Chiemi Eri -- Sazae-san（サザエさん）

 

The iconic "Sazae-san" has been in existence across the broad media spectrum in Japan since its appearance as a manga in 1946. I've known it mostly for the weekly anime series that has been on since 1969. Sometime in the last ten or twenty years, I was also aware of a live-action version of "Sazae-san" starring the adorably wacky Atsuko Asano（浅野温子）but unfortunately I haven't been able to find any clips from it on YouTube.

However, I only realized that there had been an initial live-action version decades previously within the last day or so. Only a couple of years following the debut of the manga, there was a 1948 movie with actress Takarazuka Revue graduate Tonko Azumaya（東屋トン子）in the starring role. But then less than a decade later in 1956, another film, also with the title "Sazae-san", was created, this time with actress-singer Chiemi Eri（江利チエミ）as Sazae-san herself. I'm not certain but perhaps the above clip may be from that movie. She's singing one of her earlier singles "A Guy is a Guy"（ガイ・イズ・ア・ガイ）while she's doing the laundry the old-fashioned way.

Eri must have really left an impression on producers and viewers alike because several years later in late 1965, she even got her own show "Sazae-san" on TBS which lasted a couple of years. The above was apparently the main theme, simply titled "Sazae-san", a brassy and upbeat ditty with a bit of a Latin cha-cha to it. It was written by Tatsuo Miyata（宮田達男）and composed by Yoshiyuki Kouzu（神津善行）.