But I'm in Manila right now and since the household is glued to the almost 24/7 coverage of Mang Dolphy's "burol" or "lamay," (viewing at Heritage Park, and eulogies given by ABS-CBN and TV5), I also see snipets of interviews of the comedian's children and friends, and clips from his old movies and TV sitcoms.
If my Diche (Aunt Silang) were alive, she'd be crying buckets for sure; she simply loved Dolphy. My Uncle, her husband, was an original John Purontong, the character popularized by Dolphy in John N' Marsha. Tsop (Tiop for Tio Pen) wore similar "sando," and was funny and humble.
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| The Purontong Family of the famed John N'Marsha. |
Our household watched Buhay Artista on Sunday evenings, then. My favorite part was the song and dance portion of Dolphy and Panchito, where Panchito sang lines in English and Dolphy translated into Tagalog. That was hilarious.
Then came John N' Marsha, the classic sitcom of the 80's. The memorable vignettes of this sitcom are John's sira sirang sando (torn T-shirt), Matutina's shrilly voice (napakasakit sa tenga), Dona Delilah's "kaya ikaw John, magsumikap ka... ", and the evening ritual of John N' Marsha cooing or moaning at each other, in raspy, longing tones, before they go to bed.
Marsha: Johhhhn....
John: Maaaarsha....
Repeat 4X.
And of course in one early-episode openings, John was seen sleeping on a wooden bench in their crowded shanty, with a sangkalan (chopping board) as his pillow. Classic.
Dolphy has 18 kids but never married. Maybe he didn't marry because he wanted all his kids to feel equally loved (walang inggitan - no jealousy), because their mothers had been equally loved, too. Just a thought.
MAY YOU REST IN PEACE, Mang Dolphy.
2 comments:
Dolphy should be given the National Artist award. He was our family's favorite comedian.
Dolphy was a decent, sincere and funny man. Phil. movies will be different without him.
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