April 23, 1937: Think Fast, Mr. Moto premieres, starring Austrian actor Peter Lorre as the Japanese secret agent from the novels of John P. Marquand – rewritten as an agent for Interpol due to the already-rising tensions between America and Japan.
Marquand created the character in 1935, for the Saturday Evening Post, which was seeking stories with an Asian hero after the death of Earl Derr Biggers, the creator of the Hawaii-based Chinese-American detective Charlie Chan.
Like Mr. Moto, Chan was played by a white European actor, Swedish native Warner Oland. When Oland died in 1938, he was filming Charlie Chan at the Ringside. Lorre was brought in, some scenes were re-shot, and the film became Mr. Moto's Gamble.
In Marquand's novels, the character calls himself I.A. Moto, and some other characters believe this to be a fairly obvious alias, since "moto" is usually the second part of a Japanese surname, as in "Hashimoto."
Though Mr. Moto is shrewd, tough and ruthless against his enemies, to most people in most situations he appears to be a polite, harmless eccentric who sometimes calls himself stupid, not unlike the later American TV detective Columbo. One major difference with the sloppy Columbo is his style of dress, as he prefers formal wear. And, like many an immigrant in American popular culture after him, he tended to speak in broken English and misuse American slang.
The main characters in the novels are Westerners who encounter Mr. Moto in the course of their adventures in exotic lands, and gradually come to realize what a formidable character he is.
In the first five novels, set in the era of expansionist Imperial Japan, Mr. Moto is an agent of the Empire, and a loyal servant of the Emperor, though he has his differences with the military-controlled government. In the final novel, set in the 1950s inside Japan, he is a senior intelligence official in the pro-Western Japanese government.
Lorre, who hated the role, made 8 films in it: Think Fast, Mr. Moto and Thank You, Mr. Moto in 1937; Mr. Moto's Gamble, Mr. Moto Takes a Chance and The Mysterious Mr. Moto in 1938; and Mr. Moto's Last Warning, Mr. Moto in Danger Island, and Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation in 1939. The last of these was released 3 months before the official start of World War II.
Naturally, no new Mr. Moto novels or films premiered during World War II. By 1951, he was able to be portrayed in novels as an agent of the U.S.-friendly postwar Japanese government. But, with the character still seen as a racist caricature, only 1 film with the character has been made since 1939: In 1965, Henry Silva starred in The Return of Mr. Moto. It was not well-received. By that point, both Marquand (in 1960) and Lorre (in 1964) had died.
In 1966, white American actor Joey Forman played the Chinese-American San Francisco detective Harry Hoo on 2 episodes of the TV show Get Smart. He was seen as a combination of Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto.
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April 23, 1937 was a Friday. Football was out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. The hockey season ended 8 days earlier, when the Detroit Red Wings beat the New York Rangers for the Stanley Cup.
And these baseball games were played:
* The New York Giants beat the Boston Bees, 3-0 at the Polo Grounds. Carl Hubbell, in the midst of a 24-game winning streak, pitched a 3-hit shutout. Mel Ott went 0-for-3 with a walk. This was in the interregnum when the Boston Braves, following a horrible 1935 season, decided to, as we would say today, "rebrand." It never caught on, and they switched back to "Braves" in 1941.
* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3 at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia.
* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Washington Senators, 7-1 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-3 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Paul Waner went 3-for-4, but his brother Lloyd Waner did not play.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the St. Louis Browns, 9-2 at League Park in Cleveland.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 10-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Hank Greenberg and Gerald "Gee" Walker each had 3 hits, including a home run, and 3 RBIs.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 5-4 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Joe Medwick and Johnny Mize each had 3 hits for the Cards.
* And the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox were rained out at Fenway Park in Boston. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 11. The Yankees swept, 8-5 and 10-4.
In the opener, Hall-of-Famers Red Ruffing and Lefty Grove started, but neither became a pitcher of record. The Yankees led 4-1 going to the bottom of the 7th, but the Sox tied it. The Yanks scored 4 runs in the top of the 14th inning, and the Sox only got 1 back in the bottom half. This made a winning pitcher of Johnny Murphy. In the nightcap, the Yanks knocked Bobo Newsom out of the box in the 1st inning, while Pat Malone went the distance.
Over the 2 games, Lou Gehrig went 4-for-9 with a home run, a walk and 5 RBIs; Joe DiMaggio went 3-for-9 with 3 walks and 2 RBIs; Jake Powell went 6-for-11 with an RBI; and Jimmie Foxx went 5-for-11 with an RBI.
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