{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":60803,"auction_id":203,"set_id":236,"lot_number":"92","artist":"Collection of Kenkoy Memorabilia","title":null,"starting_price":300000,"signed_dated":"a.) Nicanor Abelardo, music
\nRomualdo G. Ramos , words
\n“Naku.... Kenkoy!” musical score
\nca. 1930s
\nsigned with dedication by Romualdo G. Ramos
\nfour pages, consisting of cover, inside pages, back cover with piano advertisements
\n12” x 9 1/4” (30 cm x 23 cm)
","medium":"b.) Antonio S. Velasquez, art
\nFour bills of Kenkoy Play Money
\nca. 1930s
\nwith denominations of P2, P20,000, P200,000, P500,000
\npublished by Liwayway Manila
\n2 1/2” x 5 1/4” (6 cm x 13 cm) each
","size":"c.) Antonio S. Velasquez, art Romualdo G. Ramos , words\nKenkoy Cine Cartoon Flip Book, No. 1
\nfeaturing “Si Kid Kenkoy”
\ndated 1936
\npublished by Liwayway Manila
\nconsisting of cover, title page, and 26 drawings, totaling 26 leaves
\n2 1/2” x 2” (6 cm x 5 cm) each","property":null,"coa":null,"provenance":null,"exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"Reading komiks was a popular and cheap form of entertainment for Filipinos. Before the modern times of smartphones and cable TV, it was common to see housewives, storekeepers, and even the neighborhood toughie, lounging around during their free time, reading komiks either bought or rented for a few centavos from the corner sari-sari store.
Komiks have come a long way from their simple beginnings. The first komiks strip is credited to our national hero, Dr. José Rizal, whose drawings on the story “The Monkey and the Turtle” were published in London in 1889. A copy of his sketchbook for this cartoon can be seen today on display at the National Library of the Philippines.
During the American colonial period, dull news columns in weeklies and dailies were livened up by satirical cartoons similar to those in the London weekly Punch. The most popular Manila weeklies with these cartoons were Telembang and Lipang Kalabaw.
But the definitive story of komiks began in 1929 when illustrator Antonio “Tony” Velasquez (known as the “Father of Philippine Komiks”) and writer Romualdo Ramos combined their talents to produce the first and truly Filipino comic strip.
Enter Francisco Harabas, alias “Kenkoy.” A product of the pre-war era, in the country nostalgically called “Peacetime,” he was first introduced as a comic strip in the January 11, 1929 issue of Liwayway magazine, a publication owned by Ramon Roces, a scion of the Roces family’s newspaper publishing empire.
Kenkoy was a caricature of the Filipinos’ attempt to adapt Western culture through fashion, language, and manners. He sported slicked-down, pomaded hair, a long-sleeved polo shirt with baggy trousers held up with suspenders, and shiny patent-leather shoes (charols). He talked in what was called “carabao English,” which was actually a hodge-podge of words from Tagalog and the mispronounced language of the three colonizers that became his trademark lines: “Watsamara” (What’s the Matter?), “Okidoki” (OK), “Bay gali” (By golly!), “Natingduwing” (Nothing doing!). These words, plus the comedic situations (kabalbalans) he would get himself into, made Kenkoy a lovable character to his Filipino readers.
From the strip came other characters like Rosing, the city girl whom he would marry and have children with: Dyunyor, Dyulie, Tsing, Doy, Dalisyosa, Etot, Nene, Piching, and an adopted mute child, Tsikiting Gubat. There was also Tirso S. Upot—a play on words on an uncircumcised man, a rival for Rosing’s love who would always plan schemes to put Kenkoy in awkward situations.
But beneath the comedy of these amusing characters lay the real traits of a Filipino living and conforming to the cultural trends of his time.
