C DAO BA NGOA CATCHED THE EYE OF KING T HANH T HAI
The first generation was the great-grandmother of People's Artist Kim Cuong, whose name Kim Cuong no longer remembers, but only calls her Mrs. Phuoc Thang, because she loved opera so much that even though she couldn't sing, she still founded the Phuoc Thang opera troupe around 1890, which was famous in the Cho Lon area of Saigon.
People's Artist Kim Cuong as a young woman in the play Mong Hoa Vuong
PHOTO: HK
The Phuoc Thang troupe was passed on to Mrs. Ba Ngoan, renamed Phuoc Xuong, around the early 1910s. Actress Ba Ngoan (Kim Cuong's grandmother) was not only beautiful, but also sang and acted very well, and was especially modern and liberal. At that time, the French had just issued 100 driver's licenses to Vietnamese people, including Mrs. Ba Ngoan. She was considered the first Vietnamese woman who knew how to drive. She also built the Palikao theater in Cho Lon, the first theater in Saigon with a loft, while other theaters only had the ground floor. She absorbed Western civilization, science, and elegant life very early.
During a trip to the South, King Thanh Thai, who also had an artistic soul, fell in love with the actress Ba Ngoan. That short-lived love affair gave birth to Nguyen Ngoc Cuong (Kim Cuong's father). During the chaos, the whole family did not reveal this secret until after 1975, when the king's family in Hue came to see Kim Cuong. Currently, on the altar of Kim Cuong's family, there is still a picture of King Thanh Thai.
N GUYEN N NGOC CƯỢNG BRINGS REFORMED OPERA TO NEW HEIGHTS
Mrs. Ba Ngoan sent Nguyen Ngoc Cuong to France to study medicine, but he had artistic blood, so he switched to studying French theater. When he returned home, he applied that knowledge to bring Cai Luong to a professional level worthy of being recorded in history.
People's Artist Bay Nam and People's Artist Kim Cuong in the play Durian Leaves
PHOTO: HK
Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Cuong inherited his mother's opera troupe, but changed its name to Phuoc Cuong and switched to performing reformed opera in 1926. He collaborated with his friend who studied in France, Le Cong Phuoc (often called Bach Cong Tu, from My Tho, famous with Hac Cong Tu Tran Trinh Huy in Bac Lieu ) to improve Phuoc Cuong troupe to make it more professional and theatrical. Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Cuong was also nicknamed "diamond prince" because he always wore diamonds on his clothes. Later, Le Cong Phuoc married artist Phung Ha, separated to form Huynh Ky troupe, while Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Cuong stayed alone to lead Phuoc Cuong troupe.
To have a performance script, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Cuong brought Victor Hugo's novels to artist Nam Chau (People's Artist Nguyen Thanh Chau, also a person influenced by Western studies) to translate into Vietnamese, or he translated them with Nam Chau. It can be said that these were the first professional cai luong scripts, close to the urban intellectual audience, a difficult audience, often requiring the play to be both attractive and the literature to be elegant and profound. When rehearsing and staging, Nguyen Ngoc Cuong also applied the stage knowledge he learned from France, thanks to which he trained a series of young artists such as Ai Lien, Bach Mai, Nam Nghia (father of Meritorious Artist Thanh Nga), Nam Phoi, Ba Giao... Nguyen Ngoc Cuong's contributions were great, from managing the troupe to writing scripts, directing, training... The Phuoc Cuong troupe at that time gathered famous artists such as Nam Phi, Ba Van, Phung Ha, Tam Danh, Ba Du, Hai Nu... touring throughout the South - Central - North.
A shocking event was when the Phuoc Cuong troupe participated in the Paris Colonial Exhibition in France in 1931 (similar to today's theater festival), where the actress Nam Phi played the main role in the play The Trial of Bang Quy Phi , winning 4 medals and receiving enthusiastic praise from the audience and more than 40 newspapers in France. When returning home, this play was performed repeatedly in many theaters, with tremendous revenue. In short, within just 20 years from 1925 to 1945, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Cuong had developed Cai Luong to a respectable position.
FAMOUS NEW GENERATION ACTRESSES
Mr. Ngoc Cuong married 3 wives in turn, in which Nam Phi and Bay Nam were sisters.
Not only was the famous actress Nam Phi, but People's Artist Bay Nam was also equally talented. At the age of 19, he founded his own troupe called Nam Hung, singing, writing scripts, managing the troupe, and for decades taking care of his fellow artists even during times of war and chaos.
People's Artist Kim Cuong grew up in that artistic cradle, and was also very good at singing Cai Luong. But at the age of 20, she founded her own drama troupe, acting, writing scripts, and managing, creating a golden age for drama. The roles of her life such as Miss Dieu ( The Durian Leaf ), Mrs. Tu selling tea ( The Rose Pinned on the Shirt ), Bich and Be ( Under Two Colors of the Shirt ), Tania (play Tania )... will never fade in the hearts of the audience. She also acted in dozens of films, truly very versatile. Unfortunately, after her, there were no descendants to continue the stage career.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/truyen-nhan-cua-dai-gia-toc-san-khau-nsnd-kim-cuong-tu-cai-luong-sang-kich-noi-185250726193158239.htm
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