The late cross-talk master Hou Baolin was born in Tianjin in 1917 and studied art in Beijing, where he became famous. However, he is also very close to Shanghai, not only came to Shanghai many times to study, find relatives and friends, but also filmed in Shanghai, made commercial performances... He likes the cultural atmosphere of "Haipai", which is different from the "Ten Mile Ocean Field" in Beijing, which has brought more inspiration and nourishment to his creations.
The old scene of Nanjing Road in Shanghai in the film and television
The old scene of Nanjing Road in the film and television
Hou Baolin first came to Shanghai in June 1951, at the invitation of the Shanghai Great Bright Film Company, to play an actor who also spoke cross-talk in the movie "Fang Pearl", "White Flower Snake". At the same time, she was also invited to beijing Opera famous Dan Xiao wang Yurong, who played Fang Pearl in the film. Shanghai local movie stars Tao Jin and Sun Jinglu also participated in the filming, Tao Jin played an artist who sang a single-string octagonal drum, and Sun Jinglu played Fang Dama.
Lao She original
This film, written by Lao She, is a film that reflects the new and old life of Beijing drum book artists, full of "Beijing flavor", so inviting several real "old Beijing" to participate in the shooting can increase the authenticity and life atmosphere of the film.
Poster for the movie "Square Pearl"
As soon as Hou Baolin arrived in Shanghai, before he stepped into the studio, he was first welcomed by the Shanghai opera circles, that is, he was invited to give a report to the Shanghai literary and art circles on the hall of the Shanghai Literary and Art Office on Shimen Road to give a report to the Shanghai literary and art circles to give condolence performances to the DPRK. Hou Baolin is worthy of being an outstanding cross-talk actor, with vivid reports, flexible language, and strong politics, which has benefited many Shanghai actors. After Hou Baolin finished his report, he also spoke with Guo Qiru about a newly compiled cross-talk "Consistent Tao", and the applause at the scene was even more thunderous.
Hou Baolin was young
When the scene had not yet started filming, Hou Baolin had a lot of free time. Many people in Shanghai's literary and art circles wanted to get to know him and rushed to invite him to dinner. Hou Baolin also seems to like this kind of social scene. Shanghai, the former Ten Mile Ocean Farm, has a lingering charm that makes him very interested. Therefore, later in between filming, he can still attend various social scenes with ease and calmness. There was a lot of laughter during the banquet, and the "paragraphs" he said about making movies often made people spit rice.
Hou Baolin on the stage
After the film was filmed, Hou Baolin was invited by a friend to perform officially for two days. The performance takes place at the Mengyuan Hostel Theater on the corner of Zhejiang Middle Road on Jiujiang Road in the center of Shanghai. Many famous actors and actresses in the Shanghai burlesque industry have come. In the back seat there were actually Hou Baolin's "fans" in Beijing, who came from Beijing to celebrate.
Jiujiang Road, Zhejiang Middle Road Junction
Hou Baolin and Guo Qiru took the stage for a "introduction", which ignited the interest of the audience at the scene, and when they said that the paragraph "Drama Miscellaneous" was said, the audience could not help but be more amused. Hou Baolin was full of spirit on the stage and exported into fun, so that many people appreciated the charm of northern cross-talk, and the artistic skills of Hou Baolin's storytelling and singing were even more praised and unforgettable.
After the performance the next night, the organizer invited guests. Hou Baolin and his party took a tricycle to the "Another Estate" hotel on Nanjing West Road for a late-night snack. It took them two more days to return to Beijing.
But less than two months after returning to Beijing, Hou Baolin and Guo Qiru came to Shanghai again. This time it was not a film, but a commercial performance in Shanghai. The location was at the east end of the international hotel, the tallest building in Shanghai at that time, the International (also known as Jinguo) Theater on Fengyang Road.
Present-day Jingxi Road, Nanjing
Present-day Fengyang Road View (Former Site of International Theater)
Scenery of Fengyang Road today
This is a small and medium-sized theater specializing in the art of northern and southern opera, with 400 to 500 seats. The lane in front of the door is very wide, like a small road, and it is connected to Nanjing West Road, with people coming and going, and the river is endless. The attendance rate of the theater will not be too bad, but the invited northern music and art team is not ideal, so they moved their brains to Hou Baolin, hoping to use his reputation to create a little sensational effect. After Hou Baolin came to Shanghai once, he also cherished the atmosphere of the Shanghai friends he had just met and the Shanghai metropolis, so he hit it off.
Location map of the former International (Golden State) Theater
Old photo of the International Hotel
The theater attaches great importance to his "big horn" and arranges for him to stay alone in an international hotel for several months.
Present-day International Hotel
During this period, a male literary and artistic reporter of a Shanghai evening newspaper that Hou Baolin had long known became his "contact person." The reporter often went to listen to Hou Baolin's cross-talk at night, and during the day he went to the International Hotel to chat with Hou Baolin. The reporter found that he was more interested in Yue opera and often learned to sing a few words on the stage, which made the Shanghai audience feel cordial and the effect was very good. So I introduced him to watch the play of Yue opera sad Dan Qi Yaxian.
Qi Yaxian took a picture
As soon as Hou Baolin heard "Qi Tune", he was immediately fascinated, and after he came back and listened to it several times from the radio, he was a bit able to sing. The reporter also specially introduced him to Qi Yaxian's acquaintance. Therefore, Hou Baolin first invited Qi Yaxian to listen to cross-talk, and then invited her to eat at the Xinya Hotel, and also hummed two sentences at the dinner table for her. Qi Yaxian listened at that time and nodded repeatedly.
