Flower Drum Song is a 1961 film adaptation of the 1958 Broadway musical play Flower Drum Song, written by the composer Richard Rodgers and the lyricist/librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The film and stage play were based on the 1957 novel of the same name by the Chinese American author C.Y. Lee. This movie was unusual (for its time) in featuring nearly all Asian American cast members (one of the few speaking Caucasian parts being that of a mugger), including dancers, though two of the singing voices were not by Asian ones. Starring in this movie were Nancy Kwan, James Shigeta, Benson Fong, James Hong, Reiko Sato and the original Broadway cast members Jack Soo, Miyoshi Umeki and Juanita Hall (an African American actress who previously played the Pacific Islander Bloody Mary in the Broadway and film productions of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific).
Among various changes for the film, the song "Like a God" was changed from a song into a beat poetry presentation. The singing voice of the character "Linda Low" was that of B. J. Baker, a non-Asian studio singer who had worked with Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, the Righteous Brothers, and Sam Cooke. The song "Love, Look Away" was also dubbed in by the American opera singer Marilyn Horne.
In 2008, Flower Drum Song was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Although the score of Flower Drum Song did not produce many hit tunes, its song "I Enjoy Being A Girl" has been widely used in other movies. The song has become familiar to many Americans, perhaps most recently with Sarah Jessica Parker in a nationally telecast Gap company commercial. It was covered by the lesbian folksinger Phranc. As of October 2006, there were 13 versions of the song on YouTube, including performances by Pat Suzuki and parodies based on Harry Potter and Battlestar Galactica.
Here's the Gap commercial as well as the original rendition from the film:
Among various changes for the film, the song "Like a God" was changed from a song into a beat poetry presentation. The singing voice of the character "Linda Low" was that of B. J. Baker, a non-Asian studio singer who had worked with Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, the Righteous Brothers, and Sam Cooke. The song "Love, Look Away" was also dubbed in by the American opera singer Marilyn Horne.
In 2008, Flower Drum Song was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Although the score of Flower Drum Song did not produce many hit tunes, its song "I Enjoy Being A Girl" has been widely used in other movies. The song has become familiar to many Americans, perhaps most recently with Sarah Jessica Parker in a nationally telecast Gap company commercial. It was covered by the lesbian folksinger Phranc. As of October 2006, there were 13 versions of the song on YouTube, including performances by Pat Suzuki and parodies based on Harry Potter and Battlestar Galactica.
Here's the Gap commercial as well as the original rendition from the film:
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