88. 6 ISLANDS THAT YOU NEVER THOUGHT EXISTED IN MANILA

 For many city people, it is inconceivable to think Greater Manila has islands in its midst—pieces of and surrounded by water.  Manila sits on a low, flat land that is deltaic in nature. Before the Pasig River reaches the bay, it tears into many tributaries (esteros) and creates little islands enclosed by waterways. Along the coast of Manila, one can find such natural, man-made, and tiny islands or eyots, but others have disappeared through land-filling as the city became more urbanized.

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 ISLA DE CONVALECENCIA. The only island dividing the Pasig River in  Manila is located in the San Miguel district. Here is found the Hospicio de San Jose, the first social welfare institution in the country, accessible only via the Ayala Bridge, and relocated from Echague in 1810.  “Isla de Convalecencia” means island of convalescence,  a name that dates back to the 1830s when the Hospicio  was erected   the island was used as a place of healing for patients of the Hospital of San Juan de Dios. It used to be called Isla de an Andres, in honor of the original owner, Don Andres Blanco Bermudez.

ISLA DE PROVISOR. This small island in northwesth Paco district is bounded  by the Estero de Provisor, Estero del Tanque and the Pasig River. It is across the Isla de Convalecencia on the Taft side of the river. The Manila Thermal Power Plant once operated here in the mid 1960s, until decommissioned in 2000.

ISLA DE BALUT. Balut Island is an artificial island in the Manila North Harbor in Tondo bounded by Estero de Sunog Apog (on the north), by Estero de Vitas (south and east), and the Manila Bay (west), close by to the city of Caloocan. “Balot” means “wrap”, as the island is wrapped around with water.

ENGINEERING ISLAND. Found in the South Harbor of Manila. Engineer’s Island was so called because it was the site of government facilities that repaired ships and retooled many heavy and light machinery. Of course, this artificial island which covers about 30 hectares is now home to the Baseco urban poor community.

PULONG BATO. Pulong Bato or “island of stone” was an island formed by the accretion of sand and silt against the breakwater off Pier 2 in the North Harbor. It was known earlieras”Pulong Diablo” (Devil Island) as it was said o have been a pirates’ lair at one time. The isolated island, still extant and relatively new in 1961, has disappeared from Manila maps.

DAMPALIT. There are at least 6 islands included in Malabon, and Dampalit is one of them an island barangay named after a species of coastal plant that used to grow profusely in the area. The island is separated from the mainland by the Muzon River and the Batasan River. Dampalit River separates it from Navotas.

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN FOR ESQUIRE.PH AND POSTED UNDER THE TITLE "6 ISLANDS THAT YOU NEVER THOUGHT EXISTED IN MANILA", on 31 July 2019.

SOURCES:

Photos of Isla de Convalecencia and Dampalit: Wikimedia commons

The Islands of Manila, The Sunday Times Magazine, 5 March 1961, pp. 32-35. Photos by Dominador Suba and Conrado Capuno.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_islands_in_the_Greater_Manila_Area

87. The General’s Game: THE SECRET AFFAIR OF DOUGLAS AND DIMPLES

 Deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance.----Oscar Wilde

Carrying affairs outside of the marriage bed is proof, they say, that men are, by nature, polygamous . That is why, when one hears of such behavior so commonplace in society, it is usually met with just a shrug of the shoulders, and dismissed with a  “things-like-that-happen” attitude.

But when such indiscretion  is committed by a man of great power and influence, the world questions his values and moral turpitude: what other improprieties is this man hiding? What more shady things is he capable of doing? Can we trust him to lead?

The consequences of these dangerous liaisons are degrading, and most often, permanently damaging. Monica Lewinksy  caused U.S. president’s Bill Clinton’s downfall. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s affair with her housekeeper, Patricia Baena, resulted in a son, Joseph Baena—and a marital rift with wife Maria Shriver. Closer to home, Ferdinand Marcos was ridiculed and laughed at, after tapes of his lovemaking with Dovie Beams leaked out in public—this, even during Martial Law.

 AMERICAN CAESAR. GEN. DOUGLAS MACARTHUR. When asked the reason for his many successes in wars, he said, “I believe it was destiny”. He loved his military life, as well as women. Photo:  wikimedia commons.

Which is why when the most decorated U.S. military man in history, Gen. Douglas MacArthur  fell for the charms of Eurasian beauty, Isabel Rosario Cooper, he knew he had to keep the affair under wraps, lest his reputation  gets stained and his ambitions sabotaged. In his lifetime he has won many battles, but none as messy as the war he waged against the media which had threatened to reveal his deepest, darkest secret.

Douglas MacArthur (b. 26 Jan. 1880/ d. 5 Apr. 1964) was raised a military family: his father had been a Civil War general, while his mother encouraged him to be a soldier. After graduating valedictorian from a Texas military school, he went to the country’s premiere military academy at West Point where, in 1903, he graduated at the top of his class.

During the first World War, MacArthur saw action in France, where he rose to become a bemedalled brigadier general and, after a stint with his alma mater as superintendent of West Point from 1919-22, he was assigned to the Philippines in 1924, where he was credited with stopping the mutiny of the Philippine Scouts. He was promoted to the rank of a major general in 1925—the Army’s youngest , at age 45.

In his prime,  the strapping general noted for his vanity and brilliance, cut an imposing, attractive  figure . As a cadet, he dated and was engaged to eight different young women. But it was to the socialite-heiress Louise Cromwell Brooks that he hitched his star on Valentine’s Day 1922, and in Manila, they began their life together. But Brooks and her well-heeled friends thumbed down at MacArthur’s Filipino company, which eventually led to her filing for a divorce in 1929. MacArthur agreed, “on any grounds that will not compromise my honor”.

ISABEL OF THE ISLANDS. Isabel (or Elizabeth, as she sometimes refer to herself) Rosario Cooper was a Eurasian beauty who spent many years in local and international vaudevilles as a dancer and actress. Er stage name was “Dimples”. Alex Castro Photo.

Enter Isabel Rosario Cooper (b. 15 Jan. 1914/d. 29 Jun. 1960),  a young multi-racial actress, daughter of a Scottish businessman with a Chinese-Filipina mother, who reputedly hailed from the affluent South. As a child, she was nicknamed “Dimples”, which she later used as a stage name when she joined local “bod-a-bil” (vaudeville) shows, musical revues that featured dancing, singing, comic sketches and assorted acts.  She had also previously danced  in a Shanghai chorus line.

Lured into movies, Dimples was cast in the 1926 film, “Tatlong Hambog”, where she, barely a teen,  created history with Luis Tuason by performing the first mouth-to-mouth kiss in a Philippine film—a daring act at that time.

FIRST KISS, Isabel Cooper and Luis Tuason perform the first mouth-to-mouth kiss in Philippine cinema history, in the 1926 movie, “Tatlong Hambog”.

In 1930,  MacArthur was named as Chief of Staff of the United States Army. Five months before his reassignment to Washington D.C., his paths would cross with Isabel Cooper in one Manila social event.  When she was introduced to the general, Cooper, in her exquisite chiffon tea gown,  introduced herself as “an actress”. MacArthur was instantly smitten. A lobbyist  who was in that affair recalled her beauty, ”She looked as if she were carved from the most delicate opaline. She had her hair in braids down her back.”

The affair began almost at once. As soon as MacArthur got settled in his new job in Washington, he sent for her from the Philippines and installed her in a suite at Hotel Chastelton on 16^th St. The general lavished her with gifts like kimonos, lacy intimate wear, fur coats—but no outdoor clothes. MacArthur prohibited her from going out, so there was no need for those; her duty, she was told is, “  to lay in bed”.

Gen. MacArthur’s job included traveling abroad and to keep his mistress preoccupied, he bought her a companion poodle. While on extended official visits to romantic cities like Vienna and Paris, he would send her postcards and love letters which Cooper kept and treasured.

