Christina Stone

Last updated
Christina Balsara
Born
Christina Lee
OccupationBusiness woman
Spouse(s) Dato Loke Wan Tho
(m. 19??; div. 1962)
​
​
(m. 1965;div. 1972)​

Dadi Balsara
(m. 19??; died 2016)

Christina Stone was a business woman, and was married to Loke Wan Tho, a Singaporean business magnate and later to Jeffrey Stone a film director. Her final marriage was to the Parsi businessman, Dadi Balsara.

Contents

Background

Personal

Her father was Lee Chong Miow, the head of Lee and Fletcher Co, Singapore Photo Co. [1] There are some differing versions of her early life. One is that she came from a humble background, later entered a beauty competition and was noticed by her future husband Loke Wan Tho. Hers was that her grandfather was a judge and her father wasn't happy with his childhood and left to become a photographer who went to Borneo, traveled with Verner Brook and then ended up settling in Singapore which was where she was born. [2]

In 1962 she petitioned for divorce from her husband Loke Wan Tho on the grounds of cruelty. He also had do the same. Hers was a counter petition. [3] [4] In 1965 she married actor Jeffrey Stone. [5] By 1972 she was divorced from Stone. [6] [1]

Later she married Dr. Dadi Balsara the head of Perfumes Singapore and later the founder and owner of the Himalayan natural mineral water brand. After the Himalayan natural mineral water brand was sold to the TATA group, he lived with Christina at Taj Man Singh Hotel for 37 years, until his death in January 2016. [7]

Professional and public

In 1957 she made a presentation at the Odeon Theatre in Singapore to the winners of a rock'n'roll competition that was in conjunction with the screening of the film Love Me Tender. The Winners of the competition were presented with the Elvis Presley cup and the Platters cup. The competition was to aid a children's fund. [8] In 1965 she appeared in the Vogue Magazine as one of Singapores most beautiful woman. [9] In 1966, she became involved in her husband's project, the ill-fated film Strange Portrait . She had a role in the film playing a ballet dancer. [10] In 1967, she opened Sarong Island which was a tourist isle on a 5-acre island that she owned. Jeffrey Stone said that sarong was an easy word for westerners to remember so that's why they chose the name. [11]

Later she married Dr. Dadi Balsara who at the time was the head of Perfumes Singapore. [12] As a business woman she was chairman of Perfumes Singapore. [13] in 1977 she and her husband launched the Singapore Girl perfume which did well at department stores and hotels. It was popular with tourists and was sold and on the planes of Singapore Airlines. It got the Singapore Manufacturers Association's top prize for its design and packing in 1977. The same year Perfumes of Singapore closed down. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorothy Lamour</span> American actress and singer (1914–1996)

Dorothy Lamour was an American actress and singer. She is best remembered for having appeared in the Road to... movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carole Bouquet</span> French actress (born 1957)

Carole Bouquet is a French actress who has appeared in more than 60 films since 1977. In 1990, she was awarded the César Award for Best Actress for her role in Too Beautiful for You. She was the face of Chanel No. 5 fragrance from 1986 to 1997.

<i>The Phantom Lover</i> 1995 film

The Phantom Lover is a 1995 Hong Kong musical romance drama film starring Leslie Cheung and Jacklyn Wu. It was directed by Ronny Yu and is a remake of the 1937 film Song at Midnight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loke Wan Tho</span> Malaysian-Singaporean business magnate, ornithologist and photographer

Tan Sri Loke Wan Tho was a Malaysian-Singaporean business magnate, ornithologist, and photographer. He was the founder of Cathay Organisation in Singapore and Malaysia, and Motion Picture and General Investments Limited (MP&GI) in Hong Kong.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cathay Building</span> Building in Singapore

The Cathay Building was opened in 1939 by Dato Loke Wan Tho as the headquarters for the British Malaya Broadcasting Corporation. Located at 2 Handy Road in the Museum Planning Area of Singapore, the building was most known for its air-conditioned theatre known as the Cathay Cinema, then a technological marvel and the first to be built in Singapore. Cathay Building was the first skyscraper in Singapore and tallest building in Southeast Asia at that time. It was demolished in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loke Cheng Kim</span> Malaysian–Singaporean businesswoman and philanthropist

Loke Cheng Kim was a Malaysian–Singaporean businesswoman and philanthropist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loke Yew</span> Pioneer of Kuala Lumpur

Loke Yew CMG, born Wong Loke Yew was a Malayan business magnate of Cantonese descent. During his lifetime, he played a significant role in the development of Kuala Lumpur and was also one of the founding fathers of Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Majestic, Singapore</span> Commercial in Singapore, Singapore

The Majestic is a historic building on Eu Tong Sen Street in Chinatown, Singapore next to Chinatown MRT station. Located between the People's Park Complex and Yue Hwa Building, it was known as Majestic Theatre, which was a Cantonese opera house.

<i>Why Change Your Wife?</i> 1920 film

Why Change Your Wife? is a 1920 American silent comedy film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Gloria Swanson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kampong Lorong Buangkok</span> Village in Singapore

Kampong Lorong Buangkok is a village located in Buangkok in Hougang, Singapore. Built in 1956, it is the last surviving kampong located on Singapore Island in the 21st century. It is situated right beside a canal that drains into the nearby Sungei Punggol.

Sybil Werden was a German dancer and actress during the 1950s.

Ithnaini binti Mohamed Taib, better known by her stage name Anita Sarawak, is a Singaporean singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wahid Satay</span> Singaporean actor (1930–2023)

Abdul Wahid bin Ahmad, also known as Wahid Satay, A. Wahid or S. M. Wahid, was a Singaporean actor, comedian and singer.

Christina Ong is a Singaporean businesswoman who owns the COMO Group. As of 2021, Christina and her husband Ong Beng Seng were ranked 25th on Singapore's richest list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olga Lowe</span> British actress (1919–2013)

Olga Lowe was a British film, stage and television actress. She made her film debut in an uncredited role in the 1949 film Trottie True. Described by The Stage as "an actress of extraordinary versatility," her credits included EastEnders, Where Eagles Dare, Carry On Abroad, Steptoe and Son Ride Again and The Riddle of the Sands.

Strange Portrait is a film set in Hong Kong. It was directed by Jeffrey Stone and starred Jeffrey Hunter, Barbara Lee, Mai Tai Sing and Tina Hutchence. Its associate producer was Terry Bourke. In 1966 Stone and his wife went searching for a distributor, hoping to enter it into the Asian Film Festival. The film never saw a release and there is some mystery about what happened.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Yu Ling</span> Singapore-born actress

Barbara Lee, who used the stage name Barbara Yu Ling, was a Singapore-born actress of stage, screen, and television who was based in Britain from the 1950s. One of the first Singaporean Chinese actresses to gain attention in Europe, she appeared in productions of Madame Butterfly and The World of Suzie Wong. Among the films she appeared in were The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973), Ping Pong (1986), and Peggy Su! (1997).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Hendrik van Sitteren</span> Dutch architect

Susan Hendrik 'Henk' van Sitteren (1904–1968) was a Dutch architect in Singapore and Malaysia. His career began when he came to Singapore and landed a position in Keys & Dowdeswell, then a major international architecture firm. It was during this time that Van Sitteren met his future partner, architect Berthel Michael Iversen. The two would later establish Iversen & Van Sitteren Partners - with branches in Ipoh, Penang, Kuala Lumpur & Singapore. The firm was one of the most important in Southeast Asia for establishing a foothold for international style modernism.

Joanna Dong is a Singaporean singer, actress and host. Primarily a jazz vocalist, she is the first artiste signed to Singapore label, Red Roof Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perfumes of Singapore</span> Perfume company

Perfumes Of Singapore, formerly known as Perfumes Of The Orient, is a perfume company which produced the scent series called 'Girl'. Notably, it produces the popular Singapore Girl Perfume in the 1960s and 1970s,

References

  1. 1 2 Adventure-9 Sarong Island [Pulau Selugu] Archived 2015-04-02 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ Malcolm MacDonald: Bringing an End to Empire By Clyde Sanger Page 318 Asia
  3. ↑ The Straits Times, 14 February 1962 Page 1 Loke divorce case opens
  4. ↑ Jeffrey Hunter: The Film, Television, Radio and Stage Performances by Paul Green Strange POrtrait-Dimension 5 Page 118
  5. ↑ Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2012 By Harris M. Lentz III Page 276 Obituaries 2012
  6. ↑ Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2012 By By Harris M. Lentz III Page 276 Obituaries 2012
  7. ↑ "Delhi: Businessman living in five-star hotel for 37 years, paying Rs 15,000 per day, dies" . Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  8. ↑ The Straits Times, 1 March 1957 Page 5 Coups Presented
  9. ↑ National Archives of Singapore Media - Image No: PCD0295 - 0011
  10. ↑ Paul Green (22 April 2014), Jeffrey Hunter: The Film, Television, Radio and Stage Performances, McFarland, p. 118, ISBN   978-1-4766-1441-0
  11. ↑ The Straits Times, 16 September 1967 Page 7 Christina's isle of joy to be opened on Thursday by R. CHandran
  12. ↑ Malcolm MacDonald: Bringing an End to Empire By Clyde Sanger Page 468 Notes to pages 315-24
  13. ↑ National Archives of Singapore Media - Image No: PCD0315 - 0087
  14. ↑ The Straits Times Aug 20, 2014 Fun facts about made-in-Singapore products By Melody Zaccheus
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.