A Review of Bruce Lee's Letters (Not THOSE Letters!) | The KFG Podcast

[@traditionalwingchunkungfu6098]

I had the good fortune to read the actual letters from Bruce Lee to William Cheung, the originals. . Gm Cheung was travelling with the letters during his world tours in 1999 to show to the editors of the various martial art magazines. The ‘obnoxious’ twins that Bruce was referring to are Vince and Dave Lacey. They used to hang around with Bruce and William back in Hong Kong. Because of their mixed heritage they were kicked out of the Yip Man Wing Chun school in similar fashion to Bruce. However they were accepted at the Choy Li Fut school. But there you have it.

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Thanks for that

[@traditionalwingchunkungfu6098]

You’re welcome

[@mpgraphix]

I love this book, absolutely do more please!

[@kbreeze6969]

Thanks Sifu for bringing about an window for all things related to a very special person who was briefly here on our planet.

[@stejcool]

Great video Alex. I appreciate your insight on the letters and would definitely enjoy a follow up for later ones. I also need to go digging and find my copy of John’s book: with all the misinformation about Bruce around today, his own letters are one of the few things we can trust to reflect who he really was… both brilliant and flawed.

[@bkamara1]

Would love to see audio commentary on warriors two, prodigal son focusing on the application of wing chun in the film, touching on the time period as well would be cool

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Great suggestion!

[@benjaminbritt7862]

Thank you Alex for telling us the truth about Bruce Lee. He would have been grateful that you help to give an accurate portrayal of his legacy and not just some heroic fairytale

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Thank you!

[@wonphi]

The twins may have been the Lacey brothers (David and Vince)? They knew Bruce Lee and later learned Buk Sing Choy Lee Fut in Hong Kong. They informally learned from Bruce Lee when they were in Jr high where Bruce was their senior or something like that. They are Australian and part Chinese.

[@Partoftheratpack]

Definitely do an episode on Bruce’s last letter

[@eduardoescoban7790]

Letters of the Dragon is one of the best and most important book on the man. You should definitely go through all of the letters.

[@digitadigita3578]

This reminds me of a letter from Betty Ting Pei to one of her confidant, writing that Bruce Lee knew that she can't act, but wouldn't tell her directly. So he would tell her, while discussing the movie role, to just hand him the Game of Death bracelet, made from elephant hair, which is a symbol of wisdom and strength and wish him good luck as he was heading into the paroda.

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Is there a link to this letter?

[@Re-Destro]

Back when I was in college in LA there was this international girl from HK in my class, we spoke and I told her my admiration for Bruce Lee and how I wanted to visit HK one day and mentioned that statue they made for Bruce, and she told me that Betty Ting Pei was their neighbor, and I asked her, did they really? And she said that they did.

[@chrisbach1533]

The similarities of Bruce and Jimi were already mentioned, but there is even more: Their autopsies were done by the same man, Dr Donald Teare, who was back then the coroner. Coroner is the personal forensic pathologist for the King or Queen in the United Kingdom, and since Jimi died in London and Bruce in Hong Kong, which was a British colony back then, both men had the same forensic pathologist. And its beyond me how such a high caliber coroner like Teare did such a lowsy work with Bruce. He thought the aquagesic pill was the cause, so Linda and her followers can claim to this day that was the reason, becasue the "legendary" Don Teare, who was back then the personal doc of the late Queen Elisabeth II, came to the conclusion Bruce died because of an alergic reaction to the aquagesic. PS: My fellow German countrywoman Monika Dannemann comminted suicide in 1996 after she lost on court. Some British woman named Kathy Etchingham claimed she was the last gf of Jimi, but many say Monika was. The court decided for Kathy, and Monika commited suicide.

[@TheKungFuGenius]

It’s easy to include Dr Teare in a larger conspiracy, but being fair on balance of evidence (without inserting one’s own bias and suspicion as “fact”), the lab specimens for toxicology were not handled in a way that would yield optimal results. Sending them to New Zealand added five days before the specimens could be checked may have degraded quality of thespecimens. A doctor can only operate on the information they are given.