A DECLARATION OF WAR. The MacArthur-Cooper relationship turned sour when the two hurled accusations against each other. MacArthur complained of her extravagance and infidelities, while Cooper complained of her restricted life.

But boredom made Cooper very touchy, and when she started bickering,  MacArthur gave in and arranged to have a chauffeured car and spending money at her disposal.  Isabel enjoyed her new-found freedom and it was said that while MacArthur  was away, she would paint the town red and go nightclubbing to seduce men. There were also stories of her splurging money on shopping sprees in Havana, Cuba.

Nobody  knew of the general’s dalliances with Dimples until MacArthur made the mistake of earning the ire of Drew Pearson, an influential journalist of The Washington Post. Together with Robert S. Allen, he wrote a regular gossip column,”Washington Merry-Go-Round”, which enjoyed a wide national following.

The enmity between MacArthur and the Pearson-Allen tandem began in 1932 when 15,000 veterans known as “Bonus Marchers” staged a camp-out with their families in the nation’s capital. MacArthur dispersed the army protesters by force which led to an article jointly written by the journalists that the methods used by the general was “unwarranted, harsh and brutal”, ending with a charge that he was “dictatorial and disloyal”.  Feeling maligned, the angry MacArthur sued them for libel for $1.75 million dollars.

Around this time, too, MacArthur was getting fed up with Cooper’s extravagance and demanding ways. He had also heard of her infidelities. The last straw was when Isabel enrolled in a law school where she was soon meeting young male companions. MacArthur broke off their relationship in 1934,  and promptly dismissed her, sending her a letter enclosed with a plane ticket for her return trip to the Philippines.

MEANIE COOPER agreed to rent out 6 very revealing love letters of MacArthur to newspaperman Drew Pearson, who planned to use these to reveal their secret affair. MacArthur paid for Pearson’s silence and got his letters back.

Meanwhile, in the course of his investigation of MacArthur, Pearson stumbled on the name of Isabel Cooper, located her—and uncovered their secret. When Cooper admitted that she was in dire financial straits, Pearson offered to “rent” six love letters that MacArthur had sent to her, for him to peruse. She agreed, and Pearson not only paid her, but also sheltered her in a Baltimore hideaway for her safety.

The cache of letters  were very revealing as they chronicled the waxing and waning of their feeling for each other. In one, MacArthur pledged undying devotion to Cooper.  A later missive included a “Help Wanted” ad clipped from a newspaper,  a cold response to Cooper’s request to MacArthur to find her brother a job.  The last letter from Sep. 11, 1934 contained MacArthur’s final rejection of her, complete with the aforementioned return ticket. 

Cooper, however, made it clear that she had no plans of ever returning to the Philippines. The wily Pearson ensured that she won’t be going home anytime soon as he included her to his list of witnesses, as the hearing of the libel case proceeded,

MacArthur had already spent a staggering $16,000 in legal fees when suddenly, without any explanation, he dropped his suit against Pearson. A compromise agreement had apparently been reached. On Christmas Eve, 24 December 1934, $15,000 in $100 bills was paid by MacArthur’s aide to Pearson’s agent, who acted in Cooper’s behalf. MacArthur, in turn, retrieved his 6 letters back (but only after Pearson made copies).

DOUG, JEAN & ARTHUR. In 1937, Gen. MacArthur married jean Marie Faircloth and they settled in Manila where their son, Arthur IV, was born. Photo: Wikimedia commons,

Shortly after that brouhaha, MacArthur was relieved of his post as Chief of Staff and retired , but not before meeting a Southern belle named Jean Marie Faircloth on a Shanghai-bound ship. The two were inseparable by the time the ship docked and for the next year and a half, the general squired the well-bred beauty, even as he accepted a new job as Military Advisor to the Commonwealth Government of the Philippines in 1937. 

The general married his second wife in New York on 30 Apr. 1937 and had a whirlwind honeymoon, as the general had to attend a military graduation of his newest Filipino cadets back in the Philippines. But Jean understood her husband, and learned to love the military life. They had a son, Arthur, born in 1938, as a new war loomed in Europe, and which would soon overtake the world. 

With the advent of World War II, MacArthur would play an important role in the defense of the Philippines. Though he was compelled to leave the country and flee to Australia as the allied forces were being defeated in Bataan, he promised “I shall return”, to Filipinos. After 2 years of struggle in the Pacific, MacArthur fulfilled his vow and liberated the Philippines in 1944.

CHA BING, the artist formerly known as Isabel Cooper, as she appears in a Charlie Chan film in 1947.

Cooper, on the other hand, left Washington and relocated to the Midwest, where with her windfall,  opened a beauty shop business.  She later moved to Los Angeles, and tried out for some roles in Hollywood movies where she highlighted her exotic Oriental features and joined auditions using the name Chabing (or sometimes, Cha Bing). 

She was cast but unbilled as one of the wives of King Mongkut in the 1946 film “Anna and the King of Siam (together with fellow Filipina, Rosa del Rosario), and appeared as Lillie Mae Wong in the Charlie Chan film, “The Chinese Ring” (1947). In the 1950s, she was in “The Art of Burlesque” (1951) and “I Was an American Spy” (1951) a true story about war espionage set in Manila where she appeared as Lolita.

ALL THE KING’S WIVES. Isabel Cooper (in circle) was unbilled in this Hollywood classic “Anna and the King of Siam” (1946) as one of the wives of King Mongkut. Rosa del Rosario, another Filipina actress was also a cast member in this Rex Harrison-Irene Dunne starrer.

But offers soon dried up and Cooper fell into a deep depression over her misfortunes, including her failed relationship with MacArthur. She committed suicide by drug overdose on 29 June 1960.

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN FOR ESQUIRE PH., AND POSTED UNDER THE TITLE: "Douglas MacArthur's Secret Affair with a Filipino Starlet", on 18 July 2019.

 SOURCES:

Deocampo, Nick. Cine: Spanish Influences on Early Cinema in the Philippines. published by the NCCA. © 2013, Nick Deocampo.

Manchester, William, American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880 – 1964, Little, Brown and Co., New York, U.S.A., 1978.

Salumbides, Vicente. Motion Pictures in the Philippines. © 1952, by the author. Ch. 18: Kising in the Movies. P.137.

Irving Wallace,  David Wallechinsky, Amy Wallace, Sylvia Wallace, The Intimate Sex Lives of Famous People,  Delacorte Press, 1981.pp. 436-439

Womanizing Warriors — 11 Famous Military Leaders Who Kept Mistresses: https://militaryhistorynow.com/2016/06/17/womanizing-warriors-11-famous-military-leaders-who-kept-mistresses/

 Douglas MacArthur: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_MacArthur

 https://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=118024

 https://www.aveleyman.com/FilmCredit.aspx?FilmID=3369

85. GEORGE REY URBANO: A Filipino Trailblazer in International Professional Wrestling

GEORGE REY URBANO. For over 3 decades, this trailblazing Philippine-born wrestler made waves in the American wrestling circuit as Rey Urbano, Tokyo Tom, Taro Sakuro, and his most famous wrestling persona—the Great Kabooki.

Wrestling has always had a worldwide audience, ever since the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), was founded in 1948 as a governing body for professional wrestling. Based in America, NWA began promoting brawling matches on television back in the early 1950s.  By 1961, canned wrestling programs (Men’s and Women’s) were seen regularly on late-night Philippine TV over DZBB Channel 7.

Curiously, Filipinos did not catch on to wrestling despite their love for contact sports, preferring boxing instead. After all, the boxing world included many Filipino champions—Pancho Villa, Ceferino Garcia, father and son Cely and Anthony Villanueva, Flash Elorde, among others-- fighting figures of our national pride. They were the best reasons to root for the sport—not alien names like Bobo Brazil, Gorgeous George, Killer Kowalski, and the Fabulous Moolah.

