Lifestyles Of The Rich And (At One Time) Famous

Every so often I come across a card showing a spectacular house of someone who was certainly a big deal back in the day. Here are a couple and I'm sure I'll find more.

Sessue Hayakama began his career in the silent movie era as sort of an Asian Valentino -- before there was a Valentino. At one time he was the highest paid non-Caucasian movie star. He slowly dropped out of the spotlight, but ended his career with an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor in "Bridge Over the River Kwai."



Aimie Semple McPherson was one of the first hugely successful radio evangelists, after founding the Foursquare Church in Los Angeles. She began to fall out of favor after disappearing for five weeks, then reappearing, claiming to have been kidnapped. The real story came out when prosecutors purported she actually ran off to have an extra-marital affair. The case eventually fell apart, but her star was tarnished.

Ooo I like these! I collect postcards from around CA. Mostly from The Bay Area, San Bernardino/LA area. I would like more from Hollywood. I have one of Florence Vider at her home in Hollywood but I think that's it.

I saw Bridge on the River Kwai when I was 9
It made a lasting impression on me

I visited the bridge on my first trip to Thailand

Sessue Hayakama played a brilliant part
When he slapped the face of Alec Guiness (The Brit Commander)
and the resultant imprisonment in the bamboo cage, one could never forget

Anyone interested in the story cannot go past the Aussie paperback
to see what it was really like.
Weary Dunlop

Thirty years since I read it, but I recall David Malouf's novel The Great World as being particularly good about this period.

Here's a postcard that a friend mailed to me a couple of years ago, featuring Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California, the opulent residence of newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst.

Hearst Castle is an amazing place to visit. I've been a couple times and highly recommend it.

Great cards and history. And a reminder that wealth and fame is fleeting.

In 2020, Hayakawa's life story was told as part of PBS's documentary Asian Americans. That was in the USA. He has been quite honored in Japan as well this century.

That you consider his slowly dropping out of sight as a normal drift of fame. I must disagree, while many of his movie have been lost to history due to film deterioration and loss; racist shade not fading was likely the cause:

Media professor Karla Rae Fuller wrote in 2010: "What is even more remarkable about Hayakawa's precedent-setting career in Hollywood as an Asian American is the fact that he is virtually ignored in film history as well as star studies. ... Furthermore, the fact that he reached such a rare level of success whereby he could form and run his own production company makes his omission from the narrative of Hollywood history even more egregious."

However the politics against him were not limited to just the USA. Japan also disliked his "story line in the USA" with the dislike growing as WWII neared then passed.

While some can get the best of both worlds, others get the derision of both worlds.

Mr. Sessue Hayakama remains well known and celebrated in the Asian-American culture.

As to Aimie Semple McPherson and her affair as well as position regarding Darwinism (especially circa 1925 Scopes Trial) lead to her again being shaded rather than having her fame diminished.


All in all two examples of "cancel culture" in the mid-20th Century long before the term and active actions arose in this century.

After all is said, great post cards and thanks for sharing.

Speaking of Asian American stars of the silent screen, I'm very happy to see Anna May Wong honored this year as part of the American Women Quarters Program.

On the strength of Rod222's recommendation I bought a copy of Weary Dunlop's War Diary online. It arrived Friday, I look forward to reading it. Had it not been mentioned in this thread, I doubt I would have ever known of it. I enjoy stamps (or in this case, postcards) as themselves but I also appreciate the things they teach us and the places they take us.

Here's another home of a one-time star: Ann Harding. She was not someone I was familiar with, as most of her film work was done in the 1930s and '40s. She was a striking beauty in her day and began (and ended) her career as a Broadway actress. Probably her best known movie was "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit" in 1956.

Ethel Barrymore was a member of the famous Barrymore family. She was well known on Broadway, but "Sunday" was not one of her better shows. It ran about two months at the end of 1904 in the Hudson Theatre.