In 1944, MGM filmed "Hibiscus Out of the Water", which opened the era of water song and dance films.

The actor of this movie, Red Skelton, is a famous American comedian and is known as the "Clown Prince" of the United States, and the heroine Esther Williams is the queen of Hollywood water song and dance movies in the United States, and is the most profitable female star in Hollywood in the fifties; The film's supporting actor, Basil Raisborne, is the first generation of Sherlock Holmes on the big screen, who has played the role of Sherlock Holmes five times.

Although this film did not win any awards, it grossed more than 7 million US dollars at the box office worldwide, which was definitely outstanding at the time, and more importantly, this film is known as the most classic of Hollywood water song and dance movies, and its influence has continued to future generations, and many Hollywood movies in the future can see scenes that pay tribute to this movie, such as Disney's most famous animated film "The Lion King", there are scenes that imitate the final water ballet performance of "Hibiscus Out of the Water".

The film "Hibiscus Out of the Water" is also very famous in China, which was introduced to China in the 40s, but was later banned because it showed the "rotten and degenerate" culture of capitalism. After the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States in 1979, American films returned to the mainland, and the film also came to China again.

"Hibiscus Out of the Water" was released in China in the 80s, but because it was just after the reform and opening up, many people's minds were still stuck in the past, so parents forbade underage children to go to the cinema to watch this movie, because at the end of the film there is a scene of jumping into the water ballet in a swimsuit. Old-fashioned people also think that such a scene is immoral, so most of the people who walked into the cinema to watch this movie at that time were young men and women, and China's post-60s generation was the one who came into contact with the movie through the cinema.

In the early 90s, CCTV did not have a movie channel at that time, and at that time, CCTV's program would often broadcast some movies, including excellent foreign movies, "Out of the Water Hibiscus" was once broadcast on CCTV. The post-80s generation, as a generation that has been exposed to TV since childhood, should have learned about this movie from TV.

And like the post-90s and post-00s, it is estimated that they have not seen this movie at all. However, as a movie shot in 1944, the score of 8.5 points on Douban is already very good.

The most impressive thing about the movie "Out of the Water Hibiscus" is that in addition to the grand scene of the water ballet at the end, it should be the scene of dancing ballet in the dance studio, the actor Red Skelton, as a strong man with a height of 188 cm, wears a pink ballerina dance costume, or the kind with a big skirt, and dances ballet with a group of young girls, but a piece of candy paper is glued to his feet, so he dances the ballet while throwing off the funny scene, has become a classic in film history.

It is precisely because this episode is so classic, so when Chen Qiang basically saw the plot of the male protagonist dancing ballet, he could already be sure that this movie called "-Ed" was the "Hibiscus Out of the Water".

Chen Qiang couldn't help but think of the "Mrs. Minifer" he invested in before, and the translation of this movie in China is "The House of Loyalty" instead of "Mrs. Minifer", so it is understandable that "-Ed" will be translated into "Hibiscus in the Water" in China.

Chen Qiang knew that this movie was destined to become a classic in film history, and he was also very much in favor of Esther acting in this kind of classic movie, so he asked, "Are you interested in this movie?" ”

Esther nodded, "I've never acted in a water song and dance movie, I want to give it a try." ”

"Alright then, I've got your back. But I think the water song and dance movie should be very expensive, right? You go and ask MGM and if they need an investor, I can join. Chen Qiang said.

Chen Qiang feels that in the industry of making movies, the actors who bring money into the group can always get extra preferential treatment, and the entire film crew, from the director to the tricks, no one dares to offend investors. Anyway, Chen Qiang is not bad for money, so he simply asked Esther to bring money into the group, and he would not be wronged when filming.

The cost of water song and dance movies is indeed much higher than that of ordinary movies, requiring larger sets and more actors, and this is the first time MGM has tried water song and dance movies.

This is like the future of 3D film technology, before "Avatar" was not a hit, there were many filmmakers who were not optimistic about 3D technology, people would say that 3D movies would make people dizzy, and the picture of 3D movies would be darker. With the popularity of "Avatar", everyone realizes that 3D movies are the future, so more and more people are investing in 3D technology, more and more directors are shooting 3D movies, and even many old 2D movies have to be converted to 3D. In fact, many of these movies don't need to be shot in 3D at all, but because 3D movies are more popular with the audience, the director has to go to 3D, otherwise there will be no good box office, so there are a large number of feature films that don't need any special effects, all of which are made into 3D.

Nowadays, it is still unknown whether the water song and dance movie is popular with the audience, MGM is willing to take out a large amount of money to invest in the water song and dance movie is also under great pressure, Chen Qiang is willing to invest money in it, which means that someone will share the risk with MGM, and MGM naturally can't ask for it.

So MGM's president, Louis Meyer, flew from Los Angeles to New York to talk to Chen about the investment.

Chen Qiang knew that this movie would become a classic in film history, so he was very optimistic about the return on this investment, and Chen Qiang's main purpose was to let Esther bring capital into the group, so the negotiation of the investment was very smooth, and the two sides quickly finalized the investment.

It was Louis Meyer, who thanked Chen Qiang a thousand times, after all, the water song and dance movie is MGM's new plan, and if it fails, Louis Mayer, the president of MGM, will also be under great pressure and will be reprimanded by the directors. With Chen's capital injection, Louis Meyer's waist on MGM's board of directors has also straightened a lot.

……

In the process of studying tennis strings, little Beckland has mastered the method of making ropes with nylon, so the research of nylon ropes is also very smooth, as little Beckland said, it is nothing more than making the nylon thread thicker, and then weaving many nylon threads together to make a nylon rope.

Then Chen Qiang and Little Beckland took several nylon ropes of different thicknesses and found the U.S. military.

