| Genre: | Festival |
| Frequency: | Annual |
| Venue: | Wallace Field |
| Location: | Manila |
| Country: | Philippine Islands |
| Years Active: | 1908–1939 (31 years) |
| Founders: | --> |
| Activity: | Beauty pageant, carnival, fair, and exposition |
| Or Sponsors: | --> |
Manila Carnival was an annual carnival festival held in Manila during the early American colonial period up to the time before the Second World War. It was organized by the American colonial administration to showcase the economic development of the Philippines. The highlight of the event is the crowning of the Carnival Queens.[1]
The fabled Manila Carnival was first held on February 1908. The carnival's original organizer was an American colonel named George T. Langhorne who asked the Philippine Assembly for 50,000 pesos to build a cockpit, exhibit "half-naked" Igorot tribesmen and set up curiosities. Horrified by the plan of the proposed carnival, Governor General James Smith transformed the planned freak show into a ritual celebrating the Philippine-American progress in the islands. Secretary of Commerce Cameron Forbes took charge of the preparation and asked 15,000 instead of 50,000 from the Assembly. He planned to raise another 15,000 by private subscription campaigns such as the Carnival Queen contest.
The site of the Manila Carnival was the old Wallace Field that was just off the present Luneta Park.
During those two weeks of carnival, Wallace Field was walled with amakan and given a decorative facade brilliant with lights and adornments. A variety of shows were presented like circus, vaudevilles, slapstick comedies, and the grand theatrical presentation of Borromeo Lou, the great impresario of the era. Starts such as Atang de la Rama, Katy de la Cruz, Canuplin, and Dionisia Castro often staged performances that audiences loved.[2]
The entrance fee range from 50 centavos and up and one can buy at the gate a mask, a horn, and a bag of confetti. The children wore a harlequin costume, a clown costume, or a dunce hat, while the elder ones wore dominoes or similar attractive attires.
The scene was like New Year's Eve with all the gaiety, laughter and gossips in old Manila circling around. Everyone seemed to be tooting horns or throwing confetti.
There were five parades during the carnival season:[3]
1. The opening day parade, which was mostly clown and circus
2. The military parade, mostly Americans and Scouts
3. The civic educational parade in which the public schools of Manila participated, and wherein each school compete for the best and most original floats
4. The business and industrial parade in which the international community participated
5. The floral parade, which is the highlight parade of the carnival. The parade featured the competing carnival beauties as well as the newly crowned Carnival Queen, her consort, and her court.
The highlight of the Manila Carnival is the crowning of the Carnival Queen by the Carnival mascot Billiken. Cameron Forbes and the carnival promoters established the Carnival Queen contest. The Queen will be selected through purchase of ballots through newspaper clippings. Initially, Forbes decided to restrict the contest to the daughters of