[@doctorc90]

The other Bruce Lee-Jimmy Hendrix connection is that Linda Lee went to the same high school (Garfield High School in Seattle) as Hendrix, but I don't think they were there at the same time.

[@tharealjonrubio1653]

Speaking of Hawkins letters, Phillup Romero told me that he seen the letters in English. Not sure about this specific one. But he said If you have any questions you can call him. Also, Aparrently Hawkins Daughters have the letters now.

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Yeah, I figured I would ask Phil about this one

[@colreef]

Absolutely cracking episode chaps.😊

[@zhehaosaw5666]

Hey sifu, thanks for sharing your thoughts regarding this book, truly a gem & must read for fans of Bruce, certainly I would like to know about the last letter he wrote to his lawyer on the day he passed away.

[@prettyflyforafilipin]

I vaguely remember Hawkins telling a story of when Bruce was in America and Hawkins was in Australia. Hawkins went back to HK to continue his Wing Chun training; where in this period he sustained an injury (I don't remember if it was training related) that led him to quit his training. WSL, Ho Kim Ming and Yip Man were having dinner with Hawkins and asked him why he stopped, he told them because of an injury. That's when Yip Man invited him over to his apartment to teach him, what Sifu likes to describe as "tricks". The letter read in this episode made me think of that story. Maybe if Sifu Alex could get someone who knew Hawkins more intimately (Phil Morris or even Wally Nakagawa) they can shed a better light to this story.

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Thanks for that!

[@prettyflyforafilipin]

@@TheKungFuGenius plenty of good stories told on that brown lacquered bench where he would sit on those few and far between times that he’d stick around after class. Those were special times. If only i had a smart phone then. He would go on about how he and bruce would lift buckets filled water with their legs while wearing backpacks filled with rocks to train their kicks. I’m not sure when this happened: Hawkins asked Bruce once what JKD was all about and Bruce said, “pak-sao”. Hawkins would demo what he meant by asking someone to get up from their seat and he would quickly have his hand on the guy’s shoulder before he could even lean forward to get up, meaning JKD was intercepting intention.

[@ruiseartalcorn]

As usual, great stuff! Many thanks :)

[@tharealjonrubio1653]

Be cool to finish the letters that’s pretty cool that we have Bruce’s last letter!

[@AllsFairInRockNRoll]

There was a letter I believe Bruce wrote to Hawkins, which was published in one of the Karate mags. In this letter Bruce said (paraphrasing) "There are guys working in restaurants waiting on tables that have greater skill than, dare I say it, Sifu himself!" I heard he was referring to meeting Gin Foon Mark of the Southern Mantis system. Do you have any info on this???

[@TheKungFuGenius]

The Gin Foon Mark story has a net sum of zero evidence. After Bruce’s death everyone and their sister had either: known Bruce/was friends or Bruce/learned from Bruce/taught Bruce/or defeated Bruce.

[@dwuonw6438]

Yes please do, the last Chuck Norris letter, was awesome great show

[@AllsFairInRockNRoll]

I think "The Twin Brothers," were Dave and Vince Lacey who were friends with Bruce. They trained Buk Sing Choy Li Fut and fought in HK rooftop fights and challenges as well. Vince moved to Austrailia and Dave (RIP) moved to LA. Bruce had a great deal of respect for CLF. Buk Sing is known for strong side forward, and I believe Bruce took a lot from this (but said fencing, because if he said he got it from CLF, and Lau Bun's school was right down the block in SF..he might've lost students to CLF) HAHA- just read the reponse below me, who also mentioned Dave and Vince Lacey! oops.

[@axelstone3131]

Looking forward to this I know it will be good 👍🏻

[@SpiritOfJustice]

Really cool episode

[@mikeschultz1398]

I think one of the best pieces of evidence for the result of the Wong Jack Man fight was how he described him as “the runner” to James Lee. Again, no one else was in on this letter between them.

