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 VitascopeFeb. 1897 Osaka’s Shinmachi Theater

Two “Amegoro” competitors

“Now dead creatures flaunt their limbs in pictures that

actually move!”• Cinematographe• Yokota Einosuke• 1890s--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 good 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 troupeOppekepe; 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 (1859-1935)

– Shimamura Hôgetsu (1871-1918)

– 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