Chapter 340 339 [Hot Discussion Among the People]

Mei Lanfang's tour in the United States has not yet ended. He performed from New York, Chicago, San Francisco and other cities all the way to Los Angeles. At the same time as the performance, Mei Lanfang was awarded Doctor of Letters by Pomona University and University of Southern California.

Mei Lanfang even became good friends with Hollywood's "Three Masters of Film" - Chaplin, Fairbanks and Pickford.

The "Los Angeles Times" commented on Peking Opera: "Chinese drama is not the truth of realism, but the truth of art. It is a regular performance method, which is more profound than the truth of life."

Mei Lanfang performed more than ten times in a row in Los Angeles, the shows were sold out, and she was not affected by the economic crisis at all. He was also invited to give lectures at USC on performance skills and drama art, and won high praise from teachers and students at USC. Mei Lanfang has given seminars, speeches and lectures at seven universities in the United States.

On this day, Mei Lanfang discussed the clowns in Peking Opera in Chaplin's villa.

Mei Lanfang said: "In the jargon of Chinese opera circles, there is no ugliness, no drama. Clowns are divided into Wen Chou and Wu Chou. Wen Chou mainly focuses on reciting and workmanship, and Wu Chou focuses on actions. To put it bluntly, it is to use lines and The exaggerated performance of the action, and then achieve a special dramatic effect."

After the translation, Chaplin nodded and said: "This is very similar to Western humorous comedy."

Mei Lanfang said: "Chinese drama pays attention to heat. Take clowns as an example. If the heat is not enough, people will not be able to laugh. If the heat is too high, it will inevitably make people play."

"Yes, it's the same with comedies," Chaplin said. "If you don't use enough force, it will be difficult to impress the audience. If you use too much force, it will be embarrassing."

After discussing buffoons and humor, the two chatted about acting. Mei Lanfang said that when an actor stands on the stage, he has another life. Chaplin agreed with this, saying that this is a full commitment to the role of the performer.

Talking until noon, Mei Lanfang finished lunch at Chaplin's house, and the two met to go to the theater to watch a stage performance.

Theater tickets are much more expensive than movie tickets. In the economic downturn, the number of audiences is getting smaller and smaller. Only the top performances on Broadway are still thriving.

After watching the performance, Mei Lanfang returned to the hotel with the interpreter, and Zhang Pengchun met him and said: "Heming, Mr. Zhou has published a new book."

"Oh? Is "Dog Officer" also released in the United States?" Mei Lanfang sat down and asked.

"It's not "Dog Officer", it's "Titanic", a sci-fi love tragedy." Zhang Pengchun took out a brand new novel and smiled.

Zhang Pengchun made great contributions to Mei Lanfang's national tour performances. He served as the art director of the Mei Opera Troupe and suggested that Mei Lanfang make appropriate changes to the repertoire according to the aesthetic needs of Americans. This modification has been very successful and has aroused great interest from American audiences. If it is performed according to the original Peking Opera, the effect may be greatly reduced.

Mei Lanfang took it over and took a look, and found that it was all in English, so she could only say to the translator: "Xiaoyou Zhong, can you read it for me?"

"Of course." The translator was Zhong Pengfei, an international student at USC, and he read the novel in Chinese on the spot.

Mei Lanfang listened to the novel with his eyes closed. He was surprised by the future plot at the beginning, but after the novel entered the main topic, Mei Lanfang quickly immersed himself in the love story.

When Zhou Hexuan wrote the novel, he expanded various supporting characters. Characters such as the old gentleman, the musician, the captain, the wife of the nouveau riche, etc., are more vividly described. Especially the upstart fat lady, who can be called a funny character, every time she appears on the stage, her words and deeds make people laugh. She is rude, simple, straightforward, and kind, and her role is very pleasing.

What touched Mei Lanfang the most was when the passengers and crew were busy escaping, the musicians on board played the music with trepidation. When they learned that there was no lifeboat, they became calm from fear and worry, and leisurely performed the last collaborative performance in their lives.

After dinner, the interpreter continued to read until 11 o'clock in the evening. The next morning, Mei Lanfang continued to listen to the story, and did not finish telling the story until mid-afternoon.

Mei Lanfang said: "Although the story takes place in the West, it is so exciting that the Chinese are also greatly moved by it."

Zhang Pengchun is a drama expert. He said: "After reading "Titanic", I came up with a bold idea. This story can be adapted into a stage play!"

Mei Lanfang joked: "It can also be changed to a Peking Opera performance."

Zhang Pengchun said seriously: "I plan to cooperate with Broadway to change this play into an opera or a drama, it will definitely be very popular."

In fact, it is not only Zhang Pengchun who has this idea. Eugene O'Neill, the founder of American national drama and future Nobel Prize winner, also has the idea of ​​adapting "Titanic" into a stage play at this moment.

"Before O'Neill, there was only theater in the United States; after O'Neill, there was theater in the United States." This is the evaluation of Eugene O'Neill by American critics.

