Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-02-03

III mis- opinion of the real purpose of the
BRUSH authors" says Hayakawa "Over
In my country there are thousands of little
chaps wriggling in despair over the cruelty
OF Shakespeare and the others for ever
having touched pen to paper. For they,
too are studying the British classics.
After completing my studies at the uni
versity I returned home and presented my
ranslations of lbsen and of Othello, which
were very well accepted | do not mean
for moment to imply that my presenta-
ttons of these translations had any effect
upon the attitude of the educational authori-
ties toward British itersture and drama.
but ii is interesting to know that the study
of many of these standard works Is, at
present included in the curriculum in Japa-
nese schools
Perhaps the greatest single force which
has tended to bring this about Is the fact
that so many OF my countrymen have come
to America or gone TO England TO he edu-
Gated The big preparatory schools, like
AndoNer and Exeter, number many loyal
alumni among the Japanese. Yale, the big
technical universities in Boston and in Troy,
and Columbia University in New York. are
never without their quota of Japanese stu
dents II Is only natural that these men,
with their international educa tions and their
broad views, should become the leading
spirits of the empire. and that they appre-
ciating the value of the education which
they have received, have deemed it wise
to include as much of the English study
as they could
1T is the university of the motion picture
which has made il so interesting to me. In
order to communicate by wCrd of mouth
with you Americans | have had TO learn
your language but the motion picture en-
ables me to establish at least an emotional
n r. nj ba wifi NJ
the necessity of adding single new Ian
guage to my repertory.
"Of course, we are all more or less in
terested in peace talk and in the consdera-
ton of any elements which may contribute
to an establishment of a peace of a perma-
nent nature. 1t seems to me that the mo-
ton picture. by spreading the knowledge
Of one nation among the peoples of another,
will help to link them together in lasting
fashion.
For through the motion picture we are
shown that all human emotions are the
same. no matter under what color of skin
they may be experienced. The sooner we
become thoroughly awake to the fact that
black man. yellow man and white man are
emotionally one, and the more we consider
fundamentals rather than nonessential
surface conditions the more speedily we
MY work at the Lasky studio has, per-
haps, tended to intensity my thoughts on
THIS oneness or us all, because 1 nave been
playing not only japanese roles. but Hindu,
Arabian. Indian and other parts, and
could not help but realize that only few
mannerisms stand between the real person
aties of these characteristic each is
touched by the same emotions which touch
the other.
Il have often been asked how Japanese
can lose his national characteristics as | do
in the role of the son of an East Indian
Maharajah in Each to His Kind 1t is a
thing that requires a great deal of thought
and study, because a Japanese is taught
from childhood to show no emotion in times
of stress. while the East Indian is portrayed
as quite the opposite. In other words, !
must as an East Indian. forget something
that has been taught from infancy-some-
thing that has become a part of me, the
same as my hair and my arms. the same as
my manner of living and thinking. Instead
the stolid Japanese, | must be animated.
| must forget everything l have TO do in
the scene and still remember to forget that
l. am a Japanese"