Again Dante went on ahead to Japan to arrange bookings. First to Osaka then Kyoto, Tokyo and Kobe.
Our ship, the [SS] Nagasaki Maru, docked at Kobe and we drove by car to Osaka from there. But before we docked we were surprised to have a large launch pull up alongside our ship with many pennants and banners in English and Japanese advertising the Dante show. And carrying an all-girl brass band! Then we had to drive to the train station where we were supposed to arrive because there was another welcoming committee of about fifty girls. All of these girls were regularly employed by the theatre for their own productions. We were privileged to see one of their shows and were amazed to learn that all the male parts were played by young women.
About this time Mom developed a bad inflammation in her eyes and could hardly see. She was working on a lot of new costumes so the girls had to pitch in and help.
We gave three shows a day, four on Sunday beginning at 10 a.m. and on the first two days we showed to thirty thousand people. The Osaka [Shiki] Gekijo was the finest and largest theatre we had ever been in. The stage was large enough to have two revolving floors. To make our cues on time we had to run instead of walk across the stage.
The whole building had a heating and cooling system. The dressing rooms were lovely, the floors covered with matting six inches thick and we would sit on the floors to make up because the makeup shelves were only a foot off the floor. Following the Japanese custom we had to leave our shoes off at the stage door and wear “tabis” or slippers indoors. When audience members were asked to come up on stage for “Sawing” they would remove their shoes, so we had to keep a supply of slippers on stage.
The first Sunday matinee, the Crown Prince came to our show and Dante was invited to lunch with him. [Ed. note: exact date uncertain, but may refer to Emperor Shōwa (formerly Crown Prince Hirohito).]
One night I waited at the top of a long flight of stairs, holding Dante’s floor length cape for him as we heard the overture and the “on stage” call, Pop put on his cape and went down the stairs. As I stepped off the first step, my foot caught in my long gown and I fell to the bottom, hitting my hip and my spine and was knocked out for a few minutes. When I came to, there didn’t seem to be any bones broken, so I went on with my work. The next morning when I woke up, I couldn’t get out of bed. The show went on without me and in due time (with the help of chiropractors) my back was restored to near normal.
Soon after this happened our run in Osaka was cut short because of a typhoon. [Muroto typhoon, Sept. 21, 1934.] We were staying in a very modern hotel: Built to withstand typhoons and it seemed like it was the only building that was not swaying in the gale. Our rooms were on the eighth floor and we could look out and see billboards floating through the air like paper. Sanpans in Osaka Bay were smashed together like matchboxes. It was one of the worst typhoons in many years and cost many lives.
The theatre withstood the gales, only one dressing room was damaged, the windows were broken. There was a large artificial tree in the room – used in plays I assume – and all of my wardrobe that had been hanging on one wall was wound around the branches of the tree, some even knotted!
Train tracks were torn up and twisted so we traveled to Kyoto by car and that too was hazardous.
I think we had more difficulty with the language in Japan than we ever had in other countries. I was in a restaurant with Al one day and we couldn’t make ourselves understood. Finally Al took out a pencil and paper and drew pictures of eggs and a banana, then with much bowing and smiling we were given our fried eggs!
We thought the Japanese were very broadminded because it was a common sight to see men working wearing only a loin cloth but we had only been in Osaka a few days when a notice came out in the newspapers forbidding the wearing of backless dresses in the streets. It applied to all the Caucasian women currently in town since Japanese women never dressed like that. There was another American show in town, a musical featuring Danny Kaye. That was very early in his career but we didn’t have a chance to see him.
In Kobe Miki was taken ill and had to go into the hospital. The day she came home Myrie and Fina took her to their apartment and when they started for the theatre couldn’t find a taxi. They finally arrived at the theatre with only three minutes before curtain time. Mom, who was conducting the orchestra, held up the overture to give them time to change, hoping Dante wouldn’t notice.
Mom was very close to the girls and took them shopping before we went to Manchuria to buy woolen clothes and warm boots.
On arriving in Tokyo, we were again met by dozens of Japanese girls at the station and had a lot of publicity pictures taken. We shared the bill with two Japanese revues.
It was in Tokyo that Al and Ruth were married again and told Mom and I that they had been married in Melbourne.
This time (actually there were two “ceremonies”) Ruth waited in the car while Al went into a Japanese marriage bureau and signed some papers.Then they went to the American Consulate for another ceremony so Ruth’s passport could be changed to her married name.
When Mom broke the news to Pop, there was the biggest row the family had ever had. Because Pop believed Mom had known about the marriage months before and had been deceiving him.
This was the first time I got involved. We were staying at the finest hotel in Tokyo and one evening before show time, Mom and Pop and I were in the dining room making an attempt at eating dinner. Pop had been drinking and was directing a steady flow of verbal abuse at Mom. It was very embarrassing and humiliating and suddenly I could stand it no longer. I was sitting across from my father and I stood up, lifted the table and tipped it over on top of him.
Of course, I was sorry almost immediately because I had only made matters worse. But when I apologized to Pop later in his dressing room – the apology was not enough – I had to get down on my knees.
It took many years and long after I left home to forgive – to understand him and to appreciate the job he had undertaken and I marveled at the fine performances he gave, the thousands of people he entertained. I know he loved his family but he had a strange way of showing it. I blame that on his drinking.
Quoting a newspaper interview he gave, the writer said, “Dante said he loves his art, the art of Magic and he said he has no other interest in the world. He believes that in entertaining and making millions of people happy, to hold an audience spellbound nightly and send them home happy, regardless of profit or loss to himself, is greater satisfaction than he could have achieved through any of the other arts.”
He never seemed to understand why his family and employees resented his domination and absolute authority.
Pop agreed to have Al and Ruth stay on for a few more months until we finished our tour of the Orient.