Togo

Togo 

Togo – The sparring partner of Pugo, they started out as the Laurel Hardy and Stan Laurel of the Philippines. In the ’30s, they did stage shows and branched out into films before the war. Among the films they made in the early ’40s were Utos ng Hari, Hindi Mababali, Sa Lumang Simbahan and Binibiro Lamang Kita.

Andres Solomon in real life, he had to change his name to Tuging (Pugo became Puging) during the war years because Togo almost sounded like Tojo, the name of the Japanese Admiral stationed in the Philippines.

In one of their sketches on stage during the war, they did a parody on Japanese soldiers by wearing several wristwatches on their arms and even on their legs. During that dark period of our history, members of the Japanese Imperial Army were notorious for confiscating wristwatches from civilians and wearing them on their arms all at the same time. Pugo and Togo aped this on stage and was a hit with the audience. Supposedly, they were brought to Fort Santiago for questioning.

After the war, the comic duo resumed their film career and did several movies for LVN Pictures: Tambol Mayor (co-starring Jaime de la Rosa and Tessie Quintana, their first picture with LVN), Dalawang Prinsipeng Kambal, Magkumpareng Putik (with Lilia Dizon), Edong Mapangarap (with Eddie San Jose), Ang Kandidato, Nagsaulian ng Kandila, Dalawang Sundalong Kanin and Biglang Yaman. My personal favorites, however, were those films they did with Hollywood starlet Joan Page.

Togo could have been an even bigger name in the field of comedy had he not died in 1952.