Old Friends Are Best, Trudi Lalor: From Larry Lai

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Here's a song sent by a good, old friend* so I'd like to share it with all my thoughtful and kindly friends. And you are one...

It's been revived by Trudi Lalor, a talented lady from Ireland, UK. Inspired by Louise Morrissey, Ms Lalor is one of the top young country singers in the UK and Irish music scene today. Garth Brooks was very much impressed by her performance when he visited Ireland.

She's really good, a vibrant voice with clarity and charm, singing the folksy quick waltz with an Irish lilt. Hooray.

*Many readers could not find the lyrics, so here's my service to all friends and viewers. I copied it off YouTube and the song is composed by Billy Morrissey.

'Old Friends Are Best': Trudi Lalor. YouTube Video from Trudy Lalor. Recorded at Cappawhite Day Care Centre, Tipperary.

(There may be some words which are wrong, so let me know.)

Old Friends Are Best
I always remember when I was young
Through words, my father would say
Be kind to the people you meet in this life
And help them along on their way
For each has their trouble and their own can of woes
And each has a story to tell
A good wish, a smile, a kind word or two
Will help to brighten their day

Chorus:
Old friends are best
That's what the old folks say
When put to the test
Old friends are best
They'll stand by you come what may
Repeat:
(You'll be my old friend someday)

New friends are fine but like a good wine
They only get better with age
In the blink of an eye and years, all go by 
With every turn of life's page
Trouble and strife, we'll meet in good life
And we all must go on till the end
But in good times or bad, happy or sad
There is nobody like an old friend.

Disclaimer:

There is no intention to profit from this posting, nor any other posting. If copyright rules have been infringed, let me know and this posting will be deleted immediately.

*Good old friend, Larry Lai, well-known DJ from Rediffusion days, who's enjoying his retirement years. Thanks for the song buddy.

Check this one too:

http://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2018/01/cheap-flights-for-all-diddly-aiden.html

Friends? Yea! Exceptional perhaps? Wow! I'd take it. Poor girl!

Image: Google
Video: YouTube/Trudi Lalor.

Rediffusion Request Programs in the 60s - The Larry Lai Interviews (Part IV)

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Nasi Goreng and Ox-Tail Stew:

(Image of Larry in his disco suit on the left.) It will take a myriad of postings to document Larry Lai's tales and adventures as a broadcaster, so I have decided to write snippets of what he told me in the past weeks while we were busy enjoying our nasi-goreng, ox-tail stew and mango-ice cream. These postings will never do justice to his varied and interesting career at Rediffusion and his expertise as a broadcaster in Singapore, but here goes.

Rediffusion Requesters:My chat with Larry in the 3rd interview ended when I asked him about Rediffusion requesters. Many Singapore youths who lived in the early 60s knew that it was fashionable among pop song requesters to have their lengthy, western names announced over the air. Cheap thrill if you call it, but it was youth culture then.

These ego-maniacs found it exciting to hear their names on the airwaves. When I discussed with Larry about Rediffusion 'friends' like, Elvis Jonathan Wee, Cliff Ricardo Tan and Cilla Debbie Soon, he explained that besides having unique names, they also had strange habits.

"When they found out where my future wife lived and where I parked my car during my visits to her home, they used my windscreen as a postbox, slipping their heavily decorated, request postcards between the wipers. Every morning it was extra work for me, as I had to clear the tons of mail accumulated. And if it rained the night before..."

He took his listeners seriously and made sure he answered every postcard and request for songs on air. Woe betide Larry Lai if he failed to do so because there would be repercussions. He would be in trouble... The requesters would write him nasty letters.

Larry remarked that oddities like these came with his work. But it made the only cable station in Singapore a hit with our 60s youths. The exceptionally popular request programme stretched from one to four hours daily.

Other Request Programmes:

There were many pop music request programmes those years. On radio there was Claude Doral with his, 'Saturday Date', Kingsley Morando (Mr Talentime) with, 'To Each His Own' and Maisie Concaecio with her morning 9am stint called, 'Calling All Hospitals.' where she answered requests for hospital patients. Larry had much competition those days but according to seniors today (they were young once), nothing beat Larry Lai's request programme on Rediffusion, where he really played the latest and the best.

(Only music and personalities from the 50s to the 70s are posted on this blog. This article is the fourth posting about Larry Lai. For 3 previous interviews Click Larry Lai under labels below.)

Image: Larry Lai Collection. (All rights reserved)

Original article: Andy Lim

'Oh Moby Dick Was So Big And Slick' - The Larry Lai Interviews (Part V)

*Moby Dick:

An idea cropped up in late 1967 when record hops became popular and the Singapore live music scene began to wane.

With local bands becoming more expensive and Phillipino bands taking over the night clubs, Larry thought it would be an ideal opportunity to start a mobile disco which made some business sense.

What was needed was a good sound system, lighting effects, a vehicle and a few a-go-go ladies. At the end of 1969, he partnered with a friend to set up the mobile discotheque. With quality speakers, custom-made power amplifiers, turn-tables, mixers and music sources, the business venture was set up.

