Merry Christmas!

My buddy Oldflames and I would like to send our warmest wishes to you and your loved ones this holiday season. Joy and peace to one and all!

If you're craving some jingle bell rock, then how about a yuletide prance with the enchanting Diana Chang.


from Oldflames

But if the holiday hustle and bustle is causing your tender nerves to fray, why not spend a silent night with gentle Grace Ting.


from Duriandave

Let's Go Lin Dai! The Queen and Her Mambo Girl

Here's a cheeky photo of Linda and Grace Chang courtesy of Oldflames (who happens to be a big Lin Dai fan). Linda looks like she's playing big sister, but in fact she was one and a half years younger than Grace. Cheeky, indeed!

Don't forget that Lin Dai week continues at Glenn's blog A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed with his reviews of Love Without End (1961) and Madam White Snake (1962).

Soft Film Summer Holiday

I just want to let you all know that I'll be taking a break from my blog this month. I'm feeling a little burned out and need some downtime to recharge.

Also, Fanny Fan invited me to cruise the Maldives in her private yacht for the next three weeks. And there's no way I was going to tell her, "Sorry, I'd love to join you, but I'm busy blogging."

Have a great June!

* Photo courtesy of the always dependable Oldflames

Gone to Hong Kong, Back Next Week

I'm flying to Hong Kong in a few hours so I can watch the one and only Connie Chan perform Cantonese opera at the HK Coliseum this weekend. I'll be back to my regular blogging late next week.

The above photo dates from 1958, when Connie — already a rising opera star — was just eleven years old. (Thanks to Oldflames for the wonderful bon voyage!)

UPDATE: I just heard the sad news that Connie's mother, opera star Kung Fan-hung, passed away last night after collapsing at the Hong Kong Coliseum during Connie's first performance. Please join me in extending heartfelt sympathy to her at this time.

Happy Lunar New Year

Yu So Chow (from Oldflames)


Julie Yeh Feng (from Duriandave)

Best wishes for a happy, healthy,
and prosperous Year of the Tiger!

Hong Kong Cowgirl: Yu So Chow

Here's Yu So Chow, Hong Kong's Queen of Martial Arts, decked out as a cowgirl in Bloodbath at Golden Sand Bay (1952), a Western flavored kung fu film that I'm dying to see. It wasn't the only time that Miss Yu donned a cowboy hat and packed a pair of pistols. Her very fist film, shot in Suzhou in 1949, was called Double Pistol Heroine.


Yu So Chow as the "Double Pistol Heroine"

And while we're on the subject of the lovely Miss Yu, here are some pics I've been meaning to post for quite some time. The first comes from Oldflames: a lovely shot of Yu So Chow looking very much like a pirate queen. Can't you picture her armed with a cutlass in each hand?


Finally, here's a recent photo that SpyMonkey kindly sent me, showing Yu So Chow elegantly, yet funkily, dressed during her trip to Hong Kong last November for the 50th anniversary of the Hong Kong–China Opera Institute, the training school founded by her father Master Yu Jim-yuen. (You might have heard of some of its students ... like Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao.)


Anyway, it's pretty remarkable seeing these last two photos side by side. Despite the passage of nearly 60 years, Yu So Chow still has the same cool style. I especially love her matching green nail polish!

My Girl, Mai Ling

Oldflames is always on the lookout for the things that make me happy, like these two rare magazine covers featuring my favorite star-who-never-made-it Mai Ling. Ever since she scootered her way into my heart last summer, I've become her number one fan.

The Asia Pictorial, the magazine at the bottom of this post, was published by Asia Press, an affiliate of the Asia News Agency, an American-supported organization created to counter Communist influence in Hong Kong and the Chinese communities overseas. Asia News Agency also established a film studio, Asia Pictures, which is where Mai Ling got her start. Unfortunately for her, the studio closed in 1958, after the withdrawal of U.S. funding.

Asia Pictures certainly didn't lack for talent: directors Tang Huang and Bu Wancang and stars Grace Chang, Peter Chen Ho, Chung Ching, and Diana Chang were among those who worked for the studio. Its nine films included The Long Lane (1956), which won Best Screenplay at the 3rd Southeast Asia Film Festival, and Mai Ling's first and only film as a leading lady, The Shoeshine Boy, directed by Shanghai veteran Bu Wancang and co-starring King Hu. Neorealist but with an anti-union message, The Shoeshine Boy competed in the 5th Asian Film Festival (1958) yet evidently wasn't released in Hong Kong until the following year.

After Asia Pictures folded, Mai Ling — with just two pictures under her belt — had to look for work. She found parts in a couple of Cantonese films before being taken under the wing of Tang Huang, who had moved on to Cathay/MP&GI. Cathay's stable was already full of established stars, so it's no surprise that Mai Ling didn't get another chance as leading lady. From 1961 to 1965, she made 7 films at Cathay, while continuing to make Cantonese films on the side (including one with Patricia Lam Fung at Shaw's Cantonese division).

Sometime in early 1964, Mai Ling got married, and hopefully lived a happy life away from the silver screen. Even though she never joined the ranks of well remembered stars like Grace Chang, Lucilla Yu Ming, and Julie Yeh Feng, Mai Ling will always have a special place in the heart of this Hong Kong movie fan.

Li Lihua: Hong Kong Cowgirl

Here's some cool Hong Kong Americana from Oldflames and myself (top and bottom respectively). These photos were probably taken sometime in late 1957, when Li Lihua was in the U.S. shooting her first and last Hollywood film, China Doll (1958). The Empress of Hong Kong cinema certainly makes a plucky cowgirl. Too bad her American debut was a World War II film and not a Western!

Merry Christmas!

