MY FULL PAGE WORTH OF FAME. The original print ad for Magnolia Dairy Bar with me as the milk-shake drinking model.
Now here's a real blast from my secret past. Once upon a time, I had my 30 seconds of fame as a commercial model. Unthinkable, you say? Well, I have a tear sheet of a full page, full color print ad for Magnolia Ice Cream House to prove it. Remember that famous dairy bar along Aurora Boulevard that served all those yummy frozen specialties? Whether you believe it or not, I was once their flavor of the month!
This must have been around 1979 or 1980. I remember being handpicked by the Director, Manuel “Jun” Urbano Jr. (known to this generation as Mr. Shoo-Li) for this one minute slice-of-life commercial, showing people of all ages, enjoying a Magnolia frozen treat. Featured in vignettes were a pair of young lovers (Raymond Lauchengco got that one), a family of 4, a Mother Superior and her brood of nuns (Gigi Virata was one of them). A group of executives, a school barkada ( With That's Entertainment member, Joel Alano+) and a bespectacled nerd (guess who?).
I recall shooting the commercial in one extra long day. My instructions were for me to act like I was so absorbed with a book, that upon leaning to drink my milk shake, my chin gets bumped by the straw. Then I had to do furtive glances left and right to see if someone had seen my awkward moment. True enough, a colegiala seated nearby does, and I bury myself between the pages of the book. It sounded so easy, but by the end of take 5, you feel mechanical and rattled, and most of all, confused.
In any case, I made it to the final edit of the commercial, as well as the print ad version that you see here. Not only that, in less than a month, I was again shooting a Magnolia Chocolait TV commercial with nerdy me sandwiched between 2 chocolate-sipping lovelies, who have taken refuge under my umbrella in the rain. Who cares if I was typecasted? I was, officially, a commercial model!
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