The Pat Strong Interview
Conducted by Paul Bax
HOW WERE YOU FIRST INTRODUCED TO BRUCE LEE?
PAT STRONG: I first learned about Bruce Lee from Doug Palmer who was one of Bruce's students. Sometime later, Jon Craig and I went to observe a gung fu workout and what we saw so impressed us that we immediately joined up. At that time Bruce was teaching a group of about a dozen students at an outdoor parking area beneath the Blue Cross Insurance building. Right across the street was Ruby Chow's Chinese Restaurant where Bruce had a small room for living quarters and worked as a waiter. The year was either late 1960 or early 1961.
WHAT WAS YOUR PREVIOUS MARTIAL ARTS EXPERIENCE BEFORE BRUCE, IF ANY, AND IF SO WHAT ART?
PS: Both Jon Craig and I had been training in boxing gyms before starting gung fu. Neither of us had any Asian martial arts experience.
WAS YOUR IMPRESSION OF BRUCE LEE REGARDING: 1.) HIS CONFIDENCE. 2) HIS ABILITY. 3) HIS PHILOSOPHY?
PS: (1) I thought Bruce was extremely confident, even cocky. He was a natural showman who loved to dazzle audiences with his gung fu and feats of strength. He had a special quality about him that made him stand out from others and he loved to be at the center of things. As I think about it, I am reminded of something that Joe Hyams told me. Joe and Writer/Producer, Sterling Siliphant had shared lessons with Bruce's at Joe's home in Beverly Hills, California. When in 1973 Bruce went to Hong Kong to make "Enter the Dragon", I took over teaching Joe who would later author a book titled, "Zen and The Martial Arts". Joe had been an important newspaper columnist and author who knew and wrote about the biggest names of Hollywood's big star era. His chic exposure to the stars taught him that they all shared something in common. Joe called it "the star quality", an almost magical presence that came across both in life and on the big screen. From the first day that they met, Joe had detected that same star quality in Bruce. Joe likened Bruce's to James Dean, a man who resonated with youthful magnetism, and Humphrey Bogart, a man who stood out in any crowd.
2) My first impression of Bruce was that he had hands as quick as thought, itself. In Hong Kong, Bruce had studied Wing Chun Gung Fu, a fighting system known for its effectiveness in the streets. It was a system based on the firm principles of simplicity, economy, sensitivity and practicality, all of which made Bruce's method uniquely direct and fast beyond comprehension. Wing Chun's Chi Sao (sticking hands) training had developed in Bruce a particular kind of contact sensitivity that enabled him to move like water through an opponent's defense. With his unique foundation based on scientific structure and powerful tools he was able to demonstrate incredible feats of strength over much larger and stronger opponents. To put it mildly, I thought Bruce was just plane amazing!
In 1964, Ed Parker hosted his International Karate Championship in Long Beach, California. Among the throngs of people that day stood Tsutumaka Oshima, the first man ever to teach karate in the U.S. and one of the last men to have trained with the great Master, Funakoshi.
Accompanying Oshima, Sensei was Caylor Atkins, one of Oshima's top black belts. According to Atkins, he and Oshima were standing together in a large room set aside for black belts that were preparing to give demonstrations that night. Neither Oshima nor Atkins had ever heard of Bruce Lee nor, for that matter, had hardly anyone else at that time. But as Bruce walked past them Oshima's gaze followed him. "That one," said Oshima, "he is the only one here who can do anything." As Atkins said to me, "Oshima had judged Bruce's level by the way he moved when he walked."
3.) Having been a young Chinese man raised and
educated in Hong Kong, Bruce was influenced in all aspects of Chinese thought. In particular, his study of martial art had taught him powerful principles, strategies, and philosophy. I was struck at the way he was able to interpret the physical realities of his gung fu into illustrations of universal principles. It seemed to me that his gung fu and philosophy were interrelated and inseparable. Not only was he a talented martial artist, but he was also an astute philosopher.
For instance, take the way Bruce taught the Immovable Elbow Principle of Wing Chun. In the technical sense, he showed how the elbow position of certain tools should remain firm and not be permitted to give beyond one fist length from the body, or else a fighter's structure could easily be destroyed. From the philosophical point of view Bruce likened the steadfastness of the Wing Chun elbow to the resolve of honor. "If your honor does not hold firm," said Bruce, "then your character can be destroyed." Strategically, this same powerful principle applied to many things in every day life such as business, a relationship, or even a fight that is about to happen. In the latter case, Bruce used this analogy:
Bruce said, "A man looking for a fight calls me a nasty name and advances a step toward me. Not wanting to fight, I retreat a step and try to reason with him. This time he calls my mother a name and advances another step. I know that name-calling will do no harm to my mother and I fall back a second time. Now he senses that I must be afraid and he grows even more confident. A third time he advances, but instead of retreating my move is both decisive and sudden! My attack catches him in mid-step and unprepared. If you ask me why did I wait so long to fight, my answer is because it was the third time that he approached me. You see three is the point I will not retreat beyond."
In a scene from "Enter the Dragon", Han (Shih Kien) has just given Roper (John Saxon) the grand tour of his drugs and prostitution operation. When Han suggests that Roper should join him, Roper refuses. Han replies, "So there is a point that you will not go beyond!"
Ummmm. . . sounds like a line Bruce might have written.
WERE YOU AWARE OF LEE’S GRAND SCHEME OF OPENING MARTIAL ARTS SCHOOLS NATIONWIDE AND IF SO DO YOU FEEL LEE COULD HAVE PULLED SUCH A FEAT OFF?