Here's a little holiday cheer for all of you from myself and from Oldflames — who has generously shared his amazing collection here on my blog all year long.

With lovely Grace Chang as Santa's helper, you're guaranteed double the joy this festive season!


from Oldflames

Or if you find yourself in the mood for a "blue" Christmas, why not let sexy Helen Li ring your bell!


from Duriandave

Margaret Tu: Those Eyes

As promised, Oldflames sent this fabulous pic of Margaret Tu Chuan in her most dramatic eyeliner mood. Just try and look away!

Margaret Tu Chuan (1942-69)

* Thanks to Oldflames for the last two photos!

Bai Guang: Durian Lover

Now here's a woman after my own heart, a fellow lover of the forbidden fruit.

According to the caption that accompanied this cartoon, Bai Guang loves durian so much that she wishes she could be born a nyonya and stay in Singapore for good.

The funky fragrance of durian is definitely not for those with delicate taste. Let Yan Jun and Li Lihua turn up their noses at your catch, Miss Bai. I will gladly join you in a finger-licking feast for two!

Thanks to Oldflames for sending the "Stars' Dream Journey to Singapore" spread from which this comes.

Who's the Moddest Queen of All?

Why, it's Angela Yu, of course!

A great big thanks to Oldflames for sending this mad mod cover and providing the title of this post.

A Little Chung Ching to Chase Away those Winter Blues

I'm definitely starting to feel a little depressed now that the days are getting shorter, the skies greyer, and the air colder. With a rainstorm on the way, all I want to do is crawl under my comforter and sleep for a long, long time.

Then I remembered this bright and cheery Chung Ching pinup that Oldflames sent me back in June. It's just the tonic for turning my sad into glad!

Remembering Kitty Ting Hao

Oldflames sent me these charming pinups of Kitty Ting Hao a few days ago, and I felt that I should pay tribute to Miss Kitty, just in case anyone got the impression from my recent post that I was a hater when it comes to MP&GI's "Little Darling".





Both photos exhibit that mixture of cute and spunky that made Kitty the cat's meow for movie fans then and now. It turns out that today happens to be her birthday (she would have been 70 years old). In memory of her unique charm and talent, here's a clip from one of her best films, Between Tears and Laughter (1960).

Lux Soap Keeps My Blog Smooth and Soft

Have you ever wondered how I keep Soft Film so soft? Well, it's no secret. Like Gracie, I use Lux Soap. Are you tired of those unsightly blemishes caused by a bad diet of constipating film criticism? Then lighten up and use a little Lux. Remember: Soft Film is sexy!

* Thanks as always to Oldflames for keeping me well supplied with the good stuff!

Mai Ling: Tomboy in Pink

I love the reserved, slightly defiant look of Mai Ling on this cover of Screenland. The pink dress and pink plastic flowers can't cover up the motorcycle-riding tomboy. There's a hint of unwillingness on Ah Ling's part to play the expected role of eager young starlet, whether innocent or sexy. Maybe that's why she remained a second string player for most of her career.

It takes more than just beauty and talent to become a superstar. Besides simple luck, it helps to have connections and the shrewdness to use them. Take for example "Little Darling" Kitty Ting Hao, whose relationship with MP&GI general manager Robert Chung enabled her to climb the studio ladder. Knowing that, it's a little hard to stomach her innocent country girl act in the following clip from Beauty Parade (1961). Call me biased, but I'd much rather see more of Mai Ling, one of the "mean girls" in the film.



* Thanks to Oldflames for the cover!

Julie Wu: Postcard Perfect

Wow... take a look at Julie Wu Ching-hung, the grand dame of Taiwan Mandarin cinema. Here she is posing in front of the Golden Gate Bridge in September 1959, when she represented Taiwan for the second year in a row at the San Francisco Pacific Festival.

A great big thanks to Oldflames for the lovely photo! Stay tuned for more about Julie and the Pacific Festival...

Celebrating Lin Dai

Lin Dai, as she appeared in Spring Is in the Air (1954)

Last Friday was the opening of the Hong Kong Film Archive's tribute to Lin Dai, "The Legend & The Beauty". The above photo (thanks Oldflames!), from the cover of a March 1954 issue of World Today, shows her when she was a bright young star rising on the horizon. Who would have thought that ten years later, at the peak of her career, she would take her own life.

The fall of Lin Dai struck a deep chord with Chinese audiences. News of her death was even reported in the American press. According to one account, "wailing women broke police lines ... and threw themselves on the hearse carrying the body of ... Lin Dai to her grave. More than 400 police wrestled with a crowd estimated at 60,000" (Long Beach Independent, July 20, 1964). Such a huge outpouring of grief had not been seen since the death of Shanghai superstar Ruan Lingyu (who also committed suicide) twenty-nine years earlier.

After Lin Dai's death, her husband Lung Shun-shing kept the furnishings and possessions in their room undisturbed for more than 40 years. Meant as a memorial to his departed wife, it was also a time capsule of an era long vanished. When Mr. Lung passed away in 2007, his son Lung Tzong-hann donated Linda's personal artifacts to the Hong Kong Film Archive. These items — furniture, fashion accessories, oil and photo portraits, award trophies, costumes, and other precious archival materials — are now on display at the Archive.

While I've never counted myself as a Lin Dai fan, I feel very fortunate that my upcoming trip to Hong Kong is coinciding with this rare opportunity to appreciate the life of Hong Kong's beloved movie queen.

Motor Maid Mai Ling

Oldflames has definitely fanned the flames of my fascination for Mai Ling with this awesome photo of her and her motorcycle — does anyone know what make it is? — from the cover of The Asia Pictorial (August 1957).

I love Ah Ling's look and style, especially her signet ring with the cursive L. She's so cool!