KITV news report by Rick Quan

Honolulu TV Anchor Rick Quan did this report which pretty much sums it all up. We first met Rick back in the 90s when he was the sports anchor at KPIX and KGO in San Francisco. Now he anchors the news at Honolulu’s ABC station, KITV, where Janice Gin, another ex-pat from the Bay Area, is the show’s producer.

From an interview with Kevin Wing, NATAS

Going to the movie studio and practicing the song and dance wasn’t that special because by the time I was seven years old I had had bit parts in several films. As soon as I saw that set of the Munchkin Village, though, and the other 124 Munchkins who were all adults and no taller than I was, I knew I had become a member of a very special club.

The full story in Chapter 2 in the book.

From an interview with James Gardner for the podcast, Your Story, Your History

Getting autographs of most of the stars in The Wizard of Oz was easy -- Billie Burke and Margaret Hamilton were ON the set of the Munchkin village, but the big prize was getting Judy Garland’s picture. (I’m peeking over her shoulder in this pic.) That was an odyssey for me because it involved crossing parts of the building where I was not supposed to be, day after scary day.

From an interview with Kevin Wing, NATAS

MGM had a strict rule that the adult Munchkins could not socialize with us child Munchkins. When we were not “on set” we were in our studio school classroom. I didn’t see anything suspicious in his persistent invitations to lunch, but a candy bar helped me see he wasn’t really on the up-‘n’-up.

From a presentation to the Rotary Club in Niles, California

Midgets and Dwarfs. What’s the difference and what do you call them? As the shortest kid in my class, I was delighted when I first met adult Munchkins who were no taller than I was. I talk about what I did when I first met some and why I still call them midgets.

From interview with Kevin Wing, NATAS

My father’s background in Wichita Falls, Texas, could not have foretold his future, but learning how to play poker behind the barn did prepare him for it. The tale of how he and my Uncle Ace ended up owning a quarter of the block across the street from 20th Century Fox Studios is one of my favorite stories. (Correction: I say “when the Volstead Act was passed” and meant to say “when the Volstead Act was repealed.”)

The full story is in Chapter 3 of the book.

From an interview with Bo Kearns for the Sonoma Index Tribune


The question of my heritage didn’t affect me much until I was 18 years old and left Hemet for Stanford University. When people asked where I was from, they always followed-up with: “Where are you REALLY from?” I knew I had been born in Hawai`i, but I knew very little beyond that and my discomfort about my ethnicity only got worse when I got my birth certificate and learned the truth.



The full story is in Chapter 9 in the book.

Street scenes from the best ad campaign imaginable

Every author has to wish his or her book would be on everyone’s lips, the talk of the town. Here’s how my wish would play out – in my wildest dreams!