O'Neill has been wandering since he was young, and has been to South America and Africa. He panned for gold, worked as a sailor, a clerk, and a vagrant. After returning to the United States, he also worked as an extra. At the age of 26, he went to Harvard University to attend a drama skills course. Just half a year ago, at the age of 41, O'Neill finally got the honor of Yale University. Ph.D.

Since O'Neill has been a sailor for several years, his plays in the early years are all about sailing life. After reading "Titanic", O'Neill once again had the urge to create a nautical drama. He even went to the Chinese embassy in the United States and Mike Lauer Book Company, hoping to contact Zhou Hexuan and obtain the right to adapt the novel to a drama.

Mike had already obtained Zhou Hexuan's permission to act as an agent for all copyright matters of "Titanic" in the United States. The two parties quickly reached a cooperation agreement. O'Neill spent 1,000 US dollars to obtain the right to adapt the play. Zhou Hexuan will share 1% of the income from commercial performances for each performance of the play in the future, and this money will be deducted from O'Neill's screenwriter's remuneration.

Eugene O'Neill publicly commented: ""Titanic" is one of the most classic and touching love novels in the 20th century."

Sinclair Lewis, Zhou Hexuan's fan in the United States, the first American Nobel Prize winner, and the writer who nominated Zhou Hexuan as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature last year, is also spontaneously promoting "Titanic". He mentioned in the literary column of "New York Times": "I recently found an interesting work. It is Mr. Zhou Hexuan's first western novel. It makes people believe that the purity of love will inevitably become a great and classic love work."

In fact, without Sinclair Lewis's help at all, this novel has already become popular in the United States.

Mike used "Goncourt Prize Winner" and "Nobel Prize Candidate" as gimmicks to promote "Titanic" crazily. Americans have a deep impression of Zhou Hexuan. "The Rise of Great Powers" has been sold like crazy for a long time. As soon as "Titanic" came out, many regular readers immediately bought it.

Due to the sluggish environment of the American book market, "Titanic" only sold more than 3,000 copies in the first week. But as the word-of-mouth of the novel fermented, more and more Americans began to talk about the love between Jack and Rose, and the story of the Titanic crashing into the iceberg.

As a result, by the second week, the new sales volume of the novel had skyrocketed to more than 8,000 copies, and it had attracted widespread attention from the industry and the press.

The New York Times took a different approach and suddenly began reporting information about the sunken ship in the third week of the novel's release.

Only then did American readers know that the "Titanic" was not fabricated out of thin air, that this ship actually existed in history, and that it was indeed killed when it crashed into an iceberg during its maiden voyage. The captain and other characters in the book use their real names, and the process of sinking the ship also follows reality.

The reports of these news made people more interested in the novel, and even began to discuss whether the heroes and heroines and the heart of the ocean really existed.

Finally, the "Washington Daily" also published an article analyzing that the "Heart of the Ocean" in the novel should be the legendary "Blue Diamond of Doom". Discovered in India in 1642, the diamond became an ornament of the King of France.

However, the strange thing is that the jeweler who dedicated the diamond to the king became penniless in the end, and was bitten to death by a wild dog during another treasure hunt. The first owner of the diamond, King Louis XV of France, died of smallpox after wearing the diamond only once. Louis XVI, who inherited the throne, gave the queen a diamond to wear, so Louis XVI and the queen were beheaded at the same time. The next owner of the diamond was Princess Lamberna, who was also killed in the French Revolution after wearing the diamond.

Afterwards, the diamonds flowed among the people, and the British banker named it "Hope". As a result, the banker went bankrupt, divorced, and died in poverty and illness. Later, the Turkish Sultan Hamid II became the new owner of the diamond. As a result, his car fell off a cliff and his family died together. The blue diamond was obtained by Zuo Bide, the confidant of the Sudan, but Zuo Bide was also executed.

The diamond was eventually owned by McLane, the head of the Washington Post in the United States. In the second year after Mrs. McLane wore the diamond, her son died in a car accident, her husband died immediately, and her daughter died of an overdose of sleeping pills. Afterwards, there was no news about the "blue diamond of doom" named Hope-this happened a year before the Titanic hit the iceberg.

As soon as this news report came out, the entire United States was in an uproar, and there was such a weird thing!

The last owner of the diamond, Mrs. McClane, stood up and said that the "Star of Hope" blue diamond was still in her jewelry box and had not been sold to anyone.

Although some parties clarified that the "Star of Hope" is not the "Heart of the Ocean" in the novel, it proves the existence of the blue diamond of doom from another angle. People are even more crazy about this, and the whole society is exploring the hidden secrets of "Titanic", and all kinds of real or fictional stories emerge in endlessly.

There was even an American woman who came out and said that she was the surviving Rose.

Once this kind of craze was fired, the sales of "Titanic" soared, and even Hollywood film companies became interested in turning this novel into a movie.