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How Sojin Does It
It's simply a question of teeth, says Sojin, the remarkable Japanese character actor. How he achieves some of his eccentric make-ups is here revealed, along with a glimpse into his interesting past.
BEAUTY isn't everything. Often an eccentric appearance or a deformity of some sort is as much of an asset on the screen as the most flaming of beaut}-.
Take Sojin, for instance— the Japanese actor whom you all must know from the many unique characterizations that he has given the screen. As himself Sojin isn't such a bad-looking guy — though distinctly different in appearance — but when made up for one of those eccentric roles he plays, well, he's an eyeful. Like Lon Chaney, he specializes in weird make-up. And it's this very power to look strange and unnatural, combined., of course, with his Oriental nationality and a pronounced gift for acting, that has placed him in tremendous demand among the film producers. For certain types of roles he is unrivaled.
Seeing Sojin at work one day on the MetroGoldwyn lot, during the filming of "The Road to Mandalay," I strolled over and tried to engage him in conversation. But as he has not added a mastery of our language to his other accomplishments, our talk was not very satisfactory. I wanted to hear something of his entry into motion pictures. But he did not understand very well — "Bring my wife to-morrow," he said. "She spik' Engleesh ver' good."
So the next day I met Ladv Sojin, and in very good English she told me something of her husband's background and experiences.
He was born in Sendai. Japan. His father was a member of Parliament and from his early youth Sojin was surrounded by an atmosphere of learning and
By Julia Williams
Which should it be? Prominence in Japan or obscurity in Amer= ica? That's what Sojin and his wife had to choose between, and they chose obscurity in America — all because of the movies. They had won fame on the Japanese stage, but they left it behind them and came across the Pacific — all because of the movies. Strangers in a foreign land, and they didn't know the language — not so good. But now the obscurity is gone, and they sit in their Hollywood home, and smile — all because of the movies.
One of their two sons is shown with them in the picture above.
literary achievement. When still a very young boy, he entered the University of Japan, where his innate love of poetry and literature was fostered and encouraged. In this sympathetic environment he wrote and published several books of lyric poems.
As he grew older he became deeply interested in dramatic literature and decided to devote his life to the study and presentation of drama in Japan. Under the able direction of Professor Tsubouchi, the great Japanese authority on drama and literature, Sojin made rapid progress and later became associated with the professor's dramatic school as teacher and director.
When the little-theater movement spread to Japan, he became one of its most ardent and valued supporters. Having been through a thorough training in acting and directing, he undertook to organize a company of his own, which became most successful. In his own theater, he presented in Japanese the best European and English plays. Often he played the lead himself, and numbers among his repertory such roles as King Lear, Macbeth, and Shylock, all popular in Japan, where Shakespeare is greatly admired. Ibsen, too. is a well-liked dramatist in Japan, so Sojin presented and appeared in many of his plays.
Finally, he was called to the Imperial Theater in Tokio, which is owned and controlled by a group of wealthy Japanese. Here Sojin reached the peak of his career.
Previous to this, while still director of his own company, he had fallen in love with his leading lady and