Wah Ming Chang | |
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| Born | (1917-08-02)August 2, 1917 |
| Died | December 22, 2003(2003-12-22) (aged 86) Carmel, California, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Film,sculpture,painting |
| Notable work | Star Trek |
| Spouse | Glenella Taylor |
| Wah Chang | |||||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 鄭華明 | ||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 郑华明 | ||||||||||||||
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Wah Ming Chang (August 2, 1917 – December 22, 2003) was an Americandesigner,sculptor, andartist. With the encouragement of his adoptive father,James Blanding Sloan, he began exhibiting his prints and watercolors at the age of seven to highly favorable reviews.[1] Chang worked with Sloan on several theatre productions and in the 1940s, they briefly created their own studio to produce films. He is known later in life for his sculpture and theprops he designed forStar Trek: The Original Series, including thetricorder andcommunicator.[2][3]
The Chang family moved fromHonolulu, Hawaii toSan Francisco, California and about 1920 opened the Ho-Ho Tea Room on Sutter Street, which became a favorite venue for the city's Bohemian artists. Wah-Ming's mother,Fai Sue Chang, was a graduate of Berkeley's California School of Arts and Crafts (today'sCalifornia College of the Arts), where she specialized in fashion design and etching.
After she died in 1927,[4] her husband persuaded Wah Ming Chang's art teacher and family friendJames Blanding Sloan, and his wife Mildred Taylor, to become his son's legal guardians. Sloan exhibited Wah Ming's etchings and watercolors in public exhibitions as early as 1925 to favorable reviews in theSan Francisco Bay Area and later in the largest art colony on the Pacific Coast,Carmel-by-the-Sea.[5][6][7][8][9][10] The child became part of Sloan's family, traveled in 1926 toTaos, New Mexico, for the on-site study of American Indian culture, and in 1928 displayed his block prints in joint exhibitions with Sloan at the prestigiousPhiladelphia Print Club[11][12] and inPasadena, California.[13][14][15]
He became a valued assistant in several of Sloan's marionette theatres as well as in productions for the Hollywood Bowl Ballet and the "Cavalcade of Texas."[1][16] In the mid-1940s Chang formed a joint studio business with Sloan, The East-West Film Company, and produced such memorable films asPick a Bale of Cotton (an interview and performance with the legendary blues and folk singerLead Belly in 1944) and the highly controversial anti-war short,The Way of Peace (1946–47), created in part with elaborate miniature sets and puppets in stop-motion.[1]
ForStar Trek, Chang built costumes for the salt vampire ("The Man Trap"), theGorn ("Arena") and Balok's false image ("The Corbomite Maneuver"). He createdtribbles by using artificial fur stuffed with foam, theNeanderthals in "The Galileo Seven", theRomulanBird of Prey ("Balance of Terror"), and the Vulcan harp first seen in "Charlie X" and later seen in "The Conscience of the King", "Amok Time", "The Way to Eden"; andStar Trek V: The Final Frontier. Chang is mistakenly credited with having designed thephaser; it was actually designed by the art director of the original series,Matt Jefferies. TheDesilu prop department prepared a single "hero" working model phaser, deemed unacceptable byGene Roddenberry; Wah Chang prepared additional working and dummy mockups of the phaser, as well as other principal props.[17] A Desilu invoice dated August 22, 1966, shows Chang "reworking phasers" for $520.00.[2]
Chang's communicator design has been credited as an inspiration for modern flip-typecell phones. His Balok effigy was used in "The Corbomite Maneuver"Star Trek episode — and at the conclusion of manyclosing credits sequences of the series.[17]
His other film credits include sculpting themaquette ofPinocchio which was used as the reference for the animators of the classicWalt Disney feature, and articulated deer models forBambi.[18] He designed the spectacular headdress worn byElizabeth Taylor in the feature filmCleopatra. Other work included building the time machine and sphinx from 1960s movieThe Time Machine, and the dragon (seen only in the English-dubbed version) ofGoliath and the Dragon (1960). Chang's firm, Project Unlimited, Inc., would winAcademy Award recognition for itsspecial effects, but Chang was not listed on the award, due to the way the credits were submitted to the academy.[3] Film historian Bob Burns reported that Chang did not object to this. "He was the most humble, gentle man I've ever known in my life," Burns said. "He never boasted about anything he did, and he just did remarkable stuff."[18]
In addition, Chang built the artificial creature in "The Architects of Fear" episode of the originalThe Outer Limits, some props for the originalPlanet of the Apes film, the frightening skeleton animated inThe Power, the flying machine inThe Master of the World, and thedinosaurs inLand of the Lost.
Chang's work as astop-motion animator through the effects companyCentaur Productions, operated with fellow artistGene Warren, has been enjoyed for years in the cartoonsHardrock, Coco and Joe andSuzy Snowflake.[citation needed]
Chang moved with his wife, Glenella Taylor, toCarmel Valley, California, in 1970, where he joined theCarmel Art Association and began producing bronze sculptures of wildlife and endangered species.[3][18]
In 1941, Wah Ming was diagnosed with polio following flu-like symptoms. After an extended stay at the Twin Oaks Sanitarium hospital inSan Gabriel, California, and treatments that included confinement in an iron lung, he eventually would walk again, but for the rest of his life never had enough strength in his lungs to be able to blow up a balloon.[citation needed]
While his earlier creative efforts were concerned with special effects and film-related wonders, his more mature artistic creations were delightful bronze sculptures and whimsical statuary. The latter ranged from a life-sized 3.5 foot tallDennis the Menace,[19] commissioned by creatorHank Ketcham and displayed in Dennis Park inMonterey, California, to the smaller statues such asGirl and Frog, which is owned by a private collector inLos Angeles.[20]
Chang died on December 22, 2003, in Carmel Valley at age 86. A public memorial service was held at the Community Church of the Monterey Peninsula in Carmel.[21]
Chang produced the educational 1970 short filmDinosaurs: The Terrible Lizards, astop-motion feature which discussed life in theMesozoic Era. It would later gain a "Revised Edition" in 1986.
Chang appeared in the documentaryThe Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal (1985) produced and directed byArnold Leibovit.
Mr. Chang was featured in the documentaryTime Machine: The Journey Back (1993), produced and directed by Clyde Lucas.
Chang produced bronze sculptures in collaboration with Henry "Bob" Jones after meeting at Disney.[22]
I struck a deal and gave them Matt's detailed working drawings, and they departed, with Wah already planning how he would execute Matt's phaser pistol design, in addition to building the other two props. He finished everything perfectly and made several beautiful hero models of all three props, and all the dummy mockups that I knew the show would require.
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