S05 E02 – The Alaska Show (1958)

December Bride

DirectorFrederick de Cordova
Producer Frederick de Cordova
Production CompanyDesilu Productions
AiredOctober 9th, 1958, CBS
CastSpring Byington (Lily Rushkin), Frances Rafferty (Ruth Henshaw), Dean Miller (Matt Henshaw), Verna Felton (Hilda Crocker), Harry Morgan (Pete Porter), Pierre Watkin, Peter Leeds, Bob Duggan, Maria Tsien (Tahitian Glamour Girl Tanana)
Maria McClay as Tanana, with Harry Morgan (Pete Porter) and Peter Leeds (Major Walker)

Lily Rushkin (Spring Byington) signs up Matt Henshaw (Dean Miller) with the Air Force Reserves, ruining his plans for a vacation in Acapulco with his wife. His buddy in the air force, Major Walker (Peter Leeds) pulls a prank and gets him an assignment in Glacier Island, Alaska. In return Matt and the rest of the gang trick him into thinking that Glacier Island is a tropical paradise full of beautiful women in order to make him switch assignments. This is where Maria comes in. As part of the ploy Tanana, a Tahitian glamour girl, played by Maria is hired to pretend being one of the women from Glacier Island. An effective strategy, it turns out, as Major Walker is quite enamored with Tanana and the plan succeeds.

Scenes Featuring Maria

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S01 E17 – China Doll (1958)

The Californians

DirectorByron Haskin
ProducerFelix Feist
Production CompanyCalifornian Film Enterprises, Desilu Productions
AiredJanuary 21st, 1958 on NBC
CastAdam Kennedy (Dion Patrick), Seán McClory (Jack McGivern), Nan Leslie, Keye Luke, John Anderson, Maria Tsien (Mei Soong), Kam Tong, Richard Cutting
Maria McClay as Mei Soong is being placed as a bet during a high stakes poker game.

Dion Patrick (Adam Kennedy) and the vigilantes are investigating human trafficking in San Francisco’s China Town. While making inroads with the community Dion wins Mei Soong, played by Maria, from a dubious Chinese business man.

In the end he manages to return her to her true love, his Chinese guide during his investigation, and, with help from both, takes down the true villain: the white English teacher in a school for Chinese children.

Maria McClay as Mei Soong finds herself in a confusing situation while being kept safe at Dion’s home.

Maria didn’t get to many lines in this role but had plenty of screen time. While there are still plenty of racial stereotypes in play in this show at least it was surprisingly low on Yellow Face and had a comparably high number of non-white actors in Asian roles for its time.

Scenes Featuring Maria

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Maria McClay