The Google Doodle for Friday, May 25 celebrates the Oscar-winning Chinese-American cinematographer James Wong Howe on the anniversary of his 1934 film, The Thin Man.

Google explained that it actually intended to run the James Wong Howe Google Doodle last year on his birthday on August 28, but pulled it out of respect of Hurricane Harvey event and subsequent relief efforts.

‘Though we don’t usually run Doodles more than once, Howe left such a unique and indelible mark on American cinema that we decided to run the Doodle this year,’ the Google Doodle reads.

Here is all you need to know about who was James Wong Howe and what the Google Doodles are.

The May 25 Google Doodle celebrates Chinese-American cinematographer James Wong Howe

Who was James Wong Howe?

James Wong Howe was born on August 28, 1899 in Guangzhou, China, and immigrated to the U.S. when he was five years old and grew up in Washington state.

His father worked on the Northern Pacific Railway, but after he died, Howe moved to Oregon and contemplated becoming a boxer as a teenager.

In 1970, Howe told the great film critic Roger Ebert that his prolific career in film started with a ‘job pedaling a bicycle around and delivering films. Stag films’.

After some time, Howe ended up holding the slate in front of the camera and caught the eye of Cecile B. DeMille, who decided to promote him.

‘One day Cecil B. DeMille was looking at some rushes and he asked who that fellow with the funny face was. I guess he liked my looks, and he made me his third or fourth assistant cameraman. That was in 1918,’ Howe told Ebert.

The cinematographer’s big break, one which could well serve as a crystallised example of his innovative approach to lighting techniques, came about completely by accident.

Today's Google doodle is cinematographer James Wong Howe, who I have a deep admiration for. He was doing deep focus a decade before Toland did on Citizen Kane! Silent film stars asked for him by name! Academy awards! Dapper as all get out! pic.twitter.com/1A2fkLOAgu — fwong (@fwong) May 25, 2018

Howe recalls how one of his side gigs involved taking publicity photos of actors and actresses and selling them them the prints. One actress who called upon Howe was the silent star Mary Miles Minter.

After he took her photographs, she got back to him, saying she wanted him to be her cinematographer because of the way he managed to make her blue eyes ‘look dark’—something that was never done before on black-and-white film, which couldn’t convey the difference between blue and white.

‘That was why you couldn't shoot clouds in the sky. Mary Miles Minter had blue eyes, and they always came out pale on film. But in my pictures, they were dark and beautiful,’ Howe said, adding that after news of his achievement spread he was ‘never out work’.

At first, Howe didn’t know how he achieved the dark effect, but ultimately concluded it was because he was standing in front of a dark backdrop, which in turn was reflected by Minter’s eyes. He began draping a dark velvet curtain over his camera to recreate the effect.

Once his career as a cinematographer began to take off, Howe became a pioneer of technological innovation, using wide-angle lenses, and low key lighting—which earned him the nickname Low Key Howe.

He also pioneered the use of the crab dolly, which was a camera dolly resting on four wheels with a moveable arm to support the camera.

Howe died in 1976 having left a profound impact on the film industry. He worked on 130 films, earning ten Academy Award nominations and winning two—for the 1955 picture The Rose Tattoo and 1963’s Hud.

In paying tribute to Howe, the Google Doodle also notes the shocking contrast between the success of Howe’s professional life and the racial discrimination he faced in his private life.

Howe only became a citizen of the US after the repealing of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1943. Due to the anti-miscegenation laws, Howe’s marriage to the poet Sanora Babb was not legally recognised in 1948.

Extremely happy to see James Wong Howe, ASC honored in today's Google Doodle! @AmericanCine @AFIConservatory — Tim Kang (@timkang1980) May 25, 2018

A 2001 LA Times article mentions Babb’s recollections of the time: ‘We couldn't get married for a long time. There was a miscegenation law. We would live in separate apartments. It was before the war.

'After the war, they repealed the law, and he said now we can get married. I said, we have waited this long, we'll wait until it's convenient!’

The poet went on to say how the couple was not allowed to go to restaurants together.

What is a Google Doodle?

A Google Doodle is the tech giant’s way of celebrating cultural events and influential people throughout history.

The very first Google Doodle was that of a stick man to commemorate the Google founders’, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, trip to the 1998 Burning Man.

The stick man appeared behind the second ‘O’ of the Google logo on the homepage of the search engine.

The doodles became popular, with users responding positively to the frequent changes to the Google logo and subsequently a team of Doodlers was introduced to make them a frequent feature of the homepage.

Recent Google Doodles include Sam Selvon, Alfonso Reyes and Tamara Lempicka.