The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1929-05-31
Army Worm Spreading From Canada Over Northern Tier of State
Jazz.Conscious Orient Will See
Native Cuties in Broadway Show
~ HoRrENsE SAUNDERS

BY HORTENSE SAUNDERS
New York. May 3l.-N EA)-This
| year, Ruth Sato is q dancer. but next
year she will be a p~roducer-if her
plans mAterialize-not IN Broadway.
| but in the land Of the cherry bios
SONS.
She is the only japanese chorus
girl on Broadway. but In spite Of her
slant eyes. her slight. narrow body.
her kimonos and her obvious orien-
tai lineage, she Is American in spirit.
Nimble as her feet are, her mind Is
even more 50. She plans to carry the
American musical comedy to Japan.
Now. under the popular American
conception Of what the Orient con-
siders good moral entertainment, it is
difficult to imagine a Broadway mu-
steal show full of bare-legged cuties
grating to Tin Pan Alley tunes and
shovering fast American wise-cracks
on an audience Of Unconditional Jap
aneSe.
They Like the Charleston
But our idea Of Nippon is all wrong.
why, in the last few years, jazz
music has become very popular in
JAPAN" Miss Sato declared. MY
friends there say they think the
Charleston is a most fascinating
dance. There are big cabarets and
night clubs in the Orient, and when
We can't find enough musicians in
Japan, we get them from the English
settlements in China.
II know my people will like musi-
cal comedy. The costumes are very
decorative and I'll see that the girls
are fairly well covered. Nudity would
shock q japanese audience-not NOR
ally. mind you, but they would con-
slider 1t inappropriate and In very bad
taste.
Japan is fast getting around to the
Occidental viewpoint, but it Is not yet
ready for the Follies Bergere type of
entertainment"
She'll Be twisting Artist"
Miss Sato admits that no oriental
woman would think Of such an enter.
prise as she has in mind.
IF ! were a Japanese girl, living
in Japan, I would have no opportun-
ity, or receive no encouragement to
put myself before the public this way.
But going owe from this country, and
coming as an established dancer, they
will accept me as an artist rather
than q native daughter.
They are used to women dancers
no country ever adored Pavlowa more
than Japan-and she made several
tours there. They themselves love en-
tertainment and novelty. I think an
American type Of show will arous
their curiosity sufficiently to keep
the box office busy. And certainly
the English and Americans in this
part of the world, and the tourists
would support it. 1t will mean MOTH
ing to the poor class, for they would
never have the money for the admis-
sion, small as it will have to be.
II have acquired the Japanese
rights to Hold Everything the show
I'm in, and I have interested some
Japanese men here, including my
father. in my plan to put it on. with
American stage settings, dancing and
costumes, in the larger cities.
1oet Translated Script
The lyrics already have been
translated into Japanese by a jap
anese poet who is over here, and I
would have to take owe only a tech
meal director and q musical director
and the costumes. I will put on the
show and teach the routine myself. #
this venture is successful. we have
other productions in mind"
Getting Japanese chorus girls would
be the real problem. she admitted,
and she would need twelve.
There is no such person there
now" she laughed. There are
dancers-in fact. nearly all japanese
girls can dance. but they dance from
the waist up-they don't know what
it is to use their feet. Teaching them
American steps will be most anus
ing"
Miss Sato was born and educated
in this country. Her father, a Jap
anese art dealer in New York, has
taken her back to his native country
many times for her vacations.
She Often Visits Japan
Miss Sato always emphasizes her
oriental features with her stage
makeup. and dresses in a delightful
combination of east and west attire.
II don't care nothing for antiques,
jades, prints-or any Of the things I
have been surrounded with all my life
and which are no novelty to me. If
had my way. I would fill a house with
books, mostly Russian and French
authors. ! like James Joyce. Proust
and dc Goncourt. Housekeeping I
don't like and cooking interests me
not at all. I'm "a. but I don't want
to get married for a long time yet"