Not until the mid-1980s that Filipinos took a second look at wrestling. By then, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) took command of the sports, booking champions and producing big wrestling events, beamed on cable TV from huge venues like Madison Square Garden and Shea Stadium.

SMACKDOWN SOUVENIR. A 1950s fight program from the first golden age of American wrestling features a match between Rey Urbano of Manila versus Axel Cadier from Sweden.

WWF signed up and headlined wrestlers Hulk Hogan, André the Giant, Roddy Piper and Bret Hart, in shows like WWF Superstar, set amidst music, lights and much theatrics. Merchandising gimmicks were launched for its pool of talents, spawning action figures, video games and toys. When the programs went into syndication, they were lapped up by a mainstream audience who found new heroes to idolize.

The entry of Filipino-American grapplers further fueled the Filipinos’ crazy fascination, and later, obsession, with wrestling. There was Dave Batista (David Michael Bautista), a hulking 6’6” wrestler who was snapped up by WWF (now World Wrestling Entertainment or WWE) in 2000.  Now retired, Batista remains visible in action films like “Riddick”,  “Guardians of the Galaxy”, and “Avengers: End Game”.

Benny Cuntapay (B.Boy), has also successfully fought in the All-Pro and Combat Zone Wrestling. While T. J. Perkins, who used to fight as “Pinoy Boy”,  won the inaugural WWE Cruiserweight Championship in 2016. Recently, Fil-Am Michael Paris (aka DJZ), 2-time Impact X Division Champion, was reported in March 2019 to being squired by WWE.

REY OF LIGHT.  Rey Urbano resplendent in a Philippine Muslim costume. Photo by Libnan Ayoub, 100 Years of Professional Wrestling in Australia via Online World of Wrestling.

The extraordinary feats and skills of these world-class Filipino matmen, however, were foreshadowed not too long ago by a Manila-born strongman who blazed trails by breaking into the competitive world of international wrestling—in his time, the only professional wrestler in all of the Philippines: GEORGE REY URBANO.

FATHER JUAN. Rey’s father was born in Samar and became an inventor, the first Filipino to own a U.S. patent for a fountain pen and pencil that can write in the dark. He later entered the movies business back in the Philippines.

Born in Manila on 25 Apr. 1924 to Juan and Sixta Urbano, Rey had quite a comfortable life. His father was a successful inventor and businessman, the cousin of famed movie director and actor, Manuel Urbano (screen name: Manuel Conde), who had made waves in Venice in 1952 with his opus, “Genghis Khan”.

COMING  TO AMERICA. As a student of the San Francisco City College, Rey Urbano (on the right) was a valuable member of the school’ football team in 1948. Photo courtesy of The Guardsman via RECON MAGAZINE, March-April 2017 issue. Used with permission.

Four year old George Rey,  his older 3 siblings (Belen, Marina, Isidro) and their mother Sixta moved to America in 1928, to follow Juan, who had  gone there ahead to set up a manufacturing business. Sixta boosted the family income by selling jewelry pieces. The children went to schools in the San Francisco area where they had settled.

Things were going well for the family, until tragedy struck in 1939 with the death of their mother. Rey was only 15 then, still a student at the San Francisco Polytechnic High School. To make things worse, his father Juan decided to return to the Philippines to look for business opportunities in the field of movie production—an obvious influence from his showbiz cousin whose career was about to peak.

Left in the U.S. in the care of relatives, Rey immersed himself in football and judo. The war in his native Philippines cut short his college dreams, and so, at age 19, like his brother Isidro before him, he joined the 1st Filipino Infantry Regiment in early 1943.

REMEMBER THIS ALAMO SCOUT. 19 year old Rey Urbano, Rey Urbano, as a member of the 1^st Filipino Infantry Regiment in 1943. He and his brother would also sign up as volunteers of the Alamo Scouts. Used with permission from RECON MAGAZINE, March-April 2017 issue.

The 2 brothers would later volunteer to become Alamo Scouts, an elite reconnaissance unit that saw action in the jungles of  New Guinea. The next year, Rey and Isidro were deployed to the Philippines as part of the Allied landing forces.

When the war ended, the young veteran left his military career to go back to school. He entered San Francisco City College in 1947 which had an excellent football program. Though a bit underheight for the sport (he was 5’9”, 200 pounds), Rey became an outstanding player of the 1948 team, which snagged a mythical national junior college championship.

To build his stamina and strength on the gridiron, he took to an alternate sport he had also been avidly indulging in: wrestling. He underwent intense training in the school put up by the acclaimed Filipino wrestler Pantaleon Manlapig, who had previously held many Pacific Coast titles, under the name Tony Aguinaldo in the 1940s.

MENTORED BY MANLAPIG. Rey Urbano trained under Filipino wrestling legend, Pantaleon Catanghal Manlapig, who fought in Hawaii under the name Tony Aguinaldo. He held the Pacific Coast title in the 1940s for several times.

Rey was instantly hooked. He came to master many fighting styles and techniques—Greco-Roman, Sumo, catch-as-catch-can styles.  Bitten by the wrestling bug, he passed up a football scholarship from the University of Southern California,  ignored his father’s pleading to return to the Philippines and be a movie star, and instead, chose to focus on a new goal: to become a professional wrestler.

STRIKING A FIGHTER’S POSE. Rey Urbano in his first official photo as a professional wrestler, taken in 1950. Photo courtesy of L.A. Public Library via RECON MAGAZINE, March-April 2017 issue. Used with permission.

He debuted in a match held in Honolulu, Hawaii on 23 April 1950, using his real name, “Rey Urbano”, defeating Chico Garcia in his very first professional outing . The Ogden Standard-Examiner in Utah was effusive in its review of Rey’s performance: "Rey Urbano came here recently from the Philippines and has impressed with his ability under all kinds of fire… The Islander uses the side of his hand in a cutting manner not unlike the chopping knife he used at home in the sugar cane fields. It is both legal and effective."

Rey was on his way. The next year, Rey was billed in a match at the Los Angeles Olympic Coliseum, capturing the attention of the nearly ten thousand screaming wrestling fans that crammed the venue. The one sad setback he experienced was the death of his brother, Isidro, who was killed in action in the Korean War of 1952.

Though he found steady work throughout the west and southwest in the next few years, Rey realized that the crowd drawers of wrestling bouts were not the favorites like him, but the villains of the ring. In fact, they also brought in the big bucks!  Rey, thus, in a complete turn-around, shed his clean, good boy image to assume a villainous wrestling persona.

TURNING JAPANESE. Rey Urbano made a major career shift by becoming a wrestling villain in the person of  “Taro Sakuro”, a name he used from the late 50s and 60s. Photo courtesy of RECON MAGAZINE, March-April 2017 issue. Used with permission.

As it was just a few years after the terrible War in which the Japanese earned a reputation as heinous villains for their war crimes, Rey chose to be known as “Taro Sakuro”. In 1959, in his first fight in Tennessee, the bearded “Japanese” hulk in a short robe and wooden sandals, ascended the ring and struck fear with his evil eye gaze and calm, but fearful exterior. But most of all, his behavior and fighting tricks disgusted the crowd—which he had hoped would happen—a despicable anti-hero that the audience loved to hate.

Rey enjoyed immense success with his new wrestling character. In  1962, he won the NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship, and, with Oyama Kato, the NWA U.S. Tag Team title. Promoters began matching him  with more popular, more high-profile wrestlers. Needless to say, this move paid off, and he began collecting more susbtantial paychecks. 

 THE TERROR THAT WAS TARO. Rey Urbano as “Taro Sakuro” demolishes Alberto Torres in a 1962 fight. Photo courtesy of Wrestling Revue. Via RECON MAGAZINE, March-April 2017 issue. Used with permission.

