The Dragon Lady, also known as Madam Deal, was a well-known character in the U.S.

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

Terry and the Pirates ''Terry and the Pirates'' is an action-adventure comic strip created by cartoonist Milton Caniff, which originally ran from October 22, 1934, to February 25, 1973. Captain Joseph Patterson, editor for the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate, ...

'', created by

Milton Caniff Milton Arthur Paul Caniff (; February 28, 1907 – April 3, 1988) was an People of the United States, American cartoonist famous for the ''Terry and the Pirates (comic strip), Terry and the Pirates'' and ''Steve Canyon'' comic strips. Biography ...

, and in the

movie serial A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, gene ...

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

s, and

TV series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...

based on the comic strip. Her real name is

Lai Choi San Lai Choi San (meaning ''Mountain of Wealth'') was a Chinese people, Chinese pirate active in the 1920s and 1930s. Her historicity, or at the very least the historicity of most of what is known of her, is disputed since the main source on her life i ...

, a real-life 20th century pirate.

Origin

The Dragon Lady first appeared in December 1934, in the first

Sunday strip The Sunday comics or Sunday strip is the comic strip section carried in most western newspapers, almost always in color. Many newspaper readers called this section the Sunday funnies, the funny papers or simply the funnies. The first US newspap ...

story. She began as a stereotypically beautiful, seductive and evil Asian, but as the comic strip became more realistic, the character grew more complex. Fans of the strip recall her passionate love for the journalist and man-of-action Pat Ryan, and the time she taught Terry how to dance. In the years leading up to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, she became a heroic, though Machiavellian figure, leading the resistance against the

Japanese invasion of China The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Thea ...

. She was described as "beautiful as Aphrodite, wise as Athena, swifter than Mercury, and stronger than Hercules." According to ''Milton Caniff: Conversations'', she "was modeled from a real person, as are all Caniff's characters", in this case a succession of them, starting with professional model Phyllis Johnson.

In other media

Various actresses played the Dragon Lady in the radio series of ''

'' (1937–48), including

Agnes Moorehead Agnes Robertson Moorehead (December 6, 1900April 30, 1974) was an American actress. In a career spanning four decades, her credits included work in radio, stage, film, and television.Obituary ''Variety'', May 8, 1974, page 286. Moorehead was th ...

, Adelaide Klein and Marion Sweet. In the 1940

film serial A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, gene ...

, the part was played by

Sheila Darcy Sheila Darcy (born Rebecca Benedict Heffener August 8, 1914 – February 24, 2004), also known as "Rebecca Wassem", was an American film actress of the 1930s and the 1940s. Biography Born Rebecca Benedict Heffener in York, Pennsylvania, D ...

. Gloria Saunders was cast as the Dragon Lady in the brief 1953

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

. Agnes Moorehead's portrayal of the Dragon Lady is mentioned in

Harlan Ellison Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. Robert Bloch, the author of '' Psycho'' ...

's "

Jeffty is Five "Jeffty Is Five" is a fantasy short story by American author Harlan Ellison. It was first published in ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' in 1977, then was included in DAW's '' The 1978 Annual World's Best SF'' in 1978 and Ellison's s ...

" as a comment marking the passage of time and things past.

Origin

In other media

See also

References

Further reading