<Begin Segment 10>

MN: Well, since you mentioned basketball, let's talk about your other Asian American or Japanese American involvement. You were very active in basketball.

RO: Well, yes and no. I did not hang around with the Japanese Americans in high school. I sort of kind of hung out with everyone. But then, except basketball. And it wasn't something I -- I was athletic, but I didn't really play basketball. But they had these leagues and they needed me to join 'em 'cause I'm tall. And, but I was not a basketball player, so I was a guard. And in the old days, there's a line in the middle, and the guards stay on one side, you don't shoot. And, but we were AA All Star, we would go play basketball in central Cal, and they take basketball seriously there. The hotel, fill a gym, and they come running out wearing basketball uniforms and whatever. And there we are with our little tight shorts. [Laughs] Too tight to even scramble for a ball. But it was a wonderful, unifying, enjoyable experience. I think I mentioned earlier that's how I met my husband.

MN: And then was your other major Japanese American involvement running for Nisei Week queen?

RO: Oh, that's not something I wanted to do, that's not my thing. But my mother, my mother wanted to, she wanted me to go to Japan, and I think that there was a Japan trip that was tied to, and, but ultimately I was able to send my mother to Japan to go back to see her sister.

MN: You're actually still involved with Nisei Week. You are invited every year to be a part of, a model in the fashion show. Can you tell me how that came about?

RO: I don't know, but it's nice because it gives you incentive to trim down and not make a fool of yourself. [Laughs] But my main reason is you connect with designers, people like Tadashi. And so he's so generous. Every year I go see him, maybe I can get three evening outfits so that -- I would buy them -- but at cost. And so those connections are important. But it's a nice way to stay in touch with the community.

MN: Do you want to share with us your foray with Flower Drum Song?

RO: [Laughs] Oh... when I was at UCLA, I was a PE major. PE teachers were a very big influence in my life, and in junior high school, they said that I had leadership potential. They may not notice it in the classroom, but they did out in the field. And the same thing at Roosevelt High School. But PE? It was a way to work and play. [Laughs] Put on short and tennis shoes. I didn't want to go to an office and sit at a desk, and I liked being around young people.

MN: And how did you get involved with Flower Drum Song?

RO: Oh, Flower Drum Song. Oh, Flower Drum Song. As a PE major, you have to take dance, so I did take some dance. And we heard that they were auditioning for Flower Drum Song, and I thought I would try to get a part. And all these professionals that came from the Broadway show were, they were ready. And we just bumped around a way, and so they selected me to be a showgirl, and I was gonna be the Swedish in a burlesque scene. [Singing] "I'm a vagabond sailor," and I'm supposed to come in and do my bump and grind. And then they sent me to costuming, and this designer named Irene, she said, "Take off all your clothes." And then somebody came in and started stitching sequences. I said, "Oh, oh." Anyway, I went to the first rehearsal, and that was important ultimately, because I ended up getting residual checks for years. But I, you know, Khrushchev had complained about Shirley MacLane's costuming and can-can, and I thought, "Oh, wow, I'll be in trouble because I want to be a schoolteacher." And it turns out well that I dropped out, because Tommy Ochi, who became my husband, and his friends, were all a part of the nightclub audience, and I would have had to come out and do my bump. [Laughs]

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.