As the new bad guy of wrestling, Rey had to deal with the backlash of fans. He survived a shooting, stabbings, and countless verbal and physical attacks. The most serious of all was being spiked on the foot by a woman using her sharp,  stiletto-heeled shoe,  a bloody injury that required surgery. He took all these in stride as occupational hazards that he had come to expect from the job.

Through all these, Rey carried on and retained the Japanese guise that helped  revitalized his career. Appearing in Texas in 1965, he briefly became “Tokyo Tom” and a substitute for “Tokyo Joe”, a convicted wrestler who was banned from the ring. He introduced gimmicks like incorporating over-the-top karate chops and thrusts in his moves that had the audience reacting wildly.

Shortly after the Texas stint, Rey faced another difficult, life-threatening hurdle. He was afflicted with a brain tumor and underwent a crucial operation. Thankfully, the mass was benign. He spent his 5-year long convalescence by going back to the California State University-Hayward  to finish a college degree (Recreational Studies). He found gainful employment at a recreational park where he held P.E. classes and occasionally wrestled to raise funds for his advocacies.

THE GREAT KABOOKI. The most well-known wrestling character conceived by Rey Urbano was a huge, hulking menacing Oriental warrior, a villain that the audience loved to hate. Alex Castro Photo.

Though doctors believed he will never wrestle again, he defied their dire prognostications and returned to the ring in late 1972 in a new incarnation. This time, he transformed himself into a villainous Japanese warrior of unspeakable brutishness, with a fierce-looking face painted for battle, and a name that no one will forget: The Great Kabooki.

He took his Japanese character to heart, dressing in authentic robes, and performing the ceremonial sumo ritual of throwing salt in his fights, which he also used to blind his foes. Everywhere he made an appearance, the Great Kabooki was a daunting figure to behold, inspiring fear and awe. His triumphant rebound was met with roars from the audience, who lapped up his acts and antics on the ring, catapultin him again to national prominence.

THAT KABOOKI FACE. Rey Urbano was the first wrestler to use paint make-up to make his Japanese character more theatrical, and more fearsome.

Rey, as The Great Kabooki, made a surprising comeback and toured the Midwest and the Southwest region. In 1973, he secured a spot in a Detroit promotion starring top wrestling star, The Sheik. He also worked the Great Lakes area, and wrestled in a few International Championship Wrestling shows.  Approaching 50, he still managed to complete 22 matches that year but the tolls of advancing age had begun to show, and he felt it.

To slow down, he accepted a job as a part-time chef in a California restaurant. He also seemed to have inherited his father’s creative genes. He devised “First and Ten”, a football board game and “Knockout”, a boxing game, both for kids. He formed a company—Urbano & Associates—to market these, but they generated little interest, so he eventually sold them off.

THE NAME OF THE GAME.  “First and Ten” was a gameboard developed by Rey Urbano, who inherited his father’s inventive genes.

With failed financial expectations, he returned to wrestling at age 58, reviving his Great Kabooki image. This posed some confusion, however, as by 1981, a younger Japanese wrestler by the name of Mera Akahishi, had started using the same name using the original spelling—the Great Kabuki.

In his 1982-83  farewell tour with ICW in the Midwest,  the Great Kabooki finished 16 matches, including one against the hugely popular Macho Man Randy Savage. His final fight was staged in a high school gym in Illinois. Like a true professional, he fought with his partner, Ratamyus,  in a tag team match and won---this, despite an audience of only 250.

KABOOKI FOR THE KILL. As a wrestling villain, Rey Urbano was jeered and harassed by hostile fans, but he took all these in stride. He entertained fans with his nasty stage demeanor, his tricky karate chops and martial art moves. 

In his twilight years, Rey joined an association of both retired and active wrestlers and boxers known as the Cauliflower Alley Club, which, in 1992 gave him recognition for his valuable contribution to the sport. Though he was married 3 times in his lifetime, Rey had no children; his family consisted of fellow wrestlers with whom he kept in touch regularly in annual reunions.

His fame reached the Philippines, but he was largely overlooked by his countrymen as they were more engrossed with rising boxers who were starting to win world championships in the 60s and 70s.  His occasional trips to his original homeland were more for family visits.

Jun Urbano, the TV funny man known as ‘Mr. Shooli’, remembers meeting his uncle twice. In one of his uncle’s rare homecomings, his family hosted him lunch and was served a specially-large dish of “kare-kare”. He watched him eat until he finished everything off. Then, Rey turned to Jun’s mother, smiled and hollered: “O-kay! Now bring out the main dish!”. His relatives were stunned at his voracious appetite. “Ang laking tao niya! (Such a big man)!”, Jun Urbano recalled.

GOLDEN GEORGE. In his golden years, Rey Urbano became a member of a fraternal wrestling group, and joined wrestling reunions for 15 years.

But Rey Urbano also had a big heart. In his own, quiet  way, he managed to entertain hundreds of wrestling fans for many decades, never mind that he did not attain the great financial success he worked so very hard for.

Described as “an all-around good person”, Rey  made many friends along the way.  In all, he fought a total of 989 matches in his lifetime career under 4 names, and wrestled against revered names like Bobo Brazil, Bruno Sammartino, Randy Savage and Mighty Igor—credentials that are nothing short of impressive.

Rey spent his remaining days in a Las Vegas nursing home, passing away on 16 Oct. 2007 at age 83. He is interred at the Southern Nevada Veterans Cemetery.

Today, wrestling and its related full contact disciplines like mixed martial arts, have a large, loyal Filipino fan base that continues to grow,  thanks to a constant fare of TV wrestling shows: Raw, Smackdown, This Week in WWE,  Bottomline and UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), among others.

URBANO LEGEND. George Rey Urbano, (b. 25 Apr. 1924/ d. 16 Oct. 2007)

While Filipinos are currently rooting for Seth Rollins, Finn Bálor, The Miz Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss, they are also rediscovering their very own Dave Batista,  Brandon Vera, T. J. Perkins,  Michael Paris and Kris Wolf who have become worthy sports icons for legions of Filipino fans. Add to that the name of  George Rey Urbano—the Great Kabooki—a kickass Pinoy came before them, who broke barriers and made history to  become the only Filipino international wrestler in the first golden age of American professional wrestling.

 SOURCES:

Zedric, Lance. By Any Other Name the Story of Alamo Scout George Urbano

RECON MAGAZINE, March-April 2017 issue, pp. 1-8. http://www.alamoscouts.com/news/RECON_MarApr2017_OL_Magazine.pdf

 Pictures used with permission from Mr.Lance Zedric, unless otherwise noted.

 -Clovis News Journal (NM). “Wrestling Star Has Colorful Background.” Dec 17, 1952

-Drason, Dave. Wrestling Revue. 2007.

 -Friend, Percival. Rest in Peace, Reynaldo Urbano, The Original Kabooki. 2007. Wrestling Newsletter by Mark Bujan. http://www.oocities.org/percivalafriend/friend102207.htm

 -Funk, Dory, Jr. on Rey Urbano. As reported by Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com On Thursday, October 18, 2007.

 -The Guardsman Yearbook. City College of San Francisco. 1948-1949.

 -Hurschmann, Bill. He Makes Football Better Game. San Mateo Times. Jul 11, 1977

 -Johnson, Steve. Original Kabooki faced a tough foe. Slam Sports. Oct 11, 2007. http://slam.canoe.com/Slam/Wrestling/2007/10/17/4584657.html

 -Jourdan, Walt and Lee. “From Shoeshine to Star Wars” (The Chronicles of Walt Jourdan).

 -Lamas, Demas. Wild Wonderful Career Recalled. Fremont Argus (CA). Apr 15, 1971. P. 11.

 -Ogden Standard-Examiner. Twin Main Events on Wednesday at Berthana. Dec 16, 1951. P. 12A

 -Online World of Wrestling.http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com

 -Oxnard Press-Courier (CA). “On the Town with ‘Bud’” Jun 25, 1976.

