Published in 1981, the Dictionary of Chinese Opera and Opera Arts listed a separate introduction to fifteen cross-talk artists, most of whom were well-known to the audience, and one of them was a famous person in the cross-talk industry at that time, but now his name is very little known, and his fame is far from reflecting his cross-talk level and contribution to the cross-talk industry. This cross-talker is called Wang Changyou.
If Wang Changyou did not know it, although his son did not inherit much of his mantle, his fame far exceeded that of his father, and this was Wang Wenlin. In contrast, Wang Changyou's apprentice Zhao Zhenduo and his apprentice Li Jindou were both powerful and famous.
In the author's opinion, if Wang Changyou only talks about the level of cross-talk, his real strength is only stronger than Hou Baolin.
First, the cross-talk warehouse is appropriate
Wang Changyou was born in Beijing in 1912, but his ancestral home is Shaoxing, Zhejiang, a place dedicated to the master. To say that this master is generally a smart person, the brain and mouth must be good. This point was really vividly expressed in Wang Changyou.
At the beginning, Wang Changyou's father studied Peking Opera, but unfortunately he did not become a character. Wang Changyou first learned to be a framer, a craft he has not forgotten for decades since he learned it, and even at the age of fifty or sixty, he often pasted the roof of his peers' homes. His student Li Zengrui once recalled that the roof of his house was given to him by Wang Changyou, and li Zengrui's mother read Wang Changyou for half a lifetime. And when Wang Changyou answered why he liked to give people a cover, he had two words and was addicted.
Because his father studied Peking Opera at home, and the place where he lived was close to the overpass, Wang Changyou began to learn cross-talk, at first with Liu Dezhi, one of the eight virtues, Liu Dezhi was Jiao Dehai's praise, and the level was naturally not low. Later, Wang Changyou officially worshiped Zhao Xiaru, who was also a master whose level was much greater than his fame, and Zhao Xiaru and Jiao Dehai Liu Dezhi had their own field, which was convenient for both smoking and practicing. The teachers and masters he followed had a high level, Wang Changyou had a high starting point, and coupled with his sensitive and studious skills and even the ability to never forget, his cross-talk skills progressed extremely quickly.
The reason why Wang Changyou has the nickname of the cross-talk warehouse, on the one hand, refers to the fact that he will be more, saying that he will sing, through the mouth, willow work, stand-up, group mouth, double reed are not in the words. Even when learning lotus falls, he can catch up with the whole life, and the lotus falls into a total of the ugly triangle, and he and Sun Shaolin can take it all the way.
On the other hand, the reason is that he has a super good memory. Once he listened to Sun Shaolin's mouth on the spot to remember, came back to pass it on to the apprentice Sun, waited a few years for Li Jindou and Sun Shaolin to meet, said that Sun Shaolin was surprised, actually exactly the same as his own, it can be seen that Wang Changyou's memory is indeed amazing.
When Wang Changyou was young, he had a good voice, and Liu Huo'er was also a must. When he got old and became sick and his voice became hoarse, he changed to speaking and strengthened the composition of acting. The audience gave his cross-talk a nickname, Qipai cross-talk. Because the Peking Opera QiPai is characterized by dumb voices and delicate chanting.
Wang Changyou's good performance characteristics in the "Art of Crying" in this paragraph is extremely well expressed, this section was originally called "Crying Theory", in the middle Wang Changyou performed the husband crying wife when the action is extremely delicate in place, his back spine with the crying together with the details of the performance is breathtaking, known as "the back spine is all drama". Therefore, Hou Baolin simply suggested that Wang Changyou change his "Theory of Crying" to "The Art of Crying", because his performances have risen to the level of art. At present, the only person in the cross-talk industry who can approach the level of Wang Changyou is Tian Lihe.
It is precisely because Wang Changyou has such a high artistic attainment, his cross-talk warehouse name is indeed appropriate, and his cross-talk art standard is unique in the cross-talk industry, which can be said to be only stronger than Hou Baolin.
Two. Crosstalk educators deserve their name
Wang Changyou had 12 apprentices, including famous people such as Zhao Zhenduo, Kang Songguang and others, especially Zhao Zhenduo, who later became the head of the Beijing Quyi Troupe.
It seems that Wang Changyou has little to do with the cross-talk educator, in fact, his transmission is not limited to his own apprentices.
He once passed on some of his own Liu Huo'er duan to Chang Baoting and Su Wenmao, Chang Baoting and his peers but young, Su Wenmao is even younger and has no teacher connection. In addition, his former partner Tan Boru also specially let his apprentice Chen Yongquan learn more from Wang Changyou.
In addition to bringing out Zhao Zhenduo, a good apprentice, the disciple Li Jindou was also taught by Wang Changyou himself. In addition, although Wang Qianxiang and Li Zengrui, the elders of the Beijing Qu Art Troupe, were under Ma Ji's disciples, most of their cross-talk skills were taught by Wang Changyou.
From this point of view, the people Wang Changyou has taught from the Baozi generation to the Mingzi generation can be said to be blossoming everywhere, and this kind of only passing on the art and not accepting disciples is equivalent to only doing good deeds without leaving a name, so it is well deserved that he is counted as a cross-talk educator.
But some people wonder why Wang Changyou, whether he is an apprentice or a disciple and a student, has almost no real style like Wang Changyou? This is determined by Wang Changyou's educational method, and his policy of educating students is to guide, not simply instill. His philosophy is that you can't just be like me (like me who dies, who learns from me is born), you have to learn according to your own conditions. This is the simplest way to teach according to one's ability.
3. Cross-talk works and concepts
As I said just now, in addition to "The Art of Crying", Wang Changyou's representative works also include "Article Society" and "Zhu Fuzi", and the only video that has been circulated today is a passage of his and Luo Rongshou's "Article Meeting", which was recorded a few months before his death. In addition, there are some recordings of other people who have been passed down.
Wang Changyou has the ability to create, he created cross-talk such as "Liu Qiao'er Raising Pigs", etc., one of which "Magic Chair" is based on Shakespeare's works, and later Feng Gong performed similar cross-talk. In the spring evening of the 1980s, Wang Gang and Zhao Lianjia performed a skit "Tooth Extraction", which should actually be a makeup cross-talk, and one of its authors was also Wang Changyou.
For the essence of cross-talk art, Wang Changyou also has his own unique views. He believes that although cross-talk art is a form of program that makes people laugh, the way to laugh should still be to make people laugh rather than make people laugh. If you lower the artistic style just to make the audience laugh, it is counterproductive. The real art of cross-talk should use the performance of the artist to guide the audience to laugh involuntarily.
The author believes that although Mr. Wang Changyou's summary of the characteristics of cross-talk art was decades ago, his words should arouse more attention and reflection for today's cross-talk community.
2012 is the centenary of Mr. Wang Changyou's birth, his apprentices and colleagues have published a book for him "A Generation of Famous Cross-Talk Teachers Wang Changyou" as a souvenir, I don't know if people who learn cross-talk now are still willing to go to see the study.