A little theatre called Kok Wah at 5th mile

THIS was a wooden theatre with zinc roof and no aircon, just ceiling fans. I still remember the facade (with the big billboard) was painted a pale blue.

It was our family's favourite theatre -- even better than Paramount which was nearer to our home in Serangoon Gardens. If you waited long enough, it even screened Saturday Night Fever.

But no, our favourite movies at this theatre were the Chinese costumed ones -- sob movies where the hero and heroine (collapsed on opposite sides of a table that had a jar of poisoned wine) struggled towards each other (after drinking the wine) so that they would die together.

Or, it would be a movie showing the undersea world where the princess (a mermaid of sorts) fell in love with a human, and persisted despite the fury of her father, the underwater king. This was actually a Chinese dance movie made in China. My father said the actress was a very famous dancer in China. Her body was certainly very supple and her dance moves simulating swimming underwater were wonderful to watch. She wanted to become a human so that she could be with her lover. But for that to happen, her lover had to pluck a fish scale off her.

Kok Wah theatre was a stone throw from the old Lim Tua Tow market (commonly known as the 5th mile market). It was located on a vast sandy patch where you can park your car (for free). Nearby, also located on this vast sandy patch, was a row of stalls selling food. Our favourite stall was the dessert stall (ice-kacang, cheng tng, etc). It was an established ritual to take a bowl of dessert at this stall after a show.

One of my greatest regrets was to let a Japanese ghost movie go. I had seen the poster and the trailers -- numerous times -- and mum had promised to take me to the show. The trailer showed a woman in white flying past rooftops. Then it hovered over one roof and seemed to be pounding a nail into it (or doing something... perhaps I mixed this bit up with a pontianak trailer).

Then it turned its face to the camera -- and it was blank -- no eyes, no nose, no features whatsoever. Ahhhh, I just had to watch this movie. But somehow when we went to catch the next movie at Kok Wah, this poster had been removed.

The show must have been screened without our knowing.

Kok Wah's "pre-show"

There was a sort of a trailer which the theatre showed, each time before the real show started. This was a cartoon (probably made in China) of an old woman whose home caught fire. In her panic, she grabbed a huge melon instead of her grand child before making her escape. It was only in safety that she discovered her very sad mistake. I think this was the saddest cartoon I have ever watched.

Nihongo with Michael and Carol

A pose after tutorial. Dr Nakamura is of course, the guy in front
 (centre). Can you see those famous moustache?

THIS post is dedicated to Michael Lee, Carol Wong, Andy Kwan and all the others who formed the inaugural cohort taking Japanese Studies at NUS FASS -- Class of 85. Michael Lee, Carol and Andy were responsible for making life so brilliantly interesting for me. We dominated the NUS pool with our laughter, and we dominated the buses with our chatter. We had student passes then and we delighted in taking "cracko" bus rides from one terminus to the other -- "laughing all the way" like "Jingle Bells".

Memorable lines from our Nihongo class:

Tsuki, tsuki, tsuki -- which means, "next, next, next" made famous by Dr Nakamura who went round pointing his moustache (sorry, I mean finger... but he has the most wonderful jet black moustache) at each of us in rapid succession for answers to his questions (in Japanese of course). If you so much as to utter "er, er, er" he would impatiently point to the next person. If the next person also went "er, er, er"... Tsuki!

Dr Nakamura speaks very good English -- and with an American accent. But being a very good Japanese language teacher, he refused to speak a single word in English. And if you needed to ask him questions, it better be in Japanese, or he would not answer. So by the time you had the question translated to Japanese in your head, the tutorial had ended.

The next most quotable line was made famous by me actually. It was during Japanese history lecture, taught by Dr Yung (from Hong Kong) in English. I was conscientiously taking down notes and I had one statement that went:

"The emperor was on the phone for a 100 years..."

My notes were borrowed and copied by five other students who also had "the emperor was on the phone for a 100 years..."

We had a very good laugh over this... to be on the throne for a 100 years is quite a feat, what more on the phone!

