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纪录片聚焦亚裔美国艺人的追梦之路

When Arthur Dong was growing up in San Francisco in the 1950s and 60s, he used to walk by a nightclub just outside of Chinatown.

1950年代和60年代时，曾奕田在旧金山长大。他那时经常光顾中国城外的一家夜总会。

"I remember distinctly looking at the glass display case with all these wonderful black and white photos of Chinese people, but dressed in zoot suits and 1940s kind of gowns and tuxedos,” he said. “And I had never seen Chinese dressed like that."

他说： “我清楚地记得，我看着玻璃展示柜里那些棒极了的黑白照片，拍的是华人，但是穿着阻特装和四十年代的那种礼服。我从没见过华人穿成那样。”

The club, which opened in 1938, was called Forbidden City after the imperial palace in China. It was part of a flourishing Chinese-American nightclub scene in the 1940s and 50s that paved the way for future Asian-American performers who defied racial and cultural barriers to pursue their showbiz dreams.

这家夜总会开设于1938年，以中国的故宫“紫禁城”（Forbidden City）命名。但是当曾奕田决定拍一部关于这家亚裔美国人夜总会的影片时，没有几个人愿意谈论它。

In 1989, Dong captured that little-known chapter of entertainment history in his documentary “Forbidden City, USA.” The film has now been digitally remastered and Dong has turned his research into a new book, Forbidden City, USA: Chinese American Nightclubs, 1936-1970.

他说： “他们为去夜店感到羞愧。你知道，这种女人衣着暴露、在公共场合露出她们的腿的观念，在那个时期的保守的华人圈子是禁忌。所以我认为华人群体的确希望忘记这些夜店，因为他们不引以为豪。”

Back when Dong decided¹ to make a documentary about the Chinese-American nightclub scene, few people wanted to talk about it.

保守的华人家长不想让他们的孩子成为艺人。

“They were ashamed of the clubs,” he said. “You know, the whole notion of women wearing scanty² clothing, showing their legs in public, was taboo³ for the conservative Chinese community at that time. So I think the Chinese community really wanted to forget about these clubs."

“因为它不是一个体面的工作；它是低级的舞蹈，秀出你的腿和其他的一些东西。然后就会兴奋起来。” 当年的舞蹈演员麦太成（译音，Mai Tai Sing）说。

Mai Tai Sing followed her show business dreams by starting out as a dancer in the 1940s, at a time when conservative Chinese parents did not want their children to become entertainers.

麦太成是选择登上舞台的更年轻一代的一员。她最开始在1940年代初是一名合唱队员。

"Because it's not a high-class job,” she said. “It's low-grade — dancing, showing your legs and everything. Then it got exciting."

当时有新闻播音员这样描述说：“这位年轻的女士十分明白她在做什么。她是刘英培（Charlie Low）在旧金山开办的绝佳的紫禁城夜总会的一位舞蹈明星。她名叫麦太成，她是美国最漂亮的华人艺人。”

Sing, now 91 and living in Hawaii, recalls Forbidden City had it all — dancers, comedians⁴ and singers like Larry Ching, who was billed as the Chinese Frank Sinatra.

麦太成现在已是91岁高龄，住在夏威夷。她回忆紫禁城夜总会拥有舞者、喜剧演员和像拉里·秦（译音，Larry Ching）那样的歌手，他被誉为华人圈的弗兰克·辛纳塔（Frank Sinatra）。

The club was even profiled in major media outlets⁵, including Life magazine. But that didn't shield the performers from racial taunts⁶ from a mostly white audience.

这家夜总会甚至曾被一些主流媒体报道，包括《生活》（Life）杂志。但是作家、广播记者方振豪（Ben Fong-Torres）说，这些艺人们并没有因此而逃脱来自观众的种族侮辱。多数观众都是白人。

“So even though you are the stars of the show, they still feel superior to you and make racist⁷ remarks to your face or shout it out from the audience,” said writer and broadcaster Ben Fong-Torres. “And I think that was pretty difficult for most of these entertainers to take. But as Larry Ching said, 'I had to; otherwise I wouldn't be in the business.'"

他说：“所以即使你是这场演出的明星，他们仍然觉得高你一等，冲你讲种族主义的话，直接侮辱你或在观众席大喊大叫。我认为这对于大多数艺人来说，是非常难以接受的。但是拉里·秦曾说，‘我不得不接受，否则我就不会做这一行。’”

During the club’s heyday⁸, celebrities⁹ such as Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Duke Ellington came to see the shows.

