Text: Si Qi said
Speaking of the "Xu Brothers", there are certainly not many people familiar with it today.
But when it comes to their former glory, it is a crown that is unmatched: the eldest is the "king of comedy" Xu Guanwen, the second is the famous photographer Xu Guanwu, the third is the "generation of laughter" Xu Guanying, and the fourth is the "Cantonese song god" Xu Guanjie.
The story of "Xu's Four Masters" is far more exciting and legendary than you think.
The Xu brothers and their parents take a group photo
One
Xu Shichang and his wife, Who are the dragons of Panyu, Guangdong, are most proud of their lives than their five children.
In his spare time, Xu Shichang likes lala erhu, and his wife Li Qianyun is also well-known in the Cantonese opera circle.
Perhaps because of inheriting the powerful literary and artistic cells of his parents, the "Four Masters of Xu" later became the hegemon of the showbiz circle.
On September 3, 1942, Li Qianyun gave birth to a baby boy for her husband Xu Shichang, and because the next generation of the Xu family ranked as "crown", she named Xu Guanwen, which means "the crown of the literati".
The Xu brothers and their mother take a group photo
Two years later, his wife bore him a second son. Couples together, the eldest son is named "Guanwen", and the second son is called "Guanwu", which is exactly "Wenwu Shuangquan".
In 1946, the old Xu family once again rejoiced in Tim Ding, and with the birth of the third son, Wen Wu had all the weapons, so he took the name "Guan Ying".
After another two years, the fourth son, Xu Guanjie, arrived, just in time to gather "Wenwu Yingjie".
Admittedly, those who are familiar with the "Xu Brothers" should know that they also have a sister named Xu Judi, but she is not a person in the circle, let's not show it.
The Hsu brothers
In 1950, in order to seek better development, Mr. and Mrs. Xu Shichang smuggled their family to the "Pearl of the Orient" Hong Kong and settled in the wooden house area of Diamond Hill in Kowloon.
As we all know, Diamond Hill in the past was notoriously poor, and the people who lived here were either local poor households or earners who had moved from other places.
In this poor place called "diamond" and no diamonds, there are many celebrities, including Andy Lau, Zhang Jiahui and so on.
In the childhood of the Hui brothers, because their parents had not established a foothold when they first arrived in Hong Kong, and their jobs were extremely unstable, the family lived a tight life.
Xu Shichang's family
In the eyes of Xu Shichang and his wife, no matter how bitter life is, they cannot suffer children. Even if the belt of the pants is tightened, they must go to the best schools in order to gain a foothold in a competitive society and become winners in life.
As the eldest son, because his parents often went out to work and could not go home, Xu Guanwen, who was in his 10s, took on the responsibility of "brother and father".
In elementary school, no matter how busy he was in school, he would help take care of his younger siblings at home.
At that time, he often took advantage of the opportunity of winter and summer vacations to do odd jobs, from distributing leaflets to restaurant waiters, doing all kinds of hard work.
In such a difficult environment, Xu Guanwen will never be left behind in his studies, and his grades in various subjects are outstanding, and he is the "primary school bully" in the eyes of his classmates.
It is reported that because his parents are out all year round, Xu Guanwen, in order not to let his younger brothers and sisters go hungry, he took his brother on an adventure to run to the railway station "Shunmi".
Looking at the brief moment when the train carrying the rice slowed down, Xu Guanwen quickly pierced the rice bag with a knife, and the younger brother immediately caught the leaking rice with a plate, and then the brothers went home happily, and they could survive a period of starvation.
Xu Guanwen in his youth
In the difficult time, Xu Guanwen had a hard time in the second year of junior high school.
During that time, he studied during the day and went to night school to teach at night, just to help his parents reduce the burden on the family, like a small adult.
In night school, Xu Guanwen is a teacher for adults. Back at home, he also plays the role of a teacher, and he often warns his younger siblings: if you don't work hard, no one can help you.
Two
After graduating from college, Xu Guanwen became a real teacher, but he found that his salary was only a pitiful few hundred yuan.
During this time, in order to make more money, he also worked as a part-time manager in an advertising agency, and although he was tired, he also learned a lot of things.
Compared with the eldest brother Xu Guanwen, Xu Guanwu and Xu Guanying are relatively decent, and their academic performance is good, but they lack the strength to fight.
