No Regrets

Chapter 2: Taking the Slow Boat to Manila... and the Bus to Macabebe

So life went on. One day a cousin from the Philippines visited us. His name was Felixberto Bustos. He kissed me on both cheeks and said that that was the way people greeted each other back home. He brought a message for my father that my grandmother wished him to come home. Over the years, different emissaries were sent to convince my father that it was time to go home.

My father was not given to small talk; as a matter of fact, even I did not see my father often. He always had out-of-town engagements to play the piano. I envied my best friend Benlah’s family. Her father was always home and so were the rest of her family. I would play after school in her house around the corner. We had a lot of fun like when we got an old mattress from their garage and some umbrellas, and we climbed to the roof of the garage, opened the umbrellas and jumped down onto the mattress. When it was raining and we couldn’t play outside, we would stay indoors and devise some way to pass the time.

Benlah had a little sister named Gloria, who had had beautiful platinum blonde hair which her mother took extra care of. But Gloria was bored too, so she fell in with our scheme. We got two flour sifters from the kitchen and some flour. Gloria was supposed to walk under the snow. We stood on the bed and sifted down snow on her head. Her hair was full of flour and she went to her mother crying. Well, we sure got a scolding.

I have not as yet mentioned that I had a half-brother on my mother’s side. His name was Jesus and was called Jessie. Jessie was several years older than I so he was always off with his own friends and went to a different school.

On Saturdays our neighborhood theater had a matinee for kids. It cost five cents with an ice cream cone to boot! Old Mr. Fink loved children, hence the special treat, I guess. Anyway, when you entered the theater, it was pure bedlam, the kids were throwing spitballs at each other and shouting out their conversations. Mr. Fink walked up and down the aisle threatening to throw us out if we didn’t stop. The kids did but only until he went out. During the show the kids became even more unruly. While the cowboys on the screen were shooting each other, the kids were also making accompanying noises.

Fan Of Lana Turner, Joan Crawford, Etc.

I was not the smartest girl in class but neither was I the dumbest, I was just average. The only distinction I had during my school years was that of playing the lead in Joan of Arc. Since I was a little girl I had loved to act. I used to dress up and parade in front of the mirror, playing the mother, the movie star or whatever. Living in California had most of the young girls yearning to be movie stars. I was no exception. I used to buy magazines and cut out the pictures of Lana Turner, Joan Crawford, Rita Hayworth, etc.

Such was my childhood, mostly all happy events. One day a stranger appeared looking for my father. He was another emissary from the Philippines. This time saying my grandmother was ill and that she wanted to see him with or without his family. My mother was consulted and the decision was made for us to visit grandmother and then return to the States.

Plans were made to leave in a month’s time. I was excited to be going to a different country. My departure caused a flurry among my friends and they were just as excited. Mother sold our household goods, and I chose what clothes I was taking. I had very pretty clothes which my mother had made for me so these went into my suitcase together with my playclothes which were shorts, slacks, hats, etc.

So the day arrived when we were to take the boat to San Francisco. Which in turn was to take us to Manila. The night before we left, I woke up to hear some beautiful music playing. It was a group of my father’s friends who had come to say goodbye and to serenade us with beautiful Mexican music, which of course made Mama cry.

I Left My Childhood In San Francisco

We left San Diego with most of Daddy’s friends, Mama’s friends and Jessie’s and mine. I promised to write to all.

In San Francisco we took the President Roosevelt liner for Manila. On board were the Osias girls and brother, Jess Villamor, who was to become an Ace during the Japanese Occupation. Also there was the world light weight champion Cris Pineda who got a lot of attention when he worked out on the deck. The trip from San Francisco to Manila took 21 days, with stops at Yokohama and Hong Kong. It was a smooth voyage with sunbathing on deck, watching movies in the afternoon card games and more movies in the evening.

We finally reached Manila. Everyone on board was excited. There was a band on the pier welcoming Cris Pineda. Daddy was pointing out to us his relatives who were all in a group. It was the first time I had seen people dressed in ternos, barong tagalog and camisa’t chino. It was a very colorful group. We went down the gangplank and Daddy introduced us, including my half brother Jessie. They had hired a bus and we all got in and proceeded to the panciteria. The food was delicious, my relatives spoke Spanish and English so there was no communication problem. We stayed in Manila for a week. It was just beautiful to me – the boulevard, the Luneta, the Manila Hotel. But Manila was not to be our home for sometime yet.

Life In A Sleepy Town In Pampanga

After we finished our sightseeing we got into the bus again and headed for Pampanga. Macabebe was a laid-back small town, a sleepy town, was a far cry from Manila. However, I was anxious to scout around and discover things for myself. My grandmother lived in a beautiful large house which was typical of all the large houses in the Philippines. We were to stay with her.

