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Re: Number One Son

Hi, Jamie!

It is still possible that your grandfather was the briefly-shown Number One Son in the original, English-Language version of "Charlie Chan Carries On." The person who played Chan's son in the Spanish language version, "Eran Trece" ("There Were Thirteen"), spoke his lines in Spanish. I still think it would be a possibility that he could have appeared in that first Chan picture. Some research with either the U.C.L.A. film library or the U.S.C. film library, or both, might shed some light on this mystery; they have all kinds of information available! The fact that your grandfather was in "Shanghai Express" with Warner Oland in 1932 might also point to the possibility that he was "Henry Chan" (as our Number One Son would have been called in "Charlie Chan Carries On" just the year before. Are you sure that the photos of your grandfather with Warner Oland were taken at the time of "Shanghai Express"? In some of the early scenes of that movie, Oland dressed and appeared very much like Charlie Chan!

If your grandfather told you seriously that he was Charlie Chan's Number One Son in one of the Charlie Chan movies, I would tend to believe that he was not mistaken. It is also possible that, as he worked with Warner Oland on at least one film ("The Shanghai Express"), that Mr. Oland, being the "character" that he could at times be, referred to your grandfather on the set as his son! However, I still think that our best possibility lies in your grandfather appearing very briefly in "Charlie Chan Carries On." He would have had a few short lines, as you can read through in our script-based reconstruction elsewhere at this site: http://www.charliechan.info/id392.html

This is all very fascinating as well as intriguing as to the possibility that your grandfather just may have been the very first person to portray Charlie Chan's Number One Son in the Chan film series!

Please let me know how your research may go on this. Also, if you are able to and feel so inclined, please feel free to scan your photos and send the files to me at: charliechanfamily@lycos.com

Also, I almost forgot: I believe that the rights to Charlie Chan belong to a company called Leisure Concepts.

Take care, and thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Rush Glick

Re: Number One Son

Hi Rush,

Thanks again for your incredible help--you're definitely THE authority on all things Chan!

I checked out the Spanish version of Charlie Chan Carries On. The son in that film could almost be my grandfather, but I don't think so. I have his headshot from 1931 and they're both the same body type and have similar faces, but I'm not a 100% certain. My grandfather is 10-15 years older in all the other films where I've seen him and I definitely recognize him.

I'll pursue that lost film, or what's left of it at UCLA and USC. (Oddly enough, I'm a novelist and wrote a book where one of the characters is on the set of Eyes of the Totem, a lost film shot in Tacoma, Washington. And a year later someone found a copy in the archives at MOMA in NY. They re-released it at the same Rialto Theater where it premiered 87 years earlier).

And that photo with Oland is definitely on the set of Shanghai Express. It's a shot of a group of actors and they're all in costume, plus I have some other behind the scenes photos. None of Dietrich or Anna May Wong, unfortunately.

I'll send a couple or photos via email.

The search continues...


Jamie

Re: Number One Son

Thank you, Jamie! I received the emails and those shots of your grandfather with Warner Oland on the set of "Shanghai Express" are wonderful! I'll continue my reply via a response to your email.

Sincerely,
Rush