"I was shocked to learn that my old friend Mr. Yuan Dewang is gone, and my heart is very sad!"
"I couldn't hold back the tears that rained down ......"
On July 8, Han Qiaosheng, a well-known CCTV host, Wang Haige, chairman of Huading Award, and others posted messages to mourn the famous director Yuan Dewang, and the life experience of this old man was once again clearly displayed in front of people's eyes.
Everyone was surprised to find that Mr. Yuan Dewang had been the director of many Spring Festival Galas, and he was a classic.
He not only discovered Zhang Mingmin, Zhao Benshan and other "heavyweights", but also boldly used the young Jay Chou in 2004, bringing a unique performance to the mainland audience.
Netizens couldn't help but exclaim: "This is the Spring Festival Gala in my memory, this is the Spring Festival Gala we want to see", however, now that the Si people have passed away, only nostalgia remains.
Discerning eyes, noble people of this mountain
Yuan Dewang was born in 1947, and like many artists of the older generation, he is also an outstanding talent who came out of the army's art troupe.
After changing careers in the 80s of the last century, Yuan Dewang entered CCTV and began to work as a director in the Ministry of Literature and Art.
During this period, Yuan Dewang also began his own "Bole" process of staying in the country step by step and knowing the pearls, and among the "Maxima" he unearthed, the most prestigious one must be the sketch king - Zhao Benshan.
The current Uncle Benshan, although he has long retired from the "rivers and lakes", but when it comes to sketches and comedies, he is called second, and I am afraid that no one dares to call him first.
Even at the end of each year, even if they knew that the familiar figure would not appear again on the thirtieth night, everyone still couldn't help but fantasize and shout, hoping to see Zhao Benshan make a comeback and help the Spring Festival Gala "turn the tide".
And Zhao Benshan can have such a reputation and status, in addition to his own efforts and talents, he is naturally indispensable to various opportunities and the help of nobles.
The first place is what makes Zhao Benshan stand out like a dark horse, Li Zhongtang, the director of the Northeast drama "Breaking the Three Strings", and the second place should be Yuan Dewang, he let Zhao Benshan go out of the Northeast and stand on a bigger stage, facing the national audience.
In 1988, Zhao Benshan, under the recommendation of Jiang Kun, received the attention of Yuan Dewang, and looking at the performances of the other party in the dribbles, Director Yuan finalized in his heart that this person will definitely have a great future.
So he immediately decided to let Zhao Benshan record a program for the people of the whole country on behalf of the Harbin branch venue in the Spring Festival Gala of that year, however, when Quan Tieling and Zhao Benshan himself watched in front of the TV, they found that he was not there until the end of the Spring Festival Gala.
It turned out that because of the length and various technical reasons, Zhao Benshan's program was "killed", which also made his Spring Festival Gala debut until 1990, and after that, Yuan Dewang's efforts were indispensable.
In order to give Zhao Benshan more opportunities, and in order not to bury this good seedling, Yuan Dewang recommended Zhao Benshan again at the National Day Gala in the second year, this time there was no accident, Zhao Benshan appeared in the CCTV lens for the first time, laying the foundation for him to officially appear on the Spring Festival Gala later.
Eclectic talent reduction
Overcoming public opinion, discovering new talents, and being brave in innovation are not uncommon in Yuan Dewang's career, or rather, this has long been his style.
Before Zhao Benshan, Yuan Dewang had already cultivated the singer of "My Chinese Heart" - Zhang Mingmin, which also has a very dramatic story.
Yuan Dewang entered CCTV in the second year, and served as the assistant director of the 84 Spring Festival Gala, which is CCTV's second Spring Festival Gala, and it is also the most historically significant and classic Spring Festival Gala.
Because in this year's Spring Festival Gala, stand-up comedy and sketches made their debut, "Unforgettable Tonight" was sung for the first time, and stars from Hong Kong and Taiwan were invited to participate for the first time, Zhang Mingmin was the representative.
At that time, Hong Kong had not yet returned, but it had already been the trend of the times, and Huang Yihe, who was the chief director at the time, had a whim, hoping to use Hong Kong and Taiwan artists to participate in the Spring Festival Gala to respond to the strong call of the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
As soon as this idea was proposed, it was unanimously approved by the director team, but then it was a very difficult problem.
Under the background of that era, all Hong Kong and Taiwan artists who had connections with the mainland would be jointly blocked by the authorities of Hong Kong and Taiwan, and a large number of markets and opportunities would be lost, such as Leung Jiahui, who was so depressed that he went to set up a stall to make a living in the next few years because of his starring role in "Listening to Politics".
This has led to many well-known artists, and the invitation to the mainland is a very ambiguous gesture, or they directly stay away, what should I do? Yuan Dewang patted his thigh and thought of a person, it was Zhang Mingmin.
It turned out that not long ago, Yuan Dewang went to Shenzhen on a business trip for a period of time, and one day when he took the bus, the moving song of "Rivers and Mountains Only Haunt in My Dreams" instantly attracted his attention.
Out of professional habits, Yuan Dewang bought a cassette tape after getting out of the car, and then found out that it was a patriotic song sung by a Hong Kong singer, and the lyricist turned out to be Huang Zhan, one of the "Four Great Talents".
The director team believes that if they can sing such a song, there should be a high probability that they will not refuse the invitation of the Spring Festival Gala, so they began to contact all parties to find Zhang Mingmin.
It turned out that although Zhang Mingmin had released two records at that time, neither of them was a blockbuster, so he took the workers in the meter factory as his main business.
This has become his advantage - no worries, sure enough, after receiving the invitation of the director team, Zhang Mingmin was very surprised and readily agreed, and then, "My Chinese Heart" became a generation of Chinese, the voice of singing together in the bottom of his heart.
What is even more surprising is that in addition to Zhang Mingmin, Yuan Dewang also had an interesting connection with the young Jay Chou in 2004.
At that time, Yuan Dewang was the chief director of the Spring Festival Gala, and the biggest problem he faced was still how to innovate and surprise the national audience, so from the very beginning, Yuan Dewang wanted to invite Jay Chou, and he knew that this would definitely get the support and love of young people.
However, when this suggestion was submitted to the expert group for review, it was questioned by various kinds, such as Jay Chou's unclear and undignified singing.
But Yuan Dewang was unwilling to give up, he thought about it and came up with the most convincing reason.
I saw that a signature activity soon appeared on the Internet, the theme was very simple and direct: I don't want Jay Chou to appear on the stage of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, and the result can be imagined, more than 2 million people agreed, and this signature was initiated by Yuan Dewang and the team.
In this way, the young Jay Chou appeared on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala for the first time and sang a song "Dragon Fist" that is completely different from the traditional pop song, which brought a different aesthetic experience to the mainland audience and laid a full foundation for him to expand his influence in the mainland.
Information sources:
[1] Red Star News: The famous director Yuan Dewang passed away, and he has directed the Spring Festival Gala many times, discovering Zhang Mingmin and Zhao Benshan
[2] Huading Award: Yuan Dewang, the famous director of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, passed away at 3:47 in the morning, and his friend Wang Haige mourned deeply