Hi-C Man

From Marc De Vries ’85:

Date: ca. 1980

Location: Salcedo Village, Makati

A TV commercial was being shot on an empty lot near Salcedo Village. A crane was lifting a man dressed in a badly fitting Hi-C superhero outfit by the belt 30 ft high into the air. The idea, according to the director, was that the Hi-C man would swoop down to a gang of children who were standing below with their arms waving with frantic anticipation. Despite having practiced these arm movements at concerts of Cool and the Gang and Air Supply, the director was not impressed by our acting skills.

He took it upon himself to demonstrate how to act like an enthusiastic child desperate to get a drink from the Hi-C man. Being a frozen Zesto fan myself, it was a tall order, and it took him a good part of 10 minutes to get the message across. All the while with the Hi-C man dangling from the crane.

“Ockhay eberybody… Acsjon!!!” The film started rolling, focusing on the Hi-C man. But something was not right, and just when we were raising our arms and shouting our appreciation… the belt snapped and the Hi-C man fell 30ft to the concrete ground… SMACK.

“Ockhay CUT”!!! the director walked over to the superhero who was barely moving. There was some consternation about what to do, and after a good 15 minutes of chaos a Jeepney drove up to take the man to the hospital. At that point the director managed to wriggle off the superhero’s costume and while the Jeepney sped away walked over to the shocked group of kids.

With in one hand his bullhorn and in the other the costume raised in the air he bellowed: “Ockhay guys, we need a new Hi-C man…”

Fork Adobo

From Alan Jones ’85:

Date: ca. 1980

Location: Mindoro

I was having dinner with my Dad and his current-at-the-time girlfriend (read into that what you want).

We are looking at the menu and I asked her what she was going to order and the conversation went like this:

Alan: “What are you going to order?”
Her: “Fork Adobo”
Alan: “Fork?”
Her: “Yes, Fork Adobo”
Alan: “Is that FORK with a P or an F?”
Her: “With a Phee”

Ice Tea

From Alan Jones ’85:

Date: ca. 1980

Location: Tagaytay

On an excursion, my Dad, his girlfriend and I stopped at a ‘comfort’ station in Tagatay for a quick drink.

My Dad’s then-current-girlfriend (not the same as in the “Fork” story!), asked for an iced-tea.

The waiter asked what that was and my old man replied, “Tea, with ice”.

And lo and behold, the waiter came back with a steaming hot cup of tea with a rapildy melting piece of ice floating in it. Genius.

Peelings

From Marco De Rossi ’84:

Date: ca. 1980

Location: Manila

I remember when my mom entered the kitchen one day and saw my maid “Manang” peeling potatoes and singing ” peelings, nothing more than peelings.”

Water Daily

From Marco De Rossi ’85:

Date: ca. 1980

Location: Manila

I remember when our gardner was watering the yard with an umbrella while a typhoon was hitting manila….!