And Xu Guanjie, as the youngest brother, he is pampered and proud, not only does not take his studies seriously, but also has long hair, and he is obsessed with singing and dancing, especially worshiping "Elvis Presley".
Xu Guanjie in his youth
In junior high school, Xu Guanjie was very naughty, always wearing strange clothes and jumping around, and was a well-known "scum" and "outlier" in the school, and was repeatedly "dissuaded" by teachers.
Seeing that the little brother was so indisputable, Xu Guanwen did not smoke him less, vowing to turn him back on track.
One night, taking advantage of Xu Guanjie's sleep, Xu Guanwen took a razor and shaved off his little brother's long hair and shaved it into a shiny bald head.
Under the careful education of the eldest brother, Xu Guanjie became angry and strong, and became an excellent student of St. Francis Xavier College, which impressed everyone.
Xu Guanjie and Bruce Lee
In 1964, at the age of 16, Xu Guanjie joined several like-minded children to form the band Harmonick, and then joined the band Bar Six, playing music with great fun.
At this time, Xu Guanwen watched his brother gradually mature, and he no longer opposed his pursuit of musical dreams.
At the age of 18, Xu Guanjie attended middle school at Anglo-Chinese College, joined the Lotus Band, acted as the lead singer, and released two English song albums "Just A Little" and "I am Be Waiting" in the same year.
Lotus Band
This year, Xu Guanjie, who made a name for himself in the music industry, was deeply appreciated by radio and television stations and was hired as a program host.
Career is stable, the prospects are good, Xu Guanjie naturally will not forget the big brother.
At that time, Xu Guanwen had just graduated from his junior year, and although he was working several jobs at the same time, he was still not enough to pay the high tuition fees.
Recommended by Xu Guanjie, Xu Guanwen participated in the interview of the host, and with his excellent cultural heritage and his own comedy stage style, he was hired by the TVB "Happy Tonight" program team.
Wireless offered him a high salary of 5,000 yuan per month, which allowed him to see the huge advantages of development in the entertainment industry.
Xu Guanwen and Xu Guanjie hosted the show
During the time of hosting "Happy Tonight", the audience commented on Xu Guanwen: Wherever he is, he brings laughter there.
Since then, Wireless has tailored a golden program called "Double Star Annunciation" for him, so that Xu Guanjie, who is good at singing, can partner with him.
Xu Guanwen Xu Guanjie's "Double Star Annunciation"
Once it was broadcast, it set a record for the highest rating of all television stations in Hong Kong that year.
In one episode of the program in 1971, Xu Guanjie sang an English song written by the eldest brother and adapted it into "Tower Over the Clouds" composed after Chinese.
It was this song that made Xu Guanjie officially open a new era of Cantonese songs, transforming cantonese songs into mainstream music.
While serving as a host, Hui Guanjie also took time to study and was admitted to the University of Hong Kong with excellent results.
In the process of growing up in the "Four Masters of Xu Family", Xu Guanwen was the best but most strict, and the brothers were scolded by him; the second brother Xu Guanwu has always been a reticent and has always been an indisputable character; the fourth brother Xu Guanjie has a cheerful personality and is like an optimist.
Xu Guanying, because of his short size and slightly worse appearance than several other brothers, is more inferior.
Three
Just when Xu Guanwen took his fourth brother to the entertainment circle and the second brother Xu Guanwu also became a photographer, the third xu Guanying, after graduating from high school, entered a French news newspaper and became a nine-to-five office worker.
The situation of the brothers of the first milk compatriots is completely different, and when Xu Guanying sees that everyone is flying yellow and tengda, but he is unknown, his heart is even more uncomfortable.
(For details, see the previous highlights: "Xu Guanwen: The third brother has been inferior all his life, and I can't help but blame him")
Xu Guanying in his youth
This year, Xu Guanjie received an olive branch from Jiahe Pictures, so he jumped from wireless to the show business circle.
"Double Star Annunciation" is one star less, the ratings have plummeted, Xu Guanwen is sad but helpless, because he hopes that his brother can get better development.
Fortunately, shortly after his brother signed the contract, Xu Guanwen also received an invitation from the big director Li Hanxiang to play a role in the Shaw movie "The Great Warlord".
