In a class of his own

German Moreno has developed all kinds of talents in his very long career in show business, especially in GMA Supershow and That’s Entertainment.

But this one talent is something else and is in a class of his own. His name: Sha-la-la.

Who is Sha-la-la? If you listen regularly to dzBB (Master Showman sa Radyo from Monday to Friday and Ladies’ Room every Saturday) and are able to stay up late to watch Master Showman: Walang Tulugan on GMA 7 every Saturday night (make that early Sunday morning), he is the loquacious talent who sounds like somebody is grabbing him by the throat as he speaks — or shrieks, which is what he does all the time. But he is so funny and lovable.

Sha-la-la is actually Lito Reyes in real life and he does liaison work for movie companies when he is not on radio or TV. As a liaison person, he arranges TV  guest appearances for movie stars during promo season prior to the showing of a film. He also accompanies the celebrities to the TV studio to make sure they are there on time and Lito is one of the most efficient liaison people I have known in all my years on TV. In turn, he says that Dina Bonnevie is the most professional among the movie stars he has handled. “If the call time is 1 p.m., she is there at least 10 minutes before,” offers Lito — or Tolits to us and Sha-la-la to his fans (I’m sure he has fans — plenty of them).

Strangely enough, Lito didn’t study public relations in school. Instead he took up accounting — at the University of the East. Eventually, he found himself working for Viva Films — as checker (his job was to make sure there was no hanky-panky in the selling of movie tickets). He stayed in that position for only two months because the late Mina Aragon immediately saw his potential and put him in the company’s advertising and promotions department — “kasi ang daldal ko daw.”

Since he had to personally deliver the movie stars to the TV stations and even radio booths as liaison person, he was hanging around studios a lot. A very colorful person who could really get chatty, German Moreno, while doing his radio show, one time asked Lito to join him on board. Right that moment, a star was born. All he did was just talk and talk and talk and the listeners loved him.

He eventually had to come up with a name for himself — upon the instructions of German Moreno, Lito Reyes just wouldn’t do. There was no showbiz ring to it at all. In the end, it was German who thought of a name for him. Since that was the height of the popularity of My Heart Goes Sha-la-la, why not call him Sha-la-la? That was 10 years ago.

Soon after, German put him on Master Showman, but didn’t show his face yet. German would interact with him, but you only heard Sha-la-la shrieking from the background. Then he became a talking butterfly, then a talking flower and even later, a talking, ugly-looking doll.

Since I stay up late to catch Master Showman (it’s a very relaxing program to watch after a hard day’s work), I was always curious to find out who Sha-la-la was. Then one time, I think his face was accidentally shown (or was it intentional?) and I was surprised to see Tolits. I never dealt with him, but I knew him because he would bring movie stars to the Startalk set and every time there was a problem with coordination, he would be there to do trouble-shooting — which was how I knew he was dependable as liaison.

So that was he? I recall laughing at the discovery. Tolits is actually Sha-la-la? By then, I didn’t get to see him often anymore because Viva — like most other movie companies — made fewer and fewer films. Lito/Tolits Reyes a.k.a. Sha-la-la now does liaison work for OctoArts Films and will be launched on the big screen in the forthcoming edition of Enteng Kabisote. His role: “Kinain ako ng aswang!”

On Master Showman, he also has a regular segment with German — Eh Kasi, Showbiz — where they tackle in a very humorous way all the issues in the entertainment profession.

Eh Kasi, Showbiz is a portion of Master Showman that I hardly miss because it is very entertaining and German and Sha-la-la have very good rapport with each other. I think it’s only Sha-la-la who can make fun of an institution like German — face-to-face at that —  and get away with it. Well, it also helps that German allows it. And so, together they make a good team.

On radio and on Master Showman, Sha-la-la can also be very daring by talking freely about the shenanigans of movie stars. “Cute naman daw ang atake ko, so they don’t get offended,” he tells me.

Actually, you can forgive Sha-la-la for anything because he is basically good-natured and a nice person — plus very funny. Watching him on TV — outlandish costume and all and with that shrieking voice to match — I swear, no matter what he does, your heart can’t help but go Sha-la-la.