Here’s an excerpt from a memoir by Asian American actor Cherylene Lee. Best known perhaps for her performance in FLOWER DRUM SONG, singing and dancing with sister Virginia in “The Other Generation,” Cherylene Lee is a an unsung Asian American show biz pioneer with dozens of network television and Hollywood film credits during the 1950s and 1960s, as well as a Las Vegas act with her sister back when the likes of Sammy Davis Jr. were playing literally next door to the Lee Sisters show, Oriental Holiday, at The New Frontier Hotel.

Just Like Really by Cherylene Lee

About Cherylene Lee
Cherylene Lee, a fourth-generation Chinese American, was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Like the narrator of her short story “Hollywood and the Pits,” she was a child performer in Hollywood. She appeared in several TV sitcoms, including Bachelor Father, Dennis the Menace, and My Three Sons. Her stage credits include A Chorus Line, The King and I, and Flower Drum Song, and she acted in the film version of Flower Drum Song and in the film Donovan’s Reef.

Successful not only in Hollywood but in academic life, Lee earned degrees in paleontology and geology. Her writing includes poetry, short fiction, and a novel. In 1983, she began writing fiction, poetry, and plays. Her plays include Arthur and Leila in Women Playwrights: The Best Plays of 1993, and she is currently working on a children’s play about environmental issues scheduled to tour the Los Angeles public elementary schools in 1997, family’s stories and finding out about the cultural treasures in their homes. Her new play entitled “Just Like Really” describes her life in Hollywood.