Dolphy is happily roaring into his 80s

The intermittent rain didn’t spoil the fun.

At about 8 o’clock last Saturday night, July 28, Birthday Boy Dolphy arrived in style, dressed in his signature white (his wardrobe is all immaculate white, his favorite color), from head to toe, disgorged by a vintage limousine in keeping with the “Roaring ’20s” theme of the affair carefully conceptualized by his beloved Zsa Zsa Padilla. He was welcomed by Can-Can girls, similar to the ones he performed with back in his vaudeville days while Japanese soldiers stood by.

The “grand entrance” (as Zsa Zsa described it) led to the stage where Dolphy, who turned 80 on July 25 (actually 79 but he follows the Chinese computation which counts the nine-month stay in the womb as the first year) where he was serenaded with old songs by five award-winning singers “imported” from the US by Kitchie Benedicto.

The Birthday Boy then blew the candles on a giant cake and was misty-eyed as he thanked his well-wishers dressed to the nines, furnished with black, wide-brimmed hats (for men) and silver/red headbands (for ladies) upon entering the gaily-decorated Villa Immaculada in Intramuros, Manila, where the affair was held.

“This is also a thanksgiving party,” said Zsa Zsa who wore an off-white backless gown that showed the long scar on her back from a surgery on her scoliosis a few years ago. (Dolphy himself has undergone a quintuple bypass in 1996.) “My only wish for him is continued good health.”

Asked how it felt to be a “sexy 80,” Dolphy said, “Matibay pa rin!”

Oh, well. May you have 80 more birthdays to come, Dolphy!

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