In View of History: The Legacy of Tom Gubbins
Why does the story of "the Mayor of Chinatown" as one of the most prominent figures for Chinese in Old Hollywood & LA Chinatown matter?
Biography
Thomas Harrington Gubbins was born on July 12, 1881, in Shanghai, China. His father , Henry Gubbins, was an English trader who moved their family to Hong Kong. Shortly after their move, Gubbins’ mother died, and he became taken care of a Chinese nurse that soon became his father’s second wife. In 1901, Gubbins immigrated to San Francisco where he worked as an interpreter between English and Chinese speaking people before moving to Los Angeles in 1916 with the allure of working in the motion picture industry.
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“I used to attend the picture theaters and see the serials. I noticed in several pictures the incorrect costuming in Chinese pictures. [...] I thought there ought to be an opportunity here for someone who knew the outs and ins of Chinese customs and manners, and so I gave up my job and left San Francisco.”
In Hollywood , Gubbins first advertised himself as a technical director on Oriental pictures and quickly found success. He had a curio and costumes store, with the later addition of a restaurant, where he lent costumes for motion pictures and became an agent for Chinese actors and actresses. Not only was he the go-to for studios for “Oriental” aspects of movies, but Gubbins also became an influential figure in Chinatown. Through the 1920s up to the 40s, Tom Gubbins had his hand in nearly every part of the Chinatown community and life. He became known as an unofficial "Mayor of Chinatown" or even the "King of Chinatown."
Impact in the Hollywood Film Industry
During his early years in Hollywood and before working on his own account, Gubbins worked for Universal at the laboratory at the Universal Film Manufacturing Company (now called Universal Studios). Although Gubbins was based in his Oriental art shop in Chinatown, he never worked exclusively for one studio or person. He had a varied Hollywood career, mostly behind the scenes as an agent, advisor, and supplier.
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Gubbins' listed filmography is only a sample of the films that he worked on throughout his life. As an agent for Chinese actors and actresses, as well as speaking Chinese dialects even though he was a white man, Gubbins was the go-to and a spokesperson for movie studios for anything Chinese, from the players to the costumes. Additionally, he would help the crew communicate with Chinese actors on set . Although Gubbins was involved in the making of many Hollywood studio films during the 20s to the 40s, he was only credited for a handful of them.
Chinese Group Screen Actors Guild
With the exception of Anna May Wong and a few others, most Chinese actors and actresses were relegated to being extras or background actors with little speaking parts, usually never leading roles. Asian-type motion pictures became more popular during the 30s, which opened up a lot more opportunities. There was also a separate Chinese Screen Extras Guild.
Lillian Louie worked as an actress during the early 30s and was one of the first members of the Guild. Working as an on-call extra, Louie took on any other part-time jobs in between the calls, which varied from months to years. According to Louie, before the Screen Actors Guild was established, Gubbins had personally kept records of the actors.
The Mayor of Chinatown
In addition to his success in Hollywood, Tom Gubbins was very active in the social life of Chinatown. He hosted dinners in the restaurant above his curio store, which he opened in 1928.
Section of an article about Gubbins from " Society of Cinemaland " by Myra Nye in Los Angeles Times
China City
In 1938, Christine Sterling opened up China City, one of the five LA Chinatowns and a tourist-oriented destination that capitalized on Americans' fascination with East Asian culture, largely attributed to the rise of Asian-themed Hollywood films. Some of the buildings came directly from the set of MGM's The Good Earth. Gubbins was part of establishing China City, specifically in aiding and providing costumes for the Chinese Theater . During the first 1939 fire in China City, which destroyed a major portion of the area, Tom Gubbins' Asiatic Costumes Company was also part of the damage .
Correspondence from China Society of Southern California thanking Gubbins for involvement in China City theater (From USC Library Collection )
Photo of rickshaws used in China City (1940) Photo by Harry Quillen, Los Angeles Photographer's Collection
Gubbins also reportedly owned and provided the rickshaws that were used as part of the Chinese tourist experience. (Shown above)
View from the Outside: An Oriental Curiosity
Gubbins was an enigmatic figure to Hollywood and others. This is especially evident with how the language in news articles written about or mentioning Gubbins described him, which differs greatly compared to how Chinese people were portrayed
Unlike somebody like Christine Sterling, a white person who opened China City without any definite Chinese background, Gubbins was born and raised in China. Gubbins was still part of the Orientalist mythos that fascinated Americans, but this seemed to work in his favor. Since he was racially white, Gubbins was the perfect go-to in approaching the Chinatown community for outsiders and the movie studios. He was perceived as just a white man who happened to know Chinese. His mix of both “occidental” and “oriental” is what allowed Gubbins to become such an influential part of both spheres. In other words, his whiteness allowed Gubbins to function successfully in both American society/Hollywood and Los Angeles Chinatown.
