Kislap come-on: Movie ads

Kislap, well read in the ’50s, was a magazine of general interest: Movie, song, radio, fiction, features. But its come-on was colored movie ads which served as the magazine’s cover.

Examples are Nagsaulian ng Kandila, Balaraw, Nuno sa Punso and the Gerardo de Leon masterpiece 48 Oras, which inspired a Hollywood movie. Top-billed by Rogelio de la Rosa, 48 Oras tells of a man that is given only 48 hours to live and to right a wrong.

In the mid-’50s, Kislap merged with Graphic magazine, which focused on serious topics like government and politics. Kislap-Graphic it was called.

But in the ’60s, Kislap and Graphic went their separate ways, in a manner of speaking. Graphic was closed when martial rule was imposed in 1972. Kislap was shut down, but only for a while, and then emerges as the country’s top movie magazine.

In the ’80s, like many komiks and entertainment magazines, Kislap ceased publications for good. — RKC