As a famous Yue opera actor yuan xuefen who is a danjiao, she has performed countless plays in her life, and naturally partnered with many "xiaosheng" in her long stage career.
Because in the past, Yue opera was all played by actresses, and "Xiaosheng" was also counter-stringed by actresses, so in life, Yue opera actresses are called sisters.
Yuan Xuefen and Fan Ruijuan collaborated on "Liang Zhu" stills
Yuan Xuefen's most difficult stage sister to forget is Ma Zhanghua, and even in her later years, she often dreamed of playing with Ma Zhanghua in "Loutaihui" and other rival plays.
Ma Zhanghua died of illness as early as February 19, 1942, at the age of 21, and Yuan Xuefen died on February 19, 2011 at the age of 89. I don't know if it was a coincidence or some kind of karma in the darkness, but the two good sisters died on the same day, although the interval was nearly sixty-eight years!
Yuan Xuefen (left) with Ma Zhanghua in 1941
The famous film director Xie Jin once wrote and directed a feature film "Stage Sisters" that reflected the lives of Yue opera actors around 1964, and people familiar with the history of Yue opera know that the two protagonists in the film, Zhu Chunhua and Xing Yuehong, have the shadows of Yuan Xuefen and Ma Zhanghua respectively.
Stills from the movie "Stage Sisters"
In particular, the role of Zhu Chunhua, from the character modeling (combing a big braid), to the rehearsal of "Blessings", the Ten Sisters Charity Performance, the persecution of the person... All are based on Yuan Xuefen's life experience; but Xing Yuehong's "prototype" is not so obviously concentrated, and it is obviously more of a choreographer's "art centralized processing".
Yuan Xuefen life photos
Zhu Chunhua (played by Xie Fang) in the movie "Stage Sisters"
Indeed, in the process of film editing and directing, Xie Jin has interviewed Yuan Xuefen and others in depth, and Yuan Xuefen has also told Xie Jin in detail about the story of Ma Zhanghua, and it can be said that without Yuan Xuefen, there may not have been a movie called "Stage Sisters".
Film is a literary and artistic work, it cannot be a reproduction of real people and real events, it must be based on the prototype of life, refined, summarized, expanded or even fictionalized.
This film was born around 1964, although it is much more "natural and vivid and reasonable" than many later conceptual works, it is inevitable that there is still the imprint of the times, that is, using the vision of "class analysis" to divide people into revolutionary advanced or backward and degenerate "types", natural Zhu Chunhua is revolutionary advanced, and Xing Yuehong is willing to degenerate.
Yuan Xuefen and Xie Jin were talking
Some people have said that Yuan Xuefen used "Stage Sisters" to elevate herself and demean Ma Zhanghua, but I dare not agree. After all, the movie did not use Yuan Xuefen's real name, not Yuan Xuefen's personal biography, but only used a little of Yuan Xuefen's life material. And the film reflects real life, it is impossible to live without the shadow of real people. What's more, in that era, the creative concept of film directors could not be exempted from the limitations of the environment at that time. Nor is my intention to comment on the merits of the film. What I would say is that existence determines consciousness, and people are a mixture of social environment and personal personality.
The experience between Yuan Xuefen and her stage sister Ma Zhanghua as a life is actually far more "dramatic" than the movie, and it is also more tortuous.
Yuan Xuefen and Ma Zhanghua, the golden partners of the Yue opera stage, can be united on the stage, and the feelings in life can be very good, but in the end, the ending of life is very different, there are factors of social environment, as well as personal personality factors.
Character determines destiny, and character is destiny, which is not only the secret of the success of the creation of all literary and artistic works, but also the enlightenment of the "success or failure" of real life.
Yuan Xuefen's appearance and voice conditions are not the most outstanding among many Yue opera actors, that is, compared with Ma Zhanghua, she is not on top of it. Yuan Xuefen herself said: "If Ma Zhanghua is still alive now, her contribution to Yue opera must be greater than mine..."
Ma Zhanghua was young and beautiful at that time, good looks, bright voice, singing and playing, none of them were bad, she worked as a small student, but Hua Dan, Wusheng, and clowns could also act, and they were all outstanding. At first, her neon sign was named after Yuan Xuefen, but only half a year later, her ranking was before Yuan Xuefen.
The former site of the Dalai Theater where Ma Zhanghua and Yuan Xuefen acted
Ma Zhanghua and Yuan Xuefen acting posters
Yuan Xuefen was not jealous, because the personalities and professions of the two were different. Ma Zhanghua is one year old Yuan Xuefen, the two have very different personalities, Yuan Xuefen is simple, quiet, four seasons cloth, do not like to communicate, but Ma Zhanghua is lively and cheerful, dressed up in time. The two walked down the street in stark contrast: one like a fashionable modern lady, the other like a country sister.
