Rooftops in Guangdong

Jade Flower (Chinese: 玉瓊花) was one of the first female leads to co-star on stage. Yam earned her place, rising to prominence and eventually becoming a male lead at the age of 17,^{[Note 1]} but switching between being male lead and playing second fiddle to Wong or other actresses such as Chan Pei Mui^[5] (陳皮梅), who were more experienced and well-known, for another few years before venturing out on her own as male lead in many all-female troupes (小飛紅-太平艷影劇團/譚蘭卿-梅花影劇團) in "rooftop theatres".

Rooftop theatres were for all-female troupes since the time of Lee Suet Fong (李雪芳) who formed the all-female troupe (「群芳艷影」) which she left when married in 1923. Lee basically set a bar for all female leads that only Fong Yim Fun had come close in a century. (Fong, a female lead since 16, performed with Lee at some point, was inspired and created her own vocal style^{[Note 2]} from just sharing the stage.) Since the first top four all-female troupes, female leads became less noteworthy as the actresses in male lead roles. Male and female performers were not often in same troupe until after Japan took Guangdong.^[6] The reputation of an all-female troupe was inferior to that of an all-male troupe. Yam observed that male leads were called sissies in the street while the jingles below (in Chinese) reflected the sentiment about those troupes.^[7]

《鄉下佬買戲》：「講到鰟鱓女班經已做到怕，有文無武而且有鱓仲老過我阿媽。」

香港報章：「女優薪金微賤，當可以減班主之負擔。」

Yam took after a male performer to be no "sissy", by just being in the audience, and became known as the female version of Kwai Ming Yeung, both AAA and vocal, before 1933,^{[Note 3]} the year Ma Sze Tsang hired Tam Lan Hing to perform with him in Hong Kong.

Theatres in Macau

Many troupes with male performers^{[Note 4]} followed her first own (Chinese:「鏡花影女劇團」,^{[Note 5]} 1935-1942) with Tsui Yan Sam (Chinese: 徐人心) as co-star not long since Yam was initially hired to perform in a temporary theatre (collapsed after 5 days) built in greyhound racing stadium. (Now known as Canidrome, was special to Yam who attended the grand opening in 1963 with Loong, Pak Yin and others.) Co-stars also included other actresses (Chinese: 紫雲霞、車秀英) at times as and when Yam saw fit. Co-stars had always been replaceable to her. One walked out the door, another one (but two for Loong in 2013) would be in her arms already. Yam had quite a fan base of mostly married ladies right out of the gate, including the wife of Mr. Bat¹ Leoi⁵ Gim⁶ (Chinese: 畢侶儉) who hired Yam to perform in 1935. Theatres in Macau her all-female troupe performed included the Ching Ping Theatre at Travessa do Auto Novo ( Chinese: 清平戲院). To reflect her respect when Chan Pei Mui with sister Chan Pei Aap joined her, Yam renamed her troupe ("梅"花艷影劇團) in deference to her former boss who also shared male lead status with Yam in this troupe. The three of them offered the female version of Kwai Ming Yeung (Yam), Sit Gok Sin (Mui) and Ma Sze Tsang (Aap), Tsui Yan Sam (徐人心) as female lead, and kept building up an even stronger fan base on what Yam already accumulated in Macau.^{[Note 6][Note 7]}

Portugal owned Macau during the Second World War and it was neutral during the conflict. Japan's respect for that neutrality made Macau a safe haven for migration from elsewhere otherwise occupied by Japan. Population in Macau went up significantly as a result. Their support for performances made life relatively easy for performers.

(Depending on individual performer's pay grade, some were paid in a less volatile currency. The top-billed (female lead) Tam Lan Hing, arrived in Macau in late 1942 and eventually gained weight in those years, was rumored to get one tael of gold for a day of performance.)

Ma Sze Tsang formed the first Hong Kong troupe with both actors and actresses in 1933. Records show Yam's all-female troupe was the last one still doing well in theatres since then.^[7] For ten years (1935-1945), Yam made Macau her home, when her hometown in Guangdong fell to the Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Meanwhile, she moved her family, including her (Chinese custom, actually paternal first cousins.) younger sister^[8] Yam Bing-yee (Chinese: 任冰兒) into her new home in Macau. Occasionally, Yam in 1939 renamed that same all-female opera troupe (「鏡花艷影劇團」/高陞戲院/紫雲霞/《夜出虎狼關》郎紫峯=郎筠玉^[9]) to perform in Hong Kong or in 1942 travelled to perform in Guangdong with Hung Sin Nui's Sifu (何芙蓮) as the co-star. Hung met Yam that year.

