Chan back in limelight for record theatre run

MARCH 5, 1999, will be a day many Cantonese film fans have looked forward to for 27 years; it will be the day that marks the return of Chan Po-chu, film idol of the 60s.

Chan returns in style, performing in a theatrical drama for the first time, and fans have shown how much they have missed her by snapping up so many tickets for Sentimental Journey that already a record-breaking run of 100 shows is planned.

'It has been very encouraging and heartwarming,' said Chan of the public's show of support. 'The people I have met on the streets always look very happy to see me and it, in turn, makes me very happy. They always have an encouraging word for me and it has been like being injected with a dose of confidence each time.' Together with Josephine Siao Fong-fong, Chan, 52, ruled the silver screen in the 1960s, starring in more than 240 movies - including the original La Rose Noire and The Flying Henchwoman - by the time she retired at 26.

After her marriage in 1972 to businessman Jimmy Young (they divorced in 1982), she devoted herself to raising her son, Dexter Young Tin-king. Ever since, Chan's on-screen appearances have been restricted to television re-runs, albeit frequent ones, of some of her old movies.

It was not until director Clifton Ko Chi-sum and award-winning playwright Raymond To Kwok-wai approached her about appearing in Sentimental Journey that she felt the tug of temptation to return to acting.

'For any other medium, I probably would not have been tempted at all but I have always been interested in the theatre and it was something that I had never done before.