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

Comic strip

A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....

 Terry and the Pirates

Terry and the Pirates (comic strip)

Terry and the Pirates was an action-adventure comic strip created by cartoonist Milton Caniff. Captain Joseph Patterson, editor for the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate, had admired Caniff’s work on the children's adventure strip Dickie Dare and hired him to create the new adventure strip,...

, created by Milton Caniff

Milton Caniff

Milton Arthur Paul Caniff was an American cartoonist famous for the Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon comic strips.-Biography:...

, and in the movie serial, comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

s, and TV series based on the comic strip. Her real name is Lai Choi San.

The Dragon Lady first appeared in 1934 in the first Sunday strip

Sunday strip

A Sunday strip is a newspaper comic strip format, where comic strips are printed in the Sunday newspaper, usually in a special section called the Sunday comics, and virtually always in color. Some readers called these sections the Sunday funnies...

 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 Pat Ryan, and the time she taught Terry how to dance. In the years leading up to World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, she became a heroic though Machiavellian figure leading the resistance against the Japanese invasion of China

Second Sino-Japanese War

The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...

.

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 Terry and the Pirates

Terry and the Pirates (radio serial)

Terry and the Pirates was a radio serial adapted from the comic strip of the same name created in 1934 by Milton Caniff. With storylines of action, high adventure and foreign intrigue, the popular radio series entralled listeners from 1937 through 1948...

(1937

1937 in radio

The year 1937 saw a number of significant events in radio broadcasting.-Events:*9 March: Fireside chat: On the Reorganization of the Judiciary....

-1948

1948 in radio

The year 1948 saw a number of significant events in radio broadcasting.-Events:*22 March: The Voice of Firestone becomes the first radio program to be aired on both AM and FM radio stations....

), including Agnes Moorehead

Agnes Moorehead

Agnes Robertson Moorehead was an American actress. Although she began with the Mercury Theatre, appeared in more than seventy films beginning with Citizen Kane and on dozens of television shows during a career that spanned more than thirty years, Moorehead is most widely known to modern audiences...

, Adelaide Klein and Marion Sweet. In the 1940

1940 in film

The year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney classics Pinocchio and Fantasia.-Events:*February 7 - Walt Disney's animated film Pinocchio is released....

 film serial

Terry and the Pirates (serial)

Terry and the Pirates was the 10th film serial released by Columbia. It was based on the comic strip Terry and the Pirates created by Milton Caniff...

, the part was played by Sheila Darcy

Sheila Darcy

Sheila Darcy, also known as Rebecca Wassem was an American film actress of the 1930s and the 1940s....

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

1953 in television

The year 1953 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1953.-Events:*January 19 – 68% of all US television sets were tuned in to I Love Lucy to watch Lucy give birth to little Ricky....

 television series

Terry and the Pirates (TV series)

Terry and the Pirates is a short-lived American adventure series based on Milton Caniff's popular comic strip, was telecast from June 26, 1953 to November 21, 1953. The syndicated series ran for 18 episodes and was produced by Don Sharpe Enterprises...

.

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

Harlan Ellison

Harlan Jay Ellison is an American writer. His principal genre is speculative fiction.His published works include over 1,700 short stories, novellas, screenplays, teleplays, essays, a wide range of criticism covering literature, film, television, and print media...

's "Jeffty is Five" as a comment marking the passage of time and things past.

Further reading

• Milton Caniff, The Complete Terry and the Pirates, IDW Publishing, 2007. ISBN 1600101003, ISBN 978-1600101007
• R. C. Harvey, Meanwhile... A Biography of Milton Caniff, Creator of Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon, Fantagraphics, 2007, ISBN 1560977825 ISBN 978-1560977827.
• Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics. Harry N. Abrams, 1978. ISBN 0810916126, ISBN 978-0810916128