Dear Rush,

Thank you for scheduling "The Black Camel" (1931) as part of a birthday celebration for the late, great Honolulu police detective Chang Apana.

As we are aware, it was during the filming of this picture that Apana and Oland met and posed for the famous photograph posted on this website.

Even though Apana does not appear in "The Black Camel," his presence is felt.

While in Honolulu, a New York Times reporter captured Apana's visit to "The Black Camel" movie set in Waikiki. In the 7/21/31 artcle, the writer mentions that Apana enjoyed Warner Oland's portrayal of his fictional counterpart, Charlie Chan.

In my humble opinion, if it won't for Chang Apana working as a detective with the Honolulu Police Department during the times of Earl Derr Biggers' vacations to Honolulu, our Charlie Chan would be a different character than he is today.

To the family, friends, and fans of detective Chang Apana, congratulations on the anniversary of the birthday of one of Honolulu's most colorful characters.

Aloha,

Steve Fredrick
Steve's Tours and Films
Including the Charlie Chan Mystery Tour

Dear Steve,

Thank you. And for those who don't know it, you are our Chang Apana expert, to be sure, and your Chan Mystery Tour is a treasure for anyone visiting Honolulu who wishes to retrace the steps of that venerable and storied detective! It is pretty certain, as you say, that without Detective Chang Apana, Charlie Chan would not have been the Chan that we have known for so many decades.

If anyone missed our sharing of "The Black Camel" last night, we will be "re-running" it later in January as our 2012 Charlie Chan Tour gets rolling.

Sincerely,
Rush