-Urbano, Rey. www.Wrestlingdata.com

 -Wrestling Revue Magazine. 1963. P. 48. Photo of Taro Sakuro.-The Great Kabooki: http://www.geocities.ws/percivalafriend/friend102207.htm

 -World Wrestling Federation, https://www.encyclopedia.com/media/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/world-wrestling-federation

Other Photos:

·       The Great Kabooki close-up photo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKQ7YXXQ_L4

·       Rey Urbano older photo: Rey Urbano at the 2003 Cauliflower Alley Club reunion in Las Vegas., Photo by Rose Diamond

·       Rey Urbano photo by Libnan Ayoub, 100 Years of Professional Wrestling in Australia via Online World of Wrestling, http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/bios/r/rey-urbano/

84. 8 LOOK-ALIKE LANDMARKS OF THE PHILIPPINES

The Filipino obsession to find their counterparts of the West was a form of colonial mentality that peaked post-war.  From fashions to fads, locals copied American ways. Philippine showbiz spawned its own versions of Elvis, Liz Taylor, James Dean and Charlie Chaplin. Soon, landmarks from the Western world began making their appearance here--some intentionally copied, a few just accidental look-alikes. 

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BANTAYANG BATO of Sta. Rosa Laguna and ARC DE TRIOMPHE of Paris, France

The Sta. Rosa Arch in Laguna served as a watchtower for marauding pirates in the early days.Watchmen blew their horns either for signs of danger, during festivities or for mourning a deceased native In 1925, municipal president Jose Zavalla hired David Dia to renovate the Arch which was said to be modeled after Paris’ Arc de Triomphe at the Champs-Élysées, built in 1806. The local  Arch was built near the market area in 1931. Dia, a native of Santa Rosa, was a famous sculptor during his time. He was th maker as well of Dr. Rizal’s monument in the town plaza.

Picture sources: Alex R. Castro Archives

 

THE LEANING WATER TOWER of San Fernando and THE LEANING TOWER OF PISA

Pisa’s leaning belfry was started in 14 August 1173 and took 199 years to complete. The tower began to tilt while it was being constructed and has a height that varied from 186 to 183 feet, and currently leans at an angle of 3.99 degrees. In the City of San Fernando, Pampanga, there exists a version of the Italian campanile—but the leaning structure is a NAWASA water tower that was constructed in 1929 at a cost of Php10,000. Due to subsidence and its weak foundation, it tilted through he years. There was an attempt to prop it up in 1947, but the cost was prohibitive. Thankfully, it  stopped tilting in 1955. It makes an angle of 87º with the horizontal (normal is 90º with the horizontal.

Picture Sources: Leaning water tower: photographed by Nelson Pineda, Tower of Pisa: Author’s collection

 

THE RUINS of Negros Occidental and the TAJ MAHAL GATE of Agra, India

The great gate to the Taj Mahal of India is of medieval architecture, with fine inlay work of white marble and precious stones on the red sandstone surface. It is eerily similar to the remnants of the mansion once owned by sugar baron Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson and Maria Braga Lacson in Talisay, Negros Occidental, now known as The Ruins. The grand residence was constructed in the early 1900s, inspired by medieval Italian architecture. It has been transformed by descendants into a tourist attraction.

Picture Source: Taj Mahal gate: www.pixabay.com , The Ruins: photo by Dustin Mijares, www.choosephilippines.com

 

SANTIAGO APOSTOL CHURCH of Betis, Pampanga and SISTINE CHAPEL of the Vatican.

The Sistine Chapel, originally known as Cappella Magna, is found in the Apostolic Palace where the Pope resides, in the Vatican. It is famous for its ceilings which are profusely decorated with 15^th and 16^th century frescoes with many biblical scenes, as well as events from the life of Christ. Its Philippine counterpart can be found in the baroque church of Betis, rebuilt with concrete materials in 1770. The church underwent extensive renovation and beautification during the term of its last Spanish priest, Fray Santiago Blanco in 1939. The magnificent ceiling paintings are attributed to a series of artists that included the legendary Simon Flores,  Isidoro C. Soto, a relative of literary great Juan Crisostomo Soto;  Macario Ligon in the 1930s; and, in the early 1980s, Victor Ramos (1922–1986) who repainted and restored almost 80% of the ceiling artworks. The church has been declared a National Cultural Treasure by the Natioonal Museum and the National Comission for Culture and Arts in 2001.

 Picture Sources: Sistine Chapel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Chapel, Betis Church: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betis_Church

THE LINCOLN STATUE of Baguio City and the LINCOLN MEMORIAL of Washington D.C.

In Washington D.C., just across from the iconic Washington Monument stands a the Lincoln Memorial, built to honor Pres. Abraham Lincoln. In the expansice central hall can be found the seated statue of the great president, carved by the Piccirilli Brothers under the supervision of the sculptor, Daniel Chester French. The statue stands finally 19 feet (5.8 m) tall from head to foot, and took 4 years to finish, A more modest version can be found at the Liberty Park, in Camp John Hay, Baguio City. Abe, just like his Washington counterpart, sits dignified on a chair, although he is made of cast cement with painted features that made him look sadly comical. There is also a Statue of Liberty replica in the same park.

 Picture sources: Lincoln in Baguio: Photo by Neil Sinadjan, taken Nov. 2009, www.tripadvisor.com.ph, Lincoln Memorial statue: https://www.nationalparks.org/our-work/programs/lincoln-memorial-rehabilitation

 

LOURDES GROTTO of Bulacan, and the LOURDES GROTTO of Massabielle, France

In 1858, starting on Feb. 11, the Virgin appeared to 14 year old Bernadette Soubirous in the cave of Massabielle in Lourdes, France. Her apparition was climaxed with the revelation that she was the Immaculate Conception. The rock cave has become the focal point of the Our Lady of Lourdes shrine. The religious grotto in Lourdes has been replicated  at brgy. Graceville in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan and features a small spring whose water, running beneath the Lourdes statu, and like the spring France, is also said to be miraculous.

Picture Sources: Lourdes, France: vintage postcard, Author’s collection, Lourdes,Bulacan: https://www.vigattintourism.com/tourism/articles/Our-Lady-of-Lourdes-Grotto

 

CHRIST THE REDEEMER of Cagayan de Oro and CHRIST THE REDEEMER of Brazil

The symbol of Christianity worldwide, the 98 foot-high concrete statue of Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer), with arms open wide, stands on the peak of the Corcovado Mountain, overlooking Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. French sculptor Paul Landowski created this art deco masterpiece, and executed by Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa. Th massive image was built between 1922-1931. There are at least 3 copies of Cristo Redentor in the Philippines, but the most faithful is the one found in brgy. Balua, Cagayan de Oro. The 30 foot-tall statue, completed in May 2012,  stands on a 10 hectare land owned by the Villar-owned Golden Haven memorial sanctuary.

 Picture sources: Christ the Redeemer, Brazil: Wikipedia, Christ the Redeemer-CDO: Photo by Clement Dampal II, http://www.bestspotsph.com/2013/04/santuario-de-redentor-perfect-replica.html

 

STATUE OF LIBERTY of Intramuros and STATUE OF LIBERTY of New York

The most replicated symbol of American freedom is that of Lady Liberty, which stands enlightening the world on Staten Island in New York. A gift of France to the U.S., th 305 foot image was inaugurated in 1886. In Manila once stood an 8-foot copy of the Statue of Liberty in the Balurate de san Diego, Intramuros. The Philippines was one of the recipients of the bronze statue, which was created on the occasion of the 40^th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America in 1950. It survived attacks from student activists in the 60s thru the 70s, until it was moved for safekeeping at the BSP head office in Ermita, Manila.

Picture sources: Liberty of Intramuros: CardCow.com, Liberty of NY: wikimedia commons

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN FOR ESQUIRE PHILS. AND PUBLISHED UNDER THE TITLE "8 

PHILIPPINE LANDMARKS TAKEN FROM OTHER COUNTRIES", 20 May 2019.

