One day in November 1957, a lonely man stood on the deck of the Democracy III passenger liner in a navy blue cotton jacket, churning in front of the endless seawater. The moment he chose to jump, the dark sea engulfed his figure, and the thick night engulfed the sea again.
That year, the man named Shi Hua was only 42 years old.
Two years later, a corpse floated into the reeds of The Wusongkou Beach in Shanghai, and the public security department repeatedly confirmed that the body was the drama emperor who had previously been found to have "absconded from other countries in fear of crimes".
At this point, a generation of shadow emperor Shi Hua declared his death.
Many years later, his friend Shen Silent recalled the past, saying that Shi Hua was extremely afraid of water, and somehow chose to commit suicide by throwing himself into the sea, nor did he know how much courage and determination he had made.
And this inexplicable scene can be seen in the scene when the two meet for the last time: the studio suddenly opens a criticism conference, Shi Hua first does self-examination, and then accepts criticism from everyone. When the meeting was over, the crowd dispersed, and Shi Hua stayed at the end, leaving alone.
And after he saw the silence, the first sentence he said, and the last sentence of his life, was: I can't act in the future, right?! I'm done, I'm done! Then he turned around and strode away, and the lonely figure gradually disappeared into the crowd.
Shi Hua loves acting all his life and chases for a lifetime, and he can't act, but how can he live?
If you want to be noble before people, you must suffer behind your back
How godly Shi Hui's acting skills are and how popular people are, we can know from the evaluations given by celebrities at that time. Drama playwright Cao Yu dismissed the idea of deleting this small character after watching Lu Gui, played by the 23-year-old Shi Hui, and said: Shi Hua acted better than I wrote. Among Shi Hui's famous fans are Zhang Ailing, Mei Lanfang, Lao She, Zhao Dan... The drama "The Great Circus" starring him has been performed 77 times in 40 days, during which he planned to change the B role due to illness, and the audience refunded the tickets.
In his early years, he portrayed roles that included all walks of life, good people and bad people, whether it was the court official or the city, and finally unexpectedly all succeeded. The industry's evaluation of him is: a person with a thousand faces, standing without speaking can also rob the protagonist of the light.
However, the genius side of his outstanding talent and rapid stage adaptability in acting stems precisely from his poignant childhood experience.
In 1915, Shi Hua (Shi Yutao) was born in Yangliuqing, Tianjin. He was always misrepresented by posterity as a descendant of the Shi family, in fact, he had not lived in the Shi family compound for a day since the day of his birth, and he dropped out of junior high school to earn a living in junior high school, and he worked as a car boy on the train of the old society, a tooth boy in a dentist's office, a conductor in a commissary, and a young master who urinated for the rich... Shi Hua's boyhood was rolled all the way from the bottom of the old society.
The 20-year-old Shi Hui never thought he could act, he joined the Tomorrow Theater Troupe, it was "Fa Xiao" Dong Shixiong (Blue Horse) said that this job is short of people, not only to give money, but also to manage food, filial piety Shi Hui decided to try to share the worries for the mother.
The suffering of his childhood did not make him have a shadow, but accumulated a wealth of performance materials for him, not the science class of Shi Waving after he became popular and did not shy away from self-deprecation: I graduated from "Tianqiao University". Shi Hua created his own unique secret of acting: starting from the roots - asking for advice from life. Therefore, when he played the beggar, he deliberately went to the overpass to repeatedly observe the life of the beggar, and then exchanged his new jacket for the beggar's old jacket covered with lice oil, and sat in the bridge hole for a few days, and the broken bowl in front of him put a lot of silver for charity from well-wishers. He was relieved that the beggar had been recognized.
In front of the stage, people see a second into the play, a strong sense of substitution "genius" Shi Waving, behind the stage can not see is the delve into the theory of drama into the fascination, ran all over the library, and ran to the director to borrow foreign theater theory books, did not learn English is a word by word with a dictionary translated into Chinese of the play idiot Shi Waving; the effect of their own lines is very high, in order to pursue the character voice and personality fit to invite the vocal teacher to practice the voice, groping for a set of sound punctuation symbols of the drama Shi Waving; that leg was injured, walking was affected, In order not to affect the stage effect, Leng is a hard board over the drama of the idiot stone swing. Therefore, Shi Hua's success has his unique talent as an actor, and he is more willing to fight hard.
Birds and fish do not behave differently, and the mountains and rivers never meet
There is a superstitious saying on the Internet, the person who injures the official with the seal is expensive, and the marriage is not good, in other words, the love of people who are too famous will not be too smooth. Others do not know that this sentence should be very appropriate on Shi Hua.
