The book "Partner" is edited by Mr. Gao Yuchun, a famous music theorist and writer, and Jiang Kun, chairman of the Qu Association, serves as an adviser and personally writes the preface. The book details the artistic experiences and achievements of 23 pairs of famous cross-talk artists. The content is detailed and vivid, with strong information and interest.
Mr. Gao Yuqun was a well-known creator of "Today's Headlines" and published many theories and anecdotes and historical facts in cross-talk and music art. I had the privilege of getting to know Mr. Gao, and I benefited a lot from private messages and WeChat exchanges. Mr. Gao passed away on October 24 last year, and the anniversary of his death is approaching, and he has successively reprinted Mr. Gao's last masterpiece, which can also be regarded as a deep remembrance of Mr. Gao.
(Mr. Gao Yuqun, Editor-in-Chief of this book)
Articles about cross-talk partners in the book are written by the actors themselves or by industry experts familiar with the actors. This article introducing the two masters of Chang Baokun zhao peiru was written by Mr. Liu Lei.
(Continued from the previous issue)
When Chang Baokun was still very young, Zhao Peiru had already become famous in Beijing and Tianjin, and had repeatedly gone on the radio to say cross-talk. And just a few years ago, by Li Shouzeng to Zhao Peiru, the cooperation of the grandfather and son is called a tacit understanding, very popular with the audience. This time, he was about to cooperate with Zhao Peiru, and Chang Baokun's heart was not only happy, but also felt honored to be like Zhao Peiru. According to Dang Ziwei's request, Chang Baokun and Zhao Peiru respectively expressed the above ideas.
But there is still an important issue about the cooperation between the two that has not yet been solved, that is, who will praise and who will tease. Since Chang Baokun began to speak crosstalk, he has only held it in two paragraphs, namely "Reporting the Name of the Dish" and "Children's Language". Father Chang Lian'an changed these two counterpart paragraphs into group mouth paragraphs spoken by three people, the father came to the mud slit, the second brother Chang Baolin teased, and Chang Baokun praised. In addition, Chang Baokun never held it again. But Zhao Peiru is also funny most of the time. This time, Zhao Peiru said that he wanted to give Chang Baokun a hug, and Chang Baokun disagreed. As a result, this became the focus of contention.
In the end, it was Dang Ziwei who became the referee. He proposed that the two people were originally funny, and it was impossible for two people to tease on the stage in the future. Look at the passage. Just like the predecessor "Porridge Li Tofu Zhang", when saying "Porridge Picker", Li Deyun teased and Zhang Dequan praised; When he said "Tofu Tanghui", Zhang Dequan teased and Li Dezhao praised. This method is good! Both agreed. Soon, Dang Ziwei wrote an article entitled "Chang Baokun Zhao Peiru Wants to Perform together", which was published in the newspaper and immediately set off quite a few waves.
The collaboration between Chang Baokun and Zhao Peiru began in Ziyan Music, a quyi garden in Tianjin. The first time they were partners, the two performed the passage "Playing the Riddle of lights", and the performance effect was very good. The pair became popular in Tianjin Wei that month. In August of that year, the two performed in Xiaoli Garden, the most famous juggling garden in Tianjin. At that time, a performance in the quyi comprehensive field had to have more than a dozen programs, let alone a dozen programs. The main axis is Liu Baoquan or Luo Yusheng, the finale is Zhang Shouchen and Hou Yichen, the third is Rong Jianchen, the founder of the single string of the "Rong Pai", and the fourth is Chang Baoquan and Zhao Peiru. In addition to performing in the best juggling garden in Tianjin, the two also broadcast on various radio stations. Many famous quyi gardens in Beijing also often invite the two to perform. By the second half of 1940, their fame was almost on a par with Chang Baokun's master, Zhang Shouchen. At that time, Chang Baokun was only eighteen years old, and Zhao Peiru was just twenty-six years old, and the careers of the two people could be described as day in the sky.
Also in 1940, Chang Baokun and Zhao Peiru performed more than 100 tracks on the special radio station of Tianjin Radio. They perform a large number of passages, and there are many types, including mouth work, willow work, timid mouth work, mouth twisting work, as well as mother-to-son, one head and so on. Being able to be so prolific in a year is unprecedented in the cross-talk world.
