Danny Dolor: Collector turned film archivist

With the monumental success of his Alitaptap Kikilap Kilap displaying Filipino movie ads or flyers from 1936 to 1941, Danny Dolor has provided a great, unplanned service to the Philippine Motion Picture history.

 The exhibition of 112 blown-up photographic reproductions from his personal collection of original movie ads from the period he calls The First Golden Years of Philippine Movies couldn’t have chosen a better venue than the main lobby of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) during the 2012 Cinemalaya Festival from July 20 to 29. We sat at the lobby with the collector, watching the number of people passing by, stopping, inspecting each photo frame by frame, ultimately having their pictures taken in front of the display. Danny estimated that easily a hundred people would visit the exhibit per hour.

 The germ of the Alitaptap idea, however, was planted in The Golden Years: Memorable Tagalog Movie Ads 1946-1956, exhibited on Nov. 9, 1993 at the Ayala Museum, moved over to SM Megamall Art Center and released in a book in 1994, wrote Ronald Constantino on a tablet introducing Alitaptap.

 The current exhibition, continued Ronald, started with Sampaguita Pictures’ Bituing Marikit in 1937, Excelsior Pictures’ Ang Maya in 1938, LVN with Giliw Ko in 1939, on to X’Otic Films, Parlatone Hispano-Filipino Inc. and Filippine Films. The biggest and brightest stars were Carmen Rosales, Rosa del Rosario, Rogelio de la Rosa, Leopoldo Salcedo and Mila de Sol, who attended the opening of Alitaptap.

This was the era of comedians Pugo & Tugo; composers Constancio de Guzman, Francisco Buencamino, Miguel Velarde and Josefino Cenizal; directors Carlos Vander-Tolosa, Gerardo de Leon, Lamberto Avellana, Gregorio Fernandez, Manuel Conde, Ramon Estella, etc. “How did your collection all begin?” we asked Danny.

Apparently, shortly after all the activities on his Memorable Tagalog Movie Ads, Danny was called upon by his home province Batangas in 1994 to chair the Batangas Historical and Cultural Commission which held concerts, open houses and tributes to outstanding Batangueños during Batangas History & Culture Consciousness Week. One thing led to another until one day the mayor of Balayan brought Danny to an old ancestral home that hadn’t been opened in decades. The home had furniture and ivory saints in superb condition, but what excited Danny the most “ay isang aparador na madumi at inaanay na may koleksyon ng mga pre-war movie ads.”

Although the aparador only yielded about 15 usable movie ads, these were enough to fire Danny’s imagination. Possibly, he ruminated, there would be other sources. He didn’t have to look far. One day, a man with black and white photos from the movie sets of Premiere Productions sought Danny out with his collection, knowing it would be cared for properly. An antique dealer in Kamuning sold him around 50 pre-war pieces. A grateful teacher from Bacolod sent him some pre-war magazines, when Danny gave him a copy of his book that is now out of print. Beny Baluyot, retired Hair & Beauty Salon owner, through his friend Ronald, gave him his precious 1930’s book on movie stars.

At his welcome address at the CCP opening of Alitaptap, Danny cautioned the audience: “Collecting is a disease! Life is short and transitory. One should treasure what he has today. It could be gone tomorrow.”

We in the audience knew Danny wasn’t only speaking of his collection which he knew gave but momentary pleasure and appreciation, no matter how fixated one could get. He was reminding us in the audience of the more important values in the way we live our lives.

Our mind wanders to the immense possibilities facing Danny’s Alitaptap and Memorable Tagalog Movie Ads collections that cover pre-war to post-war Filipino moviemaking. If the retrieved and restored films of this period are few and difficult to find, we still have Danny’s collection as resource material. Perhaps, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), plus private mega institutions can pitch in on a project that could have recorded guides made available in various languages explaining the histories of important Filipino films just as Danny related to us that most engaging afternoon at the CCP.

Latest breaking news: The Alitaptap collection will be extended at the CCP main lobby until Aug. 15.

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