Vaudeville To Bodabil
In 1920, a Filipino entertainer named Luis Borromeo returned from North America, renamed himself "Borromeo Lou", and organized what became the first Filipino bodabil company. The main showcase of Borromeo Lou's company was an orchestral band, which played what he called "Classical-Jazz Music", and variety acts in between. Borromeo's band is credited as having popularized jazz in the Philippines. It was also Borromeo who dubbed the emerging form as "vod-a-vil", which soon became popularly known by its Filipinized name, bodabil.
In 1923, there were three theaters in Manila that were exclusively devoted to bodabil. By 1941, there were 40 theaters in Manila featuring bodabil shows. The popularity of bodabil was not confined to Manila stages. Bodabil routines were also staged in town fiestas and carnivals. The typical bodabil shows would feature a mixture of performances of American ballads, torch songs and blues numbers; dance numbers featuring tap dancers and chorus girls and jitterbug showcases; and even the occasional kundiman.
Within that period, established performers such as Katy de la Cruz and Borromeo Lou continued to thrive. New stars also emerged, such as the singers Diana Toy and Miami Salvador; the dancer Bayani Casimiro, and the magician and Chaplin imitator Canuplin. Many leading lights of Philippine cinema began their entertainment careers in bodabil during this period, such as Rogelio de la Rosa, Leopoldo Salcedo, Dely Atay-Atayan and Chichay. Bodabil thrived despite the emergence of Filipino film productions. Many moviehouses featured bodabil performances in between screenings, and many film and bodabil stars frequently crossed over from one genre to the other.
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