If you even remember Jack Soo, most likely you picture the rumpled, unmade-bed of a desk cop on the old sitcom "Barney Miller."
What you might not realize is that he was a multitalented entertainer who spent time in a Japanese internment camp and cut a dashing figure as a nightclub singer whose voice, some say, rivaled Sinatra's.
He also broke important new ground as an Asian in Hollywood.
But filmmaker Jeff Adachi, who is better known as San Francisco's public defender, was attracted to Soo's story for this reason: The entertainer was born Goro Suzuki to Japanese parents in 1917, but he is known by a Chinese-sounding stage name.
"Why would he change his name?" said Adachi, who first discovered Soo's story while making his first film, "The Slanted Screen," which explored Asian male roles in Hollywood movies through the years. "It really made me wonder. I went on the Internet, and I couldn't find much about him."
The result is "You Don't Know Jack: The Jack Soo Story," which has its world premiere this Sunday. Filled with clips, photos and testaments from the famous -- including Nancy Kwan, "Barney Miller" co-star Steve Landesberg and "Star Trek" star George Takei -- the movie is part of the San Francisco International Asian-American Film Festival, which runs Thursday through March 22.
Adachi found that Suzuki changed his name to Soo in order to get regular work during and after World War II. He became a celebrated nightclub entertainer, playing all over the United States, not just in Chinatowns, but mostly in white-owned venues.
When he was awarded his big break in "Flower Drum Song," the movie version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, Soo tried to get his name back.
"He had wanted to change his name back to Suzuki, but the producers said no way," Adachi said. "They said, 'Look, this is supposed to be an all-Chinese-American musical," and there were already three people of Japanese descent in the cast: Miyoshi Umeki, Reiko Sato and the male lead, James Shigeta.
Although Soo gave in, he was a leader in other areas: He refused to do any role that required an accent, proudly speaking "American," and was the first Asian to star in an American television show. He played Anthony Franciosa's sidekick, Rocky, in the 1960s series "Valentine's Day" more than a decade before he became known as Detective Sgt. Nick Yemana on "Barney Miller." That show ran in the late 1970s and early '80s.
It's easy to see why Adachi would be attracted to the story of Soo, who died in 1979: Adachi also could be called a role model. He became public defender in 2002, and his primary fight with Kimiko Burton was featured in Pamela Yates' documentary "Presumed Guilty: Tales of the Public Defenders." That gave Adachi the bug for filmmaking.
Adachi is up for re-election in 2010, and he insists that making movies is merely a hobby.
"I have to say, filmmaking is an invigorating experience," Adachi said. "You start out with a strong premise, and you constantly test the premise. But my job is my passion. I just got done with a 4-1/2-month trial, and I must say I feel grounded in that work."
(E-mail G. Allen Johnson at ajohnson(at)sfchronicle.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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