임선규 林仙圭
Playwright famed for 'Deceived by Love, Weeping for Money'; criticized for collaborating with Japanese colonial theatre in the late colonial period
| Life | 1912 ~ 1970 |
| Era | 일제강점기 |
| Clan | 평택 임씨 |
Life & career
Im Seon-gyu (1912?-1970, presumed) was a theatre figure and playwright of the colonial period whose real name was Im Seung-bok. He is classified under the Pyeongtaek Im clan (taken from Korean Wikipedia's categorization; the article text itself does not state his clan, so this needs further confirmation). He is said to have been born to a poor tenant farmer in Nonsan, South Chungcheong, though some say 1910 or 1914, so his birth year is uncertain.
He joined the Joseon Yeongeuksa troupe around 1932 and married the actress Mun Ye-bong in 1933. His 1936 play 'Deceived by Love, Weeping for Money' (popularly 'Don't Cry, Hong-do') at the Dongyang Theatre was a huge hit, making him the leading box-office playwright of his day. In 1939 he worked with the troupe Arang, staging historical plays such as Kim Ok-gyun and Donghak-dang, and wrote around 80 works in all.
His plays turn domestic tragedy into popular melodrama with natural dialogue and ingenious structure, and he is credited with establishing the Korean melodrama model. During the Pacific War, however, he entered works in government-run theatre contests, served as a director of the Joseon Theatre Culture Association and published pieces such as 'The Village Where Camellias Bloom' praising the volunteer-soldier system. For this he is on the listed candidates for the Dictionary of Pro-Japanese Collaborators and on the 705-person list of the commission on pro-Japanese collaboration.
Dongyang Theatre and Popular Drama
The Dongyang Theatre was a leading commercial playhouse in 1930s Seoul where his best-known play was staged. An anecdote says that on provincial tours the crowds were so large that the actors could not find lodging.
Record of Wartime Collaboration
His name appears in the Presidential commission's list and in the Institute for Korean Collaborators' candidate list under theatre and film. Jokboworld presents this as a record rather than a verdict.
After Liberation
After liberation he did not write for some time, resumed in December 1945 and is said to have gone north around 1948 following his wife Mun Ye-bong. Little is known of his later life, and accounts of his death differ, from spring 1970 to soon after crossing north.
Grave
His time and place of death are uncertain, so grave information could not be confirmed.