Earlier background on New York Chinatown's tourist hokum:

“However, there was a decided ambivalence about the public's reaction to opium and the China subculture where it prospered. Riis's uplifting horror was matched by an equally widespread frisson of titillation as Chuck Connors and promoters like him cultivated Chinatown's lurid reputation to attract tourist trade. Since opium was as legal as chop suey at the time, its use was widespread and often innocuous. Olliffe's Drugstore at No. 6 Bowery served as the center of legitimate distribution in the area: believed to be the oldest pharmacy in the United States (established in 1805), it was more of a local landmark than a scandal....”

“Located at 12 Pell Street, in the heart of Chinatown, the establishment was officially known as the The Pelham Café, though everyone called it by the promoter's nickname, “Nigger Mike's,” (Like “coon” the epithet “nigger” was widely used and not considered shockingly offensive, but make no mistake, it still carried a racist sting.) Nigger Mike was no blacker than Izzy Baline; he was a Russian Jew with an olive complexion....”

“At the bottom of the hierarchy came the singing waiters; it was an unassuming job, but Izzy was glad to have it. There is no evidence to suggest that it required a great deal of musical ability; an ingratiating manner and a good pair of lungs were the important elements. Once again he sang a mixture of sentimental Irish ballads borrowed from the Broadway shows (and often written by George M. Cohan), and he displayed a new talent that quickly attracted attention: an ability to devise blue parodies of these songs. This rude but effective brand of showmanship endeared him to the café's patron's, which in turn endeared him to Nigger Mike, for a time.

Occasionally Izzy ran errands for his boss, often to Olliffe's drugstore, to obtain a purgative compounded of calomel and jalap. Mike would give the mixture to an unruly patron, if necessary. At the drugstore, Izzy befriended a clerk, another immigrant Jewish youth, whose name was Joseph Schenck. At the time, Schenck was studying for his pharmacist's degree with the help of a Russian-English dictionary....”
[pp.21-23]
[Bergeen, Laurence, As Thousands Cheer, (New York: Viking, 1990)]