83. MEMORABLE MOVIE KISSES IN PHILIPPINE CINEMA HISTORY

LIPS-TO-LIPS: Evolution of Kissing Scenes in Philippine Movies

By the first 2 decades of the American Occupation in the Philippines, the influence of our new masters had become more pronounced, even in our forms of entertainment and leisure. For example, the rickety Spanish period cinematografo teatros—cinematographic theaters where short films were screened—were giving way to newer, more modern edifices.

Cine houses sprouted bearing American names:  Empire, Majestic, Modern. Many existing theaters like Ideal and Cine Moderna were enlarged and updated with new acoustics to suit  the latest trend in films--talking pictures—as well as to accommodate the growing number of star-struck moviegoers.

But when it came to film choices, traditions die hard. Filipinos clung to Spanish-influenced themes, which they believed reflected their own culture and values. As such, religious pictures depicting biblical characters and stories—like “Passion Play”, Los Milagros de la Virgen de Antipolo--- were the most popular in the early years of Philippine cinema. In 1911, “Life of Moses”  was the blockbuster film for the year 1911.

OUR DANCING DAUGHTERS. A Hollywood made film that tackled the controversial subject of the “loosening of youth morals”, never before seen in local cinemas. It was shown in 1929 at the Ideal Theater. Starring the flirtatious Joanne Crawford and John Mack Brown. Before the 1920, religious themed-movies were the most popular. Image: Graphic Magazine, July 1929.

This pattern would change when Hollywood stars came to town, overshadowing the European performers. These larger-than-life screen figures would not only become the new idols of the movie masses, but their films would also be powerful mediums of Americanization.

A far cry from the plot-less, disjointed films of old, American films, with their superior production,  were windows to the changing ways, mores  and attitudes of the modern world. Depictions of sex on screen, under the cloak of harmless amusement, provided sensual fulfillment, among others.

Ideal, for example, showed MGM films that would captivate even the morality-conscious Filipinos—fiery love stories  like “Woman of Affairs”, and “Our Dancing Daughters”—that tackled “the loosening of youth morals”.

A WOMAN’S AFFAIRS. A Greta Garbo-Gilbert Roland starrer, first shown in 1929 at the Ideal Theater. Just  3 years before, the same stars indulged in the first open mouth kissing on screen, which shocked audiences worldwide. Hollywood Films such as this would change Filipino attitudes towards overt displays of affection such as kissing. Image: Graphic Magazine, August 1929 issue.

Filipino males ogled at early sex sirens Theda Bara, Clara Bow, and later, Great Garbo. Women secretly admired the bedroom charms of Rudolph Valentino,  Douglas Fairbanks, Ramon Novarro, and John Gilbert. 

Filipino film makers foresaw the lucrative future of this new art, with Jose Nepomuceno  (b. 15 May 1893 ‘ d. 1 Dec. 1959) at the helm. Known today as the “father of Philippine Movies”,  Nepomuceno  exhibited his first dramatic feature, “Dalagang Bukid”, in 1917, followed by a string of usual Spanish-titled films.  Two fires destroyed his studios and equipment, but Nepomuceno would rebuild his business in 1924  with the help of a University of Southern California law graduate and  Hollywood-trained actor and director, Dr. Vicente Salumbides.

Salumbides not only introduced new techniques in screenwriting,  design, editing, and cinematography, but also dared defy guardians of morality—including movie censors—by showing on the big silver screen, the first ever kiss in Philippine movie history.

THE KISS THAT STARTED IT ALL. Couple May Irwin and John Rice re-enact the kiss from the musical “The Widow Jones”, captured on film in April 1986. Image: wikimedia.commons

The world’s first kissing scene captured on film was shot in April 1896, a re- enactment of the kiss from the stage musical “The Widow Jones”, between May Irwin and John Rice, at the Edison Studios, New Jersey. The 18 second kiss—which includes sweet nuzzling and short pecks—shocked the Catholic Church and called for its censorship. But not only was this ignored; instead,  the film spawned  three copycat film versions: Negro Kiss (1898), The Kiss in the Tunnel (1899) and The Kiss (1900).

LEARNING FRENCH. The first open-mouth French kiss, performed by reel-real life lovebirds, Greta Garbo and Gilbert Roland in the movie “The Flesh and the Devil”. Image: Alex Castro Photo Archives

In due time, passionate displays of affection were routine in American movies. But the most explicit was performed  by  reel and real life lovers, Greta Garbo and Gilbert Roland in the movie, “The Flesh and the Devil” shown in 1926.  Their torrid, open-mouth kissing was the first French kiss in an American film. Their  lip-smacking moments were photographed by William Daniels, using natural lighting (such as a lit match stick), and were described as “very erotic”.

That very same year, Salumbides began a film project with the title “Tatlong Hambog”, a silent romantic comedy starring the hunky Luis Tuason, a nationally-ranked boxer and the Filipina-American actress Isabel Rosario (Elizabeth) Cooper (aka “Dimples Cooper” on the bod-a-bil stage) .

FIRST MOVIE KISS IN PHILIPPINE CINEMA. Luis Tuason and Isabel Cooper (aka “Dimples”) made history by smooching for the silver screen in “Tatlong Hambog”, a silent picture produced by Jose Nepomuceno in 1926. Cooper later became a mistress of Gen. Douglas Macarthur. Image: Motion Pictures in the Philippines, by Vicente Salumbides. 1952.

The story called for a kissing scene, which, ordinary Filipino directors would simulate, using such tricks as fading out the lights before the  lips of the actors could touch, or shooting from the back so as to hide the actors’ lips.

Salumbides and his stars dared break the kissing taboo by performing the real thing—a full mouth-to-mouth kiss, that was shot against the ruins of the old Guadalupe Church in Makati. It is, today, recognized as the first historic osculation in Philippine movies.

An undated  silent picture, “La Hija de la Revolucion”, starring Mary Walter and Gregorio Fernandez, also featured a kissing scene between the two stars. Though no photo exists, Walter, said in a 1962 magazine interview: “It was a kiss and there was no faking about  it”.

Director Salumbides began shooting another movie later in the year entitled “Fate or Consequence”. This time,  he would not just direct a film, but would also star in it. Written into the script was another intense kissing scene.

The Manila Carnival of 1926  had just ended, and Salumbides convinced some of the candidates to appear in his film, including Muslim princess and former Miss Cotabato, Sofia Lota (real name: Pinaganda Magadi Sinambal Malibatang).  Also cast in the film was Miss Pampanga, Rosario Panganiban, whom Salumbides had been squiring for some time. They had met through Vicente’s niece, Nanita, who was a classmate of Rosario at Centro Escolar de Señoritas.

A WHOLE LOTA LOVE: The exotic Mindano beauty queen, Sofia Lota, locked lips with Vicente Salumbides in the 1926 film, “Fate or Consequence”. Salumbides was also the director of the film. Image: Motion Pictures in the Philippines, by Vicente Salumbides. 1952.

When the cameras began rolling, Salumbides and Lota embraced and locked lips—much to the chagrin of Panganiban, who was watching the shoot. She was livid.

“When I saw you (Vicente) kissing Miss Cotabato”, Rosario recalled,” I suffered the worst feeling of jealousy although we were not engaged at that time. I don’t want to experience another attack of that sort. It’s better to be away from temptation”.

Needless to say, that movie kiss fast-tracked the wedding nuptials of Salumbides and Panganiban. As for Lota, “the exotic find from the untamed regions of Cotabato” would pucker up again in her next movie, “Lumang Simbahan”, doing it this time with Gregorio Fernandez. Lota would rise to become one of the most sought after star in the showbiz circuit.