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Agreed

[@BRUCEJJ66]

Enjoyed this episode, Alex, the books of Bruce's letters are among my favorites for the same reasons you mentioned, reading his letters feels like a glimpse at the private person rather than the public image. Do you have the book Regards From The Dragon: Seattle compiled by David Tadman? It's a collection of letters to Taky Kimura plus interviews with a few people including a judo instructor Bruce took a class under at the University of Washington, a "cousin" who knew Bruce when he was working for Ruby Chow (her recollection of the only "fight" she saw Bruce in is kind of amusing) , & a couple other people. I prefer this book to the one John Little compiled, it's significantly bigger than Little's book was, & the letters involve a lot of interesting stuff not seen elsewhere (including Bruce mentioning the karate champions he was teaching in L.A. [which one was thought of as "the best" of them], Bruce "hating" James Demile's "character", Bruce planning for Taky to come to Hong Kong to work on Game Of Death, etc.). If you haven't had the chance to read Regards I'd encourage you to do so, I'm sure you'd enjoy it.

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Wow thanks for that! I’ll ask David directly about it!

[@eduardoescoban7790]

@@TheKungFuGenius There's also 'Dear Bruce Lee' book by the Black Belt editors that included Bruce response letters to the mail from Green Hornet fans. Amusing.

[@ahchoung]

I know this is late, but to answer the twins question around the 50 minute mark, I’m pretty sure Bruce is referring to the Lacey Twins (Vince & Dave). The Choy Lay Fut masters are known in the Bay Area for their martial arts and their bitter rivalry with each other. Vince also has a son, Shane, who was supposed to have put Choy Lay Fut on the map in the 90s but got in some legal problems. Hope that helps

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Yes I think at least five people have already commented that. Thank you.

[@ahchoung]

@@TheKungFuGenius I saw that after I sent it. Didn’t see the comments from the first read through. But yeah, speaking of Bay Area Kung Fu, I suggest interviewing Gene Ching. He used to run Kung Fu Magazine but now continues to run its Website. I think you two would have a good back and forth talk about real and fake Kung fu history

[@CinematicTendency]

@5:40 Mickey showing the effects and repercussions 😭 of reading out loud The Amorous Adventures of Ashida Kim in the last episode.

[@StaleyTraining]

Just wanted to ask a question that I've never seen addressed: Bruce did not compete apparently because he felt karate competitions are not sufficiently realistic. While this is certainly true, Muay Thai boxing is quite realistic and was definitely a thing even in his day and he must have been aware of it, yet I've never seen Bruce address that subject. Thoughts?

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Thanks for commenting. Episode topics are chosen from our Patreon followers or KZbin members only. But long story short I have discussed this over various episodes, not sure which at this point. The problem is that it’s very easy to imprint a modern lens on past time periods and wonder why people didn’t think as we do now with our access information and our understanding and hindsight. In the time when Bruce perhaps would be most likely to compete (age and skill wise), also happened to be the period of the late 60s where he was essentially broke after no longer having the green hornet TV series. He was teaching for money, which he didn’t like to do, and he was trying to make connections to get into Hollywood because he could barely afford his mortgage. So the idea that a completely broke Bruce Lee who has two kids a wife and a mortgage would decide to fly over to Thailand to fight at great expense for what would certainly be peanuts just to “test” himself… doesn’t make any sense even in hindsight. There’s also a strange type of martial arts voyeurism, which people just wanna know what would happen if so and so fought so and so. When these things don’t happen (like Bruce competing in whatever), people often have these strange unrequited feelings of being denied the experience and then have to somehow blame a person for not giving them the experience. People who died 50 years ago are not required to give us what they didn’t know we would have wanted in the future. One could easily ask why Bruce didn’t film his private sparring sessions with Chuck. Didn’t he know we would want to watch them on KZbin in the future?

[@MikeS24-v4s]

Another similarity between Bruce Lee and Jimi Hendrix are their birthdays November 27th. WOW!

[@louiskruse5441]

More letters please!!! Great episode!

[@NH1973]

Interesting that,in Bruce's 1960 letter to Hawkins Cheung, he says he is already having a wooden dummy shipped over from HK. If he hadn't learned the dummy though, what was he planning to use it for? And who even supplied it to him?

[@mikeschultz1398]

Great question!

