One thing I have noticed in the later films, especially the Winters series, is that the aphorism aren't very original. It always seemed to me that by the time Roland Winters came to the role, the writers decided they ran out of clever sayings. I always thought there was only one or two per film but on seeing your lists for each of the six films there were several.

Upon closer inspection, I do notice that the sayings are very trite and forced and don't seem to offer much in the way of wisdom. This is probably the reason why I don't immediately notice them.

Dear Chris,

Well...by the the time of Charlie Chan's final adventures, the venerable detective was around 70 years old. By this time, through my conjecture, Mrs. Chan as well as his number three son Tommy had joined the illustrious Chan ancesters, thus the reason why Mr. Chan was now evidently based in San Francisco during the Winters era along with Number Two Son taking on the name "Tommy." Perhaps, with age and life's sadnesses, some of the "spark" was gone, and Mr. Chan's dwindling aphorisms reflected the detective's state of mind during his last few years prior to retirement.

By the way, I made a mistake in my last post. It was actually "BLACK MAGIC" ("MEETING AT MIDNIGHT") that had only three true aphoristic sayings. Also, of related interest, in the "Miscellaneous" section of our Study we have included the contents of a little promotional booklet entitled "Charlie Chan's Chinese Proverbs." This was used to help advertise the Charlie Chan radio show in 1935.

Here's to the enjoyment of hearing Charlie Chan utter each and every one of his aphorisms...

Sincerely,
Rush