Examples of Portrayal in the Media
The title of this article , deeming Gubbins as a "White Man Oracle for Denizens of Chinatown," and even the nickname "Little Devil Tom" exemplifies the media fascination with Tom Gubbins, and it furthered his status as LA Chinatown's unofficial mayor to others. In this profile about Gubbins' life, the author, who is unnamed, describes Gubbins as an "advisor" and a "sage." Interestingly, the author toys with the idea that Gubbins' success is attributed in part to his whiteness:
The secret of Tom's success in Chinatown might be traced to his birth under the flag of Old England. Possibly it is his natural liking for an afternoon cup of tea that gives him his affinity for things Chinese. But it is more likely that Tom's early life is responsible for his present status.
The author does not follow through with this idea, going on to credit his popularity with his Chinese background, but that notion is correct in that Gubbins' recognition by studios and others is attributed in part to the fact that he is white.
Gubbins did act an interpreter for many extras and people in Chinatown, but many of the community did speak English. In the case of Lillian Louie, she did not speak any Chinese and only spoke English. There were also other Chinese people who worked on set as technical advisors, such as Eddie E. Lee and Yu-Shan Ran; as assistant director, such as Bessie Loo, who also worked as an agent; renting costumes; and there were many Chinese who ran curio shops in Chinatown. These people never got the same type of attention as Gubbins did.
I'm the only white man in Chinatown and the Chinese down here look to me to do their interpreting. In that way I get to know their business and they confide in me." - Tom Gubbins
In an article about Chinese in Hollywood, the author, Paul Harrison, dedicates a section to Tom Gubbins, nicknaming him the "occidental chief" and "despot" of Chinatown.
Cantonese dialect is described as "high-pitched" and when describing how Gubbins commanded Chinese extras on set, Harrison states the extras were "yellow men" that were "redolent with the odors of unanalyzable foodstuffs." In comparison, Gubbins is specifically described as looking like "a prosperous merchant."
With the dominant notion of Orientalism, people, like Harrison, have a certain fascination with Gubbins as a Chinese man, but since he was white, identified him as one of them instead of the apparently "exotic" and "uncivilized" Chinese. It made sense to many Americans that Gubbins would naturally have a role as a "chief."
In these two articles, both written by American columnist Jimmie Fidler, the description of Gubbins, particularly in comparison with the Chinese extras on set, again, are telling of the Oriental perception that influenced Chinese in movies.
On the set of Marco Polo (1938), where Gubbins worked as a technical advisor, Fidler is seemingly surprised that a Chinese extra could speak English, stating that a "villainous-looking Chinese" spoke to Gubbins "in English that would have done credit to a Harvard professor."
Gubbins is portrayed as a mysterious figure who has "yellow skin and coarse black hair of a Chinese" with eyes "as blue as a Swede's." This is false, of course, since Gubbins was a white man, and Fidler applies stereotypical Chinese features to his appearance. Though he could speak English and Chinese dialects, he did not also speak "Malay, Arabic, Hindustani, Hawaiian, Japanese, a dozen Chinese dialects." This is an exaggeration on Gubbins' Chinese background. Orientalism blurs distinct Asian countries into one place of the Orient, which reveals why Fidler wrote like this about Gubbins.
Conflict w/ the Chinese Government
On November 22, 1932, the Nanking Government established a vice-consulate, with Yi-Seng Kiang acting as vice-consul. Kiang often offered the studios advice on what the Chinese markets would like and questioned Gubbins' contracts with those he employed and his supplies. Several of the movies that Gubbins had worked as a technical director were even banned in China.
In 1934, the actors employed by Gubbins, the Chinese Motion Picture Actors’ association, defended Gubbins , charging the consul with trying to help his friends in a rival organization, the Chinese-American Cinema Service, and that he was trying to censor Chinese sequences. The association stated, “He wants all Chinese characters pictured as high-minded gentlemen.” and that “There are bums in China as well as Los Angeles.” Kiang said he was taking into account complaints against Gubbins about contracts and wants to "eliminate from the American screen everything that is objectionable to Chinese people."
The article reporting on these events ignores how Gubbins may be mistreating his Chinese actors, but instead that they were going against their "mayor" and those who defended him. They portray the Chinese as people who don't know any better, and Gubbins as the benefactor for Chinese Americans in Chinatown.
View from Inside the Community
Gubbins was similarly viewed in Chinatown as one of the most prominent figures within the Chinese community. However, he was not put on the same pedestal by the community that many Americans outside of Chinatown and the media did as a figure that allowed white people a peek into the seemingly “mystical” Chinatown.
