Los Angeles herald., 1908-04-17
OF WORLDWIDE INTEREST
THE THEATER IN JAPAN
BY FREDERIC J. HAskIN

as souvenirs. They were a pledge OF
appreciation of a far more substantia1
character. The valet of the celebrity
soon appeared and returned each ar
ticle to its owner. collecting in lieu
thereof cash sum for the benefit of
the actor. For example, Danjuro, the
Joseph Jefferson of Japan, used to col
lect So for every good looking hat that
was thrown to him. This hat throwing
is seen at Spanish bull fights, but there
the matador makes no charge. He
merely selects one hat from the lot,
rests 1t on his head for an instant,
then throws it aside and proceeds with
his work.
The Japanese stars of the old school
also made a fixed charge for the priv
ilege of visiting them in their dressing
rooms. Those who paid the price were
presented with an autograph, some lit
tie gift, or, If the actor was especially
impressed with his visitor, he might
delay the performance long enough to
serve tea.
The Japanese stage manager of the
old school left nothing to the imagina-
tion or memory Of the spectators. For
instance, take a scene from one of the
hoary and time honored classics of Nip
pom. An old man Is making love to a
young girl He is too old and decrepit
to make an acceptable suitor, but the
girl knows he has great influence with
her father. Therefore, while she de-
sires to repulse him, she must do so
cautiously. All of this has been brought
out in the foregoing acts. But when
the actual love making scene is reached
the play Is as hard to follow as three
ringed circus. The old man Is pouring
out his plea of passion to the girl, the
orchestra Is playing an accompaniment
for his lines, and in the wings two old
men chanting an explanation of why
she doesn't give the old codger his
walking papers on the instant.
That peculiar oriental stoicism which
keeps men and women from showing
any emotion of either joy or sorrow OPP
crates only when personal fortunes are
concerned, and not when others are in
volved. The man who would bear the
burdens of Job without changing his
face Is ready to weep at the slightest
misfortune which befalls another. while
woman whose immobile countenance
would not betray her enjoyment of the
sweets of heaven will laugh like child
at some other persons happiness. So 1t
is that a Japanese theater audience Is
an instrument upon which even the
mediocre actor may play at will. 1t is
as responsive as an organ, and rarely
Toxic theater and find thousand men
and women splitting their sides with
laughter, and two minutes later every
man and woman in the audience will be
prostrated on the mats, weeping as IL
their hearts would break. The Japanese
actor never has the handicap of an un-
sympathetic audience.
The professional story teller ranks
next to the actor as an entertainer in
Japan. He gives his performance In
rooms smaller than the theater. and
although his long-winded yarns deal
with many topics they cost his hearers
but a few coppers. An idea of what
appeals to the Japanese sense of humor
may be obtained from the following
tale by a famous Toxic story teller
He said there was once an old miser
who had great deal of money, fond
ness for good things to eat and Won
derful imagination. He lived over
restaurant which had the reputation
of serving the finest eels in the city,
eels and rice being the great Japanese
delicacy. AS the epicures assembled
each day in the eating house the ap-
petizing odor of frying cells filled the
rooms above. The imagination of the
miser was so potent that when the
savory smell filled his nostrils he could
sit down to his meal of plain food with
the keenest relish. When the owner of
the restaurant found this out he forth
with presented a bill. Whereupon the
stingy tenant produced his money bag.
jlngled the coins in it. then returned
it to his pocket, When asked to eX-
plain he replied: you have charged
me for the smell of your cells and
have paid you with the sound of my
money"
The most popular story teller in
Japan at present is a man known to
his audiences as Ishii but his real
name is Black. He is the son of an
Englishman who started the first
newspaper in Japan. His knowledge of
the varying dialects is so perfect, his
dress so accurate and his manner so
natural that few of his hearers sus-
pect that he is a foreigner.
The Japanese people are so fond of
the theater that it can be made tre-
movement to modernize 1t succeeds.
If the old classical plays, dealing with
the dry dust OF ancient history, can be
done away with and modern subjects
treated in their stead, much useful
present day information may be quick
ly impaired to the masses. During the
recent boycott on American goods in
China one of the most effective ways
of reaching the people with the propa-
ganda was through the medium of the
actors and story tellers. Now 1t is said
that through the same channel even
the coolies on the border of far off
Tibet have heard about the coming of
the American fleet to the Pacific.
Copyright, 1908, by Frederic j. HasSin)
TOmOrrOw-Japanese Labor Troubles.