In Macau, she met the major contributors to her career, two very important men and a married couple through the two brothers who eventually became the troupe manager (Chinese: 徐時) and librettist (Chinese: 徐若呆). One man became her godfather and vocal style tutor while the other man helped manage her finance and held the purse strings at times, looking after the war chest Yam built up in Macau.

Theatres in Hong Kong

Yam was the male lead^{[Note 8]} in many Cantonese opera stage productions, in Macau initially and in Hong Kong since 1945, opposite many actresses, including Sheung Hoi Mui (上海妹), Che Sau Ying (車秀英), Tam Lan Hing (譚蘭卿) and Tang Pik Wan (鄧碧雲). With the 1942/3 financial help from Mr. Ho Yin, father of Edmund Ho, she formed a new opera troupe^{[Note 9]} called New Voice Opera Troupe (「新聲劇團」) with manager (徐時), librettists (徐若呆/歐陽儉) and the following performers who joined the troupe one at a time:-

1. Chan Yim Nung^[8] (陳艷儂), the Daan (Chinese: 旦)
2. Au Yeung Kim (歐陽儉), the Cau (Chinese: 丑)
3. Lang Chi Bak (靚次伯), the Zing (Chinese: 淨)
4. Yam Bing Yee^[8] (任冰兒)
5. Bak Sheut Sin (白雪仙)

Dream of Red Chamber in Macau was one of many highlights in her career since being the last all-female troupe standing. The trend of huge production cost never recoverable from no matter how good box-office record as a result also caused Yam headache.

Yam was known since very young as the single financial source of immediate family, extended families, big spender co-star and associated families. Yam had a reputation of being very generous, footing the bills when her troupe was in trouble. Chan Lap Ban told in 1989 on camera the old days when they performed in villages (both age 20 or so). Investors failed to pay for their performance. Yam as the patriarch actually provided for the troupe to be all home safe, with her personal gold collection.

Since leaving Macau, there was no more Macau financing but the spending spree continued. A "too good to be just student" of Tang allowing the free use of his story-on-air saved Yam/Lang/Au Yeung from ("大包細") financial ruin, same daily pay for five of the six pillars, ignoring the gigantic gap in pay (market) grade among them. (Said to be HK$200 per day of performance while ticket price was HK$6 only.) That's the back to grass-root, getting off the high horse, episode before New Voice Opera Troupe ceased to exist. Spending spree so resulted made it necessary for Yam to rely heavily on film roles for income and a real estate portfolio properly managed by reliable personnel.

Yam's The Marriage of Tang Bohu, renamed in 1974 as The Marriage of Three Smiles (三笑姻緣), came to the rescue in 1956 when the Tang flub started on day one, let alone no more than 6 rows of audience in 1956 the world was never informed. The flubbing of Tang continued until the 1957 Di Nü Hua in which Yam as male lead played the more important role in Tang's work for the first time. However, that ended after The Purple Hairpin. They are the only two films among Tang's BIG FOUR which Tang had the opportunity to bask in the glory before he died. Cinematographic plans to bring titles to cinemas before these two were cancelled^{[Note 10]} as a result of very bad receptions. The movie rights of other BIG FOUR titles never came up until decades later. This is the second ruin that lasted six long years. What Yam earned by chance encounter (見獵心起) in the process was a successor she treasured for close to 30 years.

The third major financial disaster was rescued with her extremely exhausting 1968 North America tour, more than a decade since she was deprived of the chance to say goodbye to her dying mother, the most treasured family member. Yam paid for the four-year long production of a film in Cantonese. The cost is said to be somewhere between that of two films directed by Li Han-hsiang. The Magnificent Concubine (1962 film) was the first Chinese-language film (楊貴妃 (1962年電影)) to win the Grand Prix for Best Interior Photography and Color. The Empress Wu Tse-Tien was also entered into the 1963 Cannes Film Festival. However, this 1968 film has never reached anywhere beyond Hong Kong and was screened in cinemas only a few times for the five decades since released. Loong's stage production in 1982 provided a path that the storyline was introduced to Las Vegas and beyond. This 1982 stage version is also regularly put on stage by later generations of Cantonese opera performers.

