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| From Angel: I watched Ivy Ling Po’s The Love Eterne DVD for the first time in October 2005. Unbelievably, I have never heard of the name Ivy Ling Po before that. It was unfathomable that I did not know one of the biggest names in the entertainment industry. I’m Vietnamese-American and have seen the story of Liang Zhu on DVD in a kind of Vietnamese Performance Art called Cai Luong, which means Renovated Opera. I thought the Opera was fair. A lot of its music was not extremely appealing to me. It was in October 2005 when a good friend gave me The Love Eterne DVD as a gift. I spinned the disc and FELL INSTANTLY IN LOVE. I watched it nine times in the following couple of days. I felt like there was a gigantic magnet that kept me drawn to the music and glued to the screen. And I can't speak a word of Mandarin! Betty Le Di’s acting in The Love Eterne was first rate. Ivy Ling Po’s performance was equally phenomenal. But the one thing that kept me zeroed in on Ling Po was her voice. I LOVE her speaking and singing voice. It is simply unique. I have never heard of a singing voice as special as hers: strong when it needs to be, broken with emotions when it needs to be, and just different from all the others. The rest is history. Thank God for the Internet. I located Yen’s wonderful Ling Po discussion board and website and made friends with wonderful Ling Po fans from many parts of the globe. I bought every movie of Ling Po that was available for sale, and begged and borrowed the rest. I don't know how to describe it, but I get an unexplicable warm and fuzzy feeling when I watch her in any movie. The more I learn about Ling Po, the more I adore her. She’s risen to fame and fortune from a sad, impoverished background, but has remained sweet and kind to all those around her. She’s a faithful wife, a loving mother and grandmother, and a moral and righteous human being. All this, plus acting and singing talents? Incredible, but true. |
| From Yen: I'm in my early 20s and have been a television serial/movie fan since I was 9 years old. I grew up watching TVB early 1980s stars like Miu Kiu Wai, Chow Yun Fat, Wong Yat Wah, Yung Mei Ling, etc. You can quiz me on a majority of the stars from the 1980s and I will probably be able to give you a complete profile on each one. I did not develop an interest for movies until my late teen years. By then, I became a fan of stars such as Anita Mui, Cherie Chung, Stephen Chow, Jackie Chan, Sylvia Chang, Alex Fong and many others. Unlike people my age, I despise today's rock & roll, rap, or any other pop music. How can one bear to listen to such dead rhythm? Singers scream on the stage while doing flat tone of meaningless songs. Of the different music categories, I would prefer country music for the English and Vietnamese languages, and the late 60's & 70's HK music. And falling into the minority group, I recently developed a passion for Huangmei Opera (from watching SB 1963 'The Love Eterne'). This is probably why I became a Ling Po die-hard fan. (Thanks to all of Ling Po's films, my Mandarin is improving - but not to the point where I can communicate with anyone fluently.) When speaking of Ling Po, a majority of the people from the 1960's tend to think of the unforgettable ill-fated male scholar Liang Shan-Po, a role that elevated this actress to be one of the most sought-after stars at the time. It paved her the way to success as well as became a nickname that accompanied her throughout the years. Until today, most fans still see Ling Po and Liang Shan-Po as one and continue to love her through the image of a male scholar. Coming from a generation that is two decades after her time, I always thought actresses such as Barbara Yung, Cherie Chung, and Carina Lau are gifted. However, if this is the true definition of what can be considered as "a talented actress," then it serves Movie Queen Ling Po no justice. What defines a good performer? From my perspective, it's when one can become self-invisible and allows the audience to only see his/her character. What makes Ling Po an outstanding actress is her ability to eliminate the gender boundary. She can incorporate herself into a male role 100% without giving the audience a feeling of gender mismatch. She has the ability to play the role better than some actors. In a span of 40 years, the classic LIANG SHAN-PO YU ZHU YING-TAI has been through several cinema and television remakes. I, myself, have seen at least five versions of this story. Yet, there is no argument to the fact that Ling Po remains the best on-screen Brother Liang the audience can have. The Supreme Star Through a male scholar image she graced the screen Presented to the audience what they have never seen Amazing performances entitled her as "Movie Queen" Supreme star Ling Po redefined the meaning of acting She is the ledendary actress of Hong Kong silver screen |
| From Ivan: If you ask me what is the best adjective to describe Miss Ivy Ling Po, then I will say that word is "phenomenal". Huangmei films would not have arrived at this height without the versatile acting of actors and actresses in the likes of Miss Ivy Ling Po. Her remarkable acting and refreshing singing are simply mesmerizing. Thank you for giving us such great enjoyment in Huangmei films. You are synonymous with Huangmei. You are and will always be our wonderful “Brother Liang”. |
