CHAY, Abigail Sheng Ern 谢昇恩 @ Abigail Chay 谢季
Performing Arts in Singapore (Theatre/Drama),
Accession Number 003782
- Oral History Centre
Source
- 160
Total Reels
- Jesley Chua Chee Huan
Interviewer
- 99:00:15
Total Running Time
- English
Language
Copyright Notice
All rights to the recordings and transcripts on this website, including the rights to copy, publish, broadcast and perform, are reserved. Written permission is required for any use. If you have any queries, please contact nas@nlb.gov.sg
Reel/Disc 1 of 160
Metadata
- 23 Nov 2012
Recording Date
- 00:37:26
Running Time
- MP3
Format
- Open Access
Conditions Governing Access
Synopsis
Maternal family’s background. Recalled name of road owned by relative. Relationship amongst grandfather’s three wives. Interviewee’s father lived in Neil Road when young. Father’s encounters with the supernatural when young. Father stopped his education in secondary three due to the war. Jobs father held. Father was educated in Raffles Institution while mother studied in Fairfield Girls’ School. Father learnt Japanese and shorthand during Japanese Occupation. Father recalled seeing body being bombed. Father worked for the British army for many years. Mother was helped by a non-Chinese when she got into trouble as a cashier. Mother was treated well by the Japanese when she was locked up. How mother reacted to accusations of her being raped.
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Reel/Disc 2 of 160
Metadata
- 23 Nov 2012
Recording Date
- 00:36:11
Running Time
- MP3
Format
- Open Access
Conditions Governing Access
Synopsis
Mentioned her great-grandmother in her 80s then. Values that mother learnt. Mother was strict with interviewee. How mother would discipline her. Interviewee recalled spoiling father’s pen when she tried to impress him. Father’s reactions. Relationship with her father. Father gave up smoking for her. Conflicts at home. Mother was a cashier before working for the British Army. Both parents were attached before they met each other. How a guy proposed to mother with a pineapple. Keong Saik Road was surrounded by religious institutions. Great-grandmother supported grandmother against grandfather having another wife.
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Reel/Disc 3 of 160
Metadata
- 23 Nov 2012
Recording Date
- 00:34:54
Running Time
- MP3
Format
- Open Access
Conditions Governing Access
Synopsis
Mother’s favourite song. Incident where interviewee fell and landed in a dustpan. Mother used to sing to interviewee when she was a baby. Mentioned toys she had and how mother used to play with her. Interviewee recalled how she teased grandmother. Recollections of her maid. Maid was given authority to punish interviewee. Maid’s comment that interviewee resembled a girl. Recalled how her maid dressed her up as a girl. Recalled maid’s love for her. Her relationship with her maid. Mentioned street hawkers during her time. Mentioned a Chinese hawker who adopted a mute Malay child. Recalled how the street hawkers used to call out for business.
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Reel/Disc 4 of 160
Metadata
- 23 Nov 2012
Recording Date
- 00:37:25
Running Time
- MP3
Format
- Open Access
Conditions Governing Access
Synopsis
Father used to wash interviewee’s feet every night before bedtime. Interviewee’s recollection of her other maid. Financial situation at home. Superstition concerning ‘blue’ baby. Interviewee attended Sunday school at the age of four. Father taught interviewee about different parts of the body while bathing her. Interviewee memorised her home address at the age of four. Mentioned grandfather. Types of animals they kept at home. Why interviewee loves white mice and hamsters. Interviewee’s pet loving instincts came from father. Interviewee loves to buy animals in pairs so that they could procreate. Fighting fish and how they mate. Other pets they kept. Her parrots used to call her. Parents taught her origami. Mentioned kitchen fire.
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Reel/Disc 5 of 160
Metadata
- 23 Nov 2012
Recording Date
- 00:34:31
Running Time
- MP3
Format
- Open Access
Conditions Governing Access
Synopsis
Father taught interviewee how to play the piano. Interviewee loved to draw princess instead of soldiers. Relationship between his mother and grandmother. How interviewee dealt with her grief over grandmother’s death. Elaboration on her grandmother. She was 10 when her grandmother passed away. Arguments mother and grandmother used to have. Relationship between her two grandmothers. Why her parents finally allowed her to play with the back lane boys. Interviewee invited the boys home for Christmas party. Games they played. What interviewee used to eat when she was sick.
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Reel/Disc 6 of 160
Metadata
- 23 Nov 2012
Recording Date
- 00:33:56
Running Time
- MP3
Format
- Open Access
Conditions Governing Access
Synopsis
Elaboration on the road named after her relative. Stories told by Lee Dai Soh (李大傻) over Rediffusion. Listened to Cantonese opera over Rediffusion. Superstitions stories she heard. Interviewee’s family employed washerwoman to help their maid. Interviewee’s favourite stories. Rediffusion’s childrens’ program. Her ghostly encounter with her headless grandfather.
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Reel/Disc 7 of 160
Metadata
- 30 Nov 2012
Recording Date
- 00:37:36
Running Time
- MP3
Format
- Open Access
Conditions Governing Access
Synopsis
Elaboration on her love for Lee Dai Soh (李大傻)’s Rediffusion program. She used to enact the characters in his stories. Described the satay seller in Keong Saik Street. Recalled the vegetarian food hawker who adopted a Malay boy and the food she sold. The noodle seller. Hawkers slept on the streets. Recounted one hawker and son interviewee subsequently met 30 years later. Described the Yong Tau Foo seller. Hawker selling semi-hatched eggs.
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Reel/Disc 8 of 160
Metadata
- 30 Nov 2012
Recording Date
- 00:34:43
Running Time
- MP3
Format
- Open Access
Conditions Governing Access
Synopsis
Elaboration on the hawker selling semi-hatched eggs. Banana from the first harvest can cure nose bleed. Description of an egg seller. Interviewee had a pet goose but family subsequently ate her. Her experience of eating Arowana. Demonstrated how some of the hawkers call out for business. Attire of the laska seller. Described the opening for their night-soil bucket at home.
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Reel/Disc 9 of 160
Metadata
- 30 Nov 2012
Recording Date
- 00:37:54
Running Time
- MP3
Format
- Open Access
Conditions Governing Access
Synopsis
Elaboration on the laska seller. Mentioned the kueh seller and the Indian bread seller. Elaboration on the kueh seller. Mentioned aquarium in Outram Road. Mentioned halfbeak fish. Father would beg fish distributors to sell fish to him. Mentioned various varieties of fish such as moon, angel and swordtail. Interviewee also kept terrapins, tortoise, white mice and cats.
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Reel/Disc 10 of 160
Metadata
- 30 Nov 2012
Recording Date
- 00:37:37
Running Time
- MP3
Format
- Open Access
Conditions Governing Access
Synopsis
Elaboration on his pet kittens. Superstition that one would go mad if scratched by a pregnant cat. Interviewee also kept salamander. Described how she dissected poisonous snake. Interviewee also kept frogs and toads. She went fishing with the back lane boys. Difference between female and male spiders. How she kept her spiders and fed them. She also had hamsters. Different breeds of hamsters she had in childhood and adulthood. Also owned a guinea pig.
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