Consider contradictions between the reported payments toward those he recruited versus actuality. In the media, it was reported that none of Gubbins’ actors worked for less than $7.50 (around $113.58 in 2021) a day, with $25 also being typical (Around $378.60 in 2021). However, Lillian Louie was only paid around 3 or 5 dollars for a day’s work (Roughly $45.43 to $75.72 in 2021). It was only until the guild was established that Louie was paid around $10.00 up to $20.00 a day.
Stories from Employees: Swan Yee
When he was younger, Swan Yee had wanted to move to Los Angeles to work in Hollywood. When he finally arrived in Los Angeles, Yee not only worked for Tom Gubbins, but he also seemingly became close with Gubbins as well. Yee worked as a movie extra (see image on left on the set of The Good Earth [1937]), at Gubbins' shop, and Gubbins paid for room and board for Yee as well as extra money. In 1932, Yee lived with Gubbins
Yee described how Gubbins and himself had an agreement: Gubbins guaranteed that Yee would make at least $20 a month working in movies. If he made less than $20, Gubbins would give him the difference, and if he made more than $20, Gubbins would not pay him.
Besides The Good Earth, Yee also worked as an extra in films like The Hatchet Man (1932), Shanghai Express (1932), and The General Died at Dawn (1936).
Yee described Gubbins as a kind hearted man who never refused to help anyone who asked, but states that many of them did not like Gubbins because he would scold them and that he played favorites while hiring extras. He says that he was always thankful for Gubbins since Gubbins essentially helped him out of the gutter. While describing Gubbins' life, Yee also stated that people in Chinatown would call Gubbins "bak wah" Tom, meaning "motion picture" Tom.
Photo on the left: Image of Swan Yee and Connie Tom on the set of The Good Earth as extras
When Swan Yee worked for Tom Gubbins, Vincent Knot, Loo Loy, and Ben Quan also worked for Gubbins as well.
In 1938, Gubbins moved his business to Spring Street in China City, and Yee became in charge of a rickshaw store. He would be responsible for photographing customers and developing the pictures for them.
Gubbins also opened up the Bamboo Rattan Shop so that Yee could bring his wife over. Earlier, when Yee accompanied Gubbins on one of his regular trips to Hong Kong, he got married and stayed in China for a few months. Yee stated that Gubbins was mad at him for not returning to the US with him and was concerned with Yee's marriage because he could not afford to be married. Furthermore, Gubbins was strict in Yee's recreation as he did not allow Yee to gamble. The Bamboo Rattan Shop was eventually burned down in the 1939 China City fire.
Yee in China City store: Photo from El Pueblo Monument Photo Collection, courtesy of Chinese Historical Society of Southern California
In 1947, Yee finally brought his wife over, and they visited Gubbins in the hospital while he was sick in the hospital. He was the second person to visit Gubbins in the hospital, and most people did not visit him at all.
Yee called the Examiner to place an article that said "the mayor of Chinatown has died" when Gubbins passed away; no one in the Chinese community held a memorial service for him.
A Lost Legacy?
Gubbins worked on films up through the 40s and passed away on January 5, 1956, at age 74 in Hong Kong. Since then, he has become a seemingly nonexistent figure outside of Los Angeles Chinatown and merely a footnote in history despite being a high-profile figure in the media and of his time. Some may attribute this to the argument that America has a more culturally progressive consciousness, so it makes sense that a white man who profited off Chinese people has not been the focus when remembering history. However, it is more complex than just that.
There is typically a separation of the past versus the present, with the thought that the past was an earlier and more ignorant era. Though popular, harmful stereotypes of Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan, or the widespread use of yellowface, are no longer allowed to dominate the screen as they are deemed culturally unacceptable, the Orientalism that originated and sustained a certain perception of Chinese people did not automatically disappear at the turn of the century.
Hollywood and the way history is thought of are still racialized. The mainstream narrative of Chinese American figures in the early Hollywood studio system from the 1900s to 1940s often begins and ends with Anna May Wong. With the dominant white voice narrating a sanitized history, other Chinese Americans that also made their mark during this system are not typically acknowledged in the mainstream. The discrimination Wong faced is almost treated as an isolated incident or simple mistake, and she is touted as an example of resiliency against a prejudiced time that supposedly no longer exists. Ironically, her legacy is often tied to the system that denied her opportunities to succeed.
Gubbins in Chinatown and Old Hollywood is another example within many of neglecting America's marginalized groups. He demonstrates the separation of LA Chinatown from the rest of the region. Beyond that, his role in history is a layer in understanding how we can refocus how we view Chinese Americans in Hollywood.
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