“Good evening! I am Tessie Tomas, but you may call me T.T. for short. T.T. stands for Tessie Tomas, but most of the time it stands by itself..”
I first knew of the irrepressible Tessie Tomas when I joined Ace Compton as a junior copywriter in 1981. Ace Compton was in transition then, after losing its major creative talents to other agencies brought about by the loss of the Pepsi and other important accounts. Small, post-lunch talk would revolve around this brilliant creative director—Tessie Tomas by name-- whom the agency had lost to McCann Erickson, and who had subsequently risen to the rank of a Vice President, after creating winning campaigns for Johnson and Johnson. But the creatives would also talk endearingly about her antics and her zany humor and the ease by which she sold creative ideas with her voice-acting and her energy.
After all, Tessie was a cum laude Communications graduate from U.P. She also happened to be the daughter of the respected radio voice talent, Laura Hermosa, and it was from her that Tessie inherited her gift of vocal performance and drama.
Her bosom friend, also an Ace Creative Director, Julie Lingan, also serviced the same Johnson & Johnson account of which I was her writer. In client calls, we would sometimes bump into Tessie--and I was at once starstruck. Not only because she was an industry legend but also at that time, she was already doing after-hours comedy dinner shows and was a regular in a hit TV comedy show called “Champoy”.
It was Julie who sold me to Tessie. "You should mee my writer--si Alex! Magaling magsulat! He writes our Xmas chow script. Very funny! You should try him out sa mga shows mo.."
So that 's how I got to meet Tessie, early 1983. By then, she had done the unthinkable--she had resigned from her corporate job and had decided to plunge headlong into the dizzying, dazzling world of showbiz-- a world she was born in, and whose challenges she was now set to embrace.
She introduced whole brand of humor to a willing audience--more cerebral, less slapstick, comedy that made funny commentaries on our social state, our prevailing mores, the travails of eking out a living. She took a jab at corrupt politicians, and celebrated the resilience of Filipinos.
Her first one-woman show—“Miss Margarida’s Way”—featured her as the demented, underpaid schoolmarm, which proved to be her first hit. Her star was clearly and quickly on the rise.
She wrote most of her material, but when rehearsals took most of her time, she farmed out scripting jobs to friends like Peque Gallaga, Lorie Reyes and Enrico Santos. Tessie tried me out for a dinner-theater show at a popular bistro in Magallanes called “The Windmill”. She was always pretty clear with the characters she wanted to portray, and for this initial assignment, she wanted me to do a script for a Japanese geisha working in the Philippines. So that’s how Sakura Bitsu-Bitsu was born. She brought the house down when she performed the skit in that show, and she decided to repeat that performance on “Champoy”, which was also met with howling success.
“Hero, I am Sakura Bitsu-Bitsu, originally from Nagasaki, Japan, now living in Naga City, Firipins. Wercam to my restaurant, ne? I am your o-to-san. Our espesyarti is Pancit Miki..very precious noodle, ne? Because is made from real Mikimoto pearls from Japan, and not from Miki Mouse from Disniland. Sayonarang!”
In time, the audience met her different personas—social worker Charito Calubaquib, Lady ‘Day—Princess of Leyte Gulf, the ever-pregnant housewife Teysi Abuvaquer, and Saudi wife Mimay Timtiman. Then there’s the the Playboy rabbit, Bunny Elsa and the culinary expert Nora Lasa. From a contributing writer, I was promoted to being her main writer, and in 1984, she put up her one-woman spectacle at Hotel Intercon, directed by Boy Abunda Jr. entitled, “T.Tillations”.
“There’s a thin line between sanity and madness”, the program blurb warned, and this was proved true when, for the next hour or so, Tessie became Boni Buendia (d’bold star), Kona’na the Barbarian, Nastasia Kiski (sex-crazed therapist) and Little Red Riding Hood (she played also the wolf and the woodsman).
It was a thrill to watch her perform my scripts and even if the show got mixed reviews, I knew Tessie was bound for greater things.
“Hi, allow me to seduce myself. I am Nastassia Kiski. Sex Therapist by profession, sex maniac by night. My father is Polish, my mother is Danish, my sex life is Swedish”
“Champoy” had also started making buzz on TV, with the ribtickling and oftentimes, controversial rotines of Noel Trinidad (also an ex- Ace Comptonite, by the way), Gary Lising, Subas Herrero—and of course, Tessie Tomas. While the “Mr. Boom-Boom” jokes proved to be an instant hit, the wacky weather reports of umbrella-wielding Amanda Pineda, were making even more lasting impressions. While reporting weather conditions, Amanda would, at the same time be making dire observations about our dire social conditions under a repressive government, dishing out her fearful forecasts for the nation, often sugar-coated with her brand of seemingly-innocent humor and catchy punchlines.
