Born Rodolfo Vera Quizon, Dolphy was to become the Philippines' King of Comedy, a title he held until his passing in 2012. Back in 2007 I was fortunate to have a brief chat with Dolphy over coffee and cakes - his treat, of course, as he was a gentleman - at his favourite bakery in an older part of Manila, near his RVQ Productions office. I was constantly in awe of how generous he was with his time and energy, as was the rest of the Philippines which, when he passed, went into a kind of mourning reserved for Kings and legends.
Much of the interview was about the films he made with Weng Weng, and is included in both my Search For Weng Weng documentary (2013) and book (2017).
Andrew Leavold: Let's start at the very beginning, at the start of your stage career.
Dolphy: My first was wartime during the Japanese occupation, I was already performing as a chorus boy, the chorus line. And then later on I was getting a part to do a solo, then the rest is history.
What kind of stage productions were you doing at the time?
During that time there were no movies or TV, but stage shows. Because it was occupied by the Japanese. So you could only see Japanese movies. Nobody was making local films. Anyway, the Americans came over, Liberation, we started doing the movies. The movies then were not so good yet, because there is no equipment. But later on we started making good movies. That's the time I started. My producers in the stage shows were also the ones producing the movies, so I was given a part in a movie, and then so forth and so on. I was given a big part. So many producers took me over, and gave me a good part in a movie. That's when I became "Dolphy".
The Fifties really was a Golden Age for cinema?
I was under contract. My former producer for the stage show was the father of FPJ [Fernando Poe Sr], but unfortunately he died of hydrophobia. During that time there was no medicine for hydrophobia, so he died at a very young age. I was taken by Sampaguita Pictures and they gave me a contract, but before that Bayani [Casimiro], another tap dancer, is also a producer and director, took me to a show - there was opening up a good musical show - and I said, "I will go with you, but please teach me how to dance." He said, "That's easy, I'll do it, but you should be more responsible for dancing." Because it's a really hard kind of dance, not like the Boogie Woogie or the Cha Cha or anything. "Yes, I'll try very hard." Later he taught me how to tap, and we became partners for a while. That's why I told everybody I was the first Japauki! [Filipino entertainers in Japanese bars] In 1951 we were in Japan. Japan was not as rich as it is now. After the war, '51, so me and Bayani, we stayed there for six months, and then next year another six months. I stayed there for three years, every six months. But then later on Sampaguita Pictures gave me a break to a movie which registered. They loved my acting, my comedy, so they signed me for a seven year contract. That's the start of giving me the good roles.
I was given a break to do a gay role, that's the start of it - Jack And Jill [1954], it was a big hit. After that I was given a good part in a movie, and my salary went up and up. But Sampaguita closed for a while. I started shooting independently, but I was thinking of producing my own production. I was talking to Erap, the ex-President Joseph Estrada, he said you can produce, you can do it. All you have to do is, everything on credit. You don't pay the newspapers, you pay it drop by drop, in installments. The raw materials, you also don't pay by cash. Everything is in credit. So I started making my own movies. Fortunately I got a big hit. My first movie was Buhay Artista [1967], because we had a TV sitcom. I asked the producer, the owner of the network, if I produced the movie, he would give me the story and I'll make it into a movie. They gave it to me. It was a big hit, so RVQ [Productions] was built and established. And now my company is getting bigger every year. Television started first, before I produced. This is the Sixties. I started Buhay Artista in '64. But TV was already on in '62, I was performing as guest only, because they know me already in movies from the Fifties. They gave me a chance to do Buhay Artista, that started it all.
Even before Buhay Artista, in the early Sixties you were making five to ten films a year?
No, I was only given small parts in the movies, in Sampaguita when I had a contract. They gave me Jack And Jill, that movie really made me. That's the first time a gay role was introduced in the movies. At that time the gays were not recognized by everybody. It was a long, hard climb before I reached my goal.
So in the Sampaguita films you were mainly in supporting roles?
Yes, but in between I went to Japan. I stayed in Hong Kong also for a long time performing with Bayani. So, you name it. In radio I had five radio shows every week. I was there! Every medium.
Can you tell me about the Crazy Corporation?
I was not in this group. My group was with Bayani, Panchito - all my friends, and sometimes I co-starred with the. Teroy de Guzman, Don Angeles - the five of them, sometimes they put me in a show to mix with them, but I was not with the Crazy Corporation. But they're all good friends of mine. They all rest in peace.
But a very popular stage act?
Very popular at the time.
Was this also in the Fifties?
No, it was during the television time, Sixties and Seventies also.
When you formed RVQ Productions in the mid-Sixties, this must be the period you were making up to ten films a year.
No, I did four or five movies a year. Sometimes I did two movies outside when I liked the role.