With the passing of days and weeks we settled down to a placid way of life. I was still young enough to want to play outdoors with the other children. I used to race with them and many times beat them. My mother became sick after a few months of dysentery. This disease was to plague her for many years to come. My Dad was happy to be back in his element, he would hold court every evening with his relatives around him. Jessie was happy enough, and thought the Filipino girls were very beautiful.

One day I was running across a little bridge to get to the outhouse and I slipped. I gashed the palm of my hand to my wrist practically. The doctor came, sewed up my hand without any anaesthesia whatsoever. Three days later I fell again going down the stairs and the stitches were torn. I said I was not going to be sewn again, so the doctor said that I was to put a stack of books every day on my hand so as to keep the wound closed. After a couple of weeks the cut mended and I was back to normal.

With the passing of time I was growing up and starting to have beaus. The first one was the good-looking son of the owner of the bus line La Mallorca. This young man would get on the bus that was going to the neighboring town of Masantol and would go back and forth, back and forth the whole day. I finally took notice of him and asked him to come down and come in. Soon enough he got around to asking me to come to Manila to go to the movies and merienda. He knew well enough that I was not allowed to go unchaperoned so the three of us went. When Mama went to the ladies room he stole a kiss on my cheek. I couldn’t look him in the eye after that.

Ninoy’s Brother And Other Suitors

By this time I had caught the attention of other boys who were from out of town. Among those that visited me were Antonio Aquino, the older half-brother of Ninoy. One time when Tony came visiting, his father Don Benigno Aquino dropped him off, he met my mother and said to her in Spanish, "Estoy a sus pies Señora," which meant that he was at my mother’s feet. My mother was so thrilled she wasn’t able to sleep all night.

Other young men who came visiting were Noler Pamintuan, the young Fernando Ocampo and others including my cousins from the Valdez family who lived in Angeles. The only problem there was that the local boys put sand in their gasoline tanks to discourage them from visiting me. Thank goodness that they were not daunted.

One thinks that in a quiet town nothing ever happens. There was a lovely girl from the barrio named Dolores. Whenever I went to Mass I would see her in her white Lourdes outfit with blue socks. She was tall and had beautiful long hair and lovely eyes. It was kind of taken for granted that she and a certain Dr. Blanco, who had been courting her for a long time, would someday be married. Then out of the blue, he eloped with a wealthy girl who had a pharmacy. That night Lourdes committed suicide. The whole town was shocked.

Life in Macabebe continued, with mother and I going to Manila often, and when May came around I was very much solicited as Emperatriz for the Flores de Mayo, it was a new experience for me and I quite enjoyed it.

Goodbye, Hollywood, Hello Manila!

One day my Daddy’s cousin who had been a Miss Philippines, Charito Panganiban, who was married to a handsome mestizo named Vicente Salumbides, came to the house to visit my Dad and grandmother. Mr. Salumbides was speaking to me and asked me if I wanted to be in the movies. Of course, I thought he was kidding, then he explained that he was the production manager of a film outfit named Parlatone and that he could get me in the movies anytime I wanted. In my excitement I ran to my brother and father and asked their permission. My Dad gave a resounding no and my mom just kept quiet.

The Salumbideses left and said they would return in a few weeks. I cried that afternoon and refused to have dinner. The next day I was still disappointed and sad when Daddy came up to me and explained, "Look, Mary," he said, "the actresses here in this country have bad reputations, this is not like in Hollywood." I answered that I would not be like other actresses, I would not do what other actresses did, all to no avail. My father refused to speak about the matter again. My mother who always spoiled me gave her consent.

Meanwhile my grandmother passed away peacefully in her sleep. She was quite elderly. I hardly knew her, and my father regretted not having come home sooner. Father took my mother and I aside, and told us that his mother had left him some property. The question was: Were we going to return to the States or were we staying? I knew that my mother was happier in the States; on the other hand, my father would not have to work to make a living, and I of course was very happy to stay where I was.

Mama settled the question by saying, "I never did want Mary to grow up like those American girls." She was so strict, she didn’t like the freedoms the girls in America had. So that was that.

I wouldn’t stop nagging my father whenever I had a chance. After one year he finally gave in, he was so sick and tired of hearing me. But, he had conditions. One of them was that if there was any gossip that concerned me he would yank me back to the province. We telephoned my uncle and said we were ready to go to Manila. I was going to be a movie star!

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Author’s note: No part of this autobiography may be reproduced in any form without permission from Mary Prieto.