梅艷芳怪我偏心張國榮
Source:“Ming Pao Weekly”, Issue # 1700, June 9, 2001
Article written by Florence Chan Shuk Fun
Downloaded from http://bbs.ent.163.com/zhangguorong/169517,0,50,0,40,1.html?userid=
Translated by Daydreamer on November 30, 2006
Anita Mui blamed me for being bias towards Leslie Cheung
Apart from Hong Kong, it has always been my wish to open up more overseas markets for the artists under our roof, so that their entertainment career could go to a higher level and to attract more overseas fans. I also hope to take Hong Kong’s cultural entertainment to the Chinese audience all over the world, to bring them happiness and to relieve their sentiment of homesickness.
In the 80’s, since Hong Kong’s TV series were very popular in the overseas, many entertainers therefore would go to Singapore and Malaysia etc. to perform on stage. However, the performance venues were normally quite small and most of them would be held in the nightclubs, the production therefore was relatively simple. Majority of the performance would use the tapes of musical instruments or local bands. Apart from the Southeast Asian market, I began to attempt and arrange for our entertainers to perform in Europe, North America, and Australia etc.
Thinking back of those years, the chance of performing overseas was very rare, therefore every time when the band and the dancers learned that there was an opportunity to go overseas to perform, they would sign up very enthusiastically. Everyone (including the singers, the band and crew members etc.) would not haggle over the remuneration, they merely wanted to have a chance to go abroad. Working abroad now and then are two different things; nowadays, majority of the band, the dancers and the behind-the-scene crew members have already been to most parts of the world to perform, so working abroad is not fresh to them anymore. If the number of performances is too small, they would either simply decline the invitation or demand for better terms and conditions. So it is a very big difference when compared to the past, just like heaven and earth.
A pair of foes
In the past, the Chinese people market was not very big, most of the audience worked in the Chinese restaurants. Since they could not go to the performance until they got off from work, therefore the time for the performance could not start until after 11:30 p.m. At that time, our production was quite big comparatively since we brought with us the band and the light and sound technicians etc. whom we had been using in Hong Kong. The singers would take care of their own make-up and hair styling.
At the very early stage, we had arranged for Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui to perform abroad on stage together. They were a pair of foes but if some unexpected events arose, they would take care of each other, thus turning the dangers into safety. Once, they performed in a theatre in England. Because the time for the set-up was very short, the acoustic effect was very poor. Leslie who always demanded a high standard, was supposed to rehearse first. However, unable to accept the poor condition, he therefore put down the mike and returned to the backstage. After Anita finished her rehearsal, we had to go to the backstage and sweet talk him into continuing with the rehearsal. Anita also helped in persuading him by saying, “The sound has just been fixed and the effect is pretty good now. It is acceptable.” Finally, he promised to continue with the rehearsal and performance that night.
In another time, in a nightclub in Malaysia, when Anita was performing, an audience got drunk and was making an uproar insisting to go on stage and sing with Anita. Leslie immediately came forward on the stage and helped her to decline that audience’s request and completed the performance that evening for her. The two of them can be said as the best partners.
Once in ten years ago, we had a lot of fun going to Australia. That was the first time for Chinese entertainers to set foot on the stage of the Sydney Entertainment Centre to do concerts (nowadays, a lot of Hong Kong entertainers still perform there). This venue is a bit similar to the Hong Kong Coliseum. It can hold about ten thousand people. In the past only the American singers could perform there. Even for local (Australian) singers, very few of them have ever performed there. Because there were not too many opportunities to perform in Australia, therefore many people signed up not caring how much they got for remuneration. They merely wanted to take part, just like joining a free package tour. That time, the performance was led by Leslie and Anita. The other guest stars included Lui Fong, Grasshoppers, and Pearl Law. Michael Lai was responsible for the behind-the-scene work, Lai Hok Bun was leading his big band, as well as other crew members, and the guest of honour was Chan Chi Keung (he only joined for fun)…etc. The local sponsor arranged for us to stay at the Regent Hotel in Sydney. Besides the performance and the rehearsal, we went to various attractions daily to do sightseeing as well as tasting the local gourmets. Apart from work, everyone had a good time together heartily enjoying the food and the scenery.
