Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 558 The History of the Dragon
"I disembarked in San Francisco and took the train to New England. The children's enthusiasm was very strange. I just got off the ship and was on the train again, and I didn't feel tired. I was fascinated by looking at the grasslands and farmland next to the railroad tracks. If it hadn't appeared Train crashes, robberies and shootings, the ride is perfect.

We heard gunshots first, and then women and children cried out in fright.Then two vicious robbers came up with revolvers.We all fell to the ground in fright.They succeeded in robbery, shot and killed the train driver, and fled on horseback. They could only move forward by telegraphing the train company to send another driver. "

Ronald returned to the hotel in New Haven, and began to carefully read the book written by his ancestor Li Enfu.It turned out that he was a child who came to America from China to study in [-] under the arrangement of Yung Wing, Yale's first Chinese graduate.

This article was published in a newspaper after he got married, recalling his own childhood article, which was very popular after publication, and finally published as a novel as a collection.

"It seems that the imagination is a little richer. The train robbers are too bizarre." Ronald continued to read the book after evaluating the plot.

“I was put into high school in Springfield, and everyone was put into a family, and we were all fed and lodging with that family. A doctor named Henry Vaille was my host family.

When the train arrived at the Springfield station, Sarah, the doctor's wife who came to meet me, put her arms around me and kissed me passionately, the first kiss I remember.It doesn't mean my mother doesn't love me, it's just that we express it differently.I will always remember this kiss. "

No wonder my great-grandfather began to use a V for everyone's middle name initials. This is probably Lee Eun-fu's tradition. All boys' middle names are Vaille to commemorate his unforgettable kiss.

Ronald figured out the origin of his middle name abbreviation, no wonder all the men in the family have used a middle name since his great-grandfather.

Putting away all the family documents carefully, Ronald returned the car in New Haven, bought a bus ticket, returned to the Port Building Bus Terminal on Eighth Avenue in New York, immediately called a taxi, and went home Find aunt.

"Auntie, guess what I found? My ancestors came from Huaguo." Ronald put the documents away excitedly, and reported his discovery to Aunt Karen.

"Oh, is it?" Aunt rewarded with biscuits and coffee.

"Why, you knew it before?"

"Know a little," Aunt Karen went to the back room and took out a wedding photo of herself and her dead husband. On it, her parents stood beside her aunt and husband, smiling happily.

"Your mother and I fell in love with your father and Steve respectively. But Steve and I were married on Staten Island, and your parents were married in Massachusetts."

"Why?" Ronald was puzzled.

"It's ridiculous to think about it now, but in the 50s, states in the United States hadn't abolished anti-miscegenation laws. In southern states, it was a felony that would be taken to court to annul a marriage. Although New York State did not have this law, Staten Island Conservative forces in the Internet are also less accepting of intermarriage between Chinese and white women.

If it is discovered that your father is of Chinese descent and he married your mother, we are afraid that there will be trouble.Your mother was one of the prettiest young women in Tottville at the time, and was married off by an out-of-state man, and many of the local boys swore to compete with him. "

"Is it so exaggerated?" Ronald didn't expect that before the civil rights movement, racial discrimination in America was so serious.

"Yes, there were still slaves in Staten Island before the Civil War. So for safety reasons, they went to your father's hometown, Massachusetts, the most open and inclusive state in America."

"Oh, then why didn't you tell me before?" Ronald heard that he had to avoid conservative areas when he got married, and he was also glad that he was not reborn in the 60s.

"I have always agreed with Dr. King's proposition that a person should be judged by his talents and achievements, not by his ethnicity and skin color. Look at you, your hair is dark gold, your eyes are amber, even if your great ancestor You are of Chinese descent, and you have only one-sixteenth of your blood.

America does not pay attention to ethnicity, but pays attention to personal struggle.You have Chinese ancestry and you have British ancestry.There are French, German, and maybe Nordic and Irish on your mother's side. Where are you from? "

That's true, Ronald nodded, "I'm an American."

On the second day, Ronald continued to be interested, and went directly to the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue to find the deeds of the great ancestor Li Enfu.Although I don't have much Chinese blood, but I was a Chinese in my previous life. When I encountered such a twisted and bizarre story, I also wanted to find out. The real incident that happened to me can almost be made into a movie.

"Yan Phou Lee", using Gao Zu's English name as a key word, in the classified cards of the library, I really found some of his previous deeds.

In [-], the year of his wedding, in addition to publishing his first novel, he published a very powerful article in a Boston paper.

