The Taka Sisters were a traveling
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
trio of
Japanese-American
are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asia ...
singers and dancers who billed themselves as "the only Japanese triplets on the stage".
Early years
Myrtle (1916-2011), Midi (1914-1936), and Mary (1912-1991) were the daughters of
Nisei
is a Japanese-language term used in countries in North America and South America to specify the ethnically Japanese children born in the new country to Japanese-born immigrants (who are called ). The are considered the second generation, ...
Imahei Takaoka (a Christian minister and founder of the Hollywood Japanese Independent Church) and Kazuko Majime. Imahei died young from tuberculosis, leaving the family destitute and their son Hal Takaoka in charge. In their teens Myrtle got into show business as an extra. She convinced her sisters to go into vaudeville as the Taka Sisters, a risqué act of the time.
Murder of Midi Takaoka
The Taka Sisters became nationally recognized but after headlining Harry’s New York Cabaret between 1935-1936 their careers ended abruptly after Midi Takaoka was murdered in Los Angeles at her family home on August 11, 1936 by Raymond Johnson, a jilted lover.
The night before Johnson murdered Takaoka, he had beaten and stabbed William J. Bachand with an ice pick, the other man involved in the love triangle. Police were in pursuit of Johnson when the second crime was committed.
Johnson turned himself in to the police two days later and confessed to the murder, saying he slashed her throat in a jealous rage after finding her with another Caucasian man.
Bachand had initially met Takaoka at a bus depot in New York, and he proposed marriage to her two days later with an engagement ring he purchased in St. Louis, even though she was already wearing an engagement ring from Johnson. The pair arrived in Los Angeles on August 7, where Takaoka told Johnson she was now involved with Bachand.
After Bachand asked Takaoka's mother's permission to marry her, the pair traveled to Yuma to marry, but were denied by the authorities there.
After returning to Los Angeles on August 10, Bachand testified that Johnson stabbed him five times with an ice pick that night and told him to leave Takaoka's house, where he was staying.
Johnson was separated from Bachand by one of Takaoka's brothers, and Takaoka tearfully threatened to leave both men if they continued to fight. Bachand was taken to the hospital, where he was treated for his wounds, and returned to stay at the Takaoka home later that night. The next morning, on August 11, Johnson returned to confront Takaoka, and according to Bachand's recollection, he witnessed Johnson leaving the house at approximately 9 o'clock, followed by Takaoka, who collapsed on the front lawn.
Before a
coroner's jury
A coroner's jury is a body convened to assist a coroner in an inquest, that is, in determining the identity of a deceased person and the cause of death. The laws on its role and function vary by jurisdiction.
United Kingdom
In England and Wale ...
on August 14, Bachand testified that he and Takaoka had tried to marry in California and Arizona, but were denied due to
anti-miscegenation laws
Anti-miscegenation laws or miscegenation laws are laws that enforce racial segregation at the level of marriage and intimate relationships by criminalization, criminalizing interracial marriage and sometimes also sex between members of different R ...
. At the same inquest, Johnson stated he and Takaoka had been in a relationship for three years, but they could not marry because his estranged wife refused to grant him a divorce. Johnson was indicted on August 20 for the murder of Midi Takaoka and held without bail for trial.
During the grand jury hearing, Johnson's confession was read in which he stated he had obtained a butcher knife from his workplace, a restaurant, and sharpened it while praying for strength. After waking Takaoka up in her bedroom the next day, he stated "I couldn't control myself any longer. I struck her many times on the head with a cold chisel and then slashed her across the throat with the butcher knife." Johnson was carrying a hatchet in his suitcase when he turned himself into the police, intending "to give
tto Hal Takaoka, the dead girl's brother, so that Hal could cut him into little pieces for murdering his sister."
After his trial and conviction, Johnson was sentenced to life in prison for the murder
on November 30, 1936, with the possibility of parole after five years. For his assault of Bachand, Johnson was also given a mandatory five-year sentence to be served consecutively. Johnson was later paroled in 1948 after serving twelve years at
San Quentin
San Quentin State Prison (SQ) is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County.
Opened in July 1852, San Quentin is the o ...
. The murder of Midi Takaoka became widely publicized as a racial cautionary tale, which the ''Los Angeles Times'' summarized as a "tragic tale of the love of two occidentals for a sloe-eyed oriental dancer"
and inspired the fate of the character Ida in the novel ''
China Dolls
China Dolls (; ; ) are a famous pop music singing duo from Thailand. The group is composed of Pailin "Hwa Hwa" Rattanasangsatian and Supachaya "Bell" Lattisophonkul.
Career
The duo has released several albums since their formation in 1999 a ...
''.
Wartime years
After
Executive Order 9066
Executive Order 9066 was a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. This order authorized the secretary of war to prescribe certain ...
was issued in 1942, Mary Takaoka was sent to
Jerome War Relocation Center
The Jerome War Relocation Center was a Japanese American internment camp located in southeastern Arkansas, near the town of Jerome in the Arkansas Delta. Open from October 6, 1942, until June 30, 1944, it was the last American concentration camp ...
while her sister Myrtle and brother Hal spent time in
Manzanar
Manzanar is the site of one of ten American concentration camps, where more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II from March 1942 to November 1945. Although it had over 10,000 inmates at its peak, it was one o ...
. In 1944,
V. Vale
V. "Valhalla" Vale (born February 4, 1944) is an American editor, writer, interviewer, musician and, as Vale Hamanaka, was keyboardist for the initial configuration of Blue Cheer, before it became famous as a power trio. He is the publisher and p ...
was born to Mary and
Conrad Yama
Conrad Yama (born Kiyoshi Conrad Hamanaka; October 8, 1919 – March 10, 2010), was an American theatre, film, and television actor.
Early life
Born and raised in Fresno, California, Hamanaka attended Fresno State after high school, studying s ...
during their internment at Jerome.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taka Sisters
Japanese-American internees
Vaudeville performers
American murder victims