Once, when performing in France, Anita played hide-and-seek with some tour members in the garden of the hotel and went missing suddenly. Everyone thought that she had returned to her room, so the group was dispersed. However, we could not find her in her room so we returned to the garden and looked for her, and discovered that she was not feeling well and had passed out on a thick patch of grass. Luckily we found her on time.
Restaurants taking advantage of opportunities
In those years, when performing in Europe, a lot of the sponsors would arrange for our group of people to dine in some of the sponsors’ restaurants. Most of the time, those restaurants would take advantage of the opportunities. They would advertise in advance the date and time that the entertainers would appear (some would even say that they would sing there) in order to attract more customers. When the entertainers arrived, they would make up all kind of excuses to request them to sing on stage. In France, we had the following experience. They wished the singers to go on stage to accept the souvenirs but we insisted that they accepted them off the stage. They then made the host to go on stage to announce and even start playing the music, luckily we were all prepared, so when the music started, Michael Lai went on stage immediately and in a funny way requested that the music be stopped, and then happily accepted the souvenirs for the singers. On the other hand, those singers had already moved to the entrance, waving their hands showing their gratitude and then left immediately. Although many times, a deal was made in advance before attending the dinner, but this kind of things always happened in the past when touring in Europe and in the States because doing shows in those places relied very much on the sponsors most of the time.
Actually, in order to arrange for the whole group of people to go to Europe, merely for the air tickets and hotel accommodation, it was a huge sum of money already. The performance venue could not accommodate too many audience and the price of the tickets could not be too high either.
Anita loves to speak for the weak
I remember that this time when we went on tour in Europe, it was also the first time for the sponsor. In order for the sponsor to reduce some expenditure, besides I also wanted the entertainers to have a better accommodation, I therefore agreed to arrange for the entertainers and the crew members to stay in two different hotels; in fact, this way they could be taken care of more conveniently (just like in Hong Kong, the entertainers would stay in the Regent Hotel and then the crew members in the New World Hotel). But then when we arrived, Anita’s habit of speaking for the weak broke out again. She insisted that everyone should stay in the same hotel. Since the sponsor had already paid for both hotels, so in that situation, instead of saving some money, the sponsor had to pay even more. Besides, he did seek for my agreement in advance and my starting point was for the good of the entertainers. Seeing that the justice could not be redressed, Anita was upset and therefore did not cooperate with me afterwards. I therefore had to get David to temporarily look after her, while I only looked after Leslie, to avoid putting both sides in a difficult situation. After we returned to Hong Kong, Anita blamed me for being bias and that I only cared about Leslie and had neglected her. Actually I cared about both of them and would not be bias. However, I failed this time because in order to control the overall situation, I could not stay on good terms with everyone. Today, Anita is mature; besides she is the manager of two singers (Ho Wan Sze, Pang King Chi), she will certainly understand the method I used then to handle the situation.
The fight of two gangs
Another time was when I was on tour to the States with Leslie. We heard that there was a fight between two gangs, and we were almost being affected. The local sponsor was originally very enthusiastic, but after we arrived, we only saw him appearing two to three times. It turned out that he was concerned that someone would look for trouble and then frightened us off, that was the reason for the very few contacts. During the performance, I sat with him to watch the show; when we arrived at Canada, we then learned that the day when we performed in the States, since the sponsor feared that his enemy would disturb us (actually he had received the news beforehand), therefore a lot of bouncers were put on guard in and out of the theatre, and many weapons were also being placed in the theatre. He did not tell us beforehand because he was afraid that we would run away. I really could not imagine how Leslie could sing in the hail of bullets. I thought this type of plot could only be found in movies.
In another time, in a nightclub in Malaysia, when Anita was performing, an audience got drunk and was making an uproar insisting to go on stage and sing with Anita. Leslie immediately came forward on the stage and helped her to decline that audience’s request and completed the performance that evening for her. The two of them can be said as the best partners.
