Bucks County Filmmaker Shares Astounding Story Of Asian Dance Pioneer

DOYLESTOWN, PA — Jennifer Lin knew a good story when she heard it. Now she’s bringing it to the County Theater.

Lin, a filmmaker who lives in Doylestown Township, was in a New York City library when she saw a photo of a Chinese dancer in the original production of George Balanchine’s "The Nutcracker" in 1954.

She had been researching Asians in ballet but had never heard of this dancer, a teenager named

George Lee. She found out he was still alive — and was dealing blackjack in Las Vegas at the age
of 88.

Now that sounded like a good story. Lin, a former Philadelphia Inquirer foreign correspondent,
shelved her other project and flew to Vegas to film and interview Lee. The result is an award-
winning short documentary, “Ten Times Better,” about Lee’s astounding life.

The film will be shown at the County Theater in Doylestown on Sunday, May 18 at 1 p.m.,
followed by a Q&A with Lin. "Ten Times Better" is also now streaming on PBS’s American Masters Shorts program.

Lee’s life story has captivated audiences across the country, and was selected for a dozen film
festivals, including the highly competitive St. Louis International Film Festival and the American
Documentary and Animation Film Festival in Palm Springs, Calif. It won both the audience and
jury awards for Best Short Documentary at the Annapolis Film Festival.

George Lee in "The Nutcracker" in 1954.

The 30-minute film had its premiere at Lincoln Center in New York at the 2024 Dance on
Camera Festival. Lee, despite failing health, was able to return to New York for the premiere
and was met with rapturous applause at a special event put on by the New York Public Library.

“When I tracked him down by phone in Vegas, he was shocked,” Lin said. “He said, ‘Why do you
care about me? I’m nobody.’ But I knew he was somebody special, a real pioneer in ballet.”

Lin worked at the Inquirer for 31 years, including postings in New York, Washington, D.C., and a
four-year stint in China. Her father, the surgeon Paul M. Lin, was also an immigrant from
Shanghai.

George Lee’s heartwarming, uniquely American story — a child prodigy, refugee and immigrant
— has proved irresistible. He and his Polish mother (a Russian-trained ballerina) fled wartime Shanghai and spent two years in a Philippines refugee camp before landing in New York City
and earning a scholarship with the School of American Ballet.

George Lee in a studio photo.

That’s when Balanchine of the New York City Ballet saw him and cast him to dance the “Tea” divertissement in "The Nutcracker." Lee didn’t get hired by the company, but switched to Broadway, where Gene Kelly cast him in Rogers and Hammerstein’s “Flower Drum Song.” He also danced for Hal Prince’s “Baker Street.” His career as a professional dancer lasted three decades before he settled in Las Vegas for a second career as a blackjack dealer.

Lee died last month at the age of 90 after a long stay in the hospital. But his story was told. Though largely unresponsive in his final days, Lin said, when a hospice chaplain played music from “Flower Drum Song,” he moved his feet in time with the music.