在它的全盛期，像鲍勃·霍普（Bob Hope）、宾·克鲁斯拜（Bing Crosby）和艾灵顿公爵（Duke Ellington）这样的名人会去看演出。

"This was quite a bold experiment, and it shattered conceptions that people might have had about other people of color,” Fong-Torres said. “And it was one of the major platforms for a change of mind, a change of attitude, a change of perception on the part of those who came in."

方振豪说：“这是一个非常大胆的试验，它动摇了人们对他人肤色的看法。就走进秀场的人而言，它是改变观念、态度和看法的主要平台。”

Audiences included servicemen, locals and busloads of tourists. Singer Jimmy Borges, who was born in Hawaii to a Portuguese¹⁰, Chinese and Hawaiian family, recalls the memorable¹¹ reaction of one audience member after he sang the song, Fever.

观众中有军人、当地人和乘巴士来的游客。歌手吉米·博尔戈斯（Jimmy Borges）生于夏威夷的一个葡萄牙、中国和夏威夷家庭。他回忆当时的某个夜晚上说：

“And this lady, she was looking at me and there was this look in her eye of complete mystification. And she says to her husband, 'Oh, Charlie, he sings just like a white man.' And that was so funny,” Borges recalled. “I started to laugh because she didn't mean it in a bad way. She meant it like she had never seen anybody like me sing a song that was made famous by a white person."

他说：“我当时在唱《狂热》（Fever）：Never know how much I love you, never know how much I care. You give me fever......有一位女士，她看着我，十分困惑的眼神。然后她和丈夫说，‘哦，查理，他唱的好像白人。’这很有趣。我开始笑，因为她并非出于坏心。她意思是她从没见过任何人像我一样唱一首被白人唱红的歌。”

In 1962, Forbidden City's founder¹² sold the club to dancer Coby Yee and her family. Yee, who is now 88, says it was good to see some of the performers who honed their skills at the club become famous on TV and in the movies.

1962年，紫禁城夜总会的创办者把它卖给了舞蹈演员科比·易（译音，Coby Yee）和她的家人。易今年88岁了。她说她很高兴看到一些艺人在夜总会锤炼他们的能力，之后在影视界成名。

"I remember Pat Morita, who I shared a dressing¹³ room with, and he later was in 'Karate¹⁴ Kid.' And there was Sammee Tong, who was in 'Bachelor Father,' with John Forsythe. And then there was Jack¹⁵ Soo, who became famous in 'Barney Miller¹⁶.' He also did 'Flower Drum Song,'" she said.

她说：“我记得森田则之（Pat Morita），我和他共享一个换衣间，他之后演了《功夫小子》Karate Kid）。还有森米·唐（译音，Sammee Tong），他和约翰·福赛思（John Forsythe）一起演了《单身爸爸》（Bachelor Father）。而杰克·苏（译音，Jack Soo）凭借《笑警巴麦》（Barney Miller.）出名，他还演过《花鼓歌》（Flower Drum Song）”

Dong says those pioneering performers continue to inspire young Asian Americans today.

电影制作人曾奕田说，这些演艺界先锋们依然在启迪着现在的年轻亚裔美国人。

"They knew what they wanted," he said. "They had dreams. They had goals. And they weren't going to let larger societal bigotry¹⁷ get in their way. And they had fun doing it; these folks had a lot of fun struggling to achieve their dreams."

“我认为这反映了想要进入主流媒体、主流娱乐圈，以及让人们认可你的天分而不被肤色阻碍，是多么的艰难。”他说。

But, he reflects, it’s still a struggle to break into mainstream¹⁸ entertainment, “to be recognized for your talent and not be hindered by the fact that you're a particular color."

曾奕田目前在他的新书《紫禁城，美国：亚裔美国人夜总会，1936-1970》（Forbidden City, USA: Chinese American Nightclubs, 1936-1970.）中讲述了那个为人们所遗忘的时代。

Forbidden City will screen along with a presentation of Dong’s new book in Los Angeles at the Asian Pacific Film Festival on April 26, 2015.

他说：“他们知道自己想要什么。他们有梦想。他们有目标。他们不会被更广泛的社会偏见阻碍。他们工作的很开心。这些人在努力实现梦想的过程中非常享受。”