1. Esther Eng was recognized as a female pioneer who crossed the boundaries of race, language, culture and gender.
18 Facts About Esther Eng
1. 2.
Esther Eng was born in San Francisco on September 24,1914.
3.
Esther Eng was the fourth child in a family of ten children.
4.
Esther Eng was a fan of Cantonese opera and having lived in San Francisco she was able to socialize with the Cantonese singers and actors who performed there.
5.
When Esther Eng was 19, her father and his business partners created a film production company with Esther Eng as a producer.
6.
The studio was based at 1010 Washington Street while Esther Eng looked for a studio in Los Angeles.
7.
In 1936, along with friends and the film's leading actress Wai Kim Fong, Esther Eng went to Hong Kong for the film's premiere at the Queens Theater under the title Iron Blood, Fragrant Soul.
8.
The film was a success which led to Esther Eng staying in Hong Kong where she directed her next two films: Ten Thousand Lovers and Storm of Envy, both released in 1938.
9.
Esther Eng co-directed the film A Night of Romance, A Lifetime of Regret with Wu Peng and Leung Wai-man.
10.
In 1941, Esther Eng directed the film Golden Gate Girl in San Francisco, which received a favorable review in Variety that year.
11.
Esther Eng returned to Hong Kong to make a war film between 1946 and 1947.
12.
Esther Eng followed it up with another film with Lee titled Too Late For Springtime about a Chinese girl's relationship with a Chinese-American GI.
13.
In 1950, Esther Eng stopped making films for a time to go into the restaurant business with her friend Bo Bo, a Chinese actor who had been stranded in New York.
14.
Esther Eng supported him and managed his stage career in the United States, and later named a restaurant she co-founded as "Bo Bo".
15.
Esther Eng directed all the exterior scenes of the film.
16.
Esther Eng's films were mostly standard romantic dramas, generally with women at the center.
17.
Around the time that Heartache was released, Esther Eng changed her family name from Ng to the more easily pronounceable Eng.
18.
Esther Eng resided at 50 Bayard Street at the time of her death.