Miss Riboet's Orion, originally known as the Orion Opera, was a theatrical troupe active in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) in the 1920s and early 1930s. Established by the husband and wife team Tio Tek Djien and Miss Riboet, the company travelled throughout the Indies and performed various acts, particularly those with action scenes. It was disbanded in 1942, having lost much of its popularity due to competition with Dardanella.
In the late 19th century various forms of popular theatre, inspired by Western techniques and formats, began to develop in the Dutch East Indies, a colony of the Netherlands. The earliest were the Malayan bangsawan troupes, who traveled to Sumatra and Java beginning in the 1880s. The Komedi Stamboel developed in the Indies in the 1890s, inspired by these bangsawan troupes. By 1910 various organisations run by the ethnic Chinese had begun holding stage performances, which they termed "operas", as fundraisers; these troupes eventually developed into professional ones, acting for profit. [1]
In 1925 Tio Tek Djien (2 December 1895–1975), [2] an ethnic Chinese businessman from East Java, established Orion Opera together with his wife, Miss Riboet (24 December 1900 – 19 April 1965), who took the lead role. Though Tio drew on the earlier bangsawan and komedi stamboel, as with his contemporaries such as Tengku Katan's Union Dahlia, he introduced several changes. Stories selected were shorter ones, with shorter scenes, which could be completed in a single night. No longer were the characters introduced before the performance, and the number of scenes with singing and dancing was drastically reduced, limited only to inter-act performances. Orion's repertoire was likewise different: instead of traditional tales, such as those based on the One Thousand and One Nights , Orion tended to perform original stories, though it also produced some adaptations of Western works. [3]
Initially the troupe's original stories were written by Tio himself. [3] By the late 1920s he had hired Njoo Cheong Seng, a journalist and writer, to help produce original scripts. [4] Works by Njoo which the troupe performed included Kiamat (Apocalypse), Tengkorak (Skull), and Tueng Balah, [5] while Tio wrote such works as R.A. Soemantri. These stories were most often filled with action, and, though written in detail, left room for improvisation. When Miss Riboet proved highly popular as a swordfighter in these plays, as well as a kroncong singer, the troupe was named after her. [3]
Though initially limited to an amusement park in Central Java, [6] the troupe quickly proved popular and travelled from city to city. They sold gramophone records to supplement their income, [7] and Miss Riboet became the first recording star of the Indies. [8] Stores sold Miss Riboet brand merchandise, including wristwatches. [2] In 1927 the company attempted to make a film. Tio asked Nelson Wong to first record the troupe's performances, a task which Wong did using a simple camera. Hoping to create a profitable fiction film, Tio asked Wong to direct, a request Wong accept as long as Tio would help bring Wong's brothers from China. When the brothers arrived in the Indies, Tio bought an old tapioca flour factory in Bandung for them to use as a studio. [9] Nelson and Tio began plans to make a film starring Miss Riboet, but these were cancelled after discovering that Riboet's face was "not photogenic". [lower-alpha 1] [10]
In 1926 another theatrical troupe, Dardanella, was established by Willy A. Piedro. As with Miss Riboet's Orion, Dardanella quickly became known for its action-themed plays, a repertoire which included several stories about Zorro and an adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo in Batavia; such was the troupe's popularity that its leading man, Tan Tjeng Bok, was soon styled the "Douglas Fairbanks of Java". By 1931 the competition from Dardanella had led to an advertising war between the two troupes, each focusing on their best-received works: Gagak Solo from Miss Riboet's Orion and Dr Samsi from Dardanella. [11]
In 1934 Njoo and his wife, the actress Fifi Young, migrated to Dardanella. Though Orion continued to perform, it was unable to compete with Dardanella. It was disbanded during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies (1942–1945). [12] After 1950 Tio attempted to reunite the troupe, but was unsuccessful. [2]
Indonesian literary scholar Jakob Sumardjo writes that Miss Riboet's Orion laid the basis for modern theatre in Indonesia, a feat he attributes to both Tio and Njoo having been well educated (as opposed to earlier, business-oriented, theatre patrons). [3] Contemporary critic Tzu You, writing in 1939, considered Miss Riboet's Orion to have had the potential to create high quality, literary, stage plays, but that said potential was wasted as Tio focused only on following the public's tastes. [3] An anonymous review in De Indische Courant recommended the opera company as a good one, particularly praising Miss Riboet's singing and acting. [13]
A stageplay put on by Miss Riboet's, entitled Pembalesan Siti Akbari, was reprinted by the Lontar Foundation in 2006 using the Perfected Spelling System. The play is an adaptation of Lie Kim Hok's 1884 poem Sair Tjerita Siti Akbari . [14]
Abisin Abbas, better known by his pseudonym Andjar Asmara, was a dramatist and filmmaker active in the cinema of the Dutch East Indies. Born in Alahan Panjang, West Sumatra, he first worked as a reporter in Batavia. He became a writer for the Padangsche Opera in Padang, where he developed a new, dialogue-centric style, which later spread throughout the region. After returning to Batavia in 1929, he spent over a year as a theatre and film critic. In 1930 he joined the Dardanella touring troupe as a writer. He went to India in an unsuccessful bid to film his stage play Dr Samsi.
Fifi Young was an Indonesian actress of mixed French and Chinese descent who acted in at least 86 films over her 34-year career.
The Wong brothers were three ethnic Chinese film directors and cameramen active in the cinema of the Dutch East Indies. The sons of an Adventist preacher, the brothers – Nelson (1895–1945), Joshua (1906–1981), and Othniel (1908–1986) – received much of their education in the United States before going to Shanghai and establishing The Great Wall Productions.
