The Japanese theatre, last stronghold of Nipponese conservatism, has gone Western with a vengeance.
Staid diplomats, including the ambassador of the United, States, Colonel W. Cameron Forbes, were amazed this month when they went to the new Tokyo Theatre to see a Japanese flapper of the best Fifth Avenue versions talk on the stage land reply to a question:
"Okay, Kid.
Ambassedorial dignity received fan equal shock when the members of the Corps Diplomatique were invited behind stage to have them= selves photographed in the midst of an army of 300 scantily clad ponies and show girls who wore—well, it was what they didn't wear that' was shocking!
The show was the Shochiku Review of 1930 and opened with a hot scene called "Holy Night," the frst section of a review named "Christ= mas Presents." Chorus girls sans, the ancient Germanic Christmas aval in Japanese, and pranced into one LI to greet the Saviour who descended into a world composed of American newspaper comic strip characters, including such persona ages us Major Hoople and Mister Jazzing the step into Scene the comedy characters indulged in what the programme called "Praise the God," and then into Scene 1V, called "Holy Childrei which Wash Tubbs and other comic. strip, humans mingled with such characters as a French and a Japanese doll Scene V called "Glory to God" was a comic strip hodgepodge ding up the first section of the yw, which incidentally, ran: for five solid hours and included a burlesque on the removal of the embargo on gold exports last January, an achievement" which marked the Hamaguchi Ministry in the eyes of every Japanese.
All. the principal events of the year in Tokyo were burlesqued in the ultra modern manner of Tokyo's much publicized Ginza cafes. vwigely little Japanese girl in a hula skirt sang "Old Black Joo" in Eng= lish aided by a prancing pony chorus twanging ukeleles, and other girls demonstrated the latest Ginza slang which includes about ax many English as Japanese words, One of the newest Japanese adaptations is "kay" and young Japanese of Tokyo—the Yedokko—use it almost exclusively to express the affirmes tive, A current popular song entitled "That's Okay"
The Occidental musical comedy idea was first introduced into Japan by the Takaradzuka theatre, near Osaka, which developed a troupe called the Takatadzuka girls. This troupe was 50 successful that it invaded Tokyo, where most theatres are controlled by: the Shochiku com pany—the big Japanese theatrical trust which dominates both the cinema and the legitimate stage. The Shochiku concern, secing the popularity of the revue and musical comedy idea, this year organized a troupe of its own training more than 200 girls. The success of its first revue was trentendous, the house selling out twice a day." The review was staged in the company's newest and finest theatre, the Tokyo Gekijo, opened last spring. It is a fine modern playhouse, scatinge more than 1,000 persons and with a stage frontage of 100 fect,—United Press, cary
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.