The young Shi Waver is pure and cheerful, and always holds a beautiful romantic for love. This can be seen in his description of first love in the essay: "Whenever the sun sets, out of nowhere comes the song, it is extremely sweet, and it is a little fascinating, I think I should love her, love this singing fairy, I am thinking that a girl who sings well, must look good, look good and have a good heart." 」 Unfortunately, the dramatic plot of this wall for the song's mutual affection did not lead to a good ending. When they met, the two fell in love at first sight, but the girl had no news after going home to discuss, and all the letters written were returned, and when they met again, the girl explained that she had succumbed to the arranged marriage at home, and the proud Shi Hua was also quite shocked, and whenever she thought of it, she could not help but be indignant. ”
Many years later, perhaps because of the deceitful rate of life in the circle and its consistent bluntness and honesty, Shi Hua had long since transformed from a lively and cheerful teenager into a dull and cold man. The romanticism of love has also changed from a romantic obsession with fantasy to a pragmatic and spiritual resonance. He began to hope that someone would illuminate his starry sky and gain insight into his loneliness.
At the opening ceremony of a silk cloth village in the most prosperous area of Shanghai, the organizer invited two big stars, Shi Hua and Zhou Xuan, to be ribbon-cutting guests. As a result, the two people who had never met but had always admired each other were able to meet. Born lonely, but eager to embrace similar souls. The mutual communication of personality and encounters makes the two people feel good about each other, and after a long time, the friends in the circle also come to match, and for a while, the star couple has become a hot spot for major newspapers to report first. People also gave the greatest support to the scandals of the two, one was the "golden voice" at that time, the other was the "drama emperor" at that time, the golden boy and the jade girl, and they were all extremely clean and lovely people, who wouldn't want it? What I didn't expect was that the four words of creation and manipulation should once again be applied to them.
The quiet and silent Shi Hua showed a special love of talking in front of Zhou Xuan for the first time, and Zhou Xuan felt strange and funny, "Why does he have so many words to say to me?" And I listened like a fool, as if I couldn't get tired of listening to it. Zhou Xuan, who went to film in other places, would entrust the errand of taking care of his adoptive mother to Shi Hui, and Shi Hui also wrote letters in two days to urge him to return soon after filming. Two people who have been familiar with the world for a long time have grown one tender shoot after another in their hearts. After a period of understanding and getting along, they intend to formally enter into a marriage contract.
Invited by The Greater China Pictures in Hong Kong, in the winter of 1946, Zhou Xuan flew to Hong Kong intermittently, zhou Xuan, who was filming in Hong Kong, kept hearing negative news, Shi Hui's "gossip" kept seeing the newspaper, and at this time Shi Hui had been staying in Shanghai filming, and the interview he heard was that Zhou Xuan had been playing Tai Chi insincerely, "One will say that this friendship is okay, and the other will say that he has many boyfriends." Zhou Xuan, who has not yet stepped out of the shadow of the previous marriage, suffered from gains and losses, and finally personally extinguished the flame of love, Shi Hui also thought that Zhou Xuan would never find insiders again as stated in the newspapers, and the long-difficulty of meeting and the same personality made it difficult to eliminate the question mark in the hearts of the two. The last time they met, Zhou Xuan wanted to ask something, but in the end he didn't ask, Shi Hui wanted to explain something, and finally didn't say anything. After a long and embarrassing silence, Shi waved a long sigh, clapped his hands on his knees, stood up like Barryd said goodbye to Scarlett in the American movie "Drift", and turned away.
In the last few years, Zhou Xuan watched Shi Hua's newly released film "Brilliant" in the Xinhua Cinema opposite the sanatorium, touching the scene and evoking the past, thinking that Shi Hui was about to get engaged to Tong Baoling, churning for a long time, only writing in the diary: I deserve it!
In the end, Shi Hui and Zhou Xuan, a pair of extremely self-respecting and extremely sensitive joyful enemies, their short and hasty love affair, like a new book that has just opened the title page, immediately closed the back cover.
Everyone in the world loves me, but no one understands me
Acting a person with a thousand faces of the stone swing, falling in the eyes of others, the personality is also completely different. From 25 years of art, he has created 20 screen roles and 30 stage roles, but even Shi Hua's friends around him have said that Shi Hua is a person who is difficult to see through.