[@TheKungFuGenius]

He definitely “stole” a few techniques here and there from the seniors, and I think he was confident enough and his skills to come up with some things to work on it. There is plenty of non-formed stuff to do on the dummy if you have a basic understanding.

[@eduardoescoban7790]

@@TheKungFuGenius There's an inteview with Danny Inosanto where he stated how many "sets" of dummy Bruce actually learned in HK.

[@jamesclarke8831]

I've also noticed in some photos that Bruce appeared to use two different wooden dummies. One had a steel leg and a carved head piece I think.

[@murrik]

56:43 like Kanye said “you aint got the answers!!!!” 😂

[@RandyJoeDuke]

Catching up later after this aired but I really enjoyed the episode. By the way, Bruce Lee and Jimi Hendrix were both born on November 27th and are both buried in Seattle. Lots of strange parallels between them.

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Yes that’s true! Although Jimi is in Renton WA which is close but not quite in Seattle.

[@RandyJoeDuke]

@@TheKungFuGenius thanks for clarifying that. A friend of mine visited both grave sites a few years back and I thought they were both in Seattle based on his description. I've been celebrating both men since the mid 70's on November 27th.

[@daviddiaz529]

Mistah Alex giving us the Bruce Lee stuffs.

[@philparadise3702]

That Guy knew has stuff about Hendrix!!!

[@Dad_Brad]

I wonder if there were ever any letters between Bruce and Betty? I guess they didn’t need to since they were literally in the same city, but my God if there were letters discovered just imagine.

[@ehrenthompson7891]

Cool, I just re-read the Lee letter book.

[@restorativecareacu]

Hello Richter Sifu and KFG Team, my best guess is the twins Bruce Lee was referring to were Dave and Vince Lacey who were both Buk Sing Choy Lay Fut Practitioners that went to St. Francis Xavier's College with Bruce Lee in Hong Kong. Love this podcast 🙏

[@dingsifu]

Yes, that was going to be my suggestion too. The Lacey brothers also ended up in Australia later on, in Perth.

[@Danny-el7ok]

​@@dingsifur they still alive

[@dingsifu]

@@Danny-el7ok they may well be.

[@Mike_The_1950s_Historian]

Both brothers had passed away, within a year of each other, 2018 and 2019.

[@EBKmichael]

Definitely do that final letter episode!!🤌🏿🤌🏿🤌🏿🤌🏿🤌🏿🤌🏿

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Not sure if it’s worthy of an entire episode, but I’ll take a look into it!

[@EBKmichael]

@@TheKungFuGenius respect🦾🦾🦾

[@EBKmichael]

@@TheKungFuGenius I’ve def been looking forward to you guys going into depth on Bruce’s perspective on his may10th scare. Keep doing your thang brudda🦾. Been supporting you guys for almost 3-4 years now🦾🦾🦾🦾

[@brendanduffy2367]

Please do a audio commentary on all the Bruce lee movies 🎬

[@garrettt4316]

Yessss last Bruce Lee letter

[@kelvendyson1508]

It's Monday and it's KFG TIME!!! Great episode!! Alex you have the video of that movie...I paid money to see it!!🤣🤣 Mikey D on point with the Hendrix stuff except one point he left out was Scotland Yard wanted to reopen Hendrix's death because of that accusation. Very similar circumstances!! Right in Mikey D!! Peace! Ohhh...also that actor is Phil Morris who is hilarious!!

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Thank you for the great comment!

[@chiutyler]

"Entered by the Dragon"

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Hahaha awful

[@CinematicTendency]

@15:49 Could you guys do a Commentary on the movie No Retreat, No Surrender? Asking for a friend.

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Yes!

[@CinematicTendency]

@@TheKungFuGenius Sweet! I’ll let my friend know.

[@karlplayford7345]

Hi, I would love to hear you do a commentary for the Bruce Lee movies, I bet we'd here some gems.

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Good idea!

[@karlplayford7345]

@TheKungFuGenius that would include the GOD footage by the way lol.

[@Rob-z7k]

I wonder if Linda will Ever talk about Bruce and his affairs. Lets be honest...he was enjoying his fame after hours in Hong Kong!