This is a speech made by Li Enfu at Yale University, directly targeting the anti-Chinese movement that was raging on the West Coast at that time.At that time, in the Chinese settlements in San Francisco, the white people clamored the slogan "Chinese must go", legislated to not accept Chinese immigrants for naturalization, and drove them away to return to their hometowns.

Li Enfu pointed out that "the Chinese must stay" speech, pointing out the great contribution of the Chinese to the construction of the railway across America, and also pointed out that the Chinese are a civilized race with a long and great history, and there are philosophers like Confucius teach.Published in full in the newspapers of the time.

It is said that a New York state senator happened to hear Li Enfu's speech in the central church in New Haven. He joked that Li Enfu had to leave, otherwise he would not be able to run for the senatorial position with such an orator.

In the author's introduction of the article, some resumes of Li Enfu were also mentioned.

He was in a public high school, where he scored first in English every year, and the school was also an important player on the baseball team.At that time, he was in charge of Yung Wing, a student studying in the United States. Seeing that he had a talent for languages, he specially arranged for him to take the Yale exam, and called for improving the treatment of Chinese in China.

When he came to the United States for the first time, he met the famous train robber Jesse James in San Francisco and robbed him, killing and injuring more than 30 people.Fortunately, the students are safe and sound, otherwise we would not be able to hear such a wonderful speech today.

"It seems that you really met a train robber?" Ronald realized that Gaozu didn't write a novel, but a real story.Then the value of this book will have to be re-evaluated.Maybe it contains Li Enfu's real historical memories.

In another report, first published in the Boston Globe in [-], Ronald also found a report of the divorce of Li Enfu and Elizabeth Jerome.

In New England, especially in Massachusetts and Connecticut, the folk customs are relatively free and open. Li Enfu married a lady from the Jerome family. The people were not affected by the anti-Chinese on the west coast, and they discriminated against Li too much. It was just that the couple went out. Often surrounded by people.

But after Li Enfu wrote this article against Chinese exclusion, he was hated by conservative forces.When he went to San Francisco to investigate the expulsion of Chinese laborers and was preparing to write a series of reports, Elizabeth's mother had a suspicion against him, and the two eventually divorced.

The Jerome family has only one daughter, Elizabeth, so it is unusual to publish the daughter's divorce statement in the newspaper, and his own will arrangement, so that the Quaker priest can witness that the property of one hundred thousand dollars (equivalent to about 80s The original 100 million yuan) was left to her daughter for her to raise a pair of children.

After staying in New York for several days, Ronald went to the library every day to look for traces of his ancestors.Finally his agent couldn't take it anymore and called Ronald to catch him.

"Ronald, are you writing any new scripts? I heard from your aunt that you go to the library every day?" Nisita has received several new scripts asking Ronald to name a director, and hopes that Ronald, who is stranded in New York, will hurry up. Back to Los Angeles.

"Aha, no. I did find my father's family information. My grandfather, and great-grandfather, I found their history, these two days I am looking for traces of their history. Do you know? My grandfather and great-grandfather Great-grandfathers, all fighter pilots, died in Europe."

"Hehehe, that's very appropriate. Katzenberg from Paramount called me personally. He asked someone to write a script that reflects the Navy fighter pilot, and he wanted to invite you to direct it."

"Oh, World War I or World War II?" Ronald remembered that when he was filming Saab commercials, he searched for a long time before finding some air combat films shot in the later period of World War II.

"No, those who respond to the latest fighter jets, come to Los Angeles, let's talk to Katzenberg as soon as possible."

"Okay, I'll go back right away. Also... I'm interested in the history of Japanese and Chinese people recently. Can you find out for me, are there any novels or dramas of these Asian races that are suitable for adaptation into scripts? "

"Why? Are Asian stories popular now? What have you heard in New York?" Nisita was perceptive.

Ronald was about to tell him about his Chinese ancestry, but he swallowed the words when he remembered what his aunt said about the discriminatory words of white conservatives.

"Well, in the case of Chen Guoren in Detroit, Chinese Americans here in New York are marching again, and Japanese Americans are also participating. The momentum is very big, and the murderer is going to be prosecuted in federal court. I wonder, will this be a hot spot? And' The image of Master Miyagi in Longwei Kid is very good, and I heard Miss Judy Foster said that she is also very impressed with this role, maybe this is also a hot spot?"

"Why, you met Judy? Well, come back as soon as possible, and I will help you find the novel as soon as possible."

(End of this chapter)