Okay, so any idol fans know about producers Tsunku and Aki-P, right?
But there is one man who is very interesting to me, and even though he isn't Japanese and never worked in Japan, what he did and the shows he produced were ahead of their time, and somehow that system made its way over to Japan decades later.
First, here's some background information on old Flo.
Florenz Ziegfeld was born on March 21st, 1867 in Chicago, Illinois to a German father and a Belgian mother. His father, Florenz Ziegfeld Sr. opened up a Nightclub for the World's fair of 1893, with little success. To help his father, Flo scouted a German strongman called Eugen Sandow. Sandow was such a hit at his father's nightclub, that he decided to take business into his own hands.
Flo had the idea of bringing Parisian Follies to America, and so, The Ziegfeld Follies was born. The first follies was put on in 1907, and they were performed annually until 1931. Flo had a keen eye for talent, from performers to composers and writers. Some of the most famous performers and artists of the early 20th century got their start in the Ziegfeld Follies, such as composers Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, and Jerome Kern. Famous performers in the Ziegfeld follies were Fanny Brice, Ed Wynn, Will Rodgers, and his wife, Billie Burke (most famously known as Glinda the Good Witch in "The Wizard of OZ).
Some of y'all may be thinking: "He just sounds like a talent agent to me, what does this have to do with idols?"
Oh my friends. I have yet to get to the most famous part of the Ziegfeld Follies. Even though audiences adored the songs and performers, what was really big about the follies was the girls. The Ziegfeld Girls. The Ziegfeld girls were a massive group of chorus girls that decorated the stage during the follies. Even if they weren't singing or dancing in a number, they would drape the stage with their over the top costumes, serving as set dressings (and eye candy) for the audience to see.
They say that Flo had an eye for beauty, even if other people didn't see it. Once he saw a girl, he knew immediately whether or not she could be a Ziegfeld girl, and the potential of her performance ability.
Does this sound familiar to anyone?
Flo also had interesting ways of publicizing the girls at that time. While he would promote the shows, he would also put out personal information about the girls to spark interest of the general public. Hist first big female star was Anna Held, and he raised public interest by releasing information about her daily milk baths. After that, she shot up to national fame until the day she died.
Now let's do some comparisons:
I'll be keeping my comparisons within Hello!Project since I know them much better than I do any of Aki-P's groups.
Now Flo cast some girls completely according to their looks, and I mentioned that some girls served as eye candy and set dressings.
Let's go through the "Ziegfeld Girls" of Hello!Project by group.
Morning Musume:
Michishige Sayumi
Iikubo Haruna
Ikuta Erina
Berryz Koubou:
Tsugunaga Momoko
C-ute:
Nakajima Saki
S/mileage:
Wada Ayaka
Starting with Morning Musume: these three girls can't sing a lick, but dammit they're gorgeous! When they smile, laugh, or wink, you just turn into butter. Whenever there's a photoshoot/photobook/magazine spread, they're the ones who take the best pictures because they were the ones scouted to be pretty. That's just how some of the Ziegfeld girls were scouted, and that's how it works for these three.
Berryz Koubou: If I had written this two or three years ago, I would say that Berryz didn't have a Ziegfeld girl, but with the direction that Momo is going, I'd say she's the closest to it that the group has. She doesn't rely on her singing or dancing talent anymore to gain attention, she uses gags and routines. She markets herself with no shame, and that's a part of what makes her entertaining to some people. Tsunku realizes that, and let's her run with it since it also gives the rest of her group, and the agency as a whole, more publicity. In a way, that makes Momo kind of like Fanny Brice, since once Flo scouted her, he let her have freedom with her own acts.
C-ute: Nakky represents the Ziegfeld girl who is a dancer. Some Ziegfeld girls were tremendous dancers, and though they didn't get too many chances to dance outside of the chorus, they just had their way of shining that audiences took notice of. In C-ute, I feel that's how Nakky plays her roll. She gets the least amount of solo lines in all of C-ute's singles, but when she's up onstage: BAM! She's a standout because of her presence.
S/mileage: Oh Ayacho. When S/mileage first formed, I honestly wondered why she was there. XDDD I didn't care for her voice at all. It wasn't until she started getting PBs that I realized why she was there. She has a different look about her that makes her interesting. She doesn't look like any of the other girls in H!P. When you see her face, you can't mistake her, and that's to the advantage of the agency, since the general public can recognize her solely as Wada Ayaka of Hello!Project. That's another thing to compare with Fanny Brice. Brice was Jewish, therefore she didn't look like the other girls in the Follies, or in showbiz in general at the time, since Jewish features at the time weren't considered beautiful. When people saw her, they immediately knew she was Fanny Brice from The Ziegfeld Follies, which brought in more publicity for the Follies themselves.
Does this make any sense? I'm sorry for the wall of text, but the similarities between follies and idols intrigued me, and since what I do at KKMS is like a mix between follies and idol concerts, I thought I would do a little research.
Do you think idol producers learned from the Ziegfeld Follies? Why or why not? Let me know in the comments, and thanks for reading!
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