MOUTH-WATERING. Fernando Poe Sr. and Rosa del Rosario caroused and kissed underwater, and on land in this 1937 classic movie directed by Eduardo Castro. Image: (Zamboanga Movie 1937) Robert G. Published on Jul 14, 201 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWb6fo8ZbYI

It would take over a decade before another much-talked about kissing scene would happen. This time, it was in the 1937  “ Zamboanga”, the first Philippine full color movie from Filippine Films which famed director Frank Capra proclaimed as “the most exciting and beautiful picture of native life I have ever seen on screen.”

The story about the seafaring southern tribes starred Rosa del Rosario as Minda, and Fernando Poe Sr., as Danao. It featured the first underwater kissing scene, and more smooching on land.

Of her kissing scenes in that movie, del Rosario would later muse: “My underwater sequence with Fernando Sr., were nothing compared to my kissing scenes with Johnny Mack Brown in Hollywood westerns”. Del Rosario was referring to the 1946 cowboy photoplay, “Border Bandits”, where she was cast as Mack Brown’s love interest.

Not to be outdone, the 1939 Visayan talkie, “Bartoldo Balodoy”, featuring leading man Ben Ollada, paid lip service to her leading lady. But so defective was the sound system of Cebu’s Vision Theater where the movie was screened, that a crackling smack was loudly heard all over the cinema.

KISS ME, JOE!. Matinee idols Rogelio dela Rosa and Norma Blancaflor had their kissing moment in the 1946 rom-com movie, “Victory Joe”.Image: (1946 Victory Joe B&W 97 minutes Directed by Manuel Silos), Citizen Jake, https://vimeo.com/328659457

After the war,  producers  had more reasons to insert  titillating  kissing moments in their films. The 1946 romantic comedy from LVN pictures, “Victory Joe”, showed a long, romantic kiss between Norma Blancaflor and her suitor, Rogelio dela Rosa, just returned from the War.

WE KISS IN THE SHADOWS. Vic Oliver and Erlinda Cortes do some serious kissing in the 1947 movie “Dalawang Anino”.Image: Motion Pictures in the Philippines, by Vicente Salumbides. 1952.

 When things had settled a year later, movie fans were treated to the provocative kiss performed by Vicente Oliver and Erlinda Cortes,  complete with tight embracing and hair clutching. The 1947 blurb of the love-drama  “Dalawang Anino” referred to this fervid display of feelings as the  result of the “baliw na pagnanasang umabot sa sukdulan ng pagbubunyag” (crazed desire that had reached the point where it had to be revealed!).

KISS UNIVERSE. Armi Kuusela and Virgilio Hilario in their only movie based on their love story “Now and Forever” shown in 1953. Kuusela was a guest of the 1953 Philippine International Exposition when he met the dashing businessman, and became man and wife soon after. Image: Constantino, Ronald K., Lo, Ricardo F. The Golden Years: Memorable Tagalog Movie Ads 1946-1956. Published by Danny Dolor, Manila, 1944. P. 18.

By the 1950s, kissing in Philippines became more common, and in fact, more fashionable.  The first Miss Universe Armi Kuusela and beau Virgilio Hilario showed them how it was done in their 1953 debut “Now and Forever”.

A VETERAN AT KISSING. In “Anak Dalita” (1956) Rosa Rosal plays a prostitute who falls for Vic, a war veteran, ably played by Tony Santos Sr. Image: (Anak Dalita) Gobitz, Published on Apr 18, 2011 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX2fiDZ8gPE

The Golden Harvest Best  Film awardee at the 1956 Asia-Pacific Film Festival, “Anak Dalita” (1956), had, perhaps, the best horizontal position kiss administered by Tony Santos Sr., on screen vamp Rosa Rosal. In the film, Rosal was Cita, a prostitute with a heart of gold, who has fallen in love with a returning injured Korean war soldier, Vic, portrayed by Santos. The fleeting, loving  kiss was just about the hopeful thing in a story filled with sorrow and squalor.

CARIÑO BRUTAL. Aida Cariño and Oscar Moreno were the star performers in “the  most sizzling kissing scene ever  shot for a Philippine film”, at least in 1957. This was in the movie,  “Objective: Patayin si Magsaysay” . Image: Garcia, Jessie B., A Movie Album Quizbook. Erehwon Books & Magazines, © December 2004 by Jessie B. Garcia.

After reviewing local films, weekly magazine Variety voted the kissing-in-bed scene of film veteran  Oscar Moreno and young actress Aida Cariño as “the most sizzling kissing scene in Philippine movies, to date”.  The said scene was shot for Champion Pictures’ “Objective: Patayin si Magsaysay”,  released in 1957.

It was also in the Fifties that American production outfits began discovering the Philippines as a perfect shooting location for war pictures that were all the rage at that time. Filipino actresses were often typecast as island girls who stole American soldiers’ hearts. It was not difficult to persuade our conservative actresses to kiss their American leading men--for the sake of art.

TAKE ONE KISSER. Filipino actress Alicia Vergel resisted a kissing scene in the 1957 movie “Day of the Trumpet”  with American John Agar, but changed her mind and did the scene in one take. Agar asked for more, which sent her scurrying  away. Image: Garcia, Jessie B., A Movie Album Quizbook. Erehwon Books & Magazines, © December 2004 by Jessie B. Garcia.

Alicia Vergel reluctantly complied when she was cast as John Agar’s love interest in the 1958 film, “Day of the Trumpet”, a joint Fil-American production. ”I didn’t like to do the kissing scene”, she said. But then she reconsidered when she realized that “the film would be dull in America without the kissing scene.”

Her only condition was that the kissing scene be done in one take. Vergel got a good “take one” kiss. But, as she related, “John Agar commented that he liked the kiss so much that he wanted one more take!”. Alicia demurred, and reacted by scampering away from the set, bawling all the while.  She recalled later that John Agar came back to appease and humor her. “I feel insulted”, Agar said. “You are the first leading lady I kissed who cried.”

PARALUMAN SURRENDERS TO A KISS. German-Filipino actress Paraluman had a record 4 kissing scenes with American actorKeith ndes in the war movie, “Surrender Hell”, shot in 1958.Image: (Surrender Hell) VCIClassicMovies, Published on Nov 7, 2013 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeq_NcD8ckM

The lovely Paraluman had no qualms about  kissing a foreigner, and required no persuasion.  “As long as it is done with finesse and the script calls for it, I do not object to it,”she declared like a real pro.

When she was cast with American Keith Andes in the 1959 war action film  “Surrender Hell” ( an Allied Artists movie based on Gen. Donald Blackburn’s exploits), Paraluman not just had one, but four serious smooching scenes with her leading man, an experience she enjoyed. “It’ all in a day’s work”, she quipped.

George Montgomery was already a  big star of TV and the Silver Screen when he returned  to the Philippines in 1961. He had previously been to the country in 1955 to shoot a guerrilla movie entitled “Huks”, with Mona Freeman.

This time around,  Montgomery was set to direct--and star-- in yet another war film-- “The Steel Claw”. As the handicapped John Larsen whose right hand has been replaced by a hook,  Montgomery meets a mestiza, Lolita Smith—played by Charito Luna.

SPLENDOR ON THE GRASS. Filipina Charito Luna and George Montgomery had some lovey-dovey moments in th 1961 war film “The Steel Claw”, that ended with some heavy kissing, dominated by Charito. Image: The Steel Claw: PizzaFlix, Published on Jul 10, 2013,: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v14Cpol3YQ8

In contrast to the shy, demure roles assigned to Filipinas, Luna’s character was more wordly and aggressive. As Lolita, she comes on strong to the captain, and soon, their small talk leads to some lolling on the grass,  culminating in a meeting of lips, with Charito on top.

Two movies in the 60s made the tabloid news—and not just because they featured sensational kissing scenes. “The first local picture wherein kissing scenes will be consummated”…. “the first Tagalog movie with real, honest-to-goodness kissing scenes”, thus heralded the blurbs used to promote “Huwag Mo Akong Limutin”, Director  Gerry de Leon’s 1960  opus.

