*googles "Something to Sing About"*

Intriguing! As it predates East of Eden by more than a decade, maybe John Steinbeck was partly inspired. (Or he knew some Asian-Americans to whom the same thing happened; I've never read a Steinbeck biography, so I have no idea.)

But the treatment of Lee and the racism getting called out by the narrative in addition to the characters is a consistent red thread, including in the final scene, when the nurse after he asks her to leave the room (so Adam and Cal can talk) says, with a racial slur, "I'm not in the habit of accepting orders from Chinks".

Back to the movie: as I said, I can totally see why this made Dean a star, he's very good, magnetic, vulnerable, intense, all the right things. But it is so very black and white in its sympathy directions and themes, and the novel is not.