Singapore 60s Music Chats: 'Something Borrowed, Something Blue'. Of Drinks And Dance.

Something old, something new,

Something borrowed, something blue.

Nightclub Drinks and Dance in the 60s:

There's a well-known saying, "Something old, Something new, Something borrowed, Something blue..."

Following the trend, I am re-living comments from blog readers, friends and highlighting them. And we chat about nightclub drinks and lamsing, er dancing.

For action dancing we chose the cha-chas 'Rico Vacilon' and rock n roll hits. For the lamsing we chose slow number waltzes like Cliff Richard's, 'When the girl in your arms.'

 Check them out. 

Sometimes it's too close for comfort.

But it was the 60's and nobody bothered!

Patrick Chan says:

Hi Andy,

Good reminiscent. Actually, when we go to a night spot in the 60s, it's not such much for the drinks but to see the band n 'lamsing' [dancing closely] as you said. For some, they don't really know what bar drinks to order. So following others was a safe bet without looking 'sua ku' or a country boy. [2017].

Yes, I remembered Bacardi n rum coke were top of the list. But if you want to be a bit 'sekit atas' [a little bit classy] then you order Gin Tonic to impress the girls. lol. Surely you will get one or two asking 'what drink is that'. So this drink is an ice-breaker that gets you up close with the girls for the evening.

Now you know why Gin Tonic has been my favourite pouring ever since.

Andy, next time you try order gin tonic and see what happens. For the girls, if you want to be seen as a sophisticated you order Baby Cham.

The late Ms Chong YL says:

Andy, 

In those years, did many ladies take to liquor? I was no night bird - had a very strict father. It was only when I started working that I did go to West Point in Pasir Panjang a couple of times. Don't remember if I tried any hard drinks. Years later, some lady friends introduced me to Campari and Seven-Up. Even then I didn't take to that well-developed some kind of allergy.

So you can imagine a situation in New Zealand when I attended dinners with the Kiwis. When asked to drink, I declined - giving the reason that I would develop a rash. When offered coffee at the end of the meal, I said no - I won't be able to sleep. I asked for 'Adam's Ale' - warm. What a 'suaku' from Singapore.

Today I quite enjoy ice-cream with some liqueur such as Lychee Martini, Kahlua Krunch, Baileys Choc Chips from Daily Scoop. [2017]

Jane Dick [Manitoba, Canada] says:

Hi Andy,

Fun to read your memories of your youth and local nightclubs; brought back some of my own memories.

Rum and Coca Cola, is one of the favourite songs, so delightful to listen to it. Years ago, I was working for an organisation that had a booth at the annual Wedding Show in Winnipeg, and I did a shift during one weekend. 

During the fashion show, with lovely models showing off bridal gowns, one piece of music they played over and over was, 'Rum and Coca Cola ...' a song about streetwalkers ...! I thought that was pretty funny. [2017].

Daisy Koh says:

Oh Yes Ambassador n Airport Nightclub. Only $5 cover charge inclusive of the Rum n Coke. So packed those days, no place for fanciful dance steps. Just “Move the refrigerator,” as they say in Hokkien or 'lamsing'. I still have an old cutout or photo of the packed Airport dance floor somewhere.

We also grew up twisting away in the 60's. We girls spent afternoons practising with talcum powder on the floor to facilitate the moves. So much fun … Twist and then Ago-Go. The Twist music is still alive today… incorporated into Line-dancing and Zumba 🤣. [2024]. 

Xavier Cugat and His Orchestra: Rico Vacilon.

YouTube Video by: felixbautista

Stephen Han says:

I remembered dancing at the Ambassador Hotel and the Paya Lebar Airport. Rum Coke and Baby Champagne were the drinks of choice. I also recalled the sexy and lovely stripper, Eva Kim from South Korea shedding her clothes though not totally naked. I learned she bared all in private functions.

There was also a dance venue at West Point. Another one was at the Singapore Hotel where the City Plaza now stands... 2017].

*Singapore English or Singlish:

lamsing = dancing or literal meaning 'to hug' in Chinese: 'lam' with the English Continuous Tense 'sing'.

suaku = a Chinese Hokien dialect that means: 'mountain [sua] tortoise [ku]' or a country bumpkin; someone who isn't trendy or up to date.

sikit atas = a Malay phrase that means, 'a little bit classy' or literally: 'a little up there...'

BTW, 'Adam's ale' = water 😅.

Dancing = lamsing = move the refrigerator. And 'chiau sng tu' is Hokien dialect for 'move the refrigerator'. 'Move the refrigerator' was coined to describe the awkward way in which couples without basic dancing skills moved around the dance floor.

Comments are welcome.

Cliff Richard: 'When the girl in your arms...' 

YouTube Video by: VanAllesWat33

Singapore's Illustrious Solidarity: Soiree & De Rigueur: A Letter From Jean

UP TO 2,000 VIEWS

   15+ COMMENTS   

Actress, Singer: Jane Birkin 

Famous for her song: 'Je T'aime'.

and the Hermes Birkin bag, which is named after her.

https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20170529_02902097

Jean Writes From The Past:

*Hello Andy, 

I know I'm a bit late with this post as I came across your blog while looking up Amber Mansion's Celestial Room. My late mother (who was a Eurasian from Katong in Singapore) often talked about the tea dances there and how jovial & classy they were. Everyone made an effort to dress smartly for a soirée back then. Elnett sprays for girls and Brylcreem or Tancho for the boys were de rigueur.

Thanks for the picture. It gave my search an added identity to my Mum's anecdotes about her teen years in her beloved Singapore in the 50/60s. She was so proud to have come from a rich multiracial society that was/is Singapore. Such solidarity is illustrious and unseen elsewhere in the world.

Cheers Andy!

Yesterday Yes A Day - Jane Birkin. 

YouTube Video by: Nikita Chen.

This song is for Jean, one of her favourites.

Hi Jean,

Thanks for the beautiful tale about your late mother. She must have been quite a 'cool cat' those years.

Glad to hear about Elnett, Brylcreem and Singapore's multi-racial face. You are right about solidarity being "unseen elsewhere in the world."

Appreciate your visit. I went to your profile but could not link to your blog...

Writer *Jeanne

*Hi Andy,

Excuse me for the late reply due to heavy workload.
I have no blog yet. I meant to seriously open one about my passion for Egyptian and Greek archeology but just never got round to it yet LOL. No time lah. One day soon I hope.

I go through your fabulous blog whenever I get the chance. Its a comfort zone for nostalgia buffs like me. Thank goodness for the Internet that's changed almost everyone's lives in creating a global village with communication at the touch of our fingers.

Cheers Andy!

Jean,

Thanks so much for your huge support. It's letters like yours that keep me going. If you're still reading this blog, please reply. Thirteen years is a long time.

[This note from Jean, written in May 2009, is a re-post.]

*Jean or Jeanne to the Francophiles. I'm trilingual and love my dog and cat, animals and their welfare, music, The Golden Girls, jogging, the ocean, Spain, weekends, sleeping, sweet desserts. I grew up in Asia and London before moving back home. Schooling was unconventional to say the least but I always got good grades anyway. My heroes are my parents, Mother Theresa of Calcutta and Aung San Suu Kyi.

Amber Mansion in the 60s. 

And where Dhoby Ghaut MRT is located today.

RIP Sunny Low Of Sunny Low Dancers Singapore

UP TO 8,600 VISITORS, 40+ CONDOLENCES

Another piece of sad news again!

Sunny Low, according to friends who wrote in to my WhatsApp messages, had passed away this afternoon, to be with his Lord and Saviour.

These last few days have been very sad and disheartening indeed.

We met him, the last time at a Chinese New Year dinner, held by Tan Soo Khoon, in February 2019. The guests had a ball discussing the 60s with Sunny and other friends and music makers. The waltz, fox-trot and tango, together with the cha-cha, mambo, twist and jive came alive again!

In one of my postings I called him Mr. Twinkle Toes. Sunny left a legacy of dance for his family and Singapore. Not easy to fit into those ballroom shoes; his were huge...

Usually quiet and unassuming, he let his feet do the talking. 

RIP SUNNY. 

Our sincere condolences to Sunny's family.

Below are articles of the late Sunny Low and family. 

Do click to read:

https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2013/01/4-generations-sunny-low-to-tasha-low-of.html

https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2019/11/andys-60s-music-sunny-low-dancers.html

https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2013/01/k-pop-trivia-question-trivia-question.html

https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2011/09/when-mr-piano-player-meets-mr-twinkle.html

https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2022/05/blog-post.html

https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-late-sunny-low-his-life-his-family.html

'Save The Last Dance For Me': The Drifters.

YouTube Video by: dannypsych.

Sunny by Boney M

YouTube Video by CleanMusicVideo.

It's the signature tune for 

the Singapore International Ballroom Dancing

 for 26 years, organised by Sunny and Aleena.

4 Generations: Sunny Low To Tasha Low Of SKarf

UP TO 17,200 VIEWS

     44 COMMENTS      

The connection is simple and clear. Natasha Low or Tasha, from the current K-Pop group SKarf, is the grand daughter of Sunny Low the undisputed king of dance in Singapore from the late 1950s. Sunny learned the art from his father Low Poh San who had a dance studio at Tiong Bahru. Following his father's footsteps (pun intended) the present Sunny Low Dance Studio at The Riverwalk, 20 Upper Circular Road is his own making. 

The senior Low was the first to introduce ballroom dancing in Singapore and since the dance studio was a shop-house, the family lived and taught dancing at the same venue.   He participated in many dance competitions and later became the Singapore Professional Ballroom 

Champion in 1946, and from 1950 to 1953.

Sunny himself took up dancing at 14 and his younger sister Betty at 12.  They both started out by helping at the dance studio. Both became household names in the 1960s when they acquired the title Singapore’s Rock and Roll and Cha-Cha King and Queen in a dance competition. The win encouraged the siblings to form The Sunny Low Dancers which had performed regularly since on television, in theatres, cinemas and night clubs whenever they could.

Ballroom Dancing Competition in Singapore Today

From the Website:

"Singapore's Father of Ballroom Dancing, Low Poh San with his wife Jenny Quek started the Pohsan Dance Studio in 1937. His children Sunny Low and Betty Low, crowned the King and Queen of Rock n Roll in 1957. Sunny Low Dancers, the household name in the seventies and eighties, were featured in Radio Television Singapore and Singapore Broadcasting Corporation. His grandchildren and their wives, Alvyn and Lucy Low and Melvyn & Nancy Low were undefeated champions in Singapore and South East Asia. Today, the 4th Generation of the Low family is very much in the business of Dance."

SKarf:
Back to the future and Natasha, daughter of one of Sunny's son Alvyn, is now a celebrity dancer herself having been cast in the KPop hall of fame as one of only four dancers in the group called SKarf (the first two letters are obviously Singapore and Korea).

                              SKarf You Tube Video uploaded by alphaentkorea

Tasha's mother, Lucy Wang who is part of the Low family dancers, is an instructor too and according to an interview in late 2012 she misses Tasha during her training in Korea.  Eighteen years young Tasha and Ferlyn Wong (20) another Singaporean were successful candidates from 3,000 hopefuls in an audition held here two years ago to select members for this KPop group.  SKarf has two other band members, Koreans Jenny Lee Joo Young, 16, and Jeong Sol, 21.



Wow! Four generations of dancers, from Poh San to Sunny, then to Alvyn and now Natasha. These are the people who have formed permanent footprints on the ballroom floor, true blue Singaporeans who leave positive marks on our memory trail.

Sunny Low chats with 60's Music Makers:

https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2019/11/andys-60s-music-sunny-low-dancers.html

SKarf with Natasha Low or Tasha (2nd right)

This post is dedicated to the late ALVYN LOW, Natasha's father, who had passed away on the 11th of January 2013.   

Larry Lai, friend Eddie and I paid our respects at the wake in Singapore on Sunday 13th January as we met Sunny, Lucy, Natasha and their families).

My thanks to *Lai Simin, who helped with the writing of this article.
You Tube video by: alphaentkorea.
Images: Google, Raffles Town Club Singapore, and
Sunny Low Dance Studios Websites.

Nancy, Sluggo, Transistor Radios, Change Alley, T-Dance In Singapore 60s

In reply to Lucy's note, Sluggo, Nancy's boyfriend, provided a warning shot:

"But then Lucy, I was with Nancy and if you see our personal snapshot (above) here she wouldn't have allowed any hanky panky so going to tea dances with you would've been a no-no."

I cannot remember the context of the above quote but found it somewhere during a read. 'Lucy' could have been the kay-poh (busy body) girl in the other strip series, Peanuts and with whom Charlie Brown had problems (left image). 

But then how the Lucy character could wander into Nancy's comic strip kept me wondering. She might give Nancy's transistor, A Heartbreak Radio. 

For me, the interest were the keywords, the combination of Nancy and Sluggo cartoon characters, tea dances and the transistor radio on the image. This formula, I thought, would make interesting music stories.

Nancy Comic Strip In Newspapers

Nancy and Sluggo became famous from about 1933 after the introduction of the Fritzi Ritz comic strip in 1922. Nancy soared in popularity up to the 70's and beyond, syndicated in nearly 900 newspapers all over the world.

This comic strip was part of the fun I had during the 1960's when transistor radios also became very popular. 

Transistor Radios

Meanwhile, as I grew up, patronising tea dances in the middle of the day at a cinema in Katong wasn't part of my schedule but it was interesting to know that such a past-time existed.

So one day, cycling all the way from my house in the East, I bought my first transistor radio in 1960, from a row of shop houses at North Bridge Road (image for illustration) but have lost this beauty somehow. National brand it was, popular and cheap.

This transistor invention and revolution relieved me of having to sit beside my father's PYE radio and my neighbour's Rediffusion set just to listen to pop music. I could just carry it around. Portability!

I still keep one transistor radio today (above) but this one has AC/DC attachment; so it is being used at home.  I bought it in the early 80's.

Change Alley

I remember too taking a bus all the way to Clifford Pier or was it Shenton Way to look for a more expensive and exclusive transistor radio. And they sold these pocket radios at a place called Change Alley. It was about opposite Clifford Pier, an alley with rows of shops on both sides, selling stuff from fountain pens, watches, tourist souvenirs, curios to clothes and toys. The alley penetrated through to the other end to a huge departmental store called Gian Singh.

Change Alley was actually a shopper's paradise and catered to most tourists wanting to experience an eastern shopping atmosphere. I remember going there because you could bargain for a cheaper price for whatever you wanted to purchase. To avoid the crowds I would go there either before lunch or the best bet was to visit it at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. It was a very shady alley and reasonably cool because it was open-air.

Heartbreak Radio: Roy Orbison

YouTubeVideo from: hirosh58

Thank You.

Tea Dance

Tea Dances too were the in-thing those years when it started. You could go dancing on a week-end afternoon at some of the dance halls at cinemas like the Odeon-Katong and Palace in the East or the one called the Celestial Room where Dhoby Gaut MRT stands today. And a soft drink was like two Singapore dollars. Buy a glass and dance the whole evening to your hearts' content. Two bands were usually on stage to rock your souls out. One band would be the highlight of the evening and the other, the guest band.

So for the younger readers - how many new words have you learnt today? Transistor radio? Nancy and Sluggo? Change Alley? Tea Dance and, snapshot? Now that's a word I haven't heard in years.

A Tea Dance in Singapore 60s night spot. 

Crowds of teenagers sweat the evening away.

*PYE
https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.sg/2012/08/searching-for-my-favourite-chinese.html

Original article: Andy Lim.

Videos and Images from YouTube and Google.