King of  Comedy Dolphy is now in critical condition, according to his son Eric Quizon.

In a text message sent to ABS-CBN News earlier on Wednesday, Quizon appealed for understanding if they can't talk about their father's condition right now.

                                                An ABS-CBN News Bulletin
                                               June 20, 2012

            I don’t know what to make of this news bulletin.

            The last time I saw Dolphy was during presscon for one of his films, Tataynic, a spoof if Titanic. As I recalled then, he was surrounded by cast and crew of RVQ Productions and people close to him.



Director Ben Feleo – who had worked with him in more than 21 pictures – said a clear gauge if producer Dolphy was happy with the project was his face. “He had a special aura if things were going well and in this movie, I didn’t see him show a sour face for one reason or the other. Parang napakagaan ng dating niya sa pelikulang ito. Pag nasisiyahan siya sa project, iba ang lakad niya. And I saw it all in Tataynic.”

   Love partner Zsa Zsa Padilla, who played Rose Windshield in that film, pointed out what was special being a part of Dolphy’s life. “I have never seen one as thoughtful as Dolphy,” she said. “He makes this clear to you by calling you regularly in your place of work, by buying your favorite food, the works

            Son Vandolph once told me what he had learned from his famous father who happens to be the King of Comedy. “When you go with someone as famous as my father, you are bound to learn a lot by just being with him. He always brings me along to his shooting and by just observing him and talking to him, I learned how to pick up jokes, how to create one and how to work with people. Luckily, I didn’t have to try too hard to be funny. Siguro talagang nasa dugo naming ang pagpapatawa.”

            Dolphy, 83 and father of 18 – one adopted – once unravelled the story of his life thus.

            He was born in Tondo and this was where his childhood and teenage years were spent. He was second to a family of 10 (five boys and five girls) and they lived quite comfortably. His father was a mechanic in Atlantic Gulf doing spare parts for interisland vessels and his mother was a teacher.

            Life then was much simpler. There was only the radio and entertainment was mostly live shows. Life was good but it turned harsh during the Japanese Occupation.

            At that time, he couldn’t really figure out who was rich and who was poor. Everybody wore those white suits with ties and they looked well-off in those attire.

            He didn’t think he was born a comedian. In his childhood, he was asthmatic; he was quite a gregarious kid. “Medyo malikot ako sa klase,” he admitted once. “Because of this, I was perennially being transferred from section to another until I landed in the last section.”

            But he loved to watch live comedy shows. “I used to bring packed lunch to my brother and, on the way, I watched the shows of Pugo, Lupito and Patsy. Sa kapapanood ko sa kanila, pumasok tuloy sa isip ko ang pag-aartista.”

            And he did. He was second year high school then and when he started earning good money from performing, he quit schooling His other friends and some acquaintance he knew ended up as mga siga ng Tondo.

            One unforgettable episode of his teenage years was one Christmas before New Year. At that time, he was already performing in Orient Theater. By accident, he threw a firecracker on a jeepful of policemen who just came from a raid. What he didn’t realize was that they were lugging Thompson and grease guns.” I could have been shot right there and then if they reacted violently,” he recalled that scary moment of his life.

            And so he ended up behind bars on New Year’s Day. When the inmates saw him, they exclaimed, “Aba, si Dolphy pala ito, ah. Talaga palang loko-loko ito.”

              His recollection of that event: “I was with Tony Santos then who tried to reason out with the authorities. The more he argued, the more they exaggerated my offense. But a police captain who played poker with my uncle saw me and vouched for my character. I was released soon after.”               After that incident, he didn’t touch firecracker anymore.

            He was a DI (dance instructor) in Tataynic but decades before, he was actually discovered in showbiz partly because of his dancing prowess. “In my younger days, I could do the entire dance craze except ballet. I was good at modern dance, I excelled in tap dancing, you name it, and I could dance it. Now, I couldn’t possibly do all that. Hindi ko na kaya yong ginagawa ng mga teenager na naglulundagan sa dance floor. I guess I can take to ballroom dancing with some flair. Now I really prefer sophisticated dancing.”

            Then again he rued: “  I guess you can call me one of the original ‘Japayukis.’

In 1951, Bayani Casimiro and I did some shows in Japan and we were well-received that we stayed for six months and kept coming back year after year. We did comedy acts; we did mime and tap dancing. We were a big hit not just in Japan but in local territory like Clark Air Base, Sangley Point and other American bases.”

            The pay was good and that was the reason why he was always abroad at that time even during Christmas. That’s the time when he felt a little guilty for not being with his family on Christmas Day. But he made up for those absences. He had loads of money when he returned from abroad and he enjoyed it with my family.

            At one time, he was asked: Which do you love more, your family or your job? “Understandably, I said I love my job more. Jokingly, I said, “Aanhin ko ang pamilya ko kung wala na silang makain.”

            But he made it a point to be with his children when time allowed it. It used to be that they had gatherings every week and they had dinner. “We exchange problems and we try to find solution to all of them. But now, they all lead busy lives and we can only manage to be together rarely, if at all.”

            But his happiest moment as father was when he was with his children and they were enjoying every minute of that get-together. “The saddest part was when I learned that some were involved in rumbles and then one got knifed in the process but was nevertheless spared.”

            Dolphy’s admission: “ I am human like any other concerned father. No one knew the depth of my despair when I learned that one of my sons was going to jail and he was still there since the early 80s. If I had an extra life to spare, I prefer to take my son’s place in jail. Seeing your son suffer behind bars is one of the worst agonies a father can go through. In that sense, I have suffered enough.”

            It’s not true that he did nothing to help his son. He approached people discreetly but he could not reveal their names because he didn’t want to besmirch other people’s reputation. “As father, you are driven to cut corners just to save your son.”

            But things sometimes don’t work the way he wanted them to.

            At times, he wondered:  “They only have one father and yet iba-iba ang mga ugali nila.With my share of problems I confront in private life, how did I become King of Comedy?”

            He attributed it to sheer hard work. “It is also lots of prayers. It is also pure luck. I know that there are many talented people out there who deserve the big break that I got but they are not just lucky. So I thank my lucky stars.”

            Of course, fame and fortune have their drawbacks.

There are private things in his family life that he wanted to keep to himself but suddenly they were all over the papers radio and television. Suddenly, there was no boundary between his private and public life and he just had to cope and cope well.

            He admitted the sad part about gaining fame is losing privacy.

            “But this is a career that keeps you alive. The income sustains your family and on top of that, you make people happy. When I see despondent people smile over what I did, parang tumataba ang puso ko.    I guess I am lucky that I got into a profession specializing on making people happy.”

            But just like any other human being, Dolphy goes through private torments and yet his job called for him to put up a happy face for his show.

            This had happened many times.

            Like when he went to Canada to do a live show and his mother just died.”It was tough on me making people laugh while I mourned a mother who just passed away. In another show, my brother just died and you had to put up a happy front for the taping of Buhay Artista with Nora Aunor.”

            As the song goes, that’s the way of the clown and that’s the part he must play.

            People say he had a great career and the longest one in showbiz’s history.

            He had been in showbiz for more than 60 years and the memory of those decades was, for him, priceless. “I fondly remember my Sampaguita days and the time I was doing Facifica Falaypay, Pinoy Matador, Jack en Jill, John en Marsha, those Mars Ravelo movies. I remember working with Lino Brocka in the film Ang Tatay Kong Nanay with Nino Muhlach. He was a unique director who knew how to guide his actors. I was supposed to play a gay father who must act manly in front of a growing adopted son. When I first read the script, I told Lino, ‘Why, this is not comedy. This is drama. Well, he trusted me with the role and here I discovered how meticulous he was as a director. Kahit na yong pagtulo ng luha may timing. When I saw the finished film, he was right all along. Talagang malaki yong impact ng ginagawa niya. He was a real perfectionist. There are many good film directors but there is only one Lino Brocka”

            Where did he get his flair for comedy?

            Watching Pugo, Lupito and Patsy in his younger years exposed him to the craft but to sum it up, it was experience which taught him a lot.

 “There is nothing like experience to teach you what will work and what will amount to a dud. Most of my comic acts I drew from real-life experience.   Experience is also a university. As I didn’t finish my schooling, it was experience which taught me how to deal with people and how to deal with your career on a day-to-day basis. I didn’t even have a manager when I started. Everything was pure luck and pure guts and lots of prayer.”

            If he had to live all over again, would he revise certain parts of his earlier life story?

            “I guess I won’t change anything. This is the life that the Lord has given me and that’s the way it is going to be all over again. Iyon ang itinalaga ng Panginoong Diyos, iyon ang tatanggapin ko. I have no regrets about every chapter of the life I led.”

            What else did he aim for in life?

            Nothing much except for those he  would eventually leave behind.

He got more than what he bargained for in his life and career. He cannot ask for more.

.’ What will make me happy now is a good and happy life for my loved ones.”

 

 

 

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