ENTER: MR JAMES LEE WONG

Evening Star, Issue 23189, 11 February 1939, Page 5

ENTER: MR JAMES LEE WONG

NEW CHINESE SLEUTH ON THE SCREEN The first ot a new series of detective stones will shortly be released by British Empire Films when James Lee Wong, in the person of Boris Karloff, will make his initial bow in 1 Mr Wong, Detective.’ Joining the company of Charlie Chan, Mr Moto, the “ Saint,” Philo Vance, and others, James Lee SVong, newest screen sleuth, is a fugitive from ‘ Collier’s Magazine,’ because for many years Mr Wiley’s “ Wong ” stories, written by Hugh Wiley, have been appearing in that publication. James Lee Wong is a native of San Francisco, an educated. cultured Chinese. He is a scientific “test tube” detective, who revels _in intricate cases. The more baffling the mystery, the more intrigued is Mr Wong. Monogram has planned four ‘ Wong ’ pictures to be released during the 1939 season. Signing Boris Karloff for the lead was a master stroke. Karloff, long known as the “horror” man, hated this epithet, and has yearned to become identified on the screen with a character who would have other claims to fame besides his ability to scare children. When Mr Karloff heard of Monogram’s purchase of the ‘ Wong ’ series he immediately drove to the studio to ask Scott Dunlap, production head, if he might not play James Lee Wong, and that very day the contract was signed. Boris Karloff spent weeks in research seeking a prototype for the Chinese detective, and finally found a model in a picture of a Chinese sent : him from Shanghai by his brother. It takes him two hours to apply the makeup, but the results are so successful that Karloff is practically unrecognisable. ‘ Mr Wong, Detective,’ is the story of a rare poison gas and the murder of three men who tried to steal its formula. Outstanding in the cast are Evelyn Brent, Grant Withers, and John St. Polis. ‘Mr Wong in Chinatown,’ ‘Mr Wong at Headquarters,’ and ‘The Mystery of Mr Wong’ are slated to continue • the adventures of the screen’s new sleuth.