A lot of these films were spoofs on Western pop culture - parodies of James Bond, Lone Ranger…
Anything that became a hit, we would do a parody of it.
This was very popular with Filipino audiences?
Oh yeah! During the James Bond time, Goldfinger was very popular. I made the movie Dolphinger! (laughs)
The first film of yours I saw was James Batman [1966]. You play not only James Bond but also Batman!
I don't even remember anymore that movie! I made a lot of them, sometimes I don't remember anything more. It's a case of "too many". Those are independent productions. I made Genghis Bond [1965], all kinds of titles!
And The 7 Faces Of Dr Si Bago [1966, a loose reworking of The Seven Faces Of Dr Lao]?
Si Bago. It means stupid!
I've also seen Darna…Kuno? ["Darna…Fake?", 1979]
I said, "Are you sure you want me to play this role? This is for a woman…" Maybe they want me to be gay. But in fairness to the writer of this Darna movie, he might get angry, he might not like it! But because he loved me, Mars Ravelo - he'[s a genius, he made Darna, Lastikman, Captain Barbell. It's also a parody of the heroes in the United States. Captain Marvel is Captain Barbell!
So Darna…Kuno? is a parody of a parody! But Mr Ravelo gave you his blessing?
Yes, because he also gave to me the part of Jack And Jill. That was very popular in the komiks. During that time komiks were very popular, everybody was reading komiks - you'd see people around always reading komiks.
So in the Philippines, movies were like moving komiks?
But not very good, the standard, when you compare them to the American cartoons.
I guess in every section of show business there was always a rivalry. Your rival was Chiquito?
Yeah. His brother Rene [Pangan], rest in peace - Rene was my partner during the time before I joined Bayani and Dolphy, we had a group of dancers called the Four Hot Shots, four guys and one woman. We were all dancing the Boogie Woogie. The brother of Chiquito was a friend of mine, and my partner before. Chiquito was the younger brother of Rene, which is the friend of my brother. So they were very close to me, even the family. And he's my friend also, and I loved the guy. But they died so young.
How would you characterize Chiquito's screen presence?
He's great, he's good. My advantage is I'm more goodlooking than him! (laughs) But he's really very talented. He can shake, he can dance very well. And he's a jack of all trades also. He's a jockey, a policeman, a motorcycle policeman, can also play a pilot. He's an all-around guy.
I saw him in a kung fu film too!
Because when you do a movie, you have to learn also the kung fu and all the martial arts. Basically, you know, and do some stuff in a comedy way. Like when you do this (holds hand up to his nose, Three Stooges style), I use only one finger!
I noticed you did a kung fu film called Dolphy's Angels [1980].
I made a movie, Fung Ku [1973], instead of Kung Fu.
So you played David Carradine? (laughs)
Yeah, but in a different way.
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I thought Dolphy's Angels' director Luis San Juan mostly made kung fu films. I didn't know he did comedies?
He did a lot of my movies. All my movies basically, when I started, it was the James Bond thing. He was the one who took me to play James Bond, called Dolphong Scarface [1966]. That was Luis San Juan. It was all in black and white, it was in a film festival competing with so many color films. Tony Ferrer was so up there at the time, he was the King of Action then - of course Ronnie Poe was also there. Competing with all these color films, it was only black and white, but it made money, so that started the James Bond, everything. Even in Chinese, it was James Bond.
Tony Ferrer was doing it seriously, and you were…
Comedy, yes. Even the way you do your kung fu style.
Dolphy's Angels introduces a whole new generation of actresses; it's like you introduce the biggest actresses of the next few years, all four of your Angels [Carmi Martin, Yehlen Catral, Anna Marie Gutierrez, Liz Alindogan] become famous. Were they well-known before?
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It seems that not only are you an actor, but you are also a producer and therefore have an eye for talent, and could see the potential in all four.
Sometimes you get disappointed - sometimes you think "this is good", but…it's really not that good. But at least talented people are always quiet, they are better actors than the talkative ones!
One of my favourite actresses of the Seventies was a frequent co-star of yours, Lotis Key.
She was also an actress in Repertory Philippines. I gave her a part in one of my movies but she could not do it. So years passed by and then I saw her appearing in some movies. I took her for Fung Ku, and then we became good friends, and she became my girlfriend, he he, but unfortunately we broke up, '78 or '79. But she is a nice girl. She's in America now. Her father is American, her mother is Filipina. She had a very hard time speaking Tagalog. That's why I always talked to her in Tagalog - I'm having a hard time speaking English, so she'd try to speak to me in English!
RVQ Productions seems very much like a family - not just your employees, but actual members of your family!
It really is a family production. Because everything that I produce is also a family life, with comedy and action, the family is always together. So I made this production to help some people. Not only for myself but my relatives, my family and my friends, and some people who are down and want to put them up again.
When people think of a Dolphy film, they often think of Panchito, your regular co-star.
