You Don’t Know Jack tells the fascinating story of
a pioneering American entertainer Jack Soo, an Oakland
native who became the first Asian American to be cast in the
lead role in a regular television series Valentine’s Day
(1963), and later starred in the popular comedy show Barney Miller (1975-1978).
Featuring rare
footage and interviews with Soo’s co-stars and friends,
including actors George Takei, Nancy Kwan and Max Gail,
comedians Steve Landesberg and Gary Austin, and producer Hal
Kanter, the film traces Jack’s early beginnings as a
nightclub singer and comedian, to his breakthrough role as
Sammy Fong in Rogers and Hammerstein’s Broadway play and
film version of The Flower Drum Song.
The film also
explores why Soo, a former internee who was actually born
Goro Suzuki, was forced to change his name in the post WWII
era, in order to perform in clubs in the mid-west. Because
of his experiences, throughout his career in films and
television, Soo refused to play roles that were demeaning to
Asian Americans and often spoke out against negative ethnic
portrayals.
Directed by Jeff
Adachi, whose award-winning film The Slanted Screen
premiered at SFIAAFF in 2006, You Don’t Know Jack
reveals how Jack Soo’s work laid the groundwork for a new
generation of Asian American actors and comedians.
Synopsis:
The 60-minute film tells Jack Soo’s story through a montage
of film and television clips, rare footage, interviews with
family members, friends, co-workers, and others who knew him
best. From his early appearances on programs such as The
Jack Benny Show and Valentines’ Day, Soo’s
life is examined both in the historical context of the
times, and the grandeur of an earlier Hollywood where stars
like Soo succeeded in a multitude of artistic mediums,
reminiscent of vaudevillian times. From Soo’s early training
as an announcer and stand-up comic, to his singing, acting
and dancing career on Broadway, culminating with his
signature role as Detective Nick Yemana, Soo’s unique talent
and dedication to his craft are fully explored and captured
through a fascinating presentation of images, music,
montages, interviews and stories.
Featured interview subjects include Nancy Kwan who was Soo’s
co-star in the film version of Broadway Flower Drum Song;
Soo’s co-stars on Barney Miller, Max Gail and Steve
Landesberg; Hal Kanter, the creator and producer of Valentine’s Day
and George Takei, Soo’s friend and
co-star in The Green Berets, directed by John
Wayne. The film also digs deep into Soo’s past, including
interviews with Soo’s daughter and close friends, former
Topaz internees, former Motown executive Al Abrams, and
others who knew Soo at key points in his life and career.
Film historian
and New York Times film critic Lewis Beale shares his
opinions on Soo’s work and how, as a performer, Soo injected
his life experience into what he called “verbal ethnicity”:
taking a perception about a person, in Soo’s case,
his Japanese-American ancestry, and standing it on its head.
Soo never shied away from his ethnicity and instead used it
as fuel for his comedy. One of his most famous scenes in
Barney Miller illustrates this technique. As Soo described
it: “a fella says to me, ‘You shouldn’t squint so.’ I say,
“I’m not squinting.’ And, not moving a muscle, then I add,
‘This is a squint!’
In an interview with TV Guide in 1977, Soo said that he
refused roles of houseboys and gardeners because he didn’t
want to portray Asians only in that way. As Soo explained,
“I’m not putting down domestics. If it hadn’t been for our
first-generation Japanese Americans, who were
houseboys and gardeners, there could never have been the
second-generation doctors, architects --- and actors. I just
didn’t want to play domestics on a stage.”
Soo also experienced overt racism and discrimination as one
of the few Japanese American entertainers of the post-WWII
era. Early in this career, the William Morris Agency teamed
Soo with a Caucasian comic who later became a “big name” in
the business. As the duo began performing, however, the
agency surmised that teaming a Caucasian and Japanese
American comic might hurt the Caucasian comic’s burgeoning
career. “Morris cut me loose without a word,” Soo later
said, recalling the incident. “Pretty raunchy of them.”
Ironically, it was Soo’s friendship with another Caucasian
comic, Danny Arnold, who he had met in the late 1940’s while
they were both performing in nightclubs in Ohio, that helped
Soo secure his most prominent television role. Arnold had
said that he wanted to produce shows in Hollywood and that
he would find a role for Jack. Three decades later, when
Arnold developed a comedy series about a diverse group of
New York cops, he hired Soo to as a member of its regular
cast. Arnold later said, “I wanted (Soo) in this show not
because I wanted a Japanese cop. I wanted Jack’s humor.” The
film explores Soo’s friendships with Arnold and other
entertainers of the times, including Jack Benny, Tony
Franciosa, and Ross Hunter, who produced Flower Drum
Song and Thoroughly Modern Millie, and how
those friendships influenced Soo and his career.
The film also explores Soo’s decision to change his name.
Performing as a comic and singer in the mid-west in the post
World War II era, Soo changed his name in order to perform
without fear of retaliation. When he was hired to star in
the Broadway production of the Flower Drum Song, Soo tried
to change his stage name back to Suzuki to reclaim his
Japanese ancestry, but was told by producers that they
preferred the name Soo to Suzuki.
The film ties
rare footage of Soo’s performances to illustrate the breadth
of his talent and versatility of the roles he played. From
tough cops (Police Story), to a notorious gambler
and charming con-man (Valentine’s Day), to the
handsome, swinging club owner (Flower Drum Song),
bookmaker-investigator (Monk) and the cunning crime
boss (Hawaii Five-O, Ironside), Soo played a
variety of characters, never failing to leave his
one-of-a-kind stamp of humor, wit and comic surprise on the
roles that he made his own for all eternity.
You
Don't Know Jack: The Jack Soo Story
The
Slanted Screen: Asian Men In Film & Television