Njoo Cheong Seng was a Chinese-Indonesian playwright and film director. Also known by the pen name Monsieur d'Amour, he wrote more than 200 short stories, novels, poems and stage plays during his career; he is also recorded as directing and/or writing eleven films. He married four times during his life and spent several years travelling throughout Southeast Asia and India with different theatre troupes. His stage plays are credited with revitalising theatre in the Indies.
Dardanella was a touring theatre company from the Dutch East Indies established by Willy A. Piedro in 1926. Arising from a background of musical theatre, the troupe focused on realistic stories, both adaptations of foreign works and original stage plays about life in the Indies. Starring Dewi Dja' and Tan Tjeng Bok, the troupe performed original works by Piedro and Andjar Asmara. Popular both in the Indies and abroad, Dardanella dissolved during an international tour after 1936. Several of its members later went into film.
Sair Tjerita Siti Akbari is an 1884 Malay-language syair (poem) by Lie Kim Hok. Adapted indirectly from the Sjair Abdoel Moeloek, it tells of a woman who passes as a man to free her husband from the Sultan of Hindustan, who had captured him in an assault on their kingdom.
Lie Kim Hok was a peranakan Chinese teacher, writer, and social worker active in the Dutch East Indies and styled the "father of Chinese Malay literature". Born in Buitenzorg, West Java, Lie received his formal education in missionary schools and by the 1870s was fluent in Sundanese, vernacular Malay, and Dutch, though he was unable to understand Chinese. In the mid-1870s he married and began working as the editor of two periodicals published by his teacher and mentor D. J. van der Linden. Lie left the position in 1880. His wife died the following year. Lie published his first books, including the critically acclaimed syair (poem) Sair Tjerita Siti Akbari and grammar book Malajoe Batawi, in 1884. When van der Linden died the following year, Lie purchased the printing press and opened his own company.
Astaman also known as Tirtosari, was an Indonesian actor active from the 1910s until the mid-1970s. He was a leading actor in the influential theatre company Dardanella and, after entering the film industry with 1940s Kartinah, acted in 43 films.
Gagak Item is a 1939 bandit film from the Dutch East Indies directed by Joshua and Othniel Wong for Tan's Film. Starring Rd Mochtar, Roekiah, and Eddy T. Effendi, it follows a masked man known only as "Gagak Item". The black-and-white film, which featured the cast and crew from the 1937 hit Terang Boelan, was a commercial success and received positive reviews upon release. It is likely lost.
Zoebaida is a 1940 film from the Dutch East Indies directed by Njoo Cheong Seng. A romance set in Timor, it starred Njoo's wife Fifi Young and was the film debut of Soerip. Shot over a period of 27 days in a Dutch-owned studio, the film received middling reviews. It is likely lost.
Air Mata Iboe is a 1941 drama film from the Dutch East Indies directed and written by Njoo Cheong Seng. Starring Fifi Young, Rd Ismail, Ali Sarosa, and Ali Joego, it followed a mother who raises her children lovingly but is ultimately betrayed by her eldest sons when she falls upon hard times. The film, billed as a "musical extravaganza," featured a soundtrack by R. Koesbini, and an eponymous title song written by Njoo.
Sorga Ka Toedjoe is a 1940 film from the Dutch East Indies directed by Joshua and Othniel Wong for Tan's Film. It follows an older couple who are reunited by another, younger couple after years of separation. The black-and-white film, the first production by Tan's Film after the departure of Rd Mochtar, featured kroncong music and was targeted at lower-class native audiences. It was a commercial and critical success. Roekiah and Djoemala took leading roles in three more films before Tan's closed in 1942. Sorga Ka Toedjoe is now thought lost.
Phoa Keng Hek Sia was a Chinese Indonesian Landheer (landlord), social activist and founding president of Tiong Hoa Hwe Koan, an influential Confucian educational and social organisation meant to better the position of ethnic Chinese in the Dutch East Indies. He was also one of the founders of Institut Teknologi Bandung.
Allah jang Palsoe is a 1919 stage drama from the Dutch East Indies that was written by the ethnic Chinese author Kwee Tek Hoay based on E. Phillips Oppenheim's short story "The False Gods". Over six acts, the Malay-language play follows two brothers, one a devout son who holds firmly to his morals and personal honour, while the other worships money and prioritises personal gain. Over more than a decade, the two learn that money is not the path to happiness.
Tio Tek Djien, also styled T. D. Tio, Jr., was a Chinese Indonesian stage manager and playwright turned film producer.
Oriental Film was a film production company in Batavia, Dutch East Indies. Established by ethnic Chinese businessman Tjo Seng Han in 1940, it completed four black-and-white films before it was closed in 1941. All the company's films were screened into the 1950s but may now be lost. They were directed by two men, Njoo Cheong Seng and Sutan Usman Karim, and launched the careers of actors such as Dhalia and Soerip.
Rempo Urip was an Indonesian film director. He began his career in the theatre, serving as an extra and footballer for the Dardanella theatre company beginning in 1934. After six years and three troupes, Urip entered the film industry, working as a distributor for Oriental Film and assistant director for Java Industrial Film. He returned to the theatre during the Japanese occupation (1942–1945) and national revolution (1945–1949). In 1951 he joined Djamaluddin Malik's Persari as a director, completing thirteen films for the company before it closed in 1958. He continued as a freelance director until 1977.
Lauw Giok Lan was a Chinese Indonesian journalist and writer. He was one of the founders of the newspaper Sin Po.
Miss Riboet II, also known as Miss Riboet Muda, was an Indonesian actress and singer who was active from the 1920s until 1950s and was one of the top five stars of Dardanella, along with Devi Dja, Astaman, Tan Tjeng Bok, and Ferry Kock. She was the mother of actress Netty Herawaty and was considered as the part of Classical Indonesian Cinema.