Also in 1940, Chang Baokun formed a brother troupe. There are also two heroes in the establishment of the troupe, one is the magician Chen Yanan, and the other is Zhao Peiru. The troupe performs a comedy drama, in which the artists enter the role directly. They also used a lot of cross-talk baggage processing techniques to make the character image more three-dimensional.
(Chang Baokun Zhao Peiru Lotus Flower Girl and other performances of "Dough Hammer")
Later, the cross-talk industry generally believed that the cross-talk dramas that appeared in the future were directly related to the laughter dramas pioneered by the brother theater troupes. Zhao Peiru starred in nearly 20 laugh dramas in the troupe, such as "Filial Piety", "Antecedents and Consequences", "Front Desk and Backstage", "Living Zombies", "A Bowl of Rice" and so on.
After the liberation of Tianjin, the brother theater troupe rehearsed "Shoot Yuan Wenhui". At that time, the people of Tianjin did not know yuan Wenhui, he was the leader of tianjin's, the leader of the Green Gang, or a big traitor, which can be said to be a major bully who oppressed tianjin's music and art circles. In 1946, Yuan Wenhui was arrested by the Kuomintang government for adultery, and in 1951 he was executed by the people's government. Zhao Peiru played Yuan Wenhui in the play "Shoot Yuan Wenhui", and the performance was so successful that once he walked on the street and was scolded by the audience who had seen the play. For this matter, Chang Baokun said: "Big brother, you have brought Yuan Wenhui to life. Our brothers and sons are inseparable every day, and even I think that you are Yuan Wenhui, let alone watching the drama. Besides, the eldest brother, your appearance and figure, and Yuan Wenhui are also inseparable from each other. This sentence made Zhao Peiru laugh. It is said that Zhao Peiru is indeed a bit like Yuan Wenhui, but Yuan Wenhui is fierce, and Zhao Peiru's face is very kind.
The "Chang Zhao" combination is getting smoother and smoother. In that year, the five best pairs of artists in the Tianjin cross-talk industry were selected, that is, "five grades of cross-talk", and the result was that Chang Baokun and Zhao Peiru won the second place, ranking only below Zhang Shouchen and Hou Yichen.
In March 1951, the Quyi Service Brigade of the First Chinese People's Condolence Group went to the Korean Battlefield, and Chang Baokun served as the captain of the Fourth Squadron. On April 23, Chang Baokun led all the team members to complete the condolence task excellently and was preparing to return to the motherland the next day.
(Martyr Chang Baokun performs cross-talk for soldiers in the Korean battlefield)
Unexpectedly, on the way back to the station after the performance that day, there was a sudden air raid, and Chang Baokun and the string master Cheng Shutang were hit by shrapnel and died on the spot. Zhao Peiru was blown unconscious, and his whole body was covered with the mud that flew away. When he woke up and found that Chang Baokun and Cheng Shutang were no longer alive, he cried darkly and fainted again.
The remains of the two martyrs, Chang Bao and Cheng Shutang, were returned to China, and tens of thousands of citizens of Tianjin City stood on both sides of the street to send them off, and the funeral procession stretched for miles, including Tianjin Mayor Huang Jing, Liao Chengzhi, Tian Han and many other cultural celebrities in Beijing and Tianjin.
(Chang Baokun's master, Mr. Zhang Shouchen, personally delivered a eulogy, and he could not cry, )
Before his death, Chang Baokun proposed that he hoped to organize Tianjin's quyi artists and establish the largest quyi performance group in Tianjin. His wish was soon fulfilled. The Tianjin Quyi Work Troupe, headed by Chang Lian'an and deputy headed by Zhao Peiru, was established shortly after, which was the predecessor of the Tianjin Quyi Troupe, which later enjoyed a high reputation throughout the country.
XiaoXia, a famous theorist of music and art, once said: "In the history of Chinese cross-talk, the most worthy of study and the greatest contribution of partners are Chang Baokun and Zhao Peiru." This view has been widely recognized in the cross-talk community, and it is also fully affirmed by everyone for the pair.
(End of this article)