Influenced by such traditions, Japanese theaters adopted movie narrators from the very beginning of their exclusive movie theaters. In the Japanese traditional puppet show Bunraku and the traditional performance Kabuki, there is a movie narrator who speaks all of the characters’ lines and provides explanations about the characters’ thoughts and the development of the plot. Naturally, the appearance of movie narrators can be traced back directly to Japanese influences. There is no official record to prove the exact time the first movie narrator appeared in Korea but an article in Hwangseong Daily on January 19th, 1907 mentioned an interpreter for moving pictures and the newspaper began using the term ‘movie narrator’ regularly from its edition on June 24th, 1908.
Movie narrators were around for about 25 years, beginning from 1910 until 1935 when the first sound picture (“talkies”) was made. Other than that, movie narrators were mainly popular in a few Asian countries such as Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. also had movie interpreters similar to movie narrators in the beginning until the 1910s when they disappeared, but interpreters helped illiterate people and immigrants who were unable to read the inserted subtitles understand the movie. Movie narrators, who served as liaisons between silent motion pictures and the audience, were popular not only in Korea, but also in Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand. However, he did not have a good voice and lacked education, which was why he was never very popular. According to film historian Ahn Jong-hwa, he Woo Jeong-sik was selected by Park Seung-pil, who was a theater manager, to work as a movie narrator. Korea’s first movie narrator is Woo Jeong-sik, who was once an actor.
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