August 27 (1951-08-27) – November 21, 1951 (1951-11-21)
The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong is an American television series which aired on the now defunct DuMont Television Network. It starred Chinese Americansilent film and talkie star Anna May Wong (birth name Wong Liu-tsong) who played a detective in a role written specifically for her. The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong was the first U.S. television series starring an Asian-American series lead.[1]
Broadcast history
Wong's character was a dealer in Chinese art whose career involved her in detective work and international intrigue.[2] The ten half-hour episodes aired during prime time, on Wednesdays at 9:00p.m. ET.[3] Though there were plans for a second season, DuMont canceled the show in 1952. No copies of the show or its scripts are known to exist.[4]
In 1996, early television actress Edie Adams testified at a hearing in front of a panel of the Library of Congress on the preservation of American television and video. Adams stated that, by the 1970s, little value was given to the DuMont film archive, and that all the remaining kinescopes of DuMont series were loaded into three trucks and dumped into Upper New York Bay.[6]
^Camhi, Leslie. "FILM; A Dragon Lady and a Quiet Cultural Warrior". The New York Times, January 11, 2004.
^Chan, Anthony B. Perpetually Cool: The Many Lives of Anna May Wong (1905–1961), p 80. Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, 2003. ISBN0-8108-4789-2.
^Hodges, Graham Russell. Anna May Wong: From Laundryman's Daughter to Hollywood Legend, pp. 216–217. Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. ISBN0-312-29319-4.
^Episode list from Leibfried, Philip and Chei Mi Lane. Anna May Wong: A Complete Guide to Her Film, Stage, Radio and Television Work. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2010. ISBN978-0-7864-4696-4. P. 163.