissa’ and even South East Asian ‘Galangal paste’. 

Also, around Colchester town, there are a few specialist mini-markets such as the Dhaulagiri Store, Geylanii Stores, Ichina, Feng Huang Oriental Shop, Queen Street Continental Supermarket, Noor Super Market and Yawee Foods selling ‘Continental’, ‘Turkish’, ‘Indian’, ‘African’ and ‘Caribbean’, as well as ‘Chinese’ food stuffs. There are many ingredients and hardware for you to cook tantalising meals for yourselves, and all conveniently found around Colchester.

All in all, it has been a surprise and a great delight too, to discover such a diversity of food and cuisines in my old home town of Colchester; there is much more diversity than I could have hoped to be possible, so much more than there had been when I exited all those years ago.