Films

In movies from 1951 to 1968, Yam played the male lead opposite just about every female lead, young like daughter of Leung Sing Bor included. In the 1961 film, "Fun on Polygamous Marriage" (《八美審狀元》), Yam is married to eight wives; Yu Lai Zhen (余麗珍), comedian Tam Lan Hing (譚蘭卿, 1908-1981) and Yam Bing Yee (任冰兒) are three of the actresses opposite Yam in it as the wives. However, her first film was "A Mysterious Night" in 1937 after observing film-making as a friend of Luo Pinchao and others. Good proportion of the 300 movies she made are contemporary, neither in Cantonese opera costumes nor set in early 1900s when women still had bound feet.

The above actresses are all very versatile and successful on stage as well as in films and TV (late in life). Fong Yin Fun, Yu Lai Zhen and Ng Kwun Lai all owned film production companies and hired Yam often by choice and therefore top-billed instead of Yam sometimes. Law Yim Hing and Ng Kwun Lai seldom shared the stage with Yam but made many films with her. Four of the seven listed (Fong Yin Fun, Law Yim Hing, Fung Wong Nui and Tang Pik Wan) dressed in male costume on stage as well as in films at some point. The 1956 film How Wong Fei-hung Saved the Lovelorn Monk from the Ancient Monastery reflects how wide the range of films Yam was in.

Linchpin

Yam was the "speak softly and carry a big stick" member of Cantonese opera community but without cult of personality character. Entourage (hospital, airport, etc.) around her could become out of control if she allowed it. (For example, construction, medical and legal professionals at a certain pay grade were not allowed to advertise out-right in the past. Getting in the limelight with celebrities was an alternative or even better deal. The resulted stream of "an upscale clientele" was worth the time and expenses.) However, the residue value of her "down-ballot effect" is minimal^[13] for her co-stars. The last two, Lam and Loong, who played second fiddle to her on stage as second leading "men" continue to be super idols for decades.

Since 1956, for four years and then only sporadically in 1960s, on stage she was limited to only work opposite Bak Sheut Sin, fifteen years her junior and green from debut only in 1953, as the abandoned woman, a character like Eliza in My Fair Lady, in Red Cherries and a Broken Heart (Chinese: 紅了櫻桃碎了心).

Between 1953 and 1956, Bak played second fiddle (flowery role 花衫) to either Fong Yim Fun or Hung Sin Nui when Yam was the male lead opposite any one of them or Chan Yim Nung before that.

They reprised many of those roles when the operas were adapted for the screen between 1951 and 1968. The only two made into movies are Li Yi (李益) in The Legend of the Purple Hairpin and Zhou Shixian (Chinese: 周世顯) in Tai Nui Fa. However, some of Yam's other roles like Liu Mengmei (Chinese: 柳夢梅) in the Cantonese opera version of The Peony Pavilion and Pei Yu (Chinese: 裴禹) in The Reincarnation of Lady Plum Blossom were never made into movies. The latter is available only in vocal record. Her Liu Mengmei (Chinese: 柳夢梅) was never recorded for commercial purpose with Bak Sheut Sin.

Farewell

The last overseas tour was 1968 in North America. With all of her 'next' generation,^[2][14][15] in tow, the last on stage live production of five titles in 1968/69/70 followed the last film "Tragedy of the Poet King" released in 1968.

Last public performance was on 24 June 1972.

Yam introduced her six backup singers,^[2][14][15] her 'next' generation, to the wider audience with a song from 1964.^{[Note 11]} Also, same day with Bak Sheut Sin, she sang the final scene from Tai Nui Fa for the TVB telethon event that was hosted for the victims in the 18 June landslide.

Yam never performed in public again since then. Instead, she kept her protégée^[2] close by for training and proper upbringing to be her successor.^{[16][17][18][19]}

Yam valued Loong as someone with a good head on shoulders and worth all resources needed to groom as successor to her AAA in Cantonese opera right after observing the 1965 September performances. In addition, Yam called Loong clever, subservient to her and persevering. A successor to Yam means, a frugal life off-stage and (if necessary) an only financially responsible adult in the room, in addition to:-

The short film shows the level of maturity Yam has achieved after years of struggle. With highly accomplished and superb opera acting skills, she knows how to improvise if it should become necessary. Such a stage demeanor can only be projected by a veteran virtuoso opera performer.

