Welcome to our Bulletin Board. In this section of our Charlie Chan Family Home, we post current information on events, releases, monthly poll questions, etc. that relate to Charlie Chan. If you would like us to include some Chan-related items of interest that we may have overlooked that you would like to share, please mail us the information.
Please take our Poll for October 2023!
Access our poll HERE
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Sunday Comics
Delivered HERE each week!
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The FIFTH annual Charlie Chan Family Home Newsletter, masterfully produced by Lou Armagno and covering the events of 2022, is now available online for your reading pleasure! Within, you will find contributions from a number of our Charlie Chan Family members. An annual tour de force! The newsletter may be accessed HERE.
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“A place to explore all things surrounding Detective Charlie Chan, his creator Earl Derr Biggers, and their connection with Hawaii, Ohio, and mystery fiction.” – LOU ARMAGNO
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“The Wisdom Within Earl Derr Biggers’ Charlie Chan” is a collection of 175 aphorisms found inside the six Charlie Chan novels by author Earl Derr Biggers. This collection differentiates between the original aphorisms of literature and those from 44 films made between 1931 – 1949. Most readers likely never realized the author often borrowed words of wisdom from ancient philosophers: Buddha, Confucius, Jesus, Lao-Tzu and the I Ching. He expertly wove them within his prose to bring deeper insight and meaning. Contrary to this, the movie maxims were written—or rewritten—by scriptwriters and did not serve the same purpose. Hollywood often produced their own fortune-cookie style wisecracks for film having quite the opposite effect as the literature.
In writing his six Charlie Chan novels, Earl Derr Biggers was among the first to publicly combat the Anti-Chinese sentiment of the time. While most recall Detective Charlie Chan’s words of wisdom, the public was also drawn in – perhaps unconsciously – by the detective’s constant battle against racism and xenophobia. At the time, no other fictional detective had that challenge. Biggers novels did not include bumbling sons numbers 1 or 2 to assist or subservient African American characters like the films. And the author’s original version of Detective Charlie Chan did not sport that Fu Manchu-style mustache. “Wisdom Within” brings these facts to light, while identifying the author’s original aphorisms spoken through one of the world’s most recognized fictional characters.
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The “Chan Renaissance” continues with a tea (“cha” in Chinese) that has been named after none other than…Charlie Chan!
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Charlie Chan Links of Possible Interest
Monogram Pictures Corporation Library
A solid historical account of Monogram’s feature film library from 1931–1953, outlining an account of which entities own the rights to those films, including the Charlie Chan films.
Charlie Chan in Germany (and elsewhere): News about an old friend
A very thorough site from Germany (with workable English translation) containing many facts and interesting information.
OLD HOLLYWOOD IN COLOR: On the Set With Warner Oland
A nice site containing concise information and a fun, informative selection of colorized images of Warner Oland.
Warner Oland
From Alchetron, an online, contribution-based encyclopedia, a nicely presented page of information and images relating to Warner Oland; edited by Sneha Girap.
CharlieChan.Net
The oldest Charlie Chan board on the Internet.
The Charlie Chan Annex
A Blog site hosted by our late, beloved Charlie Chan Family member Virginia Johnson, though long dormant, lives on!
Books and Films of Charlie Chan
A fine collection of the various aspects of Charlie Chan: movies, radio, films, etc.
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The Charlie Chan Stories by Earl Derr Biggers
Read all six of the Charlie Chan adventures written by Chan’s creator, Earl Derr Biggers. These abridged texts are offered through Project Gutenberg Australia, as this material is apparently in the public domain in that country.
The House Without a Key (1925)
The Chinese Parrot (1926)
Behind That Curtain (1928)
The Black Camel (1929)
Charlie Chan Carries On (1930)
Keeper of the Keys (1932)
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Charlie Chan Family Script Projects
In the year 2002, Charlie Chan Family members undertook the creation of a group-produced “script” for a Charlie Chan adventure, Charlie Chan at College. Next, what turned out to be an uncompleted “serial” adventure, Charlie Chan’s Toughest Case, followed. Both projects were illustrated, although the images used in the serial adventure have been lost. These projects are presented here:
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Charlie Chan Family Melbourne Cup Night Winners
Since the very beginning of our Charlie Chan Family Monday Evening Chats, we have held our Annual Melbourne Cup Night on the first Monday of November. This idea was first put forward by Melbourne resident, Steve Rhodes, in our initial year of 2000. With one exception, we have held this tradition yearly since the beginning! Below is a list of each year’s winners. Unfortunately, the names of the winners for the first four years have been lost.
24 – 2023 – Hounder
23 – 2022 – Mike & Rachel in DC
22 – 2021 – mda19083
21 – 2020 – Nothere (given to Louise)
20 – 2019 – Cdirus
19 – 2018 – Godwinshelley
18 – 2017 – Godwinshelley
17 – 2016 – Angel
16 – 2015 – Mike in DC
15 – 2014 – Godwinshelley
14 – 2013 – Nothere
13 – 2012 – Hounder
12 – 2011 – Hounder
11 – 2010 – Len Freeman
10 – 2009 – (did not hold)
9 – 2008 – Virginia Johnson
8 – 2007 – Russell
7 – 2006 – Nightwolf
6 – 2005 – Virginia Johnson
5 – 2004 – Rush
4 – 2003 – (unknown)
3 – 2002 – (unknown)
2 – 2001 – (unknown)
1 – 2000 – (unknown)
