BAI KWONG, TOP STAR
by LAO WEI
THERE is little difference in the style of singing of the dozen or so top vocalists in the Chinese recording industry. Their voices sound very much alike and only a practised ear can tell them apart.
But two artistes do stand out. One is the incomparable Yao Lee whose mellow voice, sympathetic performance and unerring good taste put her in a class all her own. The other is Bai Kwong. China's only "torch singer" and without a doubt her most glamorous film star.
Bai Kwong (White Light) retired from the recording and film business after her marriage to an American airline pilot. She now lives in Japan.*SHE toured Singapore and the Federation two years ago and was enthusiastically received by her fans.
Her films are popular here.
This popularity, however, was not echoed by one section of the Chinese press which, annoyed by her independent ways, commented so unfavourably about her doings that she returned to Hong Kong earlier than she had intended, somewhat embittered.
Bai Kwong is the Chinese film-goer's equivalent of Jane Russell, Marlene Dietrich and Rita Hayworth, all rolled into one. She has a low, throaty voice which she uses to great effect both in conversation and song.*HER discs sell well. Into all of them she transmits her warm, inviting personality.
Her rumbas, tangos and boleros are smooth and sentimental. The titles of her recordings indicate the type of song she specialises in, "Let Us Not Waste Tonight", "Mad Love", "It's Delightful When We Are Together", "I'm a Goddess".
"Let Us Not Waste Tonight" (Pathe 35826), a charming rumba, is coupled with another satisfying piece, "Waiting for My Love".
"Mad Love" is a stirring bolero with an unusually good orchestral accompaniment. On the other side of this disc (Pathe 35841) is a slow, dreamy tango, "Haunting Old Dream".*"IT'S Delightful When We Are Together" and "I'm Awaiting Your Return" (Pathe 35739) are two typical Bai Kwong songs in which she makes full use of that throaty, sexy voice.
Then there is a naughty little tune, "I'm a Goddess", in which the singer tells her admirers that if they want to gain her favour they must approach her on bended knee."
A street walker laments her unhappy fate in a sentimental tango, "Street Lamps on a Cold Night" (Pathe 35852). On the reverse, the tempo shifts to a rousing march, "Mountain of Youth", a call to young people to work hard to reach the summit of the mountain of success.*THIS is rather an unusual type of song for Bai Kwong to sing. But "morale boosting tunes have always been popular with the Chinese, and marches especially so since the establishment of the republic and the growing surge of national pride.
The Communists make effective use of songs and dances in their propaganda by playing on the Chinese people's love for these two mediums of expression.
The way Bai Kwong renders a song, however, would not please the Reds: She gives it too much personality, and such subtle feminine inflections that the listeners' thoughts are very far, indeed, from such things as Communism.
With the hopes of getting an exclusive story for the Movie News, I went on the afternoon of Tuesday 3rd October to see Miss Bai Kwang (where she stays is top secret, so I'm not at liberty to disclose it), without first "warning" her.
My chief reason for not making an appointment is that I wanted to catch her with her "war-paint" off, so that I could see at close quarters what she really looked like—this current rave of the millions of Chinese movie fans.
But it was not to be. I missed her by a few minutes. They told me when I arrived that she had just left. How am I supposed to know that she had an appointment with her dressmaker?!
Not to be cheated out of an interview, I made an appointment this time to meet her at the cocktail lounge of Shaw's Chambers in Robinson Road.
It was the afternoon of the next day that I finally caught up with her and that interview. As it turned out, it was not an exclusive, because the Film Editor of the Singapore Standard, Mr. Oswald Henry, had also arranged to meet her on the same day, at the same time and in the same place.
Same small world!
We had her all to ourselves for a whole hour. The atmosphere was most informal—exactly as she liked it.
"I don't like crowds. I'm supposed to be used to them by now, but somehow I don't," she said with a shrug of her shoulders—as if to say that she herself can't understand why.
She spoke good English with the most intriguing Shanghai accent.Dressed in a calf-length cheongsam of purple lambskin, a white sharkskin wrap, white shoes (no nylons), her hair upswept and a string of pearls around her neck, she looked different and definitely more attractive than she does on the screen.
Small wonder that her army of fans in Singapore failed to recognize her in her frequent visits to cinemas and around the shops.
"Once... only once, I was nearly recognized," she recalled. "He stopped and stared for a moment, hesitated and walked away mumbling to his friend, 'No, it can't be'."
What struck me most when I met her face to face for the first time was her complete lack of airs and her almost flawless complexion.
She confesses that she:
DOES NOT feel "at home" at socials, and consequently avoid them.
IS SICK and tired of the same old things day in and day out.
HAS NO place in that pretty head of hers for business.
LOST a good amount of money backing a Chinese picture in 1948.
FEELS she is wasting her time and talents by appearing in the same type of roles film after film.
PREFERS TO have a small part in a good movie rather than star in a bad one.
HATES artificiality.
LOVES going to the movies and generally lazing it.
WORKED 309 days under the arc lights last year.
CANNOT SAY which one actress she likes to see most.
WOULD LIKE to travel, learn and see things in order to gain more experience.
HAS NO "crush" on Orson Welles, and explained by saying: "He's the one person in the world I would really like to meet and talk to because he's... what do you call it... a genius. I want to know what he thinks of my ability as an actress and whether there's any worthwhile future in it for me if I were to carry on. Of course I would love to appear in a picture with him—preferably in one on the lines of "Casablanca," "Malaya," "Morocco," or the "The Lady from Shanghai" where I can have a small part in a cafe scene and sing a song or two."
From Singapore she'll be going on a personal appearance tour of the key towns in the Federation.
After that—who knows? Maybe a visit to Siam and then... Hollywood! and the realization of that dream.
Whatever it is, I'm sure my readers will join me in wishing her: "ALL THE BEST FOR ALWAYS!"
[Bai Guang] confessed that she... HAS NO "crush" on Orson Welles, and explained by saying: "He's the one person in the world I would really like to meet and talk to because he's... what do you call it... a genius. I want to know what he thinks of my ability as an actress and whether there's any worthwhile future in it for me if I were to carry on. Of course I would love to appear in a picture with him—preferably in one on the lines of "Casablanca," "Malaya," "Morocco," or the "The Lady from Shanghai" where I can have a small part in a cafe scene and sing a song or two."
