89. The Life & Times of Violin Prodigy, ERNESTO F. VALLEJO: The Country’s Youngest Pensionado in History

When the former concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, Michel Piastro, heard the 13 year old Filipino violinist Ernesto Vallejo play in Manila in 1922, he gushed:  "It is a crime that this child should continue here longer. Of the 11 million Filipinos, I am sure there is only one Vallejo. What is more, I doubt that in the entire Malay race he has his equal." The famed Jewish violinist, Mischa Elman, who had also heard the boy, had an even more urgent plea:  "No time should be lost in sending young Vallejo to the United States. To fail to do so would be to lose a genius who will bring honor to the Philippines.”

And so, at age 14, the violin virtuoso was granted a scholarship and became the country’s youngest pensionado in history. With Don Ariston Bautista providing additional funding assistance, Vallejo was sent off to America in October 1923.

ERNESTO VALLEJO, BOY VIRTUOSO. Just 13 in this photo, Vallejo impressed New York Philharmonic orchestra conductor Michel Piastro with his masterful performance. His talent would take him to America as the country’s youngest pensioando, where his star would shine even more. Alex R. Castro Collection

There have been ominous signs that Ernesto Fausto Vallejo was destined for greatness at a young age. Born on 19 December 1909, Vallejo  grew up in a home filled with music. Jose Vallejo, his  Ilocano father, played the violin and led the Army and Navy Club Orchestra, while Feliza Arriola, a Visayan-Tagalog was a talented harpist. Many of his 11 siblings (he was the sixth child)  could play the piano and sing—sister Fely not only became a singer, but also an actress, who later became the wife of director Gerry de Leon.

Family lore had it that he very young Ernesto was fascinated early with the violin.  His father used to hang his violin away from his children’s reach, but Ernesto always managed to find it. Once, in an effort to reach the instrument, Ernesto used a high chair but lost his balance, and fell on the floor. His father gave him a sound trashing, and then to avoid another incident, he bought his son a toy violin made of tin. The older Vallejo began teaching him the rudiments of violin playing, and the boy learned very fast, sometimes learning musical pieces alone.

The young Vallejo was already adept with the violin while still in grade school at the Santa Cruz Primary School. He was sometimes featured at the Zorilla Theater, the Columbia Club and the Army Navy Club where he never failed to wow the patrons with his violin skills. His playing brought him to the attention of music maestros Marcelo Adonay and Bonifacio Abdon, who took him under his wing, under the sponsorship of  the Asociacion Musical de Filipinas.  There, the 7-year old, fondly called “Vallejito”--owing to his diminutive size—was given a violin perfect for his size.

 Coming to America

 His journey abroad, however, started on a negative note. While on a stopover at Japan en route to America, Vallejo’s name was mistakenly linked to the snatching of a 5-year old boy. Yokohama police boarded the ship to try to arrest the young violinist. His passport was confiscated, and was brought to the police station. The shocked boy was finally cleared when and American consul vouched for Vallejo’s character, and the Japanese soon realized that it was a case of mistaken identity.

TAKE A BOW.  Ernesto (X) with his violin, as a member of the Riverdale Country School Glee Club. Image: Graphic Magazine, 1929

Upon arriving in America, Vallejo enrolled as a high schooler  at the Riverdale Country School in New York where he would stay for four years.  

Likewise, he started studying violin techniques under the private tutorship of Herr Franz Kneisel, a German violinist who ranked among the world’s best. Often made to practice 7 hours a day, the young Vallejo became a favorite student of the temperamental master. His progress was quick and he was soon giving concerts for the benefit of the Riverdale community. In recognition of his musical ability, Vallejo was made a director of the Riverdale Country School Glee Club, a group reserved for the best students.

Incidentally, Vallejo not only excelled in music but also in sports. He was an ace tennis player and for 3 successive years, and won the Riverdale Junior Championship title, boosting his popularity as a campus figure.

In 1924, several multimillionaires from Florida, headed by Henry Seligman, requested Herr Kneisel to send his best violinist to headline an annual concert for the aristocrats of Palm Beach. Vallejo was the master’s choice, and his impressive performance won the hearts of the discriminating audience.

Of the 16 year-old virtuoso’s performance, the Palm Beach Journal gushed, “Vallejo’s first two numbers were capable of showing all the beauty of tone, the restraint so rare, the marvelous technique and warmth of feeling  surprising from one so young…In Wieniawski’s “Russian Airs”, he was particularly delightful, and the spirited “Slavonic Dance” by Dvorak, (a severe test, using Kneisel’s arrangement) he stood nobly, playing with verve and distinction.”

