Nostalgia & History > Anna May Wong Photo

This came across Facebook recently.  It's movie star Anna May Wong with a steam locomotive, supposedly in Chicago.  Is anyone familiar with this photo and can shed some light on it?  Looks like ATSF but not sure what's in the background.

About Anna May Wong:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_May_Wong

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The photo was taken on March 25, 1928 at LaSalle St. Station in Chicago.  A similar photo taken a step or two to the right appeared on p.38 (the back page) of the Chicago Tribune's March 26, 1928 edition.  The Tribune's site has yet another photo of Wong in the same garb at LaSalle St. station with the following caption:

"Anna May Wong, right, Chinese-American movie star, and Lulu Wong on March 25, 1928. The Tribune reported, "Oriental beauties stepped from the Golden State Limited yesterday morning into the bustle of the LaSalle Street Station. They were Lulu and Anna May Wong. Their stop in Chicago was for only a brief few hours between trains." Anna May was on her way to Berlin to star in a movie."

http://galleries.apps.chicagotribune.com/chi-081513-early-lives-of-chicago-chinese-chinatown-history-pictures/#chi-hist-chinese-2-20130808

Gentleman in the background looks like Fred Mertz from I Love Lucy, but the photo may be too early.

-John

jcaestecker Wrote:

> Gentleman in the background looks like Fred Mertz
> from I Love Lucy, but the photo may be too early.

I know you're being facetious, but it turns out that William Frawley, the actor who played Fred Mertz, actually did work for the Rock Island for a while (in St. Louis, MO as an accountant).  He also worked for Union Pacific as a stenographer in Omaha:

https://books.google.com/books?id=gOtEAAAAIAAJ&lpg=PA135&ots=CnEF6upYZV&dq=william%20frawley%20st.%20louis%20railroad&pg=PA135#v=onepage&q=william%20frawley%20st.%20louis%20railroad&f=false

As info, Frawley would have been 41 in March of 1928.

Thanks, Evan!

Nothin' wong with her!!

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA