182. A Newspaper Account: 1908 CARNIVAL IN THE PHILIPPINES

CARNIVAL IN THE PHILIPPINES

The Philippine carnival, originated by Americans in Manila, is one of the biggest and most entertaining annual shows in the Orient. Interesting exhibits from all over the archipelago, from China, Japan, Siam, Singapore, the Federated Malay States, the Straits Settlements, and other surrounding countries, are shown while magnificent land and water parades, athletic tournaments and field sports, add to the amusement of the visiting throngs. The accompanying photos of certain features of the carnival are typical of the islands’ festival of fun.

NEW VEHICLE KNOWN AS THE ‘MULOMOBILE’.
Freak device of an army officer for fun-making at a carnival recently held in Manila.

The first shows Captain George T. Langhorne, U.S.A., one of the original promoters of the carnival, in his ingeniously contrived ‘mulomobile’, where it cannot be said the cart is before the horse.

LAUNCH OF THE GIANT’S HEAD.
Odd decoration of a boat at the carnival held recently in the Philippine capital. The head is a colossal imitation of the clown’s and the top of its cap is the steamer’s smokestack.

The decorated, grotesque-appearing launch shown in the second illustration is the creation of one of the foreign colonies of Manila, and was designed to take part in the water parade, which was one of the striking features of the carnival.

The giant head surmounting the boat’s awning was placed immediately over the smoke-stack, the cap having an opening in the top for the smoke to pass out. The effect was of course very curious and the vessel quite naturally attracted its full share of attention as it took its part proudly in the pompous pageant.

105. Fantasmagoria on Wheels: CARNIVAL FLOATS, III

San Miguel Beer reproduced its building led by a man made of beer cans on the float. Real beer flowed out of the castle, drank by real men. An America, Charlie Heffting rode in front with a large Dutch stein to catch the beer.


Kuenzle and Streiff showed the Swiss Alps with fat cows on pine tree-lined pasture.


La Perla had pillars of biscuits and stars showing the three regions of the Philippines. The band of musicians had biscuits pasted on their uniforms.


Watson Soda had a large siphon, with soda water bubbling out of it.


Walk-Over Shoes showed the sign of satisfaction, with elegant columns supporting it.


John Gibson Sawmill Co. had a fine dressing table made of rough-hewn logs, a fine interpretation of its theme: “From Forest to Finished Products”. It garnered First prize in the commercial float category.


El Renacimiento had a Perseus cutting off the head of Medusa, referring to the victory of the Sun Hero over the tempests.” This float came in 2nd in the “Most Artistic” category.

Curiously, the parade ended with a carromata, which had a friar and a lady talking to each other inside. In all, 40 floats participated in the program, seen by 25,000 people, that ended at 11 p.m.
The parade spectacle would be repeated in the next editions of the Carnival. At the specially named Magallanes Carnival of 1921, the 2nd parade was dedicated to the navigator, Ferdinand Magellan. The Magallanes Commission even made the parade more elaborate wit the production of 2 pageants that depicted Philippine and Spanish life in the 16th century. To entice participants, the Carnival Association offered 20 magnificent prizes for the most artistic floats, most original float, most humorous floats and the best historical float.

As more and more cars became available in our Islands, the Carnivals of the late 1920to the 30s popularized the Floral Parade. Automobiles bearing the Carnival muses were decorated profusely with flowers in the Old World and American tradition. As the vehicles traveled the parade route, the people who lined up the streets were encouraged to throw flowers at the Carnival beauties; in turn, the ladies threw back flowers at the excited crowd.

Carrozas and floats continued to be part of the great Carnival tradition till the very last, but the later conceptions could not quite match the grandeur and splendor of those made during the early editions of the Carnival, particularly the very first.

104. Fantasmagoria on Wheels: CARNIVAL FLOATS, II

The Bureau of Education was classic, elegant. The Arts and Science were shown. The Customs float had a pink and gold color motif.


The Philippine Constabulary float was presided by a Queen of Peace, seated beneath a Roman Arch.


The Meralco had a large float. Lightning was held in the hands of a man, who was followed by a crowd representing all nations. It featured lots of special effects, including lightning that zigzagged all over the float. Beneath a huge globe of electric light sat the Queen of Electricity.


The Elks Club had large flowers, pink and yellow. On the front side was the head of “Alce”.


Sprungli & Co. had a bear drinking the Swiss milk, “Oso”.


Walter E. Olsen & Co. was represented with two grand floats. The first showed Jose Rizal cigars with the bust of the national hero presented as a centerpiece, flanked by two handsome urns. A maiden held aloft a banner proclaiming the "King of Cigars".


The Egyptian Cigarette float came next, with two Egyptian Sphinxes up front. Behind, a group of Nubian black beauties relax with their cigarettes in a harem tent, flanked by crescent moons and stars. This float was adjudged the “Most Artistic”.


Hike Shoes showed a globe, with a huge shoe on top of it, by McGrath. The float merited quite a lot of attention.


McCullough and Company showed the Queen of the Arts, and was seen as one of the most beautiful, what with a bevy of beauties “in graceful attitudes”, atop the float.


W. H. Anderson & Co. showed barrels of Green Barrel cement. There was a massive effect on top of short pillars.


Clarke had a small portable shop of sweets, with small white children filling themselves with them.


Castle Bros. Wolf & Sons had the symbolic horn of plenty, spilling out an assortment of imported goods like pickles and meats, arranged artistically while a Filipina beauty stood in the foreground.


Germinal Cigar Company had “dainty maidens on tiptoe flingin to the breeze the banner announcing the name of the firm, with a little mite standing in the foreground, smiling and waving to the public.”

La Rosa Cigarette Factory carried its emblem, a giant rose just about to bloom, with 3 little maidens coming out of the flower, a most pleasing scene.