Alice Dixson looking ageless at 47

ALICE Dixson

ALICE Dixson’s belated birthday bash at Marco Polo Ortigas was such a blast. It was not the usual “show biz circus” sortie—just an intimate get-together of Alice’s closest friends.

Spotted at the fête were Gloria Diaz, Ruffa Gutierrez, Donita Rose, Amy Austria, Maricel and Anthony Pangilinan, Jackie Aquino, Pia Magalona, Kookoo Gonzales, Sabrina Artadi, Joyce Burton-Titular, Rufa Mae Quinto and her fiancé Trevor Magallanes.

We savored the sumptuous eight-course lauriat dinner. Alice told us to use the hashtag #thisishowido47 in our pictures. But we all agreed that the more appropriate hashtag would be #hownottolook47atall. She doesn’t seem to grow older, only fiercer.

After dinner, Alice requested each of us to share our fondest memory of her. All our stories boiled down to how fun-loving, nurturing, free-spirited and genuine she is.

What a funny revelation it was when Alice told Joyce that she used to be her “girl crush” during their Binibining Pilipinas days.

Gloria kept teasing Alice to have a baby soon or adopt her daughter Ava.

The birthday girl’s love life is in full bloom with her Belgian beau. Alice has indeed found her forever wonderland.

Tommy’s best

I always look forward to bonding with Tommy Abuel during our Cinema Evaluation Board screenings of local films.

I fondly call him “Alamat.” When I catch his old movies on Cinema One, I record some of his scenes and rib him about them, especially his thwarted love scene with Laurice Guillen in “Nagalit ang Buwan sa Haba ng Gabi.”

After all these years, Tommy has not lost his bravura. He more than deserves the Cinemalaya best actor honor for “Dagsin.”

TOMMY Abuel

May the award usher in more TV and movie projects for him. Actors of his caliber are an endangered species, so Tommy must remain visible to serve as a benchmark for aspiring thespians.

Here’s my chat with Tommy:

What can millennial actors learn from veteran actors like you?

I want them to learn the right attitude at work, to respect the crew, bit players and senior actors, to learn to love their work, the dedication and discipline required of an actor, good manners and right conduct, and to always remember that, in this profession, fame and fortune are temporary.

What do you think made you clinch the best actor trophy at Cinemalaya?

To be honest, I don’t know. For me, when an actor gives a performance, it will be the audience who will judge whether it is good or bad. Also, a performance is always for the audience, never for the actor himself.

What movie of yours do you want to be remade?

Maybe the movie “Karma,” directed by Danny Zialcita. This film is quite memorable to me because I won my second best supporting actor award, and also because the story is good and can still be relevant today.

If there’s anything you want to change in show biz, what would it be?

I wish people in the movie industry would change their belief that show business is just what it is, a “business”—that money is the only thing that matters, and whoever is bringing in the money to the producers is treated like a god.

The moment a star loses that power to bring in the money, she/he is discarded and forgotten. It’s a case of wishful thinking, because I know it will never happen.