The love for dance kept her going through the tough early days during the Depression. Now the documentary is a fitting tribute to Toy, who will turn 100 in May. They were the first Asian-Americans to enter the American tap dance scene. [1][2][3] They were known as the "Chinese Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers". “But you have to face it.”, “We were happy with our work. But she’s prouder still of how her mom overcame so much to express herself as an artist and how she let nothing get in the way of her love for dance. “Some people knew about her story, I felt that more people needed to know her story.”. According to “Dancing Through Life, The Dorothy Toy Story,” a 2017 documentary by Rick Quan, in 1939 they became the first Asian-Americans to play the London Palladium. “She started me dancing when I was 5, and I continued with ballet,” Dorlie Fong, who became a professional modern dancer, told NBC News. Her dance troupe, though, did well for a time, proving especially popular in Canada. Her sister left the act after a few years to pursue singing, but Ms. Toy and Mr. Wing stayed together, even marrying in 1940, though the documentary says it was a marriage of convenience to make things like booking hotels easier, and it ended after a few years. Ms. Toy’s parents, restaurateurs in Los Angeles, were sent to an internment camp in Utah, and she settled in New York to avoid the same fate. Soon after the war began, her family was interned in Topaz, Utah. Dorothy Toy and Paul Wing, who were once billed as the "Chinese Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers". But their dazzling style was evident in the 1937 short “Deviled Ham,” where Toy in particular counters Wing’s smoothness with her trademark acrobatic ballet fused with jazz and tap. Add a photo to this gallery. Song Lyrics. “She’s an Asian American pioneer in entertainment,” Quan told NBC News. It’s not you. Her marriage to Les Fong, a businessman, in 1952 ended in divorce. The group were Dorothy Toy (real name Shigeko Takahashi, May 28, 1917 – July 10, 2019) and Paul Wing (real name Paul Wing Jew, October 14, 1912 – April 27, 1997). For that engagement and others, they billed themselves as “Chinese dance stylists” or a “Chinese-American dance team” or even “the Chinese Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers,” but only Mr. Wing was Chinese. They were the first Asian-Americans to enter the American tap dance scene. The war affected Mr. Wing, who served in a tank unit. They say, ‘That’s great,’ and you feel like a million dollars, that’s the kind of feel you get. “Movies they’re just taking a movie. [4], They were active in the 1930s and 1940s. In 1934 she and her sister, Helen, were in a dance number in “Happiness Ahead,” a movie that starred Dick Powell and Josephine Hutchinson. The crushing blow came in 1943, when Wing was drafted into the military. His current project is writing and performing  the “Amok Monologues,” a series of journalistic theater pieces. Toy and Wing were an Asian-American tap dance. Dorothy and Elf Antonio in Dorothy's car. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are household names, but few know of the world-class footwork of Dorothy Toy and the late Paul Wing, an Asian-American dance duo who were at one point billed as “The Chinese Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.”. Dorothy Toy, born Takahashi, was not of Chinese descent, as most people assumed. Toy packed up a Model T in San Francisco with all their belongings and moved to Chicago. And they were very nice later.”. Dorothy is Elmo's pet goldfish who first appeared on the "Elmo's World" segment of Sesame Street. Ms. Toy, whose married name was Dorothy Toy Fong, worked for much of her career with Paul Wing; they billed themselves as Toy and Wing and played prominent houses in the United States and abroad. Emil Guillermo is an award-winning TV journalist, and former host of NPR’s “All Things Considered.” His book, “Amok: Essays from an Asian American Perspective” won an American Book Award. But you don’t want the million, you just want the applause.”, Dorothy Toy, 102, Half of Asian-American Dance Team, Dies. Toy, who was still teaching in her own studio until a hip injury this year, no longer dances. Mr. Wing was drafted into the American military during the war, effectively ending the act, though the two danced together occasionally in subsequent years. “The Japanese were not well liked,” she explained in a 2009 interview with NPR, adding, “We always used Chinese names. They overcame difficult odds as Asian Americans with careers in show business, dealing with the effects of World War II. Toys! She was a Japanese American born and raised in San Francisco. Toy’s own daughter Dorlie from a marriage to businessman Les Fong, also wanted to dance. 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