In order to achieve self-breakthrough, the 29-year-old Xu Guanwen did not hesitate to self-destruct his image, not only shaved his head, but also installed a false beard, playing the role of a 50-year-old warlord "Huge Tiger" in "The Great Warlord".
Movie posters
In the face of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Xu Guanwen performed with all his strength, showing the brutality and rudeness of the character to the fullest.
After its release, the film became one of the three best-selling Chinese films of the year, and also won the "Most Successful Comedy Film Depicting Characters" award at the 19th Asian Film Festival.
In the following two years, Xu Guanwen's talent was well known to everyone, and he cooperated with Li Hanxiang many times and starred in a number of Shaw films.
During the period of following Li Hanxiang, Xu Guanwen not only learned a lot of knowledge about movies, but also began to learn to write scripts himself, laying the foundation for the future establishment of film and television companies.
In 1973, Xu Guanwen confidently handed over the hard-working script of "Ghost Horse Double Star" to his boss Run Run Shaw, hoping to cooperate with it.
After reading Xu Guanwen's script, Shaw shook his head and rejected him, on the grounds that the script was too fanciful and would definitely lose money if he made it.
In a hurry, Xu Guanwen thought of his fourth brother who was working for Jiahe, so he found Jiahe's boss Zou Wenhuai with the mentality of trying it out.
Unlike Run Run Shaw's view, Zou Wenhuai felt that Xu Guanwen's script was very innovative, not only agreed to cooperate, but also was very optimistic about him, determined to help him set up a company.
Xu Guanwen, Xu Guanying, Xu Guanjie
At this time, Under the advice of the two brothers, Xu Guanying had graduated from the Shaw Artist Training Class and had the conditions to become an actor.
In the case of favorable time and place, the three brothers established the "Xu Brothers Film Company", which opened their legendary era.
In 1974, the satirical comedy "Ghost Horse Double Star", directed by Hui Guanwen and starring the three brothers, was released, and the box office performance was as high as 6.25 million Hong Kong dollars, far exceeding Shaw's "Seventy-Two Tenants", becoming the dark horse at the box office that year.
In this film, Hui Guanwen combines exposing reality and comedy of the story, which perfectly presents the current situation of Hong Kong's rapid economic development at that time.
I just don't know if after missing Xu Guanwen, Run Run Shaw regretted that he clenched his teeth and cried in the toilet.
At the same time as the success of the film, Hui Guanjie sang the title song of the same name of the movie " Ghost Horse Double Star " also became the first Chinese song to be broadcast on BBC Radio in the United Kingdom and the English Station of Radio Television Hong Kong.
Four
In the following 7 years, the Xu brothers jointly contributed a number of unique "ghost horse comedies", such as "Half a Pound and Eight Twos", "Genius and Idiot", "Deed of Sale", "Modern Bodyguard", etc., all of which are high box office.
Friends who like Xu Guanwen must have understood that the reason for his success is mainly that his works are close to the people's livelihood and pay attention to the lives of the toiling masses, and the jokes and slang in the movie are obtained from the front line, which makes the viewers feel empathy.
In many of Xu Guanwen's works, his performance has always been "silent", but he can make the audience can't help but laugh, so he is called a "cold-faced laughing craftsman".
Xu Guanjie
In addition, he is also known as the "king of the first generation of comedy" and is the predecessor of Stephen Chow.
Since 1974, until 1984, in 10 years, the Xu brothers have won 9 box office titles, which can be described as "unprecedented and unprecedented".
In 1981, Hui Guanwen won the first Hong Kong Film Awards with "Modern Bodyguard", becoming the first film emperor in the history of the Academy Awards.
Xu Guanwen
In the same year, Xu Guanjie successively released the album "Modern Bodyguard", which included 12 songs of "Impression" and "Nian Nu Jiao", which won the Golden Melody Award and the Golden Disc Award respectively.
At the same time, Hui Guanjie also opened concerts all over Hong Kong and to the United States, and became famous for a while, becoming the "first generation of Cantonese singers".
Since then, with the encouragement of the eldest brother Xu Guanwen, Xu Guanjie has been invited to join the "New Art City" film and television company with a super high salary of 2 million yuan, starring in the "Best Partner" series of films, and creating film and television glory many times.
The glory of the "Xu Brothers", the eldest brother and the fourth brother are the absolute protagonists, but they are also inseparable from the hard work of the supporting role Xu Guanying.