同場將加映《錦繡天堂》 （1964）中折子戲「孟麗君」，是任姐奮鬥多年、成熟揮灑的表演，造詣高深，演技精湛，既具壓台感，又懂得「執生」，示範了真正的大老倌的舞台風範。

Old hands eating their young in the community is the die hard old habit like mothers-in-law punishing their sons' wives in Chinese culture. Senior members see their turn to be nasty and rip-off the young, thumbing their noses at the rank and file. With this danger in mind or not, Yam kept her time with Loong between the two of them. People are therefore naïve about the role Yam played in making Loong the success story some contemporary performers know as the prequel of their own career in Cantonese opera. Yam and Loong together had more than leveled the playing field for generations of actresses who have joined the Cantonese opera community since 1980s.^[20][21]

Rule of Thumb

In 1999, the 10th anniversary of passing of Yam, Loong disclosed the first time on camera, Yam's rule of thumb, "Be Natural" (Chinese: 自然就是美). "2015 Talk on the Rendition of Yam Kim Fai", as just about all those have been speaking publicly since 1999, referred to this term first coined by Loong. James Wong, in his 2004 piece, also referenced Loong about Yam's style.^[27]

"Prepared but be spontaneous to keep the performance refreshing in every show, as if it were the debut (first show) even for the Nth time in the same role", a bar set by mentor Yam for Loong, resulted in close to 40 versions of each of two titles from 2005 to 2008.^[28] This requirement from mentor Yam explains the challenge for Loong to be on stage within a six-month period and provide 40 different (in some way in one or two acts out of total 6 to 8) but still GOOD interpretations without changing the show as a whole. This organic way, to hunt/harvest for the meal instead of "frozen" or "canned", was the only way acceptable to Yam and therefore set Loong apart from classmates or performers of a generation from very early days. That makes it worthwhile for those who pay for their tickets^[29] to be back every day for every show.

「養兒一百歲，長憂九十九。」

She was backstage, as well as in the audience, on 20 February 1989 when Loong's troupe, Chor Fung Ming (Young Phoenix) Cantonese Opera Troupe,^[20] performed The Purple Hairpin for Tong Wah (a charity event), according to one veteran audience who kept that ticket as souvenir.

^[26]"Over years, legacy projects of mentor Yam, being staged frequently, have become a very poor quality stencil instead of a xerox with the best technology available." - according to one contemporary librettist. Loong calls herself "old school" continuing to follow Yam's teaching to a T even though, as described by the Press, already "in a league of her own".^[30]

The remaining other two of the six 1972 backup singers, since retiring as cast member (six pillar) of Chor Fung Ming, have been tutoring students of all backgrounds,^[14] including some with down syndrome^[15] for years in Hong Kong. They are wise not to brand themselves as representatives of Yam style or even compare themselves with Yam while sharing what they have learnt in the decades of Yam's guidance. Yam's (style or school of) AAA on stage has only been observed and commented on by third parties. There has been no authentic account yet since neither Yam nor Loong had published on the topic.

Contrary to some comments by columnists/academics, some of the well-known signature acrobatics happened to be unintended consequence. Yam and Loong had/have spine damage from bending forward all the time to accommodate co-stars of very short statue. In 1952 film The Twelve Beauties, height difference was close to a foot when Yam still stood fairly straight in the Fantasy of Heaven of Parting Sorrow, ending scene of Dream of the Red Chamber.

Cart Before The Horse

The "a performance did take place" ("做咗") generations of performers known, per Yuen, as feel too good about themselves (Chinese: 自我感覺過份良好), would not bother to even study the script meticulously, scripts generally agreed to have all needed information from Tang, before going on stage in roles been legendary since 1950s. Instead of preparing for the task ahead by being fluent in a classic novel, they, the bottle blonde (靠黐二代), just ask for story time to attain connotations. Once upon a time, performers were illiterate and had no access to novels or other publications so readily available today. Why would contemporary performers bother? Story time is just another coat of garlic paint on top of layers of such garlic body-paint^[29] for a decade or so already. That is not bold (大膽) but plain hubris (斗膽) for someone who had been told-off getting involved in Loong's productions from the beginning other than as investor and to provide supports in areas like promotion and stage production techniques, no matter how accommodating Loong has been with the poor choices made in many other aspects. Were there any hostage situation, such individual is also another dark soul in Cantonese opera community with nothing but a gravy train in mind. It is also obvious not the way to heed the 2012 advice properly.

