Jadin Wong
BornMay 24, 1913 (1913-05-24)
Stockton, California, U.S.
DiedMarch 30, 2010 (2010-03-31) (aged 96)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation(s)singer, dancer, actress, comedian
Instrument(s)Body, hands, voice
Years active1930s-2010[1]

Jadin Wong (May 24, 1913 – March 30, 2010)[2] was an American singer, dancer, actress, and comedian.

Early life

Wong was born near Stockton, California, after which the family moved to San Francisco.[3] She started singing in public at six years old. At age 16, she ran away to Hollywood to become a dancer.[4] On the night she ran away, her mother secretly left some hard-earned cash for her to support herself,[5] despite her father's objection .

Wong married three times. Her first husband was Li Sun from British Singapore, whom she divorced. She then married Edward Duryea Dowling.[6][7] This second marriage was her longest marriage. More than a decade after Dowling's death, Wong married baseball champion Gil Chichester.[8]

Celebrity manager

Wong was a celebrity, diva, and grand dame who discovered John Lone. She performed ballet right into her 90s, where she was caught by an interviewing journalist doing splits and pirouettes as "morning exercise". She studied with Balanchine and trained in classical ballet and jazz.

Professional life

Wong performed in Hong Kong, Paris, Cuba, Germany and New York during her younger days in Charlie Low's Forbidden City (nightclub).

Wong retired from performing on Broadway and cabaret comedy and went into theatrical agenting in the 1970s, creating the Jadin Wong Talent Management, where she cast for Bernardo Bertolucci and brought David Henry Hwang to fame with her theatrical connections. Clients included David Henry Hwang, John Lone, Joan Chen, Lou Diamond Phillips, Lucy Liu and Bai Ling.[9]

Awards

She was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at Lincoln Center, New York in winter of 2002. Her thank you speech quoted in The New York Times was, "Age is just a number, and I have an unlisted number."[3] Ben Stiller has been quoted in the press as calling Jadin Wong the "original Dragon Lady", before Ziyi Zhang.

WWII heroic commendations

Wong traveled extensively to entertain American troops during World War II[3] and nearly sacrificed her life for her country when she was nearly blown up by German enemy planes near the Black Forest.

She was recognized by President Ronald Reagan for her role in entertaining the nation's troops and by the U.S. House of Representatives for her cultural contributions to the nation. She was invited by President George Bush to the White House in 2004.

Social life

Wong married into the blueblood family of New York theatre, the Chichesters, and the Jewish circle of playwrights and artists. Before Barbra Streisand became famous, Streisand was the opening act for Wong's show in New York. Streisand was subsequently replaced by Ben Stiller. Wong remains an honorary member of the Loews Theatre. She was featured in the New York Times in 2003 and 2004 as one of the most glamorous grand dames of New York.

Later life

Wong was featured in Time, Newsweek and The New York Times. She resided in Manhattan and died at the age of 96.

References

  1. ↑ Reich, Ashley (20 April 2010). "Jadin Wong dies at 96". Variety.
  2. ↑ Jadin Wong's obituary Archived 2010-04-08 at the Wayback Machine
  3. 1 2 3 "Famed Dancer and Agent Jadin Wong Dies at 96". Playbill. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  4. ↑ "Asian Actresses Struggled with Racism, Prejudice to Pave Way for Next Generations". live-gg-2021.pantheonsite.io. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  5. ↑ Fitzgerald, Michael. "Electric entertainer smashed stereotypes". The Stockton Record. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  6. ↑ "Edward Duryea Dowling". The Bridgeport Post. Bridgeport, Connecticut. 20 Dec 1967. p. 72. Retrieved 17 May 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ "The late Eddie Duryea Dowling..." The Monroe News-Star. Monroe, Louisiana. 1 Feb 1968. p. 34. Retrieved 17 May 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "A Short Biography of Donor Jadin Wong Chichester". 22 March 2018.
  9. ↑ "Jadin Wong". Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
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