In the early 1930s, there were five actors in the cross-talk circle in Beiping who were known as the "Five Masters of Laughing Forest", namely: Zhang Jieyao, Gao Deming, Xu Degui, Tang Jincheng and Dai Shaofu. These five people are considered to be leaders, with solid basic skills, good teasing, often performing on the radio, quite influential.
Among the five people, the first person in the list should be Zhang Fool, who is not only able to endure well, but also has many unique features that are beyond the times. Of course, the transcendence mentioned here does not mean crossing, but the courage to make changes with the development of the times.
He imitated the costume of the comedian Chaplin, he wore a suit to the stage to say cross-talk, he sold books he had compiled in the theater...
Zhang Jieyao is like a maverick outsider, which is not consistent with the mainstream concept of the cross-talk industry, which also makes him suffer a lot of criticism.
Zhang Jieyao, whose stage name is Zhang Duzi, and also has a name called Zhang Jizu, a Bannerman of the Han Army, who has been an official for generations, and later fell in the middle of the family road, and from his father, he has become a trickster and storyteller of the lower nine streams.
Zhang Duzi also studied opera for a period of time in his early years, because he could not stand the harshness of the teacher and sneaked back and wandered around. After returning to Beijing, I was fascinated by Li Dezhuo's cross-talk while hanging out on the overpass, imitating while listening, and I actually achieved a little success and learned a lot of passages. At this time, he was still a sea green, and there was no place for him in Beijing and Tianjin.
Zhang Jieyao decided to go to the outer port for a while, and has been to Shanghai, Nanjing, Kaifeng, Wuhan and other places, and is now revered as the founder of Henan cross-talk art, which is related to the experience in the early years. Along the way, his art has matured.
Because he is good at pretending to be stupid and not being disgusted in his performance, the rhythm is extremely well grasped, which is called "hair entrustment and selling photos" in the cross-talk industry, and the audience gave him a nickname - Zhang Fool.
Zhang Jieyao was happy to see it, and was given a nickname by the audience, which was a special honor, so he used it as his stage name and used it for many years. Most of my peers call it "silly uncle", and this stupid one is beaten out anyway.
With the experience of going south and north, as well as the clicks of many famous artists, there is also the foundation of opera. Zhang Jieyao's cross-talk soon stood out and was well known, and Zhang Jieyao was also good at creating while performing, and a piece of "Nine Arts in the Public Court" was a proud work.
This section was first performed by Zhang Jieyao, and when Chang Baokun went to Nanjing, Zhang told him several times, and then recorded it. In 1931, Zhang Jieyao, who returned to Beijing again, went to visit the temple fair and stumbled upon a cross-talker who was his former partner Xu Degui.
Xu Degui saw that Zhang Jieyao was overjoyed and said busily: "Silly Uncle, how about the paragraph on your ticket?" Zhang Jieyao was also addicted, so he sang without pushing off the stage.
Singing is the Qipai's "Chopping Scripture Hall", which can be said to be the representative of the Hai school, that is, a faction with a Shanghai style. The audience in Beijing was accustomed to listening to the Yu Pai and Tan Pai, and when they first heard the Qi Pai, they naturally felt that it was fresh, and Hula surrounded a group of people.
The foreman looked at it, his eyes were full of smiles, and invited him to join his own class club, as long as Zhang Jieyao opened his mouth, he would definitely earn much more than others. With fame, there are more places to perform, and I am busy running all day to catch the stage.
Not only to say crosstalk, sometimes come to a reverse string of plays, color dress up on stage, imitate a little girl, imitate an old lady, but it has a different flavor.
At that time, Beiping also left many former Qing dynasty dignitaries, often inviting actors to their own palaces to stage church meetings, and Zhang Jieyao also teased the powerful at the church meetings.
Once, Zhang Jieyao performed at the Tao Belle Mansion, who was the brother of the Guangxu Emperor and Puyi's uncle, and his past life was brilliant, needless to say, and he maintained a kind of arrogance until his death.
Zhang Jieyao went to the palace to perform, wearing a straight suit, and when Tao Belle saw it, he asked: "Fool, what kind of clothes are you wearing today?" ”
Zhang Jieyao replied: "Grandpa, you don't know, now it's fashionable to wear this, this is called a suit." ”
A relative of the imperial state next to him saw Tao Belle showing timidity, thinking about exporting evil qi, and said: "Wanton, serve grandpa well, and work harder." ”
Zhang Jieyao turned around and looked, "Oh! This person looks like a wide-bodied fat toad mouth, one eye is like a copper hammer, want to ridicule this "one-eyed dragon", the spirit machine is not in a hurry to say: "We artists have no culture, that is, shunkou hu grinning, can only say a little Zhang parents, Li family short, three toads and five eyes ..."
At this point, the fool can understand it, can the fat man not hear the unspoken meaning? Roll up your sleeves and give the fool a fat beating.
Tao Belle did not want to disturb the mood, came out to hit the round field and said: "Okay, the fool should be punished, so let's punish you for a good period of time, apologize to this person, say well, the grandfather has a reward." ”
Zhang Jieyao went down the donkey, "Xie Ye Grace, you are an adult doing big things, the dragon pen writes big characters, you can't see with us in general, you have to turn a blind eye to this." "Fools are not stupid, and there is nothing wrong with rounding the words."
Tao Belle rewarded four small dishes, and when he ate well, he stopped doing it, and secretly threw a horse bee with folded wings into the dish, Zhang Jieyao put chopsticks into his mouth, and his tongue immediately swollen.
After eating on the stage, Zhang Jieyao also laughed at himself, "Grandpa, I can't say lisuo today, the best thing is to mix grapes with tofu - a bald piece." The audience laughed.
Zhang Jieyao is also good at self-replacement, believing that crosstalk should pursue health, be good, laugh just right, and avoid low-level interesting things. Around 1935, Zhang Jieyao formed a new trend in Beiping, but was resisted by his peers because of the problem of the portal.
Some of the things that happened after that are not much to say, anyway, one person resisted the entire cross-talk community, and won the final victory.
In addition, at the time of the fall of North China, Zhang Jieyao also went to Japan to shoot a film of so-called friendship, and later because of this stain was constantly criticized, Zhang Jieyao has been living in regret ever since.
In 1961, Hou Baolin invited Zhang Jieyao to the Central People's Radio to record six cross-talk works such as "Guan Gong Zhan Qin Qiong", "Luo Cheng's Drama Sable Cicada", and "Zhang Fei Beat Yan Song", which also became the most glorious page in his artistic life in his later years.
Although there is a mistake, its cross-talk achievements cannot be ignored.