 AMERICA’S GOT TALENT…and it’s a Filipino! Teen-ager Ernesto Valljo was a prized student of Franz Kneisel who was often sent to perform in music events around America, with very important people in attendance. Image: Graphic Magazine, 1929

Seligman was highly impressed; not only did he invite him for the next year’s concert but he also gifted Vallejo with an antique Landolfi’s  violin worth $20,000, and even offered to adopt him!

The year’s highlight was a performance before Pres. Calvin Coolidge at the White House, where he would win fans and admirers like California millionaires Mrs. Lionel Atwill, who gave him another violin valued at two thousand dollars.

The Artist is Recalled to the Philippines

In the 6 years he stayed in America, Vallejo gave a total of 14 concerts all over America—Boston, Philadelphia (where the press made much of him), Washington D.C. (private concerts before Governor Davis and Secretary of War, James Good), Chicago and San Francisco.

He toured both East and West Coast, meeting Hollywood stars like Janet Gaynor, Marion Davies, Ramon Navarro in the process. He hobnobbed with musical luminaries as Heifetz, Zymbalist, Eddie Brown, Ruth Breton, Sasha Jacobsen (his tutor after Kneisel’s death in 1926) and Samuel Gardner. He would also perform for Gen. Douglas MacArthur at his Stotsenberg Estate in Philadelphia.

IN BAD SYMPHONY. Ernest Vallejo, in an outing with his American and Filipino friends. His alleged questionable conduct put him in hot water with Pensionado Committee in 1929, who gave him marching orders to come home. Image: Graphic Magazine, 1929

Due in part to his time on the road--performing, travelling and socializing—unfavorable news about his conduct soon reached Manila. It was rumored that the 20- year-old was leading a Bohemian life among kindred artists in New York.

As a result, in early 1929, Vallejo was ordered recalled to Manila by Gov. Gen. Dwight F. Davis to face the Pensionado Committee. The controversy was a result of a misunderstanding between Vallejo and his pensionado agent Mrs. Georgia Williams and the incident was soon settled.

His final graduation concert was held in 14 March 1929 at the New York Town Hall—the first Filipino to do so-- where he brilliantly performed Edouard Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole and Brahms' Sonata in A major. Noel Strauss of the Evening World of NY observed that “although many violinists have tried their hands at the overworked Brahm’s sonata, it remained for a 19-year old Filipino boy from Manila to give an adequate interpretation of the work.” The Columbia Recording Co. dangled a lucrative contract for him to record original Philippine compositions, but by then Ernesto Vallejo, now a young adult, was ready to come home. On his way to the Philippines, he gave concerts in Shanghai and Hong Kong that drew large, appreciative crowds.

Home is the Hero

THE WORLD AT HIS FEET.  20 year old Ernesto Vallejo returned to Manila to show off the fruits of his musical education in America. His homecoming concerts were huge successes, all me with standing ovations. Image: Philippine Free Press

Vallejo returned to Manila to a rapturous welcome on September 1929. He immediately gave a series of homecoming concerts beginning n September 18, at the Manila Grand Opera House.  As expected, he brought the house down. The founder of the Manila Symphony Orchestra, Alexander Lippay, enthused:  "He plays everything with soul…..There is no question about his talent. Although only 20 years old, he plays with the maturity of a man of forty. It is phenomenal!"

Vallejo was expecting he would be sent to Italy after resolving his difficulties with the Pensionado Committee. This, apparently, did not materialize.  Undeterred, he focused on performing and mentoring student violinists for the next decade or so.  The violinist and later, conductor Redentor Romero was a student.

In 1934, Ernesto Vallejo married Nona Guebert of Manila, and started a family (they had 3 children) and also a new job as a member of the U.P. Conservatory of Music  faculty. He would resign this post to teach at the Academy of Music, and to join the Manila Symphony as concert master.

VIOLINS IN THE MOVIES. Ernesto Vallejo had his musical moment in the Parlatone-produced “Bahay Kubo”, which premiered at the Fox Theater in 1938. The musical romance starred his sister, Fely Vallejo. Image: Philippine Graphic, 1938

He even found time to dabble in movies, appearing in the 1938 film “Bahay Kubo”, directed by brother-in-law Gerry de Leon and starred in by his sister Fely Vallejo. It was a story about a poor girl who was discovered for the opera, and Vallejo has a scene showing skillfully playing his violin with passion and aplomb.

But Vallejo loved most his concert tours with pianist Prof. Esteban Anguita, that allowed him to bring his violin music all over the country. His last public appearance was at the Times Theater, where he performed musical interludes, often with sister fely joining him.

A cruel end to a charmed life

The coming of the War would bring untold miseries to many Filipinos. Even the Vallejos were unscathed from enemy threats, so they fled to Tanauan, Batangas upon the invitation of an affluent friend and godfather Manuel Gonzales. Ernesto encouraged the rest of his siblings to join them there, but they refused. The move proved to be a tragic one for Ernesto.