Thanks to the Roces Publications (which owned Liwayway) having sister publications and a wide readership in Luzon and the Visayas, Kenkoy soon became popular among the masses, who immediately gobbled up these komiks from the newstands, connected with the stories and characters, and made them part of their lives. From the final years of Peacetime through the War Years under Japanese occupation and into the post-War era, Kenkoy was part of the daily komiks habit of Filipinos.
Then, when movies became a popular source of entertainment, Kenkoy was one of the top featured films of the ‘50s, starring comedian Lupito as Kenkoy. In 1990, the stage musical, Kenkoy at Rosing, based on Velasquez’s characters, was featured with singers Janno Gibbs and Regine Velasquez in the lead roles.
On the block are Kenkoy merchandise that came out during the height of Kenkoy’s popularity.
\nThis trove of the beloved cartoon character, Kenkoy, the \nPhilippines’ first comic strip, covers the breadth of his \ninfluence in motion-pictures, music, and mass marketing:
1. A music sheet of the song “Naku…. Kenkoy!” composed as \na fox trot song by well-known composer Nicanor Abelardo \nwith lyrics by Kenkoy writer, Romualdo G. Ramos. The sheet \nhas a dedication at the bottom of the page by Ramos to \nthe Tagalog writer, Remigio Mat. Castro.
2. Kenkoy play money that apparently was part of an \nadvertising campaign by the Roces Publications to promote \nKenkoy, with the higher denominations having the face of the \nfamous cartoon character. The play money bears the name of \nseveral popular candy factories in the city, and they may have \nbeen used to “buy” the candies of these manufacturers from \nstores. Interestingly, they mimic the “Victory” notes brought \nin by General MacArthur and later used by the Central Bank \nof the Philippines in the post-War ‘Liberation’ era.
3. The framed Kenkoy illustrations are pages from a popular \namusement that was manufactured in the late 19th century \nand is still being done today. Bound together, these were \ncalled “flip books,” and the images are animated by rapidly \nflipping the pages, giving the drawings a semblance of \nmovement.
The flip book was sold during the Peacetime era as a “Cine Cartoon” featuring Kenkoy training as an amateur boxer \nnamed “Kid Kenkoy” with illustrations drawn by Velasquez \nhimself. The name of the owner, “Pablo Balen,” a student \nof Camarines Norte High School, is written on the title \npage with the year “1936”.
Studies of popular culture have described komiks as “a champion of the masses,” “a mirror reflecting the country’s times,” “a cultural anchor,” and “a teacher in the propagation of the Filipino language.” It is indeed a silent yet visual tribute to the Filipino writers and illustrators who poured out their \ntalents into these book-sized, stapled newsprint pages. (Jose \nVictor Z. Torres)","lot_group":"OBJET D' ARTS","lot_details_html":null,"alias":null,"hp":360000,"bp":0.2016,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":360000,"userBid":34,"isPaid":0,"userId":34,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":19617,"reserve_price":0,"hammer_price":432576,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":66818,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/203/236/lot/92.jpg","isFeatured":1},{"id":67107,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/203/236/lot/92e.jpg","isFeatured":0},{"id":67106,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/203/236/lot/92d.JPG","isFeatured":0},{"id":67105,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/203/236/lot/92c.jpg","isFeatured":0},{"id":67104,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/203/236/lot/92b.jpg","isFeatured":0},{"id":67103,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/203/236/lot/92a.jpg","isFeatured":0}]},"increment":[220000,240000,260000,280000,300000,320000,340000,360000,380000,400000,450000,500000,550000,600000,650000,700000,750000,800000,900000,1000000,1100000,1200000,1300000,1400000,1500000,1600000,1700000,1800000,1900000,2000000,2200000,2400000,2600000,2800000,3000000,3200000,3400000,3600000,3800000,4000000,4200000,4400000,4600000,4800000,5000000,5500000,6000000,6500000,7000000,7500000,8000000,8500000,9000000,9500000,10000000,11000000,12000000,13000000,14000000,15000000,16000000,17000000,18000000,19000000,20000000],"prev":91,"next":93,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}