Like the already popular Larry Lai branding, Moby Dick quickly became another household name. By the early 70s, the go-go girls were gyrating and patrons were:

"Prayin' for this moment to last,/Livin' on the music so fine,/Borne on the wind,/Makin' it mine, /Night fever, night fever... (Composers/Singers: Gibb Brothers)."

An agreement with the popular Kelong Restaurant at the Cathay Cinema to have Moby Dick's presence there, resulted in another successful venture by Larry.

And as the shimmering disco balls twirled in the strobe lights and the adrenalin was pumping in every disco-maniac's body, cash was flowing in. "Oh Moby Dick was so big and slick, There was never such a whale... (Frankie Laine)"

*Larry's favourite literary fiction by Herman Melville. Name 'Moby Dick' comes from 'Mob-ile Disco-theque'.

(This is the final posting on Larry Lai. For 4 previous interviews Click Larry Lai under labels below.)

Image: Larry Lai Collection. (All rights reserved)

Original article: Andy Lim

Mr Cool: Under 21 Show, Rediffusion Discoveries, Rado Show. The Larry Lai Interviews (Part III)

Her faults are fewer, her lips are truer, my China doll - Slim Whitman:

Put him on stage and he swoons the crowd with his bass baritone voice, perfect diction and immaculately tailored, Six Million Dollar Man suits from *Danny's. But off stage, Larry Lai was so shy when he first met his wife that he did not have enough courage to ask for her telephone number.

The Rosee D'or was the place where he first set eyes on his pretty "China doll." In the 60s this night club was above the old Lido Cinema at Orchard Road and veteran singer Ahmad Daud with the late Saloma were both performing then. Larry Lai and Tan Swee Leong were in charge of a live recording of the show for Rediffusion.

After he was formally introduced to the young lady by a friend they were together for 5 years before Larry married her in 1965. So this year, as Singapore celebrates its 45th National Day, they celebrate their wedding anniversary too!

There's no people like show people, like no people I know - Ethel Merman:

It was my third meeting with Larry as he reminisced his years at Rediffusion . "I was with the broadcast station from 1960 to 1978 and remember the first few weeks. It was my first show at the auditorium called Under 21 and as I approached the microphone, my knees were shaking so badly, I had to hold them. Actually there was an audience of only 300 people."

There was another occasion when his boss had an accident and Larry, at the very last minute, had to host Rediffusion Discoveries at the Odeon Cinema in town. Although he was ill-prepared, the show went on smoothly as he faced an audience of about 1,500 people. "There was hardly any entertainment in the 60s and people were just flocking to these shows."

Comparatively, Larry considered Rado Show (image) his most challenging as it was his television debut. He had agreed to do the show after he left Rediffusion in 1978. It was a quiz and entertainment programme recorded live. The show was a success but he recalled an occasion, when the programme exceeded its transmission time by three minutes because of a technical glitch.

So that evening, through no fault of theirs, when The Trailers, a pop guitar group, was closing the programme with an instrumental number, it played into news-time i.e. beyond its 9 pm schedule. Larry managed to save what could have been a disastrous situation. He exclaimed: "Nobody goes beyond the 9 o'clock news!" He's not called Mr. Cool for nothing.

Music man play your song for me, Music man play my soul, Music man play a melody, Music man take control - Chaka Khan:

Larry added that adequate preparation was the key to being a confident and good compere. But there was no guarantee that every show or broadcast would be a success and felt that he was fortunate he faced no major problem during his own career.

Larry remembers that his work as a DJ was just as interesting. He has a very good memory and this ability has allowed him to remember the many songs, singers, composers and bands in the music scene. They may well run into the thousands and Larry enjoyed sharing the music and trivia with listeners who had either written to him or telephoned him during his tenure at Rediffusion.

As the interview became more interesting and I started asking him about regular Rediffusion requesters in the 60s with names like: Elvis Augustine Neo, Ursula Katerina Ong and Cliff Alphonso Beng, he suggested a mee-siam break at Ang Moh Kio...

More about MR COOL in future postings. Would you like to share your thoughts about him?

*Popular with Singapore celebrities in the 60s & 70s.

Image: Rado Show/Larry Lai Collection.

Original article: Andy Lim.

Naturally BBC: English Gentleman Without The Stiff Upper Lip - Larry Lai Interview - (Part II)

Backstage with Larry, songstress Frances Yip in silver, before a show. 

"You speak and behave like an English gentleman. All you need is a bowler hat, an umbrella with a whangee handle and polished leather shoes. Like John Steed in The Avengers?" That was the truth about this celebrity broadcaster because he did not have a phoney accent and spoke as naturally as the announcers on BBC. And according to him, "The BBC was where I learnt my trade... yes... listening to the station daily... from home." So as we started on our Katong laksa, Larry Lai, who never liked to talk about himself, reluctantly related in impeccable Queen's English his 18 year relationship with Rediffusion.

