In the second of a series of stories on Philippine cinema, in celebration of its 100th year, Isidra Reyes takes us inside the arched gate of the Musser/Thelmo house in Pandacan — address of the 30s movie studio Manila Talkatone where the first “talking picture” came to life.
Pandacan District of Manila would also give birth to what would become a favorite location for movie-making from as early as the 1930s: The Musser/Thelmo House at 1149 Teodora San Luis Street, formerly 167 Calle Fraternidad. Built circa 1920s, it is a two storey concrete structure on a 760-square-meter lot that appears to be a hybrid of the bahay na bato and Spanish Colonial Revival styles.
On the same street where the house stands one also can still find the magnificent ancestral house of former Manila City Mayor Miguel Lopez Romualdez (1924-1927), where the young Imelda Romualdez grew up, and the former Pio Pedrosa House at 121 Calle Fraternidad. On the same street likewise stood the former homes of Padre Jacinto Zamora and Ladislao Bonus, Father of Philippine Opera.
The Musser-Telmo House at 1149 Teodora San Luis Street (formerly 167 Calle Fraternidad, Pandacan, Manila.