I put Panchito in a comedy in a radio show, because Panchito was portraying a different role, he is portraying a character role, mostly a villain or an old man, the father of the woman or son, the snobbish guy. Only villain role. But he's funny without the camera - when you are with him and you talk to each other, he's really funny.
Weng Weng… (laughs) I loved that guy.
It would appear that Da Best In Da West was the first film Weng Weng starred in?
No. In my productions it was the second. The first one, I think, was The Quick Brown Fox. I play the role of an agent and WW is my sidekick. Because some of the goons and the masterminds are all foreigners, I’m the brown face who’s very fast in everything. So I am the one to be eliminated by the Racket. Weng Weng is my sidekick, he lives with me. (Laughs) He’s my right hand, you know? But he was killed by the goons, crucified in my room. He clicked in that movie because he knows martial arts and can jump very fast. SO that was his first.
How was Weng Weng introduced to you?
A friend of mine brought him to me.and said, “This is Weng Weng.” He appeared already in one of Luis San Juan’s movies. I said, “I’ll try to think of a place to put him in a movie.” During that time my productions were doing very well. So every time that I produced, everybody wants to be an agent.
Was that friend Pete Caballes?
Caballes, yes. I met him also with Luis San Juan. And his wife was a councillor here in Manila. I haven’t seen Pete and Cora for a long, long time.
So Pete approached Luis San Juan, who cast Weng Weng in a small role, then did The Quick Brown Fox for RVQ, then Da Best In Da West?
Yes.
And this was before he was cast as Agent 00?
Yes.
In Da Best In Da West, more than half the cast and crew seem to end up working on Pete’s Liliw films. Did you actively encourage him to make a feature film with Weng Weng?
No, I was thinking of a role for Weng Weng in the movie, because there’s so many in the cast. Lito [Lapid], now Senator Lito, wanted those guys to be in the picture, I said OK. Anyway this is action, we need those guys to do the fight scenes and choreography. Yehlen [Catral] was one of my leading ladies from Dolphy’s Angels, and I took this mestiza woman [Nina Sara] for Lito Lapid – her father’s Tony Carreon, she should be Spanish looking.
All the classic bad guys are in the film – it’s not just a parody of a western, but of a Pinoy western!
It was a very expensive movie, because almost all of the villains from the history of making movies are all there. Paquito Diaz, Romy Diaz, Max Alvarado, so many others. [Eddie] Nicart, and all the goons of Lito Lapid. And I had my own goons as well! It was part of my comedy.
It’s a celebration of Goon Cinema! Was it successful?
Yes, but we were competing with the first Superman that was showing here. You would see people watching Superman AND Da Best In Da West!
It was 1979?
No, 1981.
And The Quick Brown Fox was earlier?
Earlier. 19…80.
Back to Da Best…
We were shooting in Baguio, because it looks like a western place. At that time, not any more because there’s so many houses there. You can’t see the mountains anymore, there’s all residences there. And you can get some big horses in Baguio. They charged me more every day! So we had a contract for one week’s shooting. It looks like a western. And it’s action, and funny. I play the blacksmith who makes a gun that shoots backwards! So that was my bait – that they would pick up my gun and shoot themselves!
There’s an outrageous stunt where Lito Lapid rides a horse through a plate glass window…
We had a hard time doing that. The horses, they stop. So what we did was put a plank, the horse runs over it… In one shot we blindfolded the horse, but the horse can sense this! But we got the shot OK.
When I found Weng Weng’s brother and asked him about his favourite film, he said the one Weng did with Lotis Key. Did she make a film with him? [The film is most probably Silakbo (1975)]
This I don’t remember. Am I in the movie?
I don’t believe so.
So many people were getting Weng Weng for their movies after The Quick Brown Fox and Da Best In Da West. They say it was lucky, that Weng Weng’s lucky to have in a movie.
And not just because he was huge box office? He was a real superstar for a short period.
I remember putting Weng Weng with another girl – she was also a dwarf – in one of my movies, but I don’t know what movie… [it was 1981’s Stariray]
Were you the star?
Yes, I was in the movie. He was courting somebody, I go with him to court this woman and to ask her father for her hand. It’s a funny scene – the father is also a midget, and the house is so small, I have to bend down! (explodes with laughter) I always bump my head!
What are your memories of Weng Weng as a person?
Well, he’s really a toy, you know? Because he can do lots of things, because he’s a dwarf, and their brains are not smart. He had his own gun – he was an Agent, did you know that? I don’t know where Pete got this guy. All I know is that he died.
Somebody told me he had the mind of a ten year old.
I don’t know… I just heard he wasn’t with Pete anymore. Unfortunately we’re talking about old people who have already died! The other day I was thinking of a friend, and all of them are gone already. I have to make new friends!
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