| Show hp tie ing 9 Horseshoes 1 II Version of Theater 1st f t st Big Jumble to Billy i ao Rose Rosea I a nd ed nl flight ht in Shanghai a Jl 3 4 took us e or of the hit plays on the Broadway 1 of the dl l u or through l he first act nOr for I had any idea gOing on J ri th the thea only ony scenery I a a. panel three screen C c tt f kitchen chairs and a aUble lacQ table Uble- l The Thc or- or r- r tUng Was down down- front h h as sawing Si like sixty sty 4 J strings Brings and t instead of ret rebas re- re bas basement for r a hand lor of pinochle the musicians chatted had a pot of oC tea lea anti anA occasionally helloed some pal in the audience Stage center a tallish galoot with a face full of red up make was doing most of the strutting and palavering a gent with a strip of white court plaster on the bridge of his nose was getting getting- the laughs and a chunky guy buy wearing a white black striped mask masl was being kicked and chased all over o the stage What goes I asked the newspaperman newspaperman news news- during intermission I Its easy casy to follow he said once youre you're familiar with a few j I simple symbols In a drama the i I I character with the red face is the hero the man with the striped mask the villain and the one with the white patch on his nose is the clown Xo No Mystery 1 it be more interesting interesting interest- interest in ing ing- without labels I asked Not to a Chinese said the journalist Hes lies more interested in types than individuals and likes to have his mind free so he can concentrate on the story Well then said Eleanor when they put pit on a mystery the audience audience audience audi audi- show how do they Uley keep ence from guessing who murdered the man with wilh all the money I HI dont don't remember ever seeing a mystery play in a Chinese theater theater theater thea thea- ter said our friend How come the skimpy scenery scenery scenery ery I asked I Chinese audiences would resent I a lot of scenery said the newsy news news- y erman They prefer that you and leave them one ingredient I gi give ve it to their imaginations to lo f fill ll in inthe inthe inthe the rest And so when a performer performer performer per per- former lifts his foot a little everybody everybody every cry body knows hes he's stepping through a door when his foot goes up a afew afew afew few inches higher its it's obvious hes he's mounting a horse and when he hc gallops g around the stage hes he's going on a long journey Stopped for Drink After the show we stopped in for a drink on the top floor loor of the Ule Broadway Mansions the building building building build build- ing on creek creck occupied by foreign correspondents and their families There we were introduced introduced introduced intro intro- to Harrison Forman author of Changing China and allaround allaround all all- around expert on matters Oriental and to nudge the conversation along I began sounding of off on the Chinese theater an and how strange it seemed to a fellow from Broad Broad- way The stuff sture youve you've seen so far said Forman is as old as the I of To some- some pagodas see ca t 1 I thing really new in entertainment you ought to go o to province province ince where the Communists are putting out a living newspaper every ery day Tell fell me about it instead I said I 1 hear the bullets in dont don't care who they hit hit According to Forman millions of upcountry peasants in China have never ne seen a newspaper or listened to a radio and so so several years ago the Commie leaders decided decided decided de de- de- de that the best way to sell them on the party line was to mix Marx with a little mirth Purge Post Religion Reli ion For openers they presented a couple of simple sketches in which boy met tractor girl lost capitalistic tic tendencies and boy and girl got ot that time old po purge post purge l re- re ligion on However these soap I dramas only met with a so-so so reception re- re an and so Ol oi one of or the br brighter of lor of the n It on the idea of I using using the tho Yang ko fro dance to lo pep pcp I things up The Yan Yang Ko Io as The National Geographic Geog has probably told is an old communal caper similar to the two one of our conga and is usually accompanied accompanied panted by a lot of or lusty seven to the-bar the chanting Well Vell the chanting part was a natural for propaganda purposes New lyrics were substituted for old prose prose bits bits of verse about in inflation inflation inflation in- in crooked war lords Chiang shek Kai and crop failures failures and and before they could say Horace Greeh Greeley the found themselves themselves themselves them them- selves publishing a Daily Worker on legs And during the war these propaganda anda hoedowns were vera used to lQ brief bric the toe populace on the daily global doin doings s from the standstill at Stalin Stalingrad grad to the mushroom over o Hiroshima Forman told me he was up in inI I on the day the allies crossed the channel and inva invaded ed Normandy and that the following I ni night ht he witnessed a three dimen en- en sl nal tabloid which explained the thet 1 t event to peasants who had never neverseen neverseen neverseen seen a 3 B 29 or an L S T not to mention an ocean An of 30 men portrayed a battleship a plank held up in the middle was the thc top deck on which Eisenhower stood men whirling their arms were the air support and a chorus I of gents shouting Bang bang I on a near-by near hill played the heavy artillery And the finale of course was the usual conga line chanting a little something by I Ia vich Big Nosed Yank The Thc actor playing Eisenhower wore a big putty nose and when I asked Forman why he explained that the Chinese think all Americans Americans Americans Ameri Ameri- cans have big just as we think all Chinese have ha eyes on the bias bins I Toda Today from rom the Yellow sea to I Tuva fu uva the Communists are I using these living newspapers to put across their news and views I I And even when the they marched into I a while back the first 1000 soldiers to enter the city danced through the ancient gales gates in single file chanting party line poesy with seven beats and a bump to the bar Well Vell as Pravda told you last year Im I'm no pal of Pal Joey g but nevertheless Ive I've got to bust down and admit that these propaganda- propaganda packed shi arees are arc probably the tho r i and muscular switch I neatest most in the hoary history of show busi- busi 1 I ness I dont don't doubt that judged 1 by time big-time standards most of them arc are amateurish and dull as dusty rice rice but but measured in social impact they probably tote more wallop than a hundred South Pa Pa- I Of course Id I'd hate to see the living newspaper catch on in the United States A columnist would be in a heck of a fix if every sentence sentence sentence sen sen- tence he wrote had to end with witha a bump Copyright 1919 b by Bill Billy Rose |
