One thing I might add is that in that era of movies, most of your elder Asians were probably not as educated and spoke with broken english. Diction is a must when it comes to talkie films. This would also explain why Peter Lorre portrayed Mr. Moto and Boris Karloff, Mr. Wong. Of course having Box Office names in these roles didn't hurt much either.
His poor English was one reason why Sojin only did the one Chan entry of The Chinese Parrot and quit making English-language movies altogether in 1930.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Characters: The Real English speaking Chan
I think it should be mentioned that although the actors on the big and little screen, Oland, Toler, Winters Nash and Young, just kidding about that last one, who portrayed Charlie Chan may have done so using a pronounced accent their command of the English language was by no means inferior. They spoke it very well. I don't think it could be accurately described as "broken". With the possible exception of Ross Martin I thought they sounded authentic and tried not to be overbearing. The radio version of Chan was a different story. I ones I've heard were very stereotyped and "unreal sounding'. It is this over-the-top perception of Charlie Chan that many of his critics believe is the norm, while the opposite is true.