Film and Theater The next stage?
Lumiere’s Cinematographe A device to capture actualités
Nanchi Theater, Osaka (Dotonbori) 15 Feb. 1897 • 16 feb. 1896 Osaka Mainichi “A man dives into the water from a cliff and we actually see him sending up geysers of spray. ”
Edison’s Vitascope Feb. 1897 Osaka’s Shinmachi Theater
Two “Amegoro” competitors “Now dead creatures flaunt their limbs in pictures that actually move!” • Cinematographe • Yokota Einosuke • 1890 s--S. F. dishwasher; peddler in Midwest; gadget hound (x-ray machine) • “Hall of Mysteries” • Successful hukster • Kawakami theater, low prices • • Vitascope Arai Saburo Import businessman Worked at 1893 Chicago Exposition • Tried to get Kabukiza, settled for Kikikan theater • Komada Koyo benshi • Sensationalist actualités, plus “Death of Mary Queen of Scots”
“Trip to the Moon” 1902
Asakusa “Rokku”
Asakusa amusement quarter • • Storyboard men Peekboxes Kabuki, hawkers Chinseikan “amazements hall” vaudeville • Taiseikan--jugglers, dancing girl magicians • Yose theaters--rakugo; samisen; chants, biwa; lantern shows • Denkikan-“electrictity hall” became movie theater 1903
Asakusa amusement quarters • Temple grounds traditional market area • Asakusa developed: – Movie theaters – Yose “opera” theaters – Shinpa live theater
Onoue Matsunosuke
Kawakami Otojirô (1864 -1911)
Theater and Enka (connections Popular Rights) • Oppekepe • • *Oppekepe, oppekepe Oppekepeppouppeppoppou • • • Kenri koufuku kirai na hito ni Jiyuutou o banomashitai * Katai kamishimo kadotorete Manteru zubon ni jinrikisha Iki na sokuhatsu bonnetto Kinji ni shinshi no idetachi de Uwabe no kazari wa yokeredomo Seiji no shisou ga ketsubou da Tenchi no shinri ga wakaranai Kokoro ni jiyuu no tane o make. • • • • *No goodygood, no goodygood No goodygood no damn good. For those [rascals] who hate full rights I’d like them to gulp down the drink of freedom * They’ve taken off the stiff samurai kimono Put on capes and pants, use jinrikisha Fancy hair, fancy bonnets Done up like ladies and gentlemen They look good on the surface But don’t know nothin’ of political theory Don’t get the truth of things Plant the seeds of freedom in their hearts.
Kawakami troupe Oppekepe; Sada Yacco
New forms of theater • Shimpa • • “new school” Kabuki the model Family dramas Traditional tales performed in modern context • Dramatization of novels serialized in newspapers • Shift from melodrama toward everyday life stories, female subcultures • Shingeki – “new theater” – Translations of western plays: Hamlet; Ibsen’s “Doll’s House; ” Sudermann’s “Die Heimat. ” – Tsubouchi Shoyo (18591935) – Shimamura Hôgetsu (18711918) – Nakayama Shinpei
Tsubouchi • Waseda University • Translator of Shakespeare • Bungei Kyôkai – 1905 trials – 1909 drama study center – Women also allowed to study – 1911 Shimamura directs “Doll’s House”
Matsui Sumako
Katyusha’s Song • 80 yen commemorative
Scandal