 | What Happened to Hayakawa |  |
The Colony is Kinder
“You find things changed?”
“Human nature does not change, but time mellows and softens our natures. Prejudices vanish like smoke. Today I find a broader, friendlier feeling. There is even a marked desire for Oriental pictures. They may become a fad. Dolores del Rio will play 'The Darling of the Gods'; Metro Goldwyn prepares a Japanese picture: Norma Talmadge considers 'Madame Butterfly': 'A Japanese Nightingale' will be revived[1]. Oriental pictures lend themselves to Technicolor, moreover. They will be beautiful.”
“And sound? You will use sound in your pictures?”[2]
“I do not know. I am not sure. Perhaps sound to the extent of the roar of waves, the wind, native chanting, booming of bells and so forth, but as to dialogue—”
He shook his head, sighed, troubled.
“What do you think of the talkies?”
“Hard to say. One should not express an opinion too soon. Any prediction premature. Much development will be needed. Stage plays are rehearsed two weeks, then played on road till the actors know their lines and their parts perfectly. In picture we rehearse but a day; then shoot. The players who must speak lines will be too conscious of their voices; they will fear their effect and grope for the lines. This doubt will register in their faces. Their minds instead of on their motions and the acting will be concentrated on their lines—unless very careful. The result might prove automatic, puppet-like, mechanical motions. The players will miss the guidance of the director, who may not speak, since his voice would register in the microphone. Ah! We are but at the beginning.”
Eaton here is most assuredly fabricating this part of the Hayakawa interview, as this paragraph refers to several projects from Eaton's distant past: The Darling of the Gods was a play by David Belasco produced by him in New York in December 1902, and far surpassed in popularity the dramatic version of Eaton's own novel, A Japanese Nightingale, which opened the following December and closed after only 44 performances. As a publicity stunt, Eaton sued Belasco for plagiarizing from her work; Belasco, in turn, sued Eaton for libel. (For more on this colorful episode, see Diana Birchall, Onoto Watanna: The Story of Winnifred Eaton; U of IL P, 2001: 79-84.) The story of Madame Butterfly by 1929 was, of course, well known, given the continuing popularity of Giacomo Puccini's 1906 operatic version of the original 1898 novella by John Luther Long, as well as the 1915 film, directed by Sidney Olcott and starring Mary Pickford (a 1932 version—sans Norma Talmadge—starred Cary Grant in the role of B. F. Pinkerton). A Japanese Nightingale was produced as a film in 1918 but flopped; although Eaton attempted several times to revive interest in the film when she worked at Universal and MGM in the 1920s, she never succeeded.
| What Happened to Hayakawa | |