Of Sax Rohmer, Fu Manchu and Beyond

Having investigated many pulp and mystery authors here before, it’s likely that I would have written about Sax Rohmer (Arthur Henry “Sarsfield” Ward, 1883-1959) anyway, but we had added incentive once we learned that he was very much involved with English music hall.

A working class Irish kid from Birmingham, Rohmer started out writing music hall songs, monologues and sketches for the likes of Little Tich and George Robey. His first book Pause! (1910) was a collection of his comic bits for Robey. The second was the ghost-written autobiography Little Tich: A Book of Travels and Wanderings (1911). Rohmer was also interested in magic and the occult, both the “real” and the stage kinds. He belong to secret societies, and he adopted a pseudonymous identity, much as a stage magician. Another of his early books The Romance of Sorcery (1914) brought about a friendship with Houdini.

Rohmer’s first published short story was The Mysterious Mummy (1903). In 1912 came the serialized novel which introduced his most famous creation: The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu. The character was clearly inspired by the many Chinese and Faux Chinese stage magicians who were enjoying a great vogue during that period, in particular Ching Ling Foo and Chung Ling Soo, both of whom sported Manchurian style pigtails. (As it happens, China’s centuries old Manchu-led Qing Dynasty fell the same year Rohmer introduced his character, and was replaced by the first iteration of the Republic of China). The fictional Fu Manchu may be the standard bearer for being pop culture’s most virulent anti-Asian, racist stereotype character. He was a cold-bloodedly cruel super-villain, usually depicted with a super-long mustache, and claw-like fingernails. He worked his evil plots from inside his lair, assigning his minions to go before thefts, kidnappings and assassinations, employing his knowledge of folk magic and medicine (naturally derived poisons and such) and even sending forth creepy animals like spiders and snakes. Fu Manchu was the embodiment of the “Yellow Peril” stereotype. Rohmer wrote many other books in this vein besides the initial three Fu Manchu novels, such as Tales of Chinatown, and Dope: A Story of Chinatown and the Drug Traffic.

In 1928, stage magician David Bamberg launched a “Chinese” themed act and began billing himself as Fu Manchu. It is probably no coincidence that Rohmer revived the character in 1931, writing ten more Fu Manchu novels for the series. But Bamberg’s adoption of the character had been preceded by dramatic adaptations. There had been a British series of silent films in 1923; and radio series in the U.S. from 1927 through 1932. A comic strip and comic books followed in the ’30s and ’40s. Warner Oland, who also played Charlie Chan, was the classic Hollywood actor most associated with the role in the early ’30s, followed by Boris Karloff, Henry Brandon, and John Carradine. Christopher Lee played the character in a series for Hammer as late as the 1960s. And of course, Peter Sellers depicted him rather notoriously in the spoof The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980). There was also a television show starring the character, portrayed by Glen Gordon, in 1956. You might think the racism of the character would have been prevented more Fu Manchu product from having been created long ago, but no, there have been more novels starring the character produced as recently as 2012. And Nicholas Cage played him in a parody in the movie Grindhouse (2007).

I’ve always felt that the sci-fi/fantasy villain Ming the Merciless of Flash Gordon fame was inspired by Fu Manchu. James Bond’s Dr. No also seems in the tradition, in a more modern, more muted form.

In addition to the 13 Fu Manchu novels, Rohmer also write five starring a similar female character named Sumuru in the 1950s. In conjunction with its Fu Manchu cycle, Hammer also made two Sumuru movies starring Shirley Eaton in 1967 and 1969. Alexandra Kamp played the character in a 2003 reboot.

As for Rohmer himself, shall we call it poetic justice that he was killed by the so-called Asian Flu in 1959?

For more on vaudeville and English music hall, where Sax Rohmer got his start, please consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous.