Famous person of the six provinces of the South: Multi-talented and passionate journalist

After the newspaper Tiếng Dôi was closed (please read the Thanh Nien Newspaper issue dated July 2), every time he accepted a new newspaper, journalist Trần Tấn Quốc also set conditions such as holding the pen power, keeping the old Tiếng Dôi team intact, and dedicating a page to the theater section.

Put down the pen… take a break

In early 1955, Tran Tan Quoc continued to publish Le Song with the entire editorial staff of Tieng Doi . When Le Song was asked back by the newspaper owner, he published Cong Nhan . After nearly 2 years, Cong Nhan was also taken back.

Journalist Tran Tan Quoc

In 1958, while unemployed with his team, Tran Tan Quoc was assigned by the editor-in-chief Tam Moc to run the Morning newspaper. At the end of February 1961, the Morning newspaper was developing strongly, with a daily print run of 23,000 - 24,000 copies, when Mr. Quoc suddenly announced that he was putting down his pen. The reason was to return to his hometown to rest after many years of hard work. However, other rumors were spreading among the public at that time.

According to the old Saigon press, in early 1961, after her last appearance in the play Half a Life of Incense on the Thanh Minh - Thanh Nga stage, actress Thanh Loan, Mr. Quoc's fifth lover, disappeared. At first, people thought she had temporarily retired from singing and returned to her hometown in Sa Dec, but they waited and waited and she did not return, then suddenly appeared on Liberation Radio.

It is said that after hearing the news, Mrs. Tho of the Thanh Minh - Thanh Nga troupe was shocked but did not dare to tell anyone. She wanted to meet Mr. Quoc to ask about the situation but did not dare because she might be implicated. People remember that a few years before, journalist Tran Tan Quoc had confided to artists Phung Ha and Nam Chau that he and actress Thanh Loan had "gone their separate ways". And when the rumor was leaked, it was also the time when Mr. Quoc announced that he would put down his pen and return home to recuperate.

That event happened during the selection of the Thanh Tam Award in 1960. There was a backlash because the two female artists Ngoc Giau and Bich Son were nominated but had not been announced. At that time, journalist Hoai Ngoc had to tell the truth that this time Mr. Quoc was retiring and would not return to Saigon, and at the same time presented a power of attorney for him to run the Thanh Tam Award. But some veteran artists such as Phung Ha, Nam Chau, Bay Nhieu, Duy Lan… still did not agree.

The street named after Tran Tan Quoc in Cao Lanh, Dong Thap

PHOTO: HOANG PHUONG

Thanh Tam tournament crisis

While in a deadlock, one afternoon, artist Nam Chau was teaching at the Saigon National Conservatory of Music when Professor Nguyen Phung (Director of the school) informed him that Mr. Ngo Trong Hieu from the Office of the General Commissioner of Civil Affairs had just invited the two of them to meet.

When he arrived, Mr. Hieu asked about the Thanh Tam award. Nam Chau had to tell the story of Tran Tan Quoc's passion for journalism and his love for reformed opera. That's why he opened a stage page for every newspaper he worked for. But since the newspaper Tiếng Dôi was closed, Mr. Quoc had been the editor-in-chief of one newspaper after another, and the last one was Buôn Sáng , when his wife Thanh Loan went to the war zone. Because he felt it was difficult to continue his career, Mr. Quoc had to put down his pen, but said he was going back to his hometown to recuperate.

So, after Mr. Quoc left Saigon for 6 days, Kien Phong Province Chief received an urgent telegram from the Presidential Palace, ordering him to find journalist Tran Tan Quoc and invite him to Saigon to meet President Ngo Dinh Diem immediately. So he had to return to Saigon. He later recounted that, within a month, he was invited to the Independence Palace by the President 4 times. The main content was to probe opinions on national issues as a journalist.

In May 1961, Mr. Quoc returned to the Saigon press with the newspaper Tieng Doi Mien Nam . After the incident of November 1, 1963, it was renamed Dan Quyen . In July 1965, Dan Quyen was suspended. The last newspaper he was editor-in-chief of was Duoc Nha Nam , the first issue was published on July 2, 1968 with the motto: Toan Viet, Hung Viet, Bao Viet. In September 1972, in protest of Decree 007 of the Republic of Vietnam regime, Duoc Nha Nam voluntarily suspended publication. After that, Tran Tan Quoc appeared in the newspapers Dien Tin (with the pen name Hong Son Dong) and Tia Sang (Nguyen Trung Thanh).

Tet Canh Ty 1960, artist Thanh Loan's photo (last photo, right) is still on the advertisement of Doan Thanh Minh - Thanh Nga

PHOTO: HOANG PHUONG

A flirtatious journalist

According to Tran Tan Quoc's memoirs, he had six love affairs in his life. The first was with Xuan Hoa, the daughter of the warden of Con Dao prison. At that time, he was only 17 years old and a prisoner. The love affair soon ended when Xuan Hoa's father was transferred to the mainland. The second love affair was with Bay Toi, which also ended when her mother said firmly: "He is a political prisoner who just returned from the island and works as a diary writer. I hate newspaper writers very much."

Mr. Quoc's third lover was Ms. Ba Lien, the owner of a fabric shop in Thai Binh market, Saigon. The next was Ms. Bay Tuat, the mother of artist Kieu Mai Ly. The fifth was actress Thanh Loan, who lived with Mr. Quoc for 10 years before going to the war zone, and the last was Ms. Thu Tam, 19 years younger than Mr. Quoc. When he became editor of the newspaper Tieng Doi in 1952, Ms. Thu Tam was 19 years old, from the same hometown of Cao Lanh, and worked as a secretary until 1962 when she became his wife. Ms. Thu Tam also lived with Mr. Quoc for 10 years and left before him, in 1972.

Actress Thanh Loan, Mr. Quoc's fifth wife

PHOTO: DOCUMENT

After 1975, Mr. Quoc reburied and moved his wife from Mac Dinh Chi cemetery to his hometown land next to Dinh Trung river, Cao Lanh. When Mr. Quoc died, he was also laid to rest here. In 2017, Thanh Nien Newspaper reported on a dispute related to the land where Mr. Quoc and his wife's graves are located. But recently, when returning to this place to ask, no one knew. Some people said that his adopted son had reburied his grave elsewhere, but no one knew where. That place now only has a street named Tran Tan Quoc. (to be continued)

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nhan-vat-noi-tieng-nam-ky-luc-tinh-ky-gia-da-tai-da-tinh-185250704224411742.htm