origin of slur--horizontal Oriental vagina

[George Thompson]

I recall a passage from a book by H. Allen Smith, I assume one of his earliest -- Life in a Putty Knife Factory (1943) or Low Man on a Totem-Pole (1944) or Lost in the Horse Latitudes (1944).  (Seems to me there was another, from '41 or 42, but I forget the title.)  Smith had been a NYC newspaperman in the '30s, specializing in celebrities and eccentrics.  He tells a story of attending a press conference with a famous Chinese-American actress, presumably Anna May Wong, in the course of which she answers an unasked question by saying "No, it isn't".  I don't recall haw he alludes to the unspoken antecedent of "it".

I own a couple of his books, incl. Low Man but not Horse Latitudes, and can check them this weekend.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African
Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998.

----- Original Message -----
From: paulzjoh <paulzjoh at MTNHOME.COM>
Date: Friday, March 5, 2004 7:22 am
Subject: Re: origin of slur--horizontal Oriental vagina

> It was told to me, as gospel, in the late 40's
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Sam Clements" <SClements at NEO.RR.COM>
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2004 9:48 PM
> Subject: origin of slur--horizontal Oriental vagina
>
>
> > My subject line says it all.
> >
> > Any early cites for this American? piece of flotsam?
> >
> > Sam Clements
> >
>