looking for Sachiko Chiba information

[Roger Macy]

Fascinating, Roland, thank you for sharing this with us all.

May I ask - what became of the child?  Did she or he bear the name 'Naruse' ?  Do you know if Sachiko Chiba had any support from family on either side ?

Hardly a filmic question, I concede, but it intrigues me - if you have any information to hand.

Best of the season,
Roger
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Roland Domenig 
  To: Kine Japan 
  Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2011 2:22 PM
  Subject: Re: looking for Sachiko Chiba information


  William, this might help a little:


  Chiba Sachiko was born on Februar 16, 1911, in Hiroshima as daughter of a landowner. Her birth-name was Chiba Tsuruko. From early on she received training in Western as well as Japanese music. She became a disciple of the blind koto player and composer Miyagi Michio, a founder of the so-called Shin-Nihon-Ongaku (New Japanese Music) movement, and worked as a musical performer. In 1931/32 she joined the ensemble of the shakuhachi player Yoshida Seifû, a co-founder of the Shin-Nihon-Ongaku movement, on aconcert tour to the United States. On recommendation of the manager of the opera singer Fujiwara Yoshie, whom she had met during the concert tour in the United States, she was cast for the film Sakebu Ajia (1933), a propaganda movie commemorating the first anniversary of the foundation of Manchukuo directed by Uchida Tomu with Fujiwara Yoshie in thelead role. The film was produced by Shineigasha, a production company founded in late 1932 by Murata Minoru, Uchida Tomu, Itô Daisuke and others who had left Nikkatsu after quarrels with studio executives. The sound of the film was recorded by P.C.L., which - after a failed deal with Nikkatsu - was compelled to start producing films on its own in order to avoid losses. Due to the rather strict contracts of the film companies, which bound actors exclusively to astudio, P.C.L. could not employ established film stars, but had to resort to stage actors or new talents. Since she had left a good impression in Sakebu Ajia P.C.L. signed on Chiba Sachiko, who eventually became P.C.L’s leading actress. Chiba’s musicality certainly contributed to her rise to fame starting with P.C.L.’s first production Horoyoi jinsei (dir. Kimura Sotoji, 1933). In 1935 she starred in Joyû to shijin, the second P.C.L. film of Naruse Mikio. Her next film with Naruse, Tsuma yo bara no yô ni (1935), was voted best film of the year by the critics jury of the Kinema Junpô magazine and was one of the first Japanese films released in the Unites States (in 1937 under the title Kimiko). She starred in several more films of Naruse, whom in January 1937 she eventually married (they got divorced in 1940). After the hugely successful two-part film adaptation of Yoshiya Nobuko’s Otto no teisô, 19﷽﷽﷽﷽﷽﷽ her retirement. Chiba Sachiko died on ne Hideko. der the title Kimiko)  (dir. Yamamoto Kajirô, 1937) for which she also recorded the theme song, she took a maternity leave. When she returnedP.C.L. had meanwhile merged into Tôhô. She scored big commercial successes with Katei nikki (2 parts, dir. Yamamoto Satsuo, 1938) and Onna no kyôshitsu (2 parts, dir. Abe Yutaka, 1939), both again based on novels by Yoshiya Nobuko, but increasingly she found herself cast in supporting roles while the lead roles went to other actresses. She went on to make films until 1942, but was overshadowed by new stars such as Hara Setsuko and Takamine Hideko. She therefore abandoned cinema and for a brief time continued as stage actress. But this didn’t last long, presumably also because of the increasingly difficult situation in the final years of the war. After the war Chiba Sachiko became a quite successful businesswoman. In 1946, with the help of Yuki Teiichi, one of Japan’s leading haute cuisine chefs and founder of the kaiseki restaurant chain Kitchô, she opened a traditional Japanese restaurant in Shibuya (at first it catered mostly to members of the American occupation forces and for a period was renamed “Pacific Royal’s Club”). In 1956 she went to the United States and worked as advisor for a Japanese restaurant in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo. In 1965 she finally became managing director of the Western confectionery “Français” in Tokyo, a post she held until her retirement. Chiba Sachiko died on October 22, 1993, after a stroke at the age of 82.



  Roland Domenig

  University of Vienna



  Von: <ReelDrew at aol.com>
  Antworten an: Kine Japan <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
  Datum: Thu, 29 Dec 2011 05:14:01 -0500
  An: Kine Japan <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
  Betreff: Re: looking for Sachiko Chiba information




  Unfortunately, I can't just run out and buy the book you mentioned. I'm working on a deadline. I'm not asking for exhaustive details on Sachiko Chiba--just the most elementary facts which you can find on a prominent actress of her generation in almost any major film-producing country in the world. If this were a famous 1930s actress in the Egyptian, Indian and Chinese cinemas of those years, for example, all I would have to do is Google her name and find the most basic facts (and probably a lot more) in English as these other great cinemas of the East have far more of an Internet presence than that of Japan, it seems. I had earlier posted here asking if Sachiko Chiba was still alive, and, if not, when she passed away. At that time, even that information was not readily available at a standard source like the IMDB. After a member of KineJapan kindly supplied me (and the public in general) with that information, I note that the IMDB subsequently picked up on that and now carries the date of her passing. So again, I would like to know if she began her career in the theatre, if she appeared in any silent films at the start of her career, and if she continued on in some other branch of show business after leaving the screen or did she pursue some other occupation in later years.

  William M. Drew

  In a message dated 12/29/2011 1:43:15 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, faithbach at yahoo.co.jp writes:
          Dear Mr Drew,

          You can easily find the answers to these and many other questions about Chiba Sachiko on pp. 148-151 of Vol. II of Nihon Eiga Jinmei Jiten (Illustrated Who's Who of Japanese Cinema: Actresses [sic]), ed/pub. by Kinema Jumposha in 1995 and still available for sale and in libraries.

          Faith Bach
          --- On Thu, 2011/12/29, ReelDrew at aol.com <ReelDrew at aol.com> wrote:




            For what may be the final post of the year on a website I have, I've been planning to pay a (very belated) tribute to outstanding film actresses born in 1911. However, in searching for basic information on Sachiko Chiba on the Internet, including Google book search, I seem to have run into a barrier. Can anyone give me data on any of the following: what was Sachiko Chiba's background? Did she work as an actress in the theatre prior to her entry into films in 1933? Were any of her early screen appearances in silent films? Why did she stop making films after her last screen appearance in 1944, two years after her divorce from Mikio Naruse? What did she do after she stopped making films? Did she work in the theatre or on radio and TV? Or did she have some other occupation outside of show business? Did she remarry? Assuming as I am that she was retired in her last years, does anyone know here for approximately how long?

            I'm hoping I can get at least some answers to these questions from the very knowledgeable people here regarding Sachiko Chiba.

            William M. Drew 
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