Flower Drum Song Overview:

Flower Drum Song (1961) was a Comedy - Musical Film directed by Henry Koster and produced by Ross Hunter and Joseph Fields.

Flower Drum Song was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2008.

Academy Awards 1961 --- Ceremony Number 34 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best Art DirectionArt Direction: Alexander Golitzen, Joseph Wright; Set Decoration: Howard BristolNominated
Best CinematographyRussell MettyNominated
Best Costume DesignIrene SharaffNominated
Best Music - ScoringAlfred Newman, Ken DarbyNominated
.

BlogHub Articles:

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song

By Rick29 on Jun 1, 2020 From Classic Film & TV Cafe

Miyoshi Umeki as Mei Li. My elementary school chorus teacher introduced me to the Broadway musicals of Rodgers and Hammerstein. To be specific, she favored the catchy songs from The Sound of Music and The King and I. Hence, I always experience some built-in nostalgia whenever I watch those movie ad... Read full article


Musical Monday: Flower Drum Song (1961)

on May 18, 2020 From Comet Over Hollywood

It?s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals. In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals. This week?s musical: Flower Drum Song (1961) ? M... Read full article


Flower Drum Song (1961)

By Beatrice on Apr 19, 2017 From Flickers in Time

Flower Drum Song Directed by Henry Koster Written by Joseph Fields from a musical play by Fields and Oscar Hammerstein III and a novel by C.Y. Lee 1961/USA Universal International Pictures/Fields Productions/Hunter-Fields Repeat viewing/Netflix rental This?stood up well to fond memories from my m... Read full article


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Quotes from

Mei Li: [singing] A little girl in Chunking, just thirty inches tall, / Decides that she will try to walk and nearly doesn't fall! / A hundred million miracles! / A hundred million miracles, a hundred million miracles, a hundred million miracles are happening every day.


Wang Ta: How do I look?


'Sammy' Fong: Baby, you remember the new convertible you've been drooling over? Well it's yours.
Linda Low: I don't want it.


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Facts about

Anna May Wong was producer Ross Hunter's original choice for Madame Liang, and Wong wanted to do the film. Her sudden death at the age of 56, just before filming was scheduled to begin, resulted in the part being given to Juanita Hall, who had created the role on Broadway.
During the brief scene where Sammy Fong and Mei Lei sit in a beatnik coffee shop, on stage someone reads the poem "Like a God". This was originally a song in the stage production sung by Wang Ta to Mei Lei, but was cut out of the screenplay.
The original Broadway cast album of "Flower Drum Song", issued in early 1959, was the first Broadway cast album of a Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II show to be issued in stereo. (The stereo versions of the film soundtracks of "Oklahoma!", "Carousel", "The King and I", and "South Pacific", were all issued in 1958.)
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Best Costume Design Oscar 1961










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National Film Registry

Flower Drum Song

Released 1961
Inducted 2008
(Sound)




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Also directed by Henry Koster




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Also produced by Ross Hunter




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Also released in 1961




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