Once in ten years ago, we had a lot of fun going to Australia. That was the first time for Chinese entertainers to set foot on the stage of the Sydney Entertainment Centre to do concerts (nowadays, a lot of Hong Kong entertainers still perform there). This venue is a bit similar to the Hong Kong Coliseum. It can hold about ten thousand people. In the past only the American singers could perform there. Even for local (Australian) singers, very few of them have ever performed there. Because there were not too many opportunities to perform in Australia, therefore many people signed up not caring how much they got for remuneration. They merely wanted to take part, just like joining a free package tour. That time, the performance was led by Leslie and Anita. The other guest stars included Lui Fong, Grasshoppers, and Pearl Law. Michael Lai was responsible for the behind-the-scene work, Lai Hok Bun was leading his big band, as well as other crew members, and the guest of honour was Chan Chi Keung (he only joined for fun)…etc. The local sponsor arranged for us to stay at the Regent Hotel in Sydney. Besides the performance and the rehearsal, we went to various attractions daily to do sightseeing as well as tasting the local gourmets. Apart from work, everyone had a good time together heartily enjoying the food and the scenery.
Once, when performing in France, Anita played hide-and-seek with some tour members in the garden of the hotel and went missing suddenly. Everyone thought that she had returned to her room, so the group was dispersed. However, we could not find her in her room so we returned to the garden and looked for her, and discovered that she was not feeling well and had passed out on a thick patch of grass. Luckily we found her on time.
Restaurants taking advantage of opportunities
In those years, when performing in Europe, a lot of the sponsors would arrange for our group of people to dine in some of the sponsors’ restaurants. Most of the time, those restaurants would take advantage of the opportunities. They would advertise in advance the date and time that the entertainers would appear (some would even say that they would sing there) in order to attract more customers. When the entertainers arrived, they would make up all kind of excuses to request them to sing on stage. In France, we had the following experience. They wished the singers to go on stage to accept the souvenirs but we insisted that they accepted them off the stage. They then made the host to go on stage to announce and even start playing the music, luckily we were all prepared, so when the music started, Michael Lai went on stage immediately and in a funny way requested that the music be stopped, and then happily accepted the souvenirs for the singers. On the other hand, those singers had already moved to the entrance, waving their hands showing their gratitude and then left immediately. Although many times, a deal was made in advance before attending the dinner, but this kind of things always happened in the past when touring in Europe and in the States because doing shows in those places relied very much on the sponsors most of the time.
Actually, in order to arrange for the whole group of people to go to Europe, merely for the air tickets and hotel accommodation, it was a huge sum of money already. The performance venue could not accommodate too many audience and the price of the tickets could not be too high either.
Anita loves to speak for the weak
I remember that this time when we went on tour in Europe, it was also the first time for the sponsor. In order for the sponsor to reduce some expenditure, besides I also wanted the entertainers to have a better accommodation, I therefore agreed to arrange for the entertainers and the crew members to stay in two different hotels; in fact, this way they could be taken care of more conveniently (just like in Hong Kong, the entertainers would stay in the Regent Hotel and then the crew members in the New World Hotel). But then when we arrived, Anita’s habit of speaking for the weak broke out again. She insisted that everyone should stay in the same hotel. Since the sponsor had already paid for both hotels, so in that situation, instead of saving some money, the sponsor had to pay even more. Besides, he did seek for my agreement in advance and my starting point was for the good of the entertainers. Seeing that the justice could not be redressed, Anita was upset and therefore did not cooperate with me afterwards. I therefore had to get David to temporarily look after her, while I only looked after Leslie, to avoid putting both sides in a difficult situation. After we returned to Hong Kong, Anita blamed me for being bias and that I only cared about Leslie and had neglected her. Actually I cared about both of them and would not be bias. However, I failed this time because in order to control the overall situation, I could not stay on good terms with everyone. Today, Anita is mature; besides she is the manager of two singers (Ho Wan Sze, Pang King Chi), she will certainly understand the method I used then to handle the situation.
The fight of two gangs
Another time was when I was on tour to the States with Leslie. We heard that there was a fight between two gangs, and we were almost being affected. The local sponsor was originally very enthusiastic, but after we arrived, we only saw him appearing two to three times. It turned out that he was concerned that someone would look for trouble and then frightened us off, that was the reason for the very few contacts. During the performance, I sat with him to watch the show; when we arrived at Canada, we then learned that the day when we performed in the States, since the sponsor feared that his enemy would disturb us (actually he had received the news beforehand), therefore a lot of bouncers were put on guard in and out of the theatre, and many weapons were also being placed in the theatre. He did not tell us beforehand because he was afraid that we would run away. I really could not imagine how Leslie could sing in the hail of bullets. I thought this type of plot could only be found in movies.
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