| From Anny: Let's go back to the late 50's. I was in primary (elementary) school. In that era, children had time to play. Very few went for extra enrichment classes or tuition after school. I grew up in Penang and a stone's throw from Star Cinema. Hence, the cinema's lobby was a favourite haunt for us children. We would look at the stills in glass cases...'Showing Now, Next Change, Coming Soon'... of Hokkien, Cantonese, Mandarin movies, and occasionally Teochew movies. Thus I got acquainted with those film stars of the 50's and early 60's. Of all those stars, I was charmed by Siao Juen . I found her pretty, sweet, innocent and 'lively' as opposed to the 'wooden' acting by some stars. I loved listening to her Hokkien songs in every movie. You see, there was a lot of singing in every Hokkien movie. I'd watched at least 50 of her Hokkien movies and a few of her Cantonese ones at the Star cinema. The first Amoy dialect film star to make a stage appearance at the Star was Ting Lan. Then came Siao Juen (Seo Kuan). I can't remember which year it was-perhaps 1960. I remember she said she was 20 years old when asked her age on stage. We, young and old, in our street were so excited. Siao Juen had fans in Penang. When she came, I went to the cinema everyday (I guess it must have been a school holiday week), waiting to catch a glimpse of my idol. A group of us children, teens and a few adults, would stand under a small window at the back of the cinema because we knew she would pass by and wave to us before she went on stage. Sometimes her foster mother would close the window to our disappointment. Then, after her stage appearance ended (she usually answered a few questions from the compere and sang a few songs), she would walk across the lobby to the car. That was when we could see her up close. She usually wore a cheong sam and a shawl around her shoulders. I watched her on stage at least twice. A ticket cost one whole Malaysia dollar-a dollar was big in 1960. Her stage appearance was in conjunction with her movie-the only Hokkien movie in Eastman color. Because I spent so much time at the cinema,my dad had me grounded after that. What misery. Then came Love Eterne in 1963. How happy I was to be able to see her again on the big screen. I started buying 'Southern Screen' magazine to catch up with her news. Wish I had kept those magazines. 'Hua Mu Lan' was next. I went for the first viewing with my dad who was also a Ling Po fan. I loved the movie so much, I begged my dad to take me to the movie for the 2nd time. He did and we had to buy black market tickets to watch the movie. I watch the 3rd and 4th time a few days later with my cousins. I watched all her early Shaw Brothers movies but missed her later ones as I was out of Malaysia in the 70's. Thanks to Celestial, I'm able to watch those movies which I'd missed. The 2nd time I saw our beloved Ling Po in the flesh was in May 2000 when she performed with other singers at the Hui-Wong Charity Concert in Kuala Lumpur. There were other singers as well-Lisa Wang, Frances Yip, Adam Cheng, Johnny Yip, Sandra, Isabella, etc. After the concert, I waited with a large number of fans to wait for the stars to walk to the bus, which would transport them to their hotel. Then I saw her, rather dimunitive, and called her name. She turned and I handed her my first letter. And...I was elated. The 3rd time I saw her was in Aug 2001 in Genting Highland, where she performed with Hu Chin. There I was able to go on stage to give her flowers and talk to her a bit in Hokkien. She asked me whether I knew she was already a grandmother. I asked if Chin Han could come on stage for fans to see him and she said he's not dressed for stage, etc. Before I went on stage I passed my 2nd letter to Kennth Bi. My 4th encounter was in Oct 2003 at a shopping centre at the Meet the Fans session. It was where I met our friend Terence the 1st time. There I sang an excerpt from Love Eterne (fans were invited to sing from Liang-Zhu) ang gave a rose each to Ling Po and Hu Chin, and had Ling Po sign a get-well card for Shellst, a post card for Yen Ly, and a poster. There, too, Terence posed with Ling Po and Hu Chin with his LP records. The Butterfly Lovers concert was staged at Stadium Negara while another pop group 'Beyond' was on at Stadium Merdeka nearby. So there were two different crowds - the young and the not so young making their way to the 2 stadiums. I saw our superstar again in Feb 2005 in Genting Highland where she performed with Hu Chin, Yuet Wah and Chin Hsiang Lin. This time I didn't get to see her up close. Chin Han, yes, when I took a picture of him with Terence. There I handed my 3rd letter to Chin Han. I do not know whether I'll get to see her again...in the meantime I'll continue to enjoy her movies and listen to her songs. |
| from O.G. I remember watching Ivy Ling Po's movies as a kid and liked them very much. As I grew older however, I tend to veer more towards Western media and has very little touch with the Eastern entertainment scene. I rediscovered Ling Po again after coming across some of the movie titles she starred in, in a video shop. Thus I walked down memories lane again after buying and watching those movies which I enjoyed very much. My only regret was that there seemed too few Huangmei Diao movies with her in them. As it is, I'm grateful that there are the ones available to be shared with family and friends. |