In many works, he basically plays the role of "unlucky egg", but he is a real funny person, without him, the Xu brothers' movies will lose a lot of color.
Photo
Over the years, the eldest brother and the fourth brother have been enjoying the stars and the glory is infinite.
He, on the other hand, is almost always a background board, becoming the "brother of the shadow emperor" and "the brother of the god of song".
Until 1985, with the release of "Mr. Zombie", Xu Guanying ushered in the spring of his acting career.
In the film, he partnered Lin Zhengying and Qian Xiaohao to form a "ghost hunting trio", opening up a new era of "comedy horror films".
With the role of "literary talent" played in the film, Xu Guanying was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and has been famous ever since.
Surprisingly, he decisively rejected the nomination for this award, on the grounds that he was originally the protagonist, but why was he only nominated for a supporting role?
Because of this, Hui Guanying became "the first person in the Hong Kong film industry to refuse the Academy Awards".
Friends who have watched the film believe that they all know that Xu Guanying's role is really a lot, and his acting skills are beyond doubt, but due to the role setting, Lin Zhengying and Qian Xiaohao and other lights have largely overshadowed him.
From the standpoint of Xu Guanying, he has been playing a supporting role for many years, and has become a supporting role in his life, so it is easy to be a leading actor, but he still gets a supporting role nomination, and rejection is actually a struggle against fate.
In addition to acting, Xu Guanying's musical level is also obvious to all, and friends who have listened to "Ruthless Night Cold Wind" and "Night Rain" will not be strangers, these songs are personally filled in and sung.
In addition, in the personal album "Money Strange" released by Xu Guanying, songs such as "You", "My Aying Wife", "Boss", "My Home" and so on are also very good.
Xu Guanying concert
Five
Since the early 1990s, there have been "double weeks" in film, "Tan Zhang Contending" and "Four Heavenly Kings" in music, and the Xu brothers gradually withdrew from the altar to make room for the younger generation.
For Xu Guanwen, the "king of the first generation of comedy", his abdication and concession can be seen from the "Night Feast of the Giants" released in 1991.
In a certain bridge section, Xu Guanwen and Zhou Xingchi appeared on camera at the same time, Xu Guanwen "gave" a piece of chicken head meat to Zhou Xingchi, Zhou Xingchi gladly accepted, and the "nonsense comedy king" was born.
Photo of "Night Feast of the Giants"
In 1992, Xu Guanjie announced his retirement from the music scene, and TVB specially made a program for him called "Xu Guanjie Gloriously Retired from the Stars".
On the stage, Xu Guanjie and Zhang Guorong sang the song "Silence is Golden", the true meaning of life of "laughing and scolding people, silence is golden", but unfortunately, "Brother" did not really understand it in the end...
Xu Guanjie temporarily left the concert in the music world
After the millennium, with the gradual rise of mainland film and television, the "Hollywood of the East" also came to an end.
In April 2004, the 56-year-old Xu Guanjie made a comeback and held 38 concerts in a row, with Xu Guanying as a "special guest", and the pictures left by the brothers on the stage became an eternal memory of the times.
Xu Guanjie's comeback concert
It was also in this year that Xu Guanying, who had been single because of his inferiority, finally found true love at the age of 58, and the object of his relationship was a female fan named "Kayori".
In a concert, Xu Guanying sang a love song for his girlfriend, and he was affectionate on the stage, and his face was full of happiness.
Just when everyone thought that Xu Guanying would reap happiness, he told reporters in an interview: I am old and ugly, and I can't give people a future.
On 8 November 2011, Hui Passing died of illness at his home in Marconi Road, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, at the age of 65.
Today, the old third Xu Guanying has been dead for 10 years, and only three masters are left in the "Xu Four Jie", and they are all old, leaving only a trace of legend for future generations to taste.
Looking back on their hard-working life, in addition to the second eldest, Xu Guanwu, who is mainly engaged in behind-the-scenes work, the other three have left too many classics for the Hong Kong film and music scenes, and their contributions are indispensable.
In their acting careers of more than 30 years, they have experienced the combination of points and combinations, life and death, whether at the beginning of the film, or their respective development, they have interpreted the trajectory of life with the same destination...
(Image source network, infringing deletion)