“PAG-ASA-A. Pan-American, Pantasmagoric, Accumulation of Global Atmospheric Allegiance for Southeast Asia, America, Africa, Antartica, Australia and All Around the World—PAG-ASA-A!”.
At the height of the Ninoy fever, when anti-Marcos sentiments were silently but surely growing, Tessie introduced us to another character that was to bring her lasting fame and infamy, as well as define the totality of her career as a first-rate performer: MELDITA. She had already been doing vignettes of this colorful persona—obviously a take on Imelda Marcos—creating a character that is at once powerful yet pathetic, strong-willed yet soft, greedy yet giving.
When Tessie took to the stage, she became a larger-than-life Imelda--and more. Each staging exposed Rizal Theater SRO crowds to the lurid madness that was Malacanang: her stormy relationships with Macoy and rebel child Imee, her fantasies about royalty, her obsessive-compulsive drive to make the Philippines great again. But it was also a story about finding fulfillment and acceptance by all means and at all costs, which Meldita always sought but never gained. Tessie not only received accolades for her tour-de-force performance, but also death threats. But she couldn’t care less; it was her craft that spurred her on--her pioneering one-woman shows had given her the avenue to artistically express her awakened sense of social awareness that she was now willing to impart.
“Don’t cry for me, Metro Manila. The truth is—I never left you… All through my wild days.. My mad existence.. You can have Cory.. I have the money..” --Meldita, after the downfall.
Besides, the unfolding events in the country gave her new material to further sharpen her comedic skills, and these new routines were lapped up by laughing audiences from Rizal Theater, Sanctuary Bistro, Music Museum to Manila Mandarin and other mainstream venues. Meldita became a long-running theater act even after the coup, and for this, Tessie won the Aliw Award for Best Performer of the Year.
From the stage to the screen, Tessie proved to be an equally effective performer. Her first film was “Broken Marriage” in 1983. And then in 1987, she was cast in the international TV series “A Dangerous Life” based on the dying moments of the Marcos regime, where she bagged the coveted role of—who else?—Imelda Marcos. For this, she won an HBO Best Actress nomination.
Returning to her first love, she wrote the screenplay of “Separada” which won a Star Best Actress award for Maricel Soriano. Then, in 1991, Tessie transformed Mrs. Barbara Tengco--the neurotic rich matron in the long-running series “Abangan ang Susunod na Kabanata”-- into a TV and household word. Shifting gears, she hosted a successful talk show, “Teysi ng Tahanan”.
Today, Tessie is still very much active in the entertainment circuit. She was last seen in the critically-acclaimed movies “Ploning” and “100”. She is currently appearing in the cast of the TV series, “Ako si Kim SamSoon”. Happily married to marine biologist, British Roger Pullin, Tessie is also a mother of an artist, U.S.-based Robin Tomas, who, at one time, was an art director of her mother’s agency alma mater, Ace Compton-Saatchi & Saatchi.
As a friend, I am indebted to Tessie for opening new windows of opportunities for a junior writer like me. She let my ideas fly when I wrote her scripts, helping me expand and enrich my creative writing skills by allowing me to write material for fellow comedians Nanette Inventor, Gary Lising, Joji Isla and John Santos (whom she discovered in a college show at U.P.). When I was based and living in Bangkok, Tessie and Roger made a surprise visit which I really appreciated.
Last time I was with her was when I got her to host a Chow King National Convention in Bohol 2 years ago. We had fun reliving the glory days of dinner theater shows and had more fun working together again. We don’t see each other as much these days, but every now and then, she would text or call for creative consultations with regards to her corporate shows.
That is why, I am looking forward to seeing er next month at the Ace-Compton Advertising Grand Reunion Show (“Amazing Ace’) which she will be hosting (and which I am now writing). It will be a gathering of agency creatives and colleagues from way back our crazy Compton days. I am sure the talk will invariably revolve around a wacky, brilliant creative director who followed her heart, became a star and made our agency proud: Tessie Tomas! (28 September 2008)
UPDATE 2011: TESSIE, JULIE AND ME. Bosom friends Tessie and Julie were both former creative directors at Ace-Compton Advertising. I would also join the ad agency and become a CD. It was Julie who introduced me to Tessie Tomas, and the rest, as they say, is history.
you know anything about her brther LEO HERMOSA?
ReplyDeleteNot so much, but I know Manny Hermosa, who was a colleague in advertising--we work together in Bangkok, by the way. Why did you ask?
ReplyDeleteHi Sir. I think I was only a kid in 90s but until now I cant forget Her colorful characters. Now I think I think its a great art or visual art. Is there great artworks for her characters portrayed now?
ReplyDelete