| From Terence: I first heard the name Xiao Juan from my sister when she rushed in excitedly one day in the 50s to inform the family that this young Hokkien actress was coming to town for personal appearances. In those days, actresses did come to town for such appearances and if you waited by the stage door, you could actually get very close to them. At that point in time, Xiao Juan was not special to me. I had been taken to the cinemas to catch a few of her movies, but they had been in black and white and were rather unimpressive compared to the Shaw classics in colour like "Diao Charn" and "The Kingdom & The Beauty", even though I was never impressed by Lin Dai. Anyway, the day came and went. When I saw Xiao Juan close-up, she smiled, and to my horror, I saw a gap between her front teeth. I most certainly could not imagine the fuss my two sisters made about her. A few years later, I was taken to the Capitol Theatre to see another Xiao Juan movie, only this time she had changed her name to Ivy Ling Po. I was glad it was a Shaw movie. At least it would be in colour with English subtitles. I was all of 10 years old in 1963. When the film started, Betty Loh Ti was indeed very good as Zhu Yingtai, especially in the scene where she fooled her parents by masquerading as a sinseh. I thought she had improved since Bride-Napping. But nothing prepared me for my introduction to Ivy Ling Po. The moment Liang Shan Po appeared in the film, I was a changed person. To say I was mesmerized would be an understatement. My fixation on Hollywood epics, Elvis, Cliff, Elizabeth Taylor, Susan Hayward, Troy Donahue, etc., all vanished. That day in the cinema, Ling Po made me laugh when she sang "Pang Ying Tai" and she made me cry when she said her goodbyes to Betty Loh Ti in the movie. To think she could stir such emotions in a 10 year old was beyond belief. After viewing The Love Eterne, I would wait eagerly for the new issue of Southern Screen every month and cut out coupons to request for autographed Ling Po photos. No other Shaw star could touch her in my book. I saw every Huangmei Opera film she ever made at least twice, and when the genre died a natural death in the late 60s, I made the transition to tearjerkers to watch her die in Too Late For Love, to musicals to watch her sing in Song Of Tomorrow, and to wu xia pian to see her fight in The Crimson Charm. After her impressive role as Mu Kuei Ying in The 14 Amazons, she disappeared from my radar for a while as she left Shaw studio. I must admit it got harder to catch her post-Shaw films as they were not publicized as before. By then, I was also into Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli and Shirley Bassey. Still, I managed to watch Ling Po in "The Dream Of The Red Chamber" and "The Imperious Princess", though I hated both of them. I thought Ling Po had lost her touch when actually what I missed were the familiar Huangmei melodies. These two later films had new music which I could not accept. Then suddenly one day in the 80s, Ivy Ling Po came to town to perform at a nightclub. On the opening night, prior to her performance, my sister and I excitedly burst into a room adjacent to her dressing room and met her. I professed my admiration and adoration for her all these many years. She listened quietly while I rattled on about being her most ardent and loyal fan, answered briefly in English, and happily signed all my EMI cassette covers. The two photos I snapped with her that day still retain their prized position on top of my piano. That night I could have sworn she was singing just for me. I saw her looking around for me when she performed. She actually looked around until she saw me standing, then she smiled and bowed her head a bit while singing. Dressed as Liang Shan Po, Ivy Ling Po was unforgettable that night. If I must quote one quintessential memory of Ivy Ling Po for me, it would have to be this magical night at the Chusan nightclub in Penang in the 80s. Of course, I have met her a few times since then, including the "meet-the-stars" session for Butterfly Lovers 40 in Kuala Lumpur, where I posed with her and all her album covers. That was also the night I met Anny for the first time and boy, were we thrilled to see our photos in many Chinese newspapers the next day. I would like to end with a quote that I remember Ling Po made sometime ago. She said that, "If someone likes you, they will always like you, no matter what you do." Similarly, she continued, "If someone does not like you, it does not matter what you do as that someone is not going to like you." How wise this statement is. Over the years, through her many movies, good, bad or mediocre, Ivy Ling Po has never left that special place in my heart. Sincerely, Terence Lee Penang Island Malaysia |
| 1980 at the Chusan Hotel in Penang. Ling Po only signed it when I met her again in 2001 |
| 2001 at the Arena Of Stars in Genting |
| 2004 in Kuala Lumpur, Butterfly Lovers concert |
| 2007 March 7 at the Max Pavilion in Singapore |