田中郁子

The sincere, selfless love of a foolish mother for her daughter set against the backdrop of the circus.

A melodrama in which two lovers reunite after a long journey through life.

Kamezo, a manzai comedian, had been taking a break from performing while his partner Tsuruko was giving birth, but Tsuruko announced that she was retiring from the stage. That child was, in fact, the son of Takashi Yashiro, a politician with a promising future. Believing that a relationship between a politician and a female manzai comedian would bring unhappiness to Yashiro and his wife, Tsuruko changed her address and was even preparing to leave the stage. Tsuruko’s alcoholic father, having caught wind of this, snatched the child, Yoko, and squandered the small sum of money he had received from Yashiro on drinking.

Yoshio Kawai is a lowly singer at the Bonbon-za, a third-rate theater in Asakusa. Together with fellow low-ranking actors Tokuri, Kameda, and Hanayama—and centered around Yumi, the beautiful dancer who serves as their mascot—they form a poor but cheerful group of five.