Ma Zhanghua and Yuan Xuefen get along with each other, and they don't talk much on weekdays, but they are brothers and sisters. Their deeper friendship is on stage. Ma Zhanghua did have superhuman features in acting, and it was no accident that she was called "Lightning Little Student" by the public opinion at the time, and the audience's eyes were always bright.
Yuan Xuefen also has her own set of art. Therefore, their cooperation can be described as a blend of milk and milk, a golden partnership, and continuous artistic progress, and both of them have opened a brilliant page in their artistic careers.
However, as far as Ma Zhanghua is concerned, a talented and beautiful young girl inevitably has an element of narcissism and pride in her personality, not to mention that the actor himself is a horn who appears.
Ma Zhanghua was sociable and loved to dress up, and in the atmosphere of Shanghai at that time, when everything advocated fresh and fashionable, she was like a fish in the water, and she wanted the wind and rain. She "passed the house lady" to worship several, others sent things, she accepted all, and said that not to accept is a "foreign plate". Her outfit from head to toe is wrapped up, so she changes her cheongsam every day and enjoys the scenery brought by her youth and beauty.
Camphor flower life photo
But there is no free lunch in the world, and you have to pay for it. Ma Zhanghua's biggest "mistake" was that she did not handle the relationship with the theater owner Lu Gendi at the beginning. The boss sticks her not to rule out the idea of "people making a lot of money by playing red", but at the same time there is a man's possessiveness towards women. Some people say that "Ma Zhanghua was also fooled by the boss at the beginning...", what is "deceived"? After all, Ma Zhanghua was not a child at that time.
Therefore, when Ma Zhanghua wanted to leave the theater, and after marrying someone and then organizing a troupe to act, the boss turned out the old accounts from love to hate, from anger to resentment, wrote an anonymous surname to Ma Zhanghua's mother-in-law' family, and published "obscene" articles in the tabloids, making Ma Zhanghua difficult to distinguish. The misunderstanding of his family, coupled with the unsmooth performance of the self-organized troupe, Ma Zhanghua attacked his heart in a hurry, had a fever in one breath, and then suffered from tuberculosis, and soon died.
Here there is no intention of discussing the right and wrong of Ma Zhanghua, and I am also very sorry for such a famous Yue opera actor who died young. It is said that Ma Zhanghua is also very kind and compassionate, and loves to fight for the weak. But the strong and spicy personality everywhere can also be seen.
Xing Yuehong in the movie "Stage Sisters" (played by Cao Yindi)
She is said to have seen Yin Guifang perform when she first came to Shanghai and felt that the other party was a potential competitor. She said, "As long as I exist for a day, I won't let her be red over me!" ”。
In fact, the world is complicated, and human nature is also complex. A desire for kindness does not necessarily lead to a good outcome. We often don't know when we'll bear fruit. Even if you know what causes will have what effects, you will get out of control because of problems such as feelings, one wrong step at a time, and one mistake into thousands of years of hatred. Lost a millimeter, a thousand miles away. There are many things in life that cannot be explained by reason.
Yuan Xuefen said that she did not like acting at first, in order to survive she had to go to Shanghai with the drama class, so she was repulsive to the whole environment at that time, did not worship at all, did not receive gifts, refused to invite guests, basically in addition to acting, there was no social interaction, so she refused a lot of non-entanglement, others wanted to beat her idea is not "drama" is not "fun", which she can put all her energy on acting, in the art of comfort and satisfaction, and therefore she has a "special love" for artistic partners like Ma Zhanghua, which is unforgettable.
And all this is also caused by Yuan Xuefen's experience and personality, because Yuan Xuefen was "under house arrest" by a local rich man who wanted to occupy her as early as the age of 13, and after breaking free, she felt that the world was dangerous at that time, and she had to be careful to protect herself everywhere, and her lively personality also changed.
Yuan Xuefen dared to be a maverick at that time, and she went her own way, but also because she acted and won the seat, and there was a large number of loyal audiences, so even the boss had to buy her account. And this is due to the fact that she has always pursued the concept of "being innocent and acting seriously", only communicating with the audience on the stage and refusing all entertainment offstage, but it can arouse the audience's long-term interest in her.
It should be said that Yuan Xuefen's approach at that time was also very wise, because she could see the hidden crisis after the strange appearance of various metropolises, and had the idea of surpassing the artists of the same generation, which was also one of the reasons why Yuan Xuefen could later become a representative figure of Yue opera.