Old photo of Xinya Hotel
Later, Hou Baolin sang Qi Yaxian's "Su SanQi Xie" and "Yingtai Weeping Spirit" in his Xiangsheng Middle School, and also deliberately confused the "Qi Pai" with the Peking Opera "Qi Pai", "visiting each other's doors" and creating jokes, and objectively also played a propaganda role in the "Qi Pai". Until 1985, when Qi Yaxian went to Hong Kong to perform, Hou Baolin also wrote an article "I Say Qi Yaxian" in Hong Kong's "New Evening News". Of course this is a postscript.
Soon, Hou Baolin wanted to learn the "Jiang tune" in Suzhou Pingtan, and the reporter invited the students of Jiang Yuequan, a famous commentator, to the International Hotel to give Hou Baolin the essentials of rap. Hou Baolin also went to visit Mr. Tian, a Peking Opera Wusheng Taidou Gai who lived in Shanghai.
Hou Baolin is studying
At this time, Hou Baolin was at the age of prosperity, full of energy, both erudite and studious, and widely absorbed the artistic nutrition of brother dramas to enrich the art of cross-talk. He used his talent of being good at learning rap and singing, and skillfully applied the singing sections of the famous characters of Shanghai Yue opera to his cross-talk, interpolating and playing, which was natural and appropriate, which was both hilarious and resonant. In this way, the cross-talk of Hou Baolin and Guo Qiru gradually produced a sensational effect in Shanghai, the performance time was repeatedly extended, and the income of the theater and actors achieved a "win-win situation". As a result, Hou Baolin and Guo Qiru performed in Shanghai for one year. During this period, he only returned to Beijing twice for a short time.
In 1956, Hou Baolin came to Shanghai again. At this time, he had joined the Central Radio Rap Ensemble and came with the troupe to perform with his counterparts in the Shanghai qu art industry for ten days.
The performance venue is at the Shin Kong Grand Theater behind the Food Store on East Nanjing Road. This is a well-known grand theater in old Shanghai, witnessing the vicissitudes of the Shanghai film industry, and Ma Lianliang and Chaplin met here.
Now shin-kom theater
Hou Baolin still likes to stay in international hotels. At the end of each night's performance, go back to the hotel to clean up, and then take a tricycle with friends to a Shanghai restaurant opposite the Baxian Bridge Small Vegetable Market for a late-night snack.
Before the end of the performance, a symposium of famous artists from the north and south was also held in the conference hall of the International Hotel, and Hou Baolin specifically talked about the future of cross-talk.
On the afternoon before leaving Shanghai and returning to Beijing, the relevant departments in Shanghai set up a banquet at the Jin Jiang Hotel, set up several tables, and the family of Mr. Gai Tiantian and Mr. Wang Shaotang, a famous commentator in Yangzhou, was invited. During the banquet, Hou Baolin and other northern guests, Shanghai pingtan, funny celebrities, etc. all performed a short after-fun program, which was really full of high-level friends, staggered, talking and laughing, and it was not lively.
Present-day Jin Jiang Hotel
However, by the time Hou Baolin came to Shanghai again, it was already 1986. Ye Huixian, a famous program host of Shanghai Television Station who is a cross-talk actor, held an event and specially invited Hou Baolin to come to Shanghai for guidance.
Ye Huixian and Hou Yuehua
Hou Baolin came, but friends who were familiar with him found that after decades of vicissitudes, Hou Baolin no longer had the "arrogance" of his youth, was more serious than in the past, and spoke and behaved more like a scholar. However, friends who know him well understand that time will eventually change everyone, and that a special decade has passed. Therefore, Ye Huixian, Sun Jinglu and other friends invited him to dinner, and they were arranged to be in a small restaurant called "Home" in Qunyufang, Fuzhou Road Junction, where the sauce beef, fried shrimp, and chicken in green onion oil have a unique flavor, and the chicken soup is especially unique. Here, they can talk to each other without formality, which is also Hou Baolin's favorite form of friend gathering. During the banquet, Hou Baolin frequently bowed his head and said that the taste of the dish was good, as if he had returned to his youth...
Present-day Fuzhou Road
Shanghai side dishes
Soon after, a north-south cross-talk rookie conference was held in Shanghai, and Hou Baolin, accompanied by his son Hou Yaowen, came to Shanghai and stayed at the Yangtze Hotel on the northwest corner of Hankou Road and Yunnan Middle Road.
Today's Yangzi Hotel
The last time Hou Baolin came to Shanghai was on April 6, 1990, to participate in the international cross-talk exchange and broadcast activities and cross-talk art symposium. The event was held at the Golden Gate Hotel on the east side of the International Hotel.
Today the Golden Gate Hotel
But Hou Baolin stayed at the "Seventh Heaven" Hotel on East Nanjing Road. At this time, Hou Baolin was obviously thin, often diarrhea, and his spirit also appeared to be somewhat sluggish. Originally, several old friends from Shanghai who came to see him discussed inviting him to a familiar place to gather, but when they saw the situation, they dispelled their ideas. Hou Baolin died of illness in Beijing in February 1993.
This is the Seventh Heaven Hotel
Since then, a generation of cross-talk master Hou Baolin has also ended his trip to Shanghai, but his decades-long relationship with the city of Shanghai is also part of his brilliant acting career, which is worth recalling.
Hou Baolin wrote an inscription for the Seventh Heaven Hotel