Jericho: The next Cesar Montano

Ask showbiz-watchers (and even movie writers) who’s the most likely to inherit the "throne" of Cesar Montano and the unanimous answer is, you guessed it, Jericho Rosales. His looks, though distinctly his own, is very Cesar Montano and so is his acting style (again to be showcased in the Star Cinema Metro Filmfest entry, Bagong Buwan, directed by Marilou Diaz-Abaya with Cesar topbilled as a Muslim doctor who quits his job in Manila to fight for his people in Mindanao).

While flattered by the prospect, Jericho is at once scared that he might not live up to expectations.

"It’s my first time to work with Cesar in a movie, although I did a ‘guest’ role in his (defunct) ABS-CBN sitcom Kaya ni Mister, Kaya ni Misis," said Jericho who plays a military man in the heart of the war in Mindanao. "I’ve been observing him at work. Malakas talaga ang kanyang presence. I learn a lot from just observing him. Yes, he did give me one important pointer… mas palawakin ko pa raw ang (acting) range ko."

His favorite scenes with Cesar in Bagong Buwan are the ones showing him wounded in the leg, with "doc" Cesar nursing Jericho’s wound, and in the jeep where he and Cesar are talking about their families.

In last year’s Metro Filmfest, Jericho got rave reviews (and a nomination) for his performance as Edu Manzano’s son in Laurice Guillen’s Tanging Yaman (also by Star Cinema). Does he think he’ll (finally) win an award (perhaps as Best Supporting Actor) for Bagong Buwan?

"I can only hope for the best," said Jericho.

Playing a soldier is a dream come true for Jericho because as a child, he did hope to be a soldier or a jetfighter.

"That’s why I was excited during our training for the movie," recalled Jericho. "We trained with the Marines at Fort Bonifacio for three whole-day sessions on military drills, including the dismantling of guns, military tactics and fighting the military way."

Interesting anagrams

Meanwhile, here’s an interesting contribution from Funfare-friendly reader Paul R. Mortel of MBLA Court, Malanday, Marikina City:

Literally, an anagram means a word spelled backwards, but it has come to refer to all sorts of scrambled combinations and the anagram is the basis for numerous games. Here are some examples:

1. Clint Eastwood – Old west action

2. Cinerama – American

3. Disraeli – Sir, I lead

4. Beverly Sills – Silvery Bells

5. The Mona Lisa – No hat, a smile

6. Ralph Waldo Emerson – Person who all Road

7. Liberace – lice bear

8. Michael Jordan – Land heroic jam

9. Ronald Wilson Reagan – No girls and no ERA law or Now Nader Rolls Again

10. Richard Milhous Nixon-Hush – Nix Criminal Odor

11. George Bush – He bugs Gore

12. William Jefferson Clinton – Slim-n-fit. Join Now Call Free

While most of the above examples are used in games, there are real examples of anagrams having been purposely created as an anagram and applied to a real person, place or thing. Here are some examples:

1. Darnoc – brand of a house gin found on a room service menus in Hilton Hotel which presumably was named in honor of Conrad Hilton;

2. Dyju Langard – name used by actress Liza Minnelli when she appeared on the Tonight Show when it was hosted by Jack Paar. It is an anagram for Judy Garland, her mother;

3. Ecidujerp – this word used to run in public service ads in the New York City subways. Sponsored by the Commission on Intergroup Relations, the ad said: "Ecidujerp spelled backwards is PREJUDICE. Either way, it does not make sense";

4. Edwin – a brand of designer jeans which was created by scrambling the word "denim" and then turning the letter upside down;

5. Enidras – Roger Enidras made news in the late 1950s when he decided he wanted to change his name back to the original, Roger Sardines;

6. H.A. Largelamb – an anagram of Alexander Graham Bell who wrote a number of articles for the National Geographic under this name. He felt the magazine was taking articles because of his fame and wanted to sell them on their own merit;

7. Harpo – Oprah Winfrey’s television production company;

8. Naeb Llahsram – When Marshall Dean got deeply in debt, he began to spell his name backwards as a means of dodging bill collectors. A veteran, he was drafted under the new name but was able to get an honorable discharge in 1968 when he convinced the Army he was in for the second time. A story on this in one newspaper carried the headline: SSEM A TAHW;

9. Nessiteras rhombopteryx – The scientific name given to the Loch Ness Monster by Sir Peter Scott and allan Wilkins. Soon after Scott and Dr. Robert Rines introduced the name in Nature Magazine, Nicholas Fairbairn, a Scottish member of Parliament, figured out that the name was an anagram for "Monster Hoax" by Sir Peter S. The namers were stunned by the coincidence;

10. Nevele – the name of a resort in the Catskill Mountains which is eleven spelled backwards;

11. Silopanna – the name of a street in downtown Annapolis, Maryland

12. Silogram – an oil additive produced in Boston and named after its inventor, Ed Margolis;

13. Tnemec – name of a California company that produces cement;

14. Svengali – anagrammatic title of a 1988 album by jazzman, Gil Evans;

15. O. B. Enebo – one of a number of real life people with palindromic names. Others who have been noted: Bob Laval, Mark Kram, Lon Nol, Revilo Oliver and any person whose first name is Ava, Anna, Otto or Hannah

(Source: What’s In a Name? Reflections of an Irrepressible Name Collector).