The initial years of Japanese occupation seemed uneventful enough, as Vallejo—who bought along his musical pieces and 4 violins to Tanauan—would hold impromptu concerts,some of which were even attended by Japanese officers and soldiers, many of whom he befriended.

But, when the Japanese got wind of the coming of the American liberation forces to Laguna and Batangas, they went into a murderous frenzy on 10 February 1945. The day before, guerrillas had issued a warning for civilians to flee Tanuaun, as reports of massacres in Laguna had reached them. Fifteen members of the Gonzales family immediately packed up and left the town, but Martin Gonzales chose to remain. Also opting to stay put was Ernesto Vallejo an d his family.

That fateful day, Japanese soldiers rounded up a number of civilians in Tanauan, a group that included Ernesto Vallejo and his family. Hoping that the violinist would be recognized by the commanding Japanese officer who had once been part of his concert audience, he raised his hands. A hail of bullets was fired by the Japanese as they massacred the group, ending Vallejo’s life, his wife and 3 children. He was just 35.

Their bodies were said to have been thrown into a well, but  no traces of them could be found.

ONE BRIEF SHINING MOMENT. The war put an end to the brief, shining career of violin prodigy Ernesto. He and his wife and 3 children were massacred by Japanese in Tanauan, their bodies never to be found. His memory lives on in his music, a few recordings of which survived.

Today, saved for a few in the music circle, the name Ernesto Fausto Vallejo remains unknown and unremembered. For years, rumors abound that someone managed to find Vallejo’s valuable violins and musical pieces,  amidst the rubble and decay. Even the Vallejo home in Malate was bombed and razed to the ground, and whatever was left of Vallejo’s personal items—photographs, souvenirs, mementos—were lost forever. 

But Ernesto Vallejo left behind a legacy of records that will be hard to surpass and will be long remembered—first, for the music that he created as a phenomenal violin savant with no equal, and second, for being the youngest government pensionado in Philippine history.

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN FOR TOWNANDCOUNTRY.PH AND POSTED UNDER THE TITLE: "THE FILIPINO VIOLIN PRODIGY WHO WOWED THE PRESIDENT AND HOLLYWOOD STARS", 3 January 2018. 

 SOURCES:

Graphic Magazine, 1929

All other photos, Alex R. Castro Collection

5. Star Shrine: TESSIE TOMAS, The Total Comedienne

TONGUE-THAI'D. Tessie Tomas drops by for a surprise visit during my work stint in Bangkok, Thailand. 1992.

“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.

WHAT'S MY CUE? Tessie's handwritten cue cards for a show at her agency alma mater, Ace Compton. 1985.

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”.

ALL LAFFS RESERVED. Manila Garden Hotel show, 1985.

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.

PASSION PLAY. "A woman named Desire, wants you to play with fire".  Valentine show at Century Park Sheraton. 1985.

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.

 “Let me introduce you to..Literary Geometry. Cosine to the left of them…tangents to the right of them… Into the valley of death…rode the logarithms!”

A SHOW OF PASSION. Scripts by Alex R. Castro, Tessie Tomas, Lorenzo Reyes. Directed by Rene Hinojales.

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!”

BONI BUENDIA: Ang Bituing Matapang (Da Bold Star), directed by Peque Gallaga. Manila Peninsula. 1985.

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”.

T.T.LLATIONS. A One-Woman Spectacle. Scripts by Alex R. Castro and Tessie Tomas. Directed by Boy Abunda. Hotel Intercon, 1984.

 “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”

FROM GAGS TO STITCHES. Light & Sound Theatre Lounge. Scripts by Tessie Tomas, Alex Castro, Peque Gallaga, Ipe Pelino. Directed by Rene Hinojales. 1985.

 “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.

IMELDIFIC SHOW. "Meldita!". Light & Sound Theatre Lounge. Post-People Power Show. Directed by Kokoy Jimenez.

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.

ALL LAFFS RESERVED. Starring Tessie Tomas, Bill Ibanez, and introducing Jon Santos.

 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.

AS LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD. From the show "T.Tillations. She portrayed multiple chatracters: Red Riding Hood, Wolf and Grandma!

 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.

KOMEDI TONAYT. At the Cosmo Bar, Greenhills. Scripts by Tessie Tomas, Marlon Rivera, Cary Rueda and Alex R. Castro. 1988.

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”.

TESSIE UNCLOGGED. With Joji Isla. Scripts by Tessie Tomas and Alex R. Castro. Directed by Ed Murillo. Captain's Bar, Manila Mandarin. 1996.

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.

WEESHART! With Gary Lising. Directed by Johnny Manahan. Scripts by Tessie Tomas, Gary Lising and Alex Castro. Tavern on the Square.

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.

SHOOTING STAR. Shooting a segment for a Chow King corporate show, 2006.

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.