A Dancing Competition: Margaret Tu and Cheung Ying-Choi

Here's a cute piece from Screenland No. 26 (November 1961) showing Margaret Tu Chuan, from Shaw Brothers' Mandarin division, and Cheung Ying-choi, from its Cantonese division, going toe to toe. Both starred together that year in When the Poles Meet, the studio's attempt to cash in on the success of rival MP&GI's cross-cultural comedy The Greatest Civil War on Earth (1961). BTW, the romantic leads of the Shaw entry were none other than Patricia Lam Fung and Peter Chen Ho — both quite good dancers whom I'd also love to see go toe to toe.

A DANCING COMPETITION

Margaret Tu Chuan and Cheung Ying-choi are good friends but just friends and nothing more. They are good friends because they are both naive and childlike.

But this particular day they do not get along so well when they start to argue about dancing, both claiming to be the best. Finally, Cheung suggests hotly, "How about a dancing competition between you and me? The first one to stop dancing will be the loser." And he nominates me to be their referee.

"But that doesn't seem fair to me," I provoke, "you being a man and little Margaret..."

The 'little' bit does it. For Margaret promptly puts in, "Oh, don't you worry about me. We are starting right now!"

So they begin to busy themselves with their rocks and sways while I happily busy myself with my camera. They keep at it for one and a half hours without a stop, and do you know how many shots I took.... Oh, I think you are more interested in the other outcome, so I better tell you right away: Cheung stopped first and lost!

* The original article is available here.

Animal Lover: Christy Yow

In preparation for her role as legendary Malaysian burlesque performer Rose Chan, actress-model Christy Yow recently spent four hours overcoming her fear of snakes by making friends with a 3-meter, 9-kilogram albino python.

Wrestling pythons was one of Rose Chan's specialties and the highlight of her show. According to a news item that appeared in the U.S. press, Rose even took out "a license for a six foot long monitor lizard to brighten up [her] act" (Chicago Daily Tribune, March 22, 1957). This was just months after she reportedly lost consciousness when one of her 6-meter pythons coiled itself around her body (The Waco News-Tribune, December 27, 1956). It evidently took a full five minutes for Rose's "brawny stagehands" to free her from the python's stranglehold!

Last week I told you about the anonymous fan who offered Christy S$50,000 to strip at a charity screening (of her new movie Auntie Lucy) that she personally initiated in order to raise money for Pets Villa, a volunteer-run shelter for Singapore's stray cats and dogs. Christy had reportedly dared the fan to show up at the event, saying that she would strip if he brought the money as promised. Later she told the press that she was only joking and would never use sex to sell charity.

After the man's prurient proposal was published in a local newspaper, he immediately emailed Christy to apologize and asked how he could make amends. Christy suggested that he buy tickets for underprivileged seniors so that they could attend the screening. The shamed fan paid S$4,500 for 300 tickets, which allowed groups from the Geylang Old Folks' Home and two local senior citizens clubs to join in the fun.

Here's a photo from the October 31st event showing Christy Yow with Eric Khoo, director of the forthcoming Rose Chan film (which is scheduled for production sometime next year).



And here's Honey, one of the current residents of Pets Villa and, no doubt, a big fan of Christy!



Further Reading

• "Christy Yow Plays with Python"


• "She's Shamed by $50,000 Offer to Strip"


• "A Successful Aunty Lucy Charity Screening"

* Photo of Christy Yow from The Daily Chilli; photo of Rose Chan from the Soft Film eBay Archive; photos of Eric Khoo, Christy Yow, and Honey from Homeless In Seletar