The Yam legacy titles have been instantly gratifying for generations still in infancy as a performer. As a result, they skip the essential foundation courses and perform these legendary titles en masse. Contemporary performers took in pupils within years as six-pillar member of troupes to elevate themselves to the status of guru. They have audiovisual resources from the market as well as private collection to copy/learn from or even, in return for remunerations, teach followers of their own (the let's watch the video class). Yam and Loong were never hubris and claimed teacher status at any point. In 2004/5, Loong disagreed when one reporter suggested a performer, albeit successful to some, as a copy of her.

1. Yam is two generations Loong's senior and had complete control over whether Loong taking in students or not throughout the 30-year mentorship. (Lam Kar Sing, who has his own version of Jia Baoyu, is the generation in-between Yam and Loong. Lam spent last six years of his life grooming a protégé as successor almost from scratch, having seen a good match instantly in the lad. One want-to-be has been hanging around Lam for fifty years, yet never learnt the proper order of cast listing and had no place around super idols. Misspent youth.)
2. Loong is one to two if not three generations more senior to any contemporary career performers, except those do not take both hands to count.

「有人辭官歸故里，」

Spin-offs or rip-offs, a dime a dozen, playing fast and loose with the Yam-Loong brand to steal their thunder do not come and go. Recent demise of Yam's legacy titles could be the work of:-

• Sponges (靠嗦) who were in the audience in 1970s to 1990s and since 2004, excluding, for example, Lam Kar Sing in the audience only as a competitor since he never on the record performed any of Yam's legacy titles since 1970s.

• sponges in their audiences to watch and learn
• their students, excluding those hobbyists in grade/high school classes

• Scavenger (靠執) carrying water for the worst childhood Shirley Temple fantasy. Misspent youth. Never good enough to play second fiddle to Loong or last around Lam.

• graduate, respectably, opined that Cantonese opera was not alive without someone like Loong around in 2009 and 2016
• student not aware of gimmicks available to some (such as radio host to promote personal agenda or tag along big, deserved or not, names with cult of personality to get attention in the community) was respectably online looking to boost the box-office of Tai Nui Fa in 2015

• Garlic-coated generations^[29] (靠黐)

• watched Loong videos to learn in 1990s in private (宗師)
  • graduates from the let's watch and learn together class (二代)
• watched Loong videos to learn in 2000s in private (一代)
  • students still in the let's watch and learn together class (二代)
• watched Loong videos to learn in 2010s in private

The aroma^[29] came from a brew started a year before Loong was born and decades longer than the summation of all garlic coatings of these performers. To fool (around) again and again with this iconic image of Jia Baoyu, instead of any other version, within a five-year period can be fetish, a stunt, a con, or something else. Get in line.

「有人漏夜趕科場。」

Yam only finished grade school while Loong did not finish high school when they had roles like Jia Baoyu in 1943 and 1964 respectively. In 1964, Yam taught Loong, age 20 with one year of formal training, line by line and word by word while there is no information as to how Yam came to be in that role so well received in Macau. Neither of them ever claimed to be child prodigy. They both wrote for publications and are known most for their roles as romantic scholars, well-educated and fluent in literature. Contemporary performers benefiting from Yam-Loong perspiration take it that they can just clock in/clock out and produce what is now known as poor quality stencil and the demise of such repertoire once propped up the Cantonese opera community for five decades.^[31][32][33]

Since 2011

Since 2011, Loong (金牌),^[2] with a producer (製作人) in tow, have put some of those Yam aroma back on stage. The mythical character (金牌製作人) dreaming big to build an empire on quicksand does not exist. The votes (box-office records) they received came from the pocketbooks of new as well as veteran audiences coming from the time of Yam as well as of Loong, the two career performers.^{[28][33][34][35]}

Yam legacy titles were not as well received in 1950s as a decade since the debut. That was achieved with exposure across several media.^[36] The deal was sealed with audiences from the 1970s and 1980s known to be more educated than those from the 1950s or before in Hong Kong. This is also the group that witnessed the dueling between two leading men known as super idols who dominated the only decade or two that there was an increase in audience for Cantonese opera. They can recite line by line and verse by verse of these legacy titles of Yam. These veteran audiences are not craving for run-of-the-mill low-quality performances with famous titles. They know better than even columnists (nationwide or not) or academics (worldwide or not) who are mostly motivated or paid to be biased if not just recycle second hand information or pull it out of thin air. Accommodation for entourage, including Trojan horse (二五仔), ends at water edge as always.