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Linda’s days of talking are done

[@NH1973]

Let's not call them affairs. I prefer to say that Linda was expecting a Traditional marriage, but ended up with a Modified marriage!

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Hahahaha

[@Rob-z7k]

@@NH1973 When bruce invented 'Way of the Intercepting Fist'....he also meant with women!

[@benjaminbritt7862]

I think Linda had a low-key open marriage with Bruce and that she was fully aware of his affairs

[@bennyaruba3449]

Listening on spotify. Yo, please watch Ninja Terminator. A true gem of the esteemed director Godfrey Ho (im sure you're familiar with) a classic in my book!

[@NH1973]

It's recently been released on blu-ray. Along with the original movie (before ninjas were added) called "Unwelcome Guest on the Star Ferry."

[@creightonfreeman8059]

Regarding principles and techniques, if you really want to sound like a Daoist sage, say nothing. :) 道可道非常道， 名可名非常名，。。。 This was a good episode. You have my vote to cover more Bruce Lee letters.

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Thank you!

[@axelstone3131]

I’m watching the making of enter the dragon again, behind the scenes stuff. There is a scene that’s not in the movie, where Bruce was putting his catsuit top on. Man, he has a lot of muscle for real. His physique in the movie is all over the place but there are parts where he looks incredible, almost unreal with his leanness and muscle development. His chest and shoulder, arms, stomach. There a photo I’ve seen where he went back to one of the schools in 1973, was it Francis Xavier or the other one, where he’s on the mic. He has legit big arms. His triceps look the biggest I’ve even seen them in that photo. There are some photos where he looks noticeably larger. Maybe it’s the angle though I’m not sure or maybe it’s that Marcy circuit trainer 💪

[@BRUCEJJ66]

I agree that his physique looked particularly impressive when he went back to that school: incredible definition, amazing lats, abs, forearms, delts, Bruce may've been a light weight but he was all muscle!

[@axelstone3131]

@@BRUCEJJ66 definitely 💪

[@Troy1g]

Yes re last letter.

[@jerrycole4098]

Do a video on James Lee

[@axelstone3131]

I’d like to see this.

[@jdaywork2693]

19:46 Was that a fart? Oh Lord lol. Movie commentaries - yes! How much money did the TMNTs movies make for Golden Harvest?

[@TheKungFuGenius]

I listened… I don’t think so but I can’t be sure. It’s always a possibility that gas is passed.

[@stevewalling3678]

Hi the twins Bruce was referring to is most likely the Lacey’s. They were coy le fut practitioners Vince Lacey ran a school in Fremont California he recently passed Now his son Shane runs it hope this helps

[@stevewalling3678]

They used to have rooftop marches with the wing chun guys

[@stevewalling3678]

Matches

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Thank you for that, a couple people have already mentioned this in the comments. I have heard of them, I’ll look into it a little bit more. By the way, you know you can actually edit your comments if you make a mistake? It’s super helpful to me because I constantly make mistakes when I type up comments quickly.

[@alastairfraser8177]

Where's the letters Bruce wrote to beerdy?

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Next episode!

[@jamesbarbour8400]

​@@TheKungFuGenius can't take that guy Beerdy seriously at all. And from what I can make out, he's still comparatively young, whilst Bruce has been dead 50 odd years - he's never written a letter to Beerdy - Beerdy's just full of it !

[@TheKungFuGenius]

@jamesbarbour8400 it was sarcasm

[@jamesbarbour8400]

@@TheKungFuGenius ok gotcha - Beerdys' channel does the memory of Bruce Lee a great disservice, let's face it.

[@TheKungFuGenius]

I think we’ve faced it

[@weesupersteve]

last letter please

[@weesupersteve]

short message i know i was in the mist of my forearm workout and i could barely open my hands to use one finger .. worth the pain hahaha , every video you guys do are complete Gems . ive loved every single one that ive watched . always open to learning new things about Bruce lee or some books i need to add to my collection , note i do have this book from the 90s , i shall need to go back and read again . thanks KFG and the team

[@TheKungFuGenius]

@weesupersteve thank you and I relate to forearm training fatigue!

[@denisjdelgado9657]

The original letter to Wong is in Chinese

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Yes!

