Ang brush, bow!

Author: Ricardo F. Lo
Column: Funfare

If I were writing this story for Charo Santos-Concio's Maalaala Mo Kaya? (noted for its single-word-titled episodes), I would call it simply Brush. You see, two years ago, my friends Raoul Tidalgo and Betty Veloso-Garcia (the Filipino nurse who worked at a New York hospital where most of the 9/11 victims and survivors were rushed) and I paid Boots Babushka (Note: Babushka is Russian for "old lady") a surprise visit at his Manhattan pad which doubles as his hair salon, and Boots gave me a gift which I use up to now -- a brush. "It's good for your hair," he said -- and he should know because in the '70s, he used to own and manage his own beauty parlor on Tomas Morato Ave. (Quezon City) and he was one of the. .. if not the. .. best hairstylists in town.

Of course, people above-40 will fondly remember Boots as the Pilita Corrales impersonator who can out-Pilita the original. He's, in fact, so "very Pilita" that even Pilita Corrales (Boots' Dear Friend) used to wonder if she's the "fake" one. Boots created the Pilita Corrales "clone" when he was a cast member (together with, among others, Fanny Serrano) of Paper Dolls, the batch of impersonators who used to draw record crowds at the Mirador Hotel (forced to close by employees' strike) in Ermita, Manila. (When Boots was here for a visit two years ago, Pilita invited him as guest performer on her show at Music Museum. They were a hit together. )

Boots is right. The brush is good for my unmanageable hair.

And because he's the only hairstylist who can give me the "perfect" haircut (that, according to my friends, makes me look, ehem, 10 years younger), I seek out Boots everytime I am in New York for a Hollywood press junket -- you guessed it: for that haircut. Last May 4 during the Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian event, Betty and her husband Bebs and their nurse-daughter Maribeth picked me up after the Narnia press screening and we paid Boots another surprise visit. It was Betty's birthday. She and I wanted to have a haircut but pressed for time (the haircutting takes hours because Boots has a juicy story. .. tsismis!. .. for every strand of hair that he cuts), we settled for a unhurried chat over Chinese food Boots ordered by delivery. (Note: If you happen to be in New York and you want a haircut appointment with Boots, call 212-2463532. )

That same evening, the "around the world" edition of Deal Or No Deal (DOND) was airing, with Kris Aquino gracing the giant TV screen on the wall of Boots' pad (so cramped and yet so orderly) with DOND's US edition host Howie Mandel who described the episode as a "Thrilla in Manila. " (Note: DOND will be telecast evening of June 22 as ABS-CBN's Sunday's Best feature, so I won't tell you what happened on the show so as not to spoil the fun. )

Had Boots agreed to "franchise" his business, he would have been a multi-millionaire by now. But being the "free spirit" that he is, Boots instead opted to close shop and, in the late '70s, fly to New York where he has taken root, doing his Pilita Corrales act in shows for the Filipino community on the side and making his own scene (it's bongga!) at the annual New York gay parade in drag (of course!), one time caught by a wire-service photographer passionately smooching a macho man.

Behind the "happy and gay" facade is a lonely man with a sad, sad story to tell, as sad as the eyes of the tarsier of Bohol where Boots comes from.

Again, I won't preempt Funfare readers. Wait till Charo Santos-Concio decides to highlight Boots' story on Maalaala Mo Kaya? and you will know why the impersonator is, to quote a popular song, laughing on the outside and crying on the inside.

Meanwhile, excuse me while I brush my hair. ..

Marian and her 'tormentor'

You see Marian Rivera. .. no doubt the TV "Box-Office" Queen today because of the phenomenal ratings of her shows MariMar and Dyesebel (with leading man Dingdong Dantes sharing the credit). .. happily smiling on this page in her colorful Karimadon dresses. But what a "tormentor" did to her is nothing to be happy about. That's what happens when you are on top of the heap -- you are either "stalked" or "tormented. "

Anyway, Funfare readers have been asking what Marian has to say about a YouTube clip showing her "scolding" a guy.

This is what happened, according to Marian (speaking through somebody close to her):

"It happened during our taping in Subic more than two weeks ago. I noticed this guy shooting with a videocam and I reminded him in a nice way, 'Ay, si kuya, kumukuha ng video. Bawal po 'yan. ' You see, there's a standing order on the set preventing anybody else to shoot so as not to preempt the airing of the episode. But the guy answered, 'Ano'ng pakialam mo? Hindi naman ikaw ang kinukunan ko!'

"Aba, lumabas ang pagiging Caviteña ko! I would never allow any guy to treat me that way, so I answered back. But contrary to reports, I didn't slap him. The next day, the guy went back to the set at nagkaliwanagan kami. "

Or so Marian thought. The next thing she knew, the film clip was on the YouTube.

Now, if you were in Marian's place, wouldn't you have done more than just give the fresh guy a piece of your mind? If you ask me, Marian should have delivered a wallop across the guy's face. .. with her Dyesebel tail!

(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar. net. ph or at entphilstar@yahoo. com)

Source: The Philippine Star