Some people say that Shi Hua is humorous and cute, for example, he always does some naughty things with Blue Horse like a child to send life. Once, the two of them were walking, and Shi Waving said to the blue horse: I can make the people who come and go stop, do you believe it? The blue horse did not believe it, so Shi Hua squatted on the ground, looked at the ground motionlessly, patted his knees and sighed at once, and suddenly his eyes stared at the ground, at this time, one or two, three or five passers-by all gathered around, and the more people gathered, they even surrounded several people's walls, and the blue horse understood that the original Stone Wave was taking advantage of the curiosity of the masses, so he quickly "explained" to the masses: Please forgive me, this friend of mine just came out of the mental hospital, and now he is sick. This flew and pulled him away from the crowd to end the farce.
Some people say that Shi Hua is arrogant and arrogant, he is cold and crazy, and he has no modesty from others. Once in a troupe, the actor nicknamed "Xiao Kai" was the boss's agent, and announced to the brothers: We are all A-level actors, with a maximum monthly salary of 600 yuan! Shi Waving coldly came up with a sentence: I want 601 yuan! Someone muttered ,"Zhao Dan is also at this price" Shi waved back, "Zhao Dan is Zhao Dan, I am not Zhao Dan!" The crowd was in an uproar, and Shi Hua, who originally had superb acting skills, was not a good actor to get along with.
Some people say that Shi Hua is lonely and distant, stemming from his famous "king and eight eggs" theory. According to his friend Huang Zongjiang, during the days when he shared a room with Shi Hua in Shanghai, Shi Hua wore the same black suit all day, holding a guitar, gloomy and silent. One day, Huang Zongjiang couldn't help but say: "Shi Hua, you are too cold this person" Who knew that Shi Hua actually said: "I just arrived in Shanghai, and a good friend told me that everyone is a king and a bastard!" Huang couldn't help but be stunned, and held his breath for half a day before he held out a sentence: "There are always good people, right?" Shi waved slowly and said, "Then you must first regard him as a king and a bastard, and maybe finally find a good person." After a pause, he said, "You are also the king of the eight eggs, and I am also the king of the eight eggs!" Say it, and "bounce" a few times on the guitar.
However, "Mo Shang is full of flowerers, and there are a few people who really appreciate the cold incense." "People have watched his plays all their lives, and who understands the arrogance and desolation in them?
To this day, looking at the photos he left behind, his long figure, emaciated, ethereal and lonely, covered with a layer of gray warm air, like the disposition of a plant. Quiet as a tree, but also untamed.
Xu is a teenager at the bottom of the society to see too many "tragic things" and "ugly things", his memory of the evil of human nature is unforgettable, Xu is now in the circle of public opinion pressure and fabricated means at that time has seen the prototype, the wind and shadows of the slander and slander gradually caused Shi Hua's heart disease, a hundred indisputable Shi Wa, gradually stopped speaking, wrapped himself with autism, faced the world with silence, with the only enthusiasm to pounce on his beloved acting career, at this time, he began to try to direct his own film, At the same time, he harvested his marriage with Tong Baoling. However, good fortune did not last long for him. Two years later, the anti-rightist struggle began, and for a time, the maverick stone swing became the focus of people's criticism: "Guan Lianchang" and "Night Voyage of the Fog Sea" The films he directed were successively designated as anti-party films; colleagues in the studio wrote that he was proud and arrogant, saying that he did not understand art at all, and knew the low-level taste of catering to the audience; saying that he was morally corrupt, saying that he was rogue, playing with women, raping her during Zhou Xuan's illness, and almost overnight, Shi Hua fell off the altar and changed from a "drama emperor" admired by all to a stinky shit. The only mother who gave him warmth has died, the only beloved art has regarded him as an enemy, and his personality is like a crumpled white paper, silently weeping at the feet of everyone.
We have no way of knowing what the real stone swing looks like, but the only thing we know is that his nature determines that he will always choose death. After all, there are too few mavericks who can live in this rough world who are close to ideals and loyal to their hearts.
In an interview left by Shi Hua in 1944, he told reporters: "My personality is more serious, and I refuse to be vague and accommodating to anything, especially the patience for plain humiliation, which makes critics think that I am more proud." Sometimes, I also want to learn to be a little more obedient, and I can see things casually, which may have some benefits, but my personality is something I have cultivated from my thirty years of living environment, and it is really difficult to change for a while..."
"I feel bitterly that it is not difficult to do a play on stage, but it is not easy to be a person offstage!"
"Poor coping has become the root of nature, has become an incurable disease, I just want to be a good person on and offstage, and not disappoint those who love me and know me." 」
In February 1979, the Shanghai Film Bureau held a conference to rehabilitate Shi Hui. In 1995, in the 100th anniversary of world cinema and the 90th anniversary of Chinese cinema jointly organized by the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television and the China Film Association, the jury of the China Film Century Award awarded Shi Hua the "Chinese Film Century Actor Award".
The world is terrible, and you are different, you are always gentle, always the moon.