[@florancejoseph-u7c]

Sifu Alex Ricter could you please in a following podcast read Bruce Lee's last letter

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Sounds like a good idea

[@_ChrisPBacon_]

Yo I think itd be great to have danthewolfman on the podcast he has a yt channel yall can check out He has experience fighting in the ring and has sparred some top mma guys like rampage Hes learned some wing chun too(idk how much and from who tho) but hes mostly an mma guy i saw him interview rampage and chael sonnen He even got to learn judo from gene lebell(unlike bruce) and i think he has done an interview with gene as well Hes overall a pretty high level martial artist and a cool guy When ya replied to me u said u find conversations with people outside kungfu more pleasureable so i thought id recommend dan tho if u didnt i would have recommended izzo wing chun as well

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Thanks for the suggestions

[@axelstone3131]

Pretty sure Dan has said things about bruce not being all that before. Don’t really care to listen to anything he has to say.

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Axel, it’s ok if people don’t think Bruce is “all that”. People are entitled to their opinions as you are to yours. I regularly talk to people who don’t have a high opinion (or any opinion) of Bruce or Wing Tsun or Kung Fu. It’s how we learn. Forced agreement is fascism of the mind. As Aristotle purportedly said: "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it" You’re far too bothered by what goes on between another entities ears when it’s not in complete agreement with what you understand as “the truth”.

[@_ChrisPBacon_]

​@@axelstone3131i havent seen all his videos so idk but i doubt hes said that

[@axelstone3131]

@@_ChrisPBacon_ don’t even remember what was said last time I watched him he was on Viking samurai channel years ago. Claiming he’s Steven Seagal’s son lolz

[@tatendatawodzera7197]

Game of death 1978

[@eddietours3728]

I want more letters please

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Me too!

[@eddietours3728]

@@TheKungFuGenius you the man sir 💪🏼

[@PowPow-yp9rf]

I never had issue with Bruce using drugs, he's a human who made mistakes like everyone but there is one thing that really stuck with me and really hurts me as Bruce is one of my idols and that issue is that he was willing to put his butler, his close friend as the scapegoat if they got caught meaning an innocent person, his friend and Bruce was willing to make him take a fall. It's just such a disgusting thing to do. I still love Bruce and will always do but that part really pisses me off, unfortunately. Massive respect to you Sifu

[@EBKmichael]

@PowPow-yp9rf To be fair, all celebrities/millionaires have a fall guy. Comes with the benefits

[@BRUCEJJ66]

@@EBKmichael I suppose it was similar to modern Hollywood stars who all have "personal assistants" who take care of basically everything for them. That doesn't make Bruce's exposing Wu Ngan to risk on his behalf cool, I'm just saying it's probably not uncommon.

[@PowPow-yp9rf]

@@EBKmichael That is just disgusting and no person with any morals and loyalty or decency would do that. Just because celebrities do that, does not make it right. That's just a cop out

[@EBKmichael]

@@PowPow-yp9rf You seem green and wet behind the ears saying things like that. I guess every Jiu Jitsu practicioner, Mma fighter, and Nak Muay must lack morals then according to you lmao. Bruce was a badass, a real human being, and a martial arts scientist/psychonaut… waay ahead of his era, not that uptight nerdy monk that you and his estate try to paint him as. Accept it.

[@EBKmichael]

@@BRUCEJJ66 its like that in every industry brutha. Gotta protect the commodity. Being in the inner circle comes with a cost💯

[@astoppiello]

Did Bruce Lee have an affair with Nora Miao?

[@antoniosevilla4587]

Jon T. Benn ( the villain boss in Way of the Dragon) who lived in Shanghai from 2002 to 2018 has been my friend, i live in Shanghai since the year 2000, he told me and to many others that Bruce said Nora had very lovely tits and that Bruce was a lover, he was always surrendered by ladies… I think it’s normal, honestly… RIP Jon & Bruce.

[@astoppiello]

She looked beautiful and hot looking in Way of the dragon. I had a crush on her back in the 70s.

[@SpiritOfJustice]

Really cool episode

[@TheKungFuGenius]

Thanks you!