Japan? Samurai, Ninja, Geisha and Benshi...

In the old days (1908 ~ the 1930s)、during the heyday of Silent Films, there was no such thing as subtitling of movies in countries like Japan (that loved western culture). 

Also, as in the west, pianists or string quartets would accompany the Silent Films (Until the music started recording those soundtracks in 1923). So, how did, say, Charles Chaplin or Rudolph Valentino, become worldwide stars when people couldn't understand the silent movies? Or the cards that were inserted into the films to explain situation or dialogue? 

There's no way the average Japanese could read this back then... 

Heck, it would be troublesome today!... Wait a sec... You guys all read English...

Imagine if the cards said this:

Get it? They could be on the screen for 2 minutes and it wouldn't matter! Chuckle!

Outside of English speaking countries, the films were narrated and explained by what is called, "rhetorician." The Merriam Webster dictionary defines, "rhetorician," as a: "master or teacher of rhetoric; an orator." Or "an eloquent or grandiloquent writer or speaker."

In Japan, these orators were called, "Benshi." 

Benshi (stage left)

The Benshi would stand on the stage to the side of the screen and explain the situations in the movies and even add in character dialogue... 

Some of these benshi were incredible at what they did; many became superstars in their own right. In fact, these benshi were responsible for people like Chaplin or Valentino becoming famous in Japan. Many fans came to see the Benshi, not so much to see the Hollywood stars! Chaplin or Valentino or the rest were the side acts... Many people came to be entertained by the oratory of the legendary Benshi...

For many people in Japan, it was the Benshi, not the Hollywood stars in the movie that was the main reason for attending the theaters back in old Japan in those days. 

I believe, as far as cinema and the mass media, the rhetoricians, the Benshi, were the very first in the evolution of today's voice actors. 

Thirty years ago, in Tokyo's Asakusa district, there was a theater called, "Kaminari Theater" (Lightning Theater) and they used to have performances just as they were held during of the heyday of silent films: They would have evenings set up to recreate the exact experience and event of Benshi and Silent Films from the 1920s. 

In the old days, in Japan, going to the cinema and seeing a Benshi was a premium experience for the high-class; people would have dinner and champagne or sake while watching the Silent Films.

I went often to those recreations in the 1980s.

Kaminari Theater used to show these Silent Films with quartet & Benshi. When the films were over, I was so impressed, moved and inspired, I had tears in my eyes. 

Benshi: Sawato Midori

If this is difficult for you to comprehend, about the Benshi, here's an example: It might be difficult to understand because it's in Japanese, but watch this lady, Sawato Midori, she is awesome. At the very start, she does the voices, of the daughter, mother, sister; then she goes on to do the voices of the samurai men who are fighting... And then flawlessly back to the narrator.

Here is Sawato Midori who is probably Japan's top Benshi.... Even today! She's an incredible talent, : https://youtu.be/nAdtP6Y01bs?t

I met some executives at a silent movie company in Tokyo the other day and am attempting to arrange a showing of, perhaps, a Chaplin movie (and an old samurai movie) with a string quartet accompaniment and a Benshi for our Mt. Fuji - Atami Film & VR Festival and other Japan film festivals planned. 

Mt. Fuji - Atami Film & VR Festival

The events will be promoted just like the above explanation. They will be promoted as something like, "A time trip back to Japan of the 1920s." 

The shows might include a dinner (like the food they ate back in those days) and drinks.. Drinks from the 1920s: Salty Dog, champagne, rice wine.

After everyone is served, the main event starts: A Harold Lloyd, Chaplin or Samurai Silent film with quartet and Benshi... 

Everyone can experience the past and even foreigners will like it as the Samurai movies even have English subtitles in most cases movies and the Chaplin films have the dialogue and situation card inserted. 

I think this would be the most fantastic theatrical experience! 

Time trip back to the days of the Silent Movie stars, dinner, the show featuring a string quartet and the Benshi!

A once in a lifetime trip to a better time and an age long gone by.

Form more information about the Mt. Fuji - Atami Film Festival see: http://atamifilmfestival.org/

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For more information about Mt. Fuji Atami Film & VR Festival

Please, come and "Follow" our Twitter page: https://twitter.com/FujiAtamiFilm

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This post is dedicated to Stephen David Brooks, Koji Kamibayashi, Sawato Midori, My wife, Candice Anne Marshall, Scott Hillier, Giedre Bumbulyte and Elliot Grove.