Memorable lines from the cartoons

SCOOBY Dooby Doo, where are you? I wish this cartoon would return. Also, Caspar, the Friendly Ghost. I quite like the Brady Bunch too. And all the Hanna Barbara characters. Oh ya, definitely The Flintstones.

But I think I do have enough of that smart alecky Bugs Bunny. I wonder why many of the cartoon heroes are always too big for their own shoes. Woody Wood Pecker for example, Tom & Jerry, Beep Beep the Road Runner, even the cute Tweety Bird -- they always win -- all the time. It's always the same formula, and their victims never failed to fall into their traps. They are too infallible for my liking.

However, I think the cutest line in cartoon remains "I tot I taw a puddy tat...." This line is so hilarious and it would be what a creature with a short bird tongue (and beak for lips) would say.

Other memorable lines from the cartoons... I'll try:

Ehh, wat's up, doc?

Hohohoheho, hohohoheho, hek, hek, hek, hek, hek....

Wilma, come and open the dooooooooooooooor!

Beep-beep, beep-beep....

Yubedy, yubedy, dat's all folks.

Can never live without TV

LET's walk down the street for memorable TV series. There was I Love Lucy. Not a favourite with mum and me though. We both found her somewhat irritating. Her hare brain proved too much for mum to bear. But we liked the longsuffering Mr Mooney. But I guess between Marry Tyler Moore and Lucy, we would still prefer to watch Lucy, whose unsophisticated ways could be quite funny. I remembered one episode where she tried to mend a leaking tap. It was quite hilarious.

We love Petticoat Junction and Green Acres. The wacky characters were just right to take us away from the real world. I remember it was shown around 7pm. Come to think of it, our favourite shows were usually around dinner time. Simply perfect.

First thing after throwing down our school bag was to pull open the doors of the TV set, and hit the button. I remember the brand of our TV set was Telefunken. Its two doors had to be drawn apart first to reveal the screen. Strange huh?

But before those great family sitcoms, there was always this series  for kids which started around six -- the characters were enacted by puppets. Actually, there were a few of such series. I can't for the life of me remember the titles... but they were the most boring shows I ever watched.. One was set in a submarine which made it even more boring for me (I fell asleep while reviewing Red October when I was with the newspaper. It was such an acclaimed movie, but submarines just bore me to death.) I think there was another set in space (which was just as boring as I didn't even like to watch Star Trek). If only we could fast forward the time to when our favourite series start!

But there was one series which started around six which we quite like, alternating with those animated puppet shows. This was Dr Who who time travels by entering a phone booth, to solve complex problems of different eras.

Then later in the night, actually I think quite late, around 11pm I think, there would be Marverick. We loved the hero, James Garner. My mum and I thought he was so funny, and yet so suave. Alternating with Marverick would be the other cowboy film -- Bat Masterson. But Gene Barry who played this lawman, tried too hard and couldn't quite achieve the charming devil may care attitude that James Garner had in Marverick.

Talking about westerns, we loved Bonanza. My favourite brother was the one acted by Pernell Roberts (the one who was always in black). He always looked serious and responsible. I also got to like Dan Blocker later in the show. He was the kind and understanding one. Little Joe (Michael Landon) was a favourite among my friends, but somehow, not for me. I preferred the more serious (deep thinking) guys then. And of course, we loved the theme song to bits.

Big Valley and Wild Wild West were must-watch too.

Moving away from cowboys... my other must-watch would have to be Twilight Zone, The Saint, Hawaii Five-O, Mission Impossible. And oh yes, Perry Mason, not because of the plots and how he always won his cases but because his secretary always dressed so smartly. And she was so pretty.

Lassie's ok -- shown on Saturday afternoons -- always great to watch the sheepdog bounding home when whistled. Even liked Rin Tin Tin. We were suckers for animal shows. If there were re-runs of these shows, I bet you, I will watch.

Somehow, the army series never quite made it to my hit list -- MASH and Combat were perfectly boring. My mum liked Combat though.