Mary Mon Toy

Mary Mon Toy was an accomplished singer and showgirl, known best for her role as Minnie Ho in the Broadway production of The World of Suzie Wong. Born Mary Teruko Watanabe in 1916 in Washington state, she and her husband were incarcerated in the Minidoka Internment Camp from 1942-43. Upon their release, she separated from her husband and moved to New York to train in voice at Julliard. She was constantly told by her teachers that as an Asian she would never become an opera singer. Mary was determined to prove her teachers wrong and answered a 1946 ad for “Oriental Girls, five feet six and over” and thus began her career as a chorus girl at China Doll nightclub. She adopted a more Chinese-sounding name out of fear of deportation, and soon her exquisite voice got her promoted to the show’s “Chinese chanteuse.”Mary would move onto vaudeville, often the only Asian American performer on the bill, and rose through the ranks of the performance circuit all the way to Broadway. She made her debut in the groundbreaking show House of Flowers as one of three non-black actors in the cast, and was soon cast as Minnie Ho in The World of Suzie Wong. The fame generated from these roles would land her spots in film and TV. She remained a staunch activist throughout her career, championing Asian representation in media.