KISSING LESSONS FROM THE SENIORS. The 1961 movie ”Huwag Mo Akong Limutin” ran afoul of the censor’s rules because of its controversial themes. But the theme won major awards at the FAMAS including acting awards for  the kissing seniors, Oscar Keesee and Arsenia Francisco. Image: Mirana Medina Collection

As it turned out, it was not the double kissing scenes (performed by Oscar Keesee/Arsenia Francisco and Cesar  Ramirez/Cynthia Zamora) that alarmed the local censors board, but the central themes of the flick: marital infidelity, kidnapping and abortion. The movie was briefly banned, until it was re-edited. De Leon was vindicated when the film dominated that year’s FAMAS, winning 8 awards, including Best Film and Best Director trophies. Senior kissers Keesee and Francisco won both supporting acting awards too.

KISS-KISS, BANG-BANG. Ronald Remy holds the distinction as the first Filipino actor to kiss an American actress full on the lips, He traded kisses with Sylvia Lawrence in the 1961 war movie, “Bus to Bataan”. Image. Video48 “The 60s #174. Ronald Remy, Liza Moreno, Paul Edwards, Sylvia Lawrence in Lamberto V. Avellana’s “Bus to Bataan” (1961).http://video48.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-sixties-174-ronald-remy-liza-moreno.html

The next year (1961) , “Bus to Bataan”, another war film with Filipino and American stars hot the theaters to the thrill of movie fans.  Filipino Ronald Remy turned the tables on Pinay-kissing American actors, by French-kissing American actress Sylvia Lawrence.  Remy eventually became a born-again religious leader, while Lawrence shifted to costume design which won for her many Emmy awards and nominations.

After awhile, it seemed that every other film of different genres was inserting  kissing scenes as part of the strory’s attraction.  In 1964, the comedy spoof, “James Bandong” had funny man  Chiquito, cavorting with sexpot Miriam Jurado. Their beach shore romp ends in a smooch that would go down in our film history as the longest, uninterrupted kiss in local cinema, that lasted for all of 6 minutes.

All hell broke loose at the onset of a the 70s decade as local producers took the counterculture slogan “Make love, not war” literally, by churning out soft-core movies known as “bomba” films.  Considered as the first bomba film is “Uhaw”,  the film, starring Merle Fernandez, was based on a komiks series touted as “the most daring and boldest story ever written”.  Fly-by-night producers cashed in on the bomba trend, but pushed the envelope further by adding not just scandalous kisses of all kinds, but also real, hard-core sex.

But nothing prepared the audience for one of the most unexpected kisses ever to be seen on theater screens. In 1971, the multi-awarded director, Lino Brocka, made the film “Tubog sa Ginto”, a story about an unfulfilled woman married to a closet-gay husband Benito, who secretly carried an affair with his male driver.

The theme of the movie was controversial enough, but Brocka defied government censorship and religious censure by showing the first no-holds barred gay kissing scene on Philippine cinema, between the homosexual husband Don Benito (Eddie Garcia)  and his young stud Diego (Mario O’Hara).

MAN-TO-MAN RESUSCITATION. Lino Brocka broke barriers by introducing the first gay kiss in the film, “Tubog sa Ginto” (1971) . Eddie Garcia and the late Mario O’Hara shared some daring kisses (as well as a shower), all done in the buff. Image: (Tubog sa Ginto), Cinema Retro, Published on 2017-05-01. https://reppeat.com/watch/?v=4ah2ajH_8aw

With a story written by the venerable comics legend Mars Ravelo,  and shot under the helm of a respected director, no dissenting voice was heard, not even a whimper. “Tubog sa Ginto” was given the ultimate accolades during the FAMAS season, winning  Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and  plus two other acting nominations.

The Garcia-O’Hara gay kiss was unprecedented in our media history, predating the first gay-themed drama series in Philippine television, “My Husband’s Lover” (2013), where the conflicted Tom Rodriguez (as Vincent) planted an oh-so-tender kiss on his object of affection, Dennis Trillo (as Eric). Unfortunately, the full kiss was not shown on TV, in deference to the MTRCB (Movie and Television Review and Classification Board); it is included, however in the DVD release.

Kissing in Philippine movies have now been featured for nearly a hundred years. Since then, every imaginable taboo, once unspoken and forbidden,  have  been depicted in graphic ways, especially in the internet age—involving transgenders, lesbians, bisexuals, husbands with multiple queridas, priests having affairs, mature women  indulging in carnal pleasures with young men (remember the rough kissing of young Tom Labrusca and Angel Aquino in “Glorious”?), among others.

But there’s nothing like a fundamental kiss to incite and ignite the audience’s full range of emotions—from warming hearts,  conjuring the magic of romance, arousing feelings of giddiness,  naughty thoughts, and let’s face it, lust and sex. Movies give a sense of legitimacy in releasing those feelings with the imprimatur of the censors.  

The audience can lose themselves and become, for a fleeting moment, the star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, the tempestuous Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler, the Sheik of Araby and his harem of lovers; or,  closer to home,  the conquering “Machete” or the insatiable “Curacha, ang Babaeng Walang Pahinga”. And since new love teams emerge every day from the silver screen, movies will never run out of kisses, because, just as the song reminds us-- the world will always welcome lovers…as time goes by.

 ORIGINALLY WRITTEN FOR ESQUIRE PHILIPPINES UNDER THE TITLE "LIPS TO LIPS" THE EVOLUTION OF KISSING SCENES IN PHILIPPINE MOVIES", posted on 12 June 2019.

 SOURCES:

·       “First Philippine Movie Kiss”, Sunday Times Variety, 1 May 1962. P. 3

·       GRAPHIC Magazine, July-August 1929 issues

·       “The History of the Kiss in Philippine Cinema”. PIC, The Ultimate Magazine,  Vol. 1, No. 11, 1972.

·       Constantino, Ronald K., Lo, Ricardo F. The Golden Years: Memorable Tagalog Movie Ads 1946-1956. Published by Danny Dolor, Manila, 1944. P. 18.

·       Deocampo, Nick. CINE: Spanish Influences on Tagalog Cinema, Chapter 5: On Viewership, published by The National Commission for the Culture and the Arts. p. 298

·       Garcia, Jessie B., A Movie Album Quizbook. Erehwon Books & Magazines, © December 2004 by Jessie B. Garcia.

·       Villasanta, Julianito, Tio Ticong Pelikula at Pulitika (Vicente Salumbides) . 2002

·       Salumbides, Vicente. Motion Pictures in the Philippines. © 1952, by the author. Ch. 18: Kising in the Movies. P.137.

·       Best Movie Kisses of All Time, https://www.filmsite.org/filmkisses2.html

·       Mirana Medina Collection, for the photo of Oscar Keesee and Arsenia Francisco from “Huwag Mo Akong Limutin”.

·       Advocacine Blog: https://advocacine.wordpress.com/2014/08/12/first-honest-to-goodness-kissing-scene-in-tagalog-movies/?unapproved=15163&moderation-hash=cdcdcad03be03a8275d815a84e040c54#comment-15163

YouTube screen grabs:

·       Zamboanga: (Zamboanga Movie 1937) Robert G. Published on Jul 14, 201

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWb6fo8ZbYI

·       Victory Joe: 1946 Victory Joe B&W 97 minutes Directed by Manuel Silos, Citizen Jake, https://vimeo.com/328659457

·       Anak Dalita: Gobitz, Published on Apr 18, 2011 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX2fiDZ8gPE

·       Surrender Hell: VCIClassicMovies, Published on Nov 7, 2013 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeq_NcD8ckM

·       The Steel Claw: PizzaFlix, Published on Jul 10, 2013,: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v14Cpol3YQ8

·       Tubog Sa Ginto: Cinema Retro, Published on 2017-05-01: https://reppeat.com/watch/?v=4ah2ajH_8aw