It has to be said that war promotes the development of science and technology, and after the outbreak of World War II, all the resources of the United States began to tilt towards the war, and many new inventions emerged in the scientific and technological circles, which were eventually adopted by the US military.

In a conference room, little Beckland was displaying his samples, surrounded by representatives of the U.S. military, headed by a colonel.

"I developed this rope, the main material is nylon, we all know that nylon is the abbreviation of polyamide fiber, and the most prominent feature of polyamide fiber is that the wear resistance is higher than other fibers, the wear resistance of polyamide fiber cotton is 10 times higher, 20 times higher than wool, and has a certain resilience, so the rope made of polyamide is better than ordinary hemp rope or cotton rope in terms of wear resistance and toughness. In addition, polyamide fiber is essentially a plastic, so nylon rope is also more corrosion-resistant, it will not rust after a long time like metal, and general acidic substances can not Fuji this nylon rope, which is more suitable for naval ...... than hemp rope"

Little Beckland gushed about the nylon rope he had developed, while the military representatives on the opposite side held pens and kept taking notes in their notebooks.

Little Beckland introduced for a long time, and the colonel of the American army finally asked: "Mr. Beckland, you have said so many advantages of nylon rope, I want to know what are the disadvantages of this kind of nylon rope?" ”

"It's no secret that polyamide fibers have poor heat and light resistance, so if this nylon rope encounters high temperatures, it will melt away." Little Beckland spoke.

"In other words, if there is a fight, this nylon rope will melt if it is hit by a cannonball?" The Colonel asked.

Little Beckland nodded, then explained, "Yes, it's the heavy steel cables that won't be melted away by the fire. The cotton rope or hemp rope we use every day will burn when it comes into fire. The nylon rope I developed is also to replace cotton rope or hemp rope, not to replace iron wire and steel cable. ”

Several American delegates bowed their heads and discussed, and then the colonel at the head asked: "Can this nylon rope of yours be produced on a large scale?" ”

"Of course, as long as the raw materials are sufficient, the output of this nylon rope will be very high." Little Bakeland nodded.

"So what is the production cost of your nylon rope? Is it more expensive or cheaper than hemp rope? The Colonel then asked.

"It depends on the cost of the raw materials." Little Beckland continued: "The main raw material of this nylon rope is nylon, so the price of nylon will also directly affect the production cost of nylon rope. Since nylon is currently a controlled substance, I can't give an accurate selling price. Private enterprises like ours do not have the qualifications to purchase nylon raw materials, and cannot obtain a large amount of nylon to produce nylon ropes, and if the military wants to purchase this kind of nylon rope, they need to give us approval to purchase nylon raw materials. ”

The US colonel nodded: "If the military really decides to purchase your nylon rope, then the supply of nylon raw materials is not a problem, and the military can allocate a batch of nylon raw materials to you." ”

"Colonel, as long as you have raw materials, you can have as many nylon ropes as you want." Little Beckland said.

The U.S. colonel discussed with the left and right, and then said: "Our military needs to test the nylon rope sample you provided, and also compare it with cotton rope and hemp rope to see if it can achieve what you said." ”

"No problem, I brought a lot of samples." Little Beckland replied.

The American colonel continued: "Mr. Beckland, although I do not yet know how your nylon rope will be used, nor what role it will play in war. But I think a rope that is tougher, more wear-resistant, more corrosion-resistant, will help our soldiers. If your nylon rope can pass our test, then I can be sure that the U.S. military will purchase your rope. ”

Historically, nylon rope began to be widely used after World War II, from the initial fishing nets and ropes, to later anti-static ropes, nylon ropes are more and more useful, and are widely used in all walks of life, especially in semiconductors, optoelectronics and other high-end manufacturing applications.

Now nylon rope has just been developed, so the use of nylon rope has not been really played, in the opinion of the American colonel, nylon rope is probably a stronger rope than hemp rope, and the usage is the same as ordinary hemp rope.

The Americans rely on logistical support to fight wars, and the US military also has the most powerful logistical support strength in the world, and the US military's logistical support is also the best in the world. For American soldiers, if they can eat canned beef, they will never eat compressed biscuits, they will never drink boiled water if they can make coffee, they will never sleep in the wilderness if they can live in barracks, and if they can use stronger nylon ropes, they will never use ordinary hemp rope.

Therefore, with the characteristics of being stronger, the US military will inevitably choose nylon rope.

……

The test results of the nylon rope made the U.S. military very satisfied, and the nylon rope is really stronger than ordinary hemp rope. So the U.S. military immediately placed an order for nylon ropes for the Bakerland Company, but the quantity was not huge. After all, it is a new product, and the US military also sets a batch to try the effect.

At the same time, the military also gave little Beckland a slip allowing Beckland to buy raw materials for nylon. As a result, Beckland also has sufficient raw materials to produce artificial sheep intestines.

Chen Qiang and Little Beckland teamed up to set up a special workshop to produce tennis rackets, and after the first batch of artificial sheep intestines were produced, they were quickly made into tennis rackets and then put them on the market.

This kind of artificial sheep intestine tennis racket, the cost is much lower than the natural sheep intestine tennis racket, so the price is also cheaper, Chen Qiang and little Beckland thought that this cheaper tennis racket will quickly occupy the market, people are cheap, as long as the price is cheap enough, people can even tolerate the quality a little worse. And high-quality and low-cost products will inevitably quickly warn the market.

In Chen Qiang's view, the new tennis racket made of artificial sheep intestine is obviously inexpensive.

However, the reality is that a month after the launch of the new tennis racket, the sales are very poor, the market does not recognize this cheap tennis racket, and many stores have even begun to return it, they do not plan to sell this kind of goods that do not sell at all.

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