Hail, hail, the gang’s all here!

So how do you put Susan Roces, Boots Anson-Roa and Charo Santos together in one picture? It would be a casting coup if and when, a dream come true of every movie/TV producer. If memory serves, only Susan and Charo have starred in a movie (Regal Films’ Nasaan Ka Nang Kailangan Kita?, directed by Mel Chionglo, where Susan played Eddie Gutierrez’s wife and Charo, Eddie’s mistress) but not – yet – the three of them together.

But last Monday night, the three found themselves in one picture frame at the bienvenida dinner for L.A.-based Balikbayan journalist Baby K. Jimenez (a.k.a. BKJ) who’s home for two weeks. Only BKJ can bring (as BKJ fondly calls them) SR, BAR and CS together, a feat she pulled several years ago also during her homecoming. Interesting note: BKJ is Susan’s bosom friend who was an "accomplice" in the elopement of Susan and FPJ in Dec. 1968 and stood as a secondary sponsor at the couple’s wedding that same month.

The joke among the "inner circle" is that one of the three stars is "sweet na sweet," the other is "pa-sweet" and the third is "sweet kuno." It’s up to you to match the descriptions to the faces.

Hosted by Marichu "Manay Ichu" Maceda at the Sampaguita Studio compound in Quezon City, the get-together was graced by people close to BKJ’s heart, people who, to paraphrase my favorite Beatles song In My Life, "have their moment" in each other’s lives. You know, in their lives they love them all and love each other in a way that only true and real friends can.

No other venue could have been more fitting for the bienvenida. During the heyday of Sampaguita Pictures, led by Dr. Jose "Doc" Perez (the Original Starmaker), movie writers (BKJ included) looked forward to every Sampaguita presscon as much for "scoops" about the stars as the traditional fare on the buffet table. Yes, Manay Ichu served the same food – laing, adobong manok at baboy, etc. – and more, including food some attendees brought along (ginataang puso ng saging and sigarilyas from Susan, and crispy beef tapa from Dolor Guevarra who was among the dinner organizers).

Of course, the night’s main dessert was the recollection of years gone by and updating on each other’s activities and whatever happened to the rest (you know, according to In My Life, "...some have gone and some remain...").

A get-together like that is never complete without the usual picture-taking, so everybody took position before the clicking cameras and flashed their sweetest smiles to last until the next salu-salo.

Hail, hail, the gang’s all here!

Okay now. Say, "Cheese!"

Look closely at the "family picture" on this page. You can’t see anybody frowning, can you?

All accounted for (except for two or three who are, like BKJ and friend Pearl, happily settled on foreign soil).

Picture-perfect.

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