He came with his family from Shanghai, China, had his education at Pearl's Hill Primary and studied commercial subjects at Outram Secondary. He started as a Rediffusion announcer in 1960 with Tan Swee Leong. They had replaced Tan Hock Lye and Steven Lee who left for Radio Singapore. Being a broadcaster was challenging but he loved his profession at the station, working with the Rediffusion family until he retired as manager and producer in 1978.

Straits Times Advertisement 29th September, 1966.

Larry remembered how difficult the job could be. Besides doing the routines where he had to broadcast, make announcements, play music requests, prepare scripts, etc. in the studio, Larry had also to carry out extra curricular activities outside.

When his boss Len Thorne phoned him in December, 1961 to interview U.S. crooner Frank Sinatra at Singapore Airport, he lugged his heavy, bulky tape recorder and sped all the way to the tarmac hoping to get a scoop. He was excited when Sinatra finally emerged from the plane but before he could approach "Ol' Blue Eyes", the singer made an about turn and disappeared. Larry was so upset, he refused to play Sinatra records on air for a week!

On another occasion, he and Tan Swee Leong climbed a tree, risking broken bones, to catch a glimpse of 60s Calypso singer Harry Belafonte at the Raffles Hotel. When the singer saw them perching precariously beneath the pale moon and fearing their safety, he quickly agreed to the interview. It was an exclusive for Rediffusion and a pat on the back for the "terrible twins" (Lai & Tan).

Clockwise: Larry Lai with the late Reim de Wolffe [Blue Diamonds], 

Andy [Blogger/Silver Strings], the late Jap Chong, Vernon [Quests].

But then there were other moments of joy too when Larry compered game shows with beautiful, perfume scented ladies. Like when he hosted and interviewed Philippino songbird Teresa Carpio, Hong Kong superstar Jennie Tseng (sidebar image), Cathay Pacific's ambassador, Frances Yip (above image) and other glamorous celebrities during live shows at the National and Victoria theatres, cinemas, shopping malls and the Rediffusion auditorium.

At this point of the interview I interrupted him and asked, "And the lady in your life, Larry. Tell us about your very pretty wife. We've been introduced, so perhaps you'd like to recall how you met her the first time? "

"Oh," he said, "that's with Saloma and Ahmad Daud... at the Lido Cinema. And she was with this gentleman. But it's another story... "

Image: Larry Lai Collection: (The lady next to Frances Yip is Katherine Kan from an earlier metamorphosis of Media Corp, possibly RTS. It was backstage at the National Theatre during an end-of-year show in the early 80s.)

Original Article: Andy Lim.

Check out: Saturday, May 08, 2010
Larry Lai King Of Singapore 60s Airwaves (Pt I)

Larry Lai King Of Singapore 60s Airwaves (Pt I)

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"Larry Lai was a household name in many homes with Rediffusion of the 60s in Singapore. Djs' were the celebrities playing the music we like. Many teens spent countless hours listening to songs requested through Larry Lai. 

As he would say many years later in Andy's blog that he would find stacks of song request slips attached to the windshield wiper of his car from fans every morning. 

My personal word to Larry is "how can we forget you fulfilling a sentimental song request from the Valentino Bros to the Valentino Sisters, both of Tiong Bahru, for "TELL LAURA I LOVE HER and TAKE GOOD CARE OF MY BABY."
For the Larry Lai Story, see Andy's Blog 

(From Henri Gann)."

****************************

The original 2010 article:

When I first met Larry Lai in the mid 60s, it was amidst the hustle and bustle of a busy stage at St. John's Ambulance Brigade Headquarters in Beach Road. He was the Master of Ceremonies (MC) or compere for the dinner and dance that evening as he made a formal introduction to announce my performance.

After nearly 45 years, I met this kindly gentleman again, but this time around it was amidst the solitude of a neat and air-conditioned coffee house in a vintage suburb at Serangoon Gardens in Singapore. Larry was busy with his lap top as he coaxed it to play Frankie Cheah's Woman In My Life, Sugiman Jahuri's Misty and a number by Peggy Tan I couldn't remember. "That's a brand new lappy I just got free," he remarked. As we sat in a corner and before our conversation even started, a lady at the next table called across.

"Hah," she said, "I can recognise that voice anywhere! You are Larry Lai aren't you, from Rediffusion?" It was more an announcement rather than a question. Because he is such a gentleman, Larry continued his conversation with her a while. At the end of the chat, she proudly claimed that she was still an ardent fan despite the years that had gone by. I looked at him and said quietly, "Wow. That's how powerful you are!"

So as Larry sipped his thick *kopi susu and I my **teh-tarek, he decided to tell me, after much persuasion, his long and interesting love affair with Rediffusion. As he was about to recall the year he left Outram Secondary School, I suggested lunch first...

(Many of you, in Singapore and abroad, know Larry Lai. Perhaps you'd like to tell your story too about this very pleasant gentleman.)

*For the uninitiated: *coffee/milk **frothy English tea/milk.

Thanks to Larry Lai for the drinks, meals and interview.

Image: © 2010 Larry Lai Collection. All rights reserved.

Orginal article: Andy Lim.