This intriguing image cropped up on my Tumblr feed with the cryptic caption “Anna May Wong was a tattoo artist at The Pike in Long Beach in the 50s.” I thought – really? How fascinating! When the movie roles for the truly great trailblazing Chinese American screen diva of the twenties and thirties dried-up, did she keep the wolf from the door by diversifying into tattooing as a sideline? There are notorious Hollywood Babylon-style examples of washed-up former stars (like Louise Brooks and Veronica Lake) discovered working as sales assistants or bartenders once they hit hard times. How come I’ve never read this anywhere? Tell me more! But some Googling clarified that the image relates to a 1958 episode of the TV series Climax entitled “Deadly Tattoo”. (Synopsis: “A detective is assigned to investigate a series of murders in which the killer left a heart-shaped tattoo on each of his victims”). Which is kind of disappointing – I love the idea of Anna May Wong as a tattooist! Two years later, Wong would appear in her final film Portrait in Black (a demeaning supporting role as a sinister housekeeper) before dying aged just 56 in 1961.
