Densho Digital Archive - Henry Nakano Interview (denshovh-nhenry-01-0018)

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RP: And you began school at Manzanar. You just picked up in high school, what was it...

HN: Yeah, ninth grade.

RP: Ninth grade?

HN: Yeah.

RP: Uh-huh. And you had some, you had some experiences there with, with drama and glee, glee club.

HN: Yes. Yes, I did. Those were my favorite subjects there. The drama class we were in, the high school in '45, we produced Out of the Frying Pan. That was the play that we did. And, and Frizzell was the teacher. And the year before that, or two years before that, Frizzell produced his own operetta. I think it was Loud and Clear. And, in fact, we were the chorale group that backed up that thing. So, I don't know why to this day I remember those songs. The one song I remember the most is, [singing], "When we were young and half-pint sized, we started off to school, to learn the three proverbial Rs and all about the golden rule. Fate decreed us to be pals. In fact we're friendly yet. 'Twas there in the little red school house that I and Stoogie met." And Stoogie's friend was Tony. And so, said, [singing] "On summer days when the weather was warm, and the learning grieved our souls, we crawled along the floor, scampered out the door, heading for the swimming hole. Tony couldn't swim but he jumped right in, in spite of the warning I have him. Full of fright, he sank out of sight, and I dived him and saved him." So, one other, one other verse I remember is, [singing] "One day we got there to learn the rumba. To the Argentine we sailed away. The gal we got to teach was really a peach so we cannot do a stepa rumba, to this day. She said that we would never learn unless we watched our feet. When she found out what we were watchin' instead, she threw us out in the street." [Laughs]

RP: [Laughs] So this opera was patterned around a story about young actors growing up?

HN: Well, that was Out of the Frying Pan. The Loud and Clear was Harry Tashima and Kow Maruki. They were the leads in it. And, so that was before, two years before my time, Out of the Frying Pan, which was the young actors growing up together, Stanislavski's and stuff. Which is the terminology for young actors, a specific style of acting, Stanislavski's style of acting. That's what the story was all about, Out of the Frying Pan, but I don't remember much out of that other than the pictures that are in the '45 annual.

RP: So, were you always somewhat extroverted or just really sort of blossomed in Manzanar?

HN: I think I'm sort of extraverted. Not totally extraverted, but... I remember writing a song for Frizzell, too. You know, because we were in camp. We were stuck into this fenced compound, surrounded with barbed wire. So a popular song in those days was "Don't Fence Me In." So I wrote a... god, I didn't write this down. If I could get started I could finish it, but...

RP: It's okay. Maybe it will come to you later.

[Interruption]

HN: [Singing] Oh give me land, little land, under city skies above. Don't fence me in. Let me be by myself in the city that I love, don't fence me in. Let me be by myself in my little room, listen to the radio and Sinatra croon, send me to the city, but I beg of you goon, don't fence me in. Oh, let me straddle my old rattle underneath the city skies. On my hop up, let me travel over gravel 'til I see the buildings rise. Oh, let me ride to the West where Hollywood commences, gaze at Betty Grable 'til I lose my senses, send me to the city but I beg of you please, don't fence me in." Done.

KP: Bravo.

RP: Great. You wrote that?

HN: Yes. I wrote that.

RP: Was it ever performed at all?

HN: Well, it's just a parody to the "Don't Fence Me In" song. Did I ever perform it? I don't remember if I did or not. But...

RP: Well, you just did.

HN: I did it here, yeah.

RP: Yeah. This is a world...

KP: A top record.

HN: Yeah.

RP: World debut. What do they call it? World premiere? That was a great song.

HN: You think so?

RP: Well, yeah. I've sung the other one but I get tired of singing that. It fits your situation so well, too.

HN: That's what I was trying to do, fit our situation in camp, yeah.

RP: Yeah. Did you, did you also write other songs or was that just the one parody that you...

HN: That's the only one I wrote that I wrote a parody on. [Laughs] And remember the song out of Loud and Clear. That was kinda, you know, not that easy either. I don't know why I remember those words.

RP: Uh-huh. And so that was the one that had Tony and Stoogie?

HN: Yeah.

RP: And they kinda sung a verse...

HN: Back and forth, yeah.

RP: Back and forth kind of call and response.

HN: Yeah.

RP: Uh-huh.

HN: The one verse says, [singing] "From there we went to the circus tent to join the three ring forces. I was a ticket taker at the door, Tony took care of the horses. Although we vowed we would never dig a ditch, our record's not quite pure. Our very next job was a WPA. We dug a city sewer." [Laughs] That was another verse that I forgot to put in.

RP: Quite a few verses.

HN: Yeah, there were quite a few. There were a few more that I've forgotten. But some, I think Bruce Kaji has all the words. I'm gonna have to get it from him.

RP: That would be great to have you and some of the old timers show up and do that. Especially at the reunion.

HN: Yeah, I was thinkin' to do that the next reunion if we have one. But I gotta get together with Bruce. Bruce has the words, he doesn't remember the melody. And...

RP: You do.

HN: I knew the melody so he just had to, just convert that into, on a music sheet, you know.

RP: Yeah.

HN: And then there's another song that (Tony Kow Maruki) sang to his girlfriend. And I only know one verse though, is, [singing] "Our love affair of necessity must be, a thing of public interest, not private property. We must do with our romancing with all the people glancing. Oh, let them stare. What do I care? Dadum, dadum." That was the verse (Tony Kow Maruki) sang to his girlfriend, in that...

RP: In that same play?

HN: In that same play, yeah.

RP: That was performed at the auditorium?

HN: Yes.

RP: On stage?

HN: It was performed at that auditorium, right.

RP: So it was a school production but available to everybody in the camp. I mean...

HN: Oh yes. Uh-huh.

RP: Uh-huh. Wow. Original live entertainment. That's great.