History Repeats Itself: The "Stars of Silent Films Are Alive" Today (But not well!)

History Repeats Itself: The "Stars of Silent Films Are Alive" Today (But not well!)

Most will probably find the title of this blog to be a bit curious. But history is repeating itself right now and the "Stars of Silent Films" are "alive" today! Well, maybe not those exact people, but people who follow in their footsteps and fail to learn the lesson that they taught us....

History is truly repeating itself in front of our very eyes in the TV and radio world and the reaction of many TV and radio "stars" - and even broadcasting company management - towards the Internet.

And, just as it was in the 1920s, the silent film stars who were able to survive - and actually make more money, along with the production companies who profited handsomely from "Talkies" - the stars who survive and prosper will be the ones who embrace the new technology and use it to their advantage. 

The ones who do not, will fade away. (It's actually curious to think, that after all this time, there are mass media talent and company management who refuse to consider the internet as a profitable promotional tool or revenue stream, but I know a few... I understand if they are over 60-years-old. But under 60? I don't "get it." This seems like complete denial of reality.)

Silent films were big entertainment from about 1910 ("Birth of a Nation" in 1913 was the biggest grossing silent film of all time) until the beginning of the end in 1927 with Al Jolson's "Jazz Singer" and the abrupt ending of all Silent Films by 1937. 

So, from the advent of "Talkies," until the death of the Silent Movie Star, was only a few decades - or even less than 20 years, depending upon how you look at it.

When Talkies first arrived, many of the world's biggest stars refused to accept it. Even the great Charles Chaplin said of Talkies, "Talkies are spoiling the oldest art in the world— the art of pantomime. They are ruining the great beauty of silence. They are defeating the meaning of the screen." 

Yet, even Charles Chaplin could not deny progress and he stayed silent no longer. Just six days after Britain declared war on Germany, in 1939, he started work on "The Great Dictator". It would be a stroke of genius - as well as the acceptance of the inevitable - that helped solidify Chaplin's place as one of the greatest film makers of all time and a worldwide superstar - even to this day.

Many stars, though, simply refused to embrace the new technology and they faded away. 

It is said that many of the silent film stars insisted that their fame and talent was good enough and that their audience were loyal enough that they would never abandon them because they 'could speak with their eyes, therefore they didn't need sound or Talkies.'

In hindsight, anyone can see that this sort of thinking is foolish. 

I wonder why some of today's radio and TV stars refuse to do the Internet... I know a few who refuse to even do simple ones like Facebook or Twitter! I can understand not having the confidence in writing ability to not do a blog (how about taking, photos?) but not using FB or Twitter to keep your name in front of the audience and potential sponsors, is basically the same as "shooting yourself in the foot." 

Many of the old silent film stars obstinately refused the Talkies for the very same illogical, self-defeating and completely impractical reasons. 

I can't blame them for being artists, but I can blame them for being stupid.

They faded away, right? 

After long avoidance, some finally did try, but found they didn't have the voice to match the face...

What should we call a TV or radio star today who refuses to participate in the internet besides "someone in denial"?

From Forbes (April 10, 2014): 

"Perhaps the iconic pose of our era is someone squinting at a smartphone screen–replacing another iconic pose, the couch potato pointing a remote at the TV screen. That stark change is apparent in a new report that says for the first time, Internet ad revenues have passed those of broadcast TV."

From a guy who has worked in the mass media for over 30 years, I can tell you for a fact that, even though many won't say it, many of today's TV and radio "talent" and broadcasting station management think the exact same thing about the Internet: They foolishly believe they don't need it and they refuse to participate in it; as if it is "below" them... Just as the Silent Stars once did

They think TV and radio are going to survive in their current form for the next twenty years and giving them a livelihood; just like the Silent Stars believed about the Silent Film industry.

Starting to see a connection here? I do. And this is why I state that "History is repeating itself right in front of our eyes." 

Here's a list of 10 former Silent Film superstars who didn't make it through the transition to Talkies for various reasons.

The World Wide Web began in 1990 and now has mass acceptance. It's been 25 years now. Talkies destroyed Silent Films completely in about 25 years or so.

How many of us can see the writing on the wall? 

It figures that if you do not do the internet (Facebook, blogging, Twitter, Instagram), you'll be out of a job within 2 ~ 5 years. 

So, TV and radio star, ignore the internet at your own peril... 

They can predict the future by following the examples shown perfectly by the Silent Film stars who proceeded them: some adapted; some didn't.