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Obituary -- Noel Toy -- famed exotic dancer of '40s

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Noel Toy -- famed exotic dancer of '40s
Chuck Squatriglia, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, January 23, 2004
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Noel Toy Young, a Bay Area native who dazzled audiences and raised eyebrows on both coasts with her seductive nude fan dances in the 1940s, has died at the age of 84.

In this day and age, when Victoria's Secret models prance around on prime- time television, it's hard to think of a stripper as scandalous. But 60 years ago, Mrs. Young was just that, appearing on stage wearing nothing more than ostrich plumes.

She was known as Noel Toy, and she was the nation's first Chinese American fan dancer -- she'd be called an exotic dancer nowadays -- and among the most famous women to practice the art.

But Mrs. Young was more than a stripper, according to those who knew her. She was, they said, a pioneering performer who shattered the day's stereotypes about women in general and Chinese women in particular. She was sensual, outspoken and rebellious in an era when women were expected to be prim, reticent and submissive.

"She was an outrageous rebel," said Arthur Dong, a documentarian whose film "Forbidden City" chronicled the nightclub of that name and Mrs. Young's role in its success. "You never thought of a Chinese woman being like Noel, and that's what made her so special."

Mrs. Young was born Ngun Yee in San Francisco, the first of eight children born to parents who came to California from Canton. Soon after her birth, the family opened a laundry in Inverness, where, the story goes, they were the only Chinese residents.

Mrs. Young was just months away from a journalism degree at UC Berkeley when she was offered a role in the Chinese village show at the World's Fair on Treasure Island in 1939, a job that required little more than standing around in a Chinese gown. It led to other, racier gigs.

"Well, school was dull," Mrs. Young told the New York Post in 1941, "and I couldn't see anything wrong about appearing there. I went home and told my mother what I was planning to do, and she raised the roof."

Mrs. Young was known to offer different accounts of the same event, and said a few years ago that her mother hadn't learned of her career choice until a photograph of Mrs. Young appeared in the newspaper. However it happened, though, the mother soon embraced the daughter's line of work.

"I guess it's true that you can get used to anything," Mrs. Young told a reporter in 1941, "because now (my mother) sees me in the nude in nightclubs and thinks nothing of it."

Mrs. Young's big break came in 1939 when businessman Charlie Low offered her a job at Forbidden City, which was the nation's first and only Chinese nightclub when it opened at 363 Sutter St. Low thought Mrs. Young was just the thing to bring in the crowds.

Mrs. Young changed her name to Noel Toy, which she chose because she loved Christmas, and hit the stage. Business tripled within three months, making Forbidden City one of the nation's hottest nightclubs and earning Mrs. Young a national reputation as the "Chinese Sally Rand" -- a reference to the popular fan dancer.

She began performing at other clubs around the city and appeared in newspapers and in Life magazine. Before long, a promoter by the name of Lee Mortimer came from New York and brought Mrs. Young back to the Big Apple, where she packed them in at the Stork Club, Maxie's, the 18th Club, Lou Walter's Latin Quarter and Leon & Eddies -- where her show ran for 26 weeks.

"If I'd stayed there any longer, they would have had to reverse the name 'Leon' and made it 'Noel and Eddie's,' " she told a reporter upon her return to San Francisco in 1943.

She was dancing at the Latin Quarter one night in 1945 when a soldier in the audience named Carleton S. Young found himself suddenly spellbound.

"I'm going to marry you," he told her right then and there.

She only laughed. She had a strict rule against dating soldiers or actors, and Young was both. But he proved a persistent man, and they married that year. Their marriage lasted until Carleton Young's death in 1994.

Mrs. Young gave up dancing at her husband's request and began a career in acting. She appeared alongside the biggest stars of the era, including Clark Gable and Susan Hayward (in "Soldier of Fortune") and Humphrey Bogart and Gene Tierney (in "The Left Hand of God").

But Mrs. Young soon grew tired of being typecast as what she called "the ornamental Oriental," said her nephew Michael Now, and gave up acting for real estate in 1954.

She continued to act from time to time, however, making appearances on "M*A*S*H," "Family Affair" and other programs. She also appeared in John Carpenter's 1986 film "Big Trouble in Little China," starring Kurt Russell.

Mrs. Young remained a trim and curvaceous woman of 94 pounds until her death. She often went out on the town in Los Angeles, where she lived until moving to Antioch late last year, wearing a revealing dress or short skirt and high-heeled shoes, Now said.

"Until the end, she was quite scandalous," he said with a laugh.

Mrs. Young died Dec. 24 in a Vallejo hospital after suffering a stroke five days before. She lived in a retirement home in Antioch.

In addition to Now, Mrs. Young is survived by two sisters, Lotus Now of Rio Vista and Alyce Wu of Walnut Creek; and three brothers, Ken Hom of Hercules, Joe Hom of El Cerrito and Henry Hom of Oakland.

A memorial service will be held 1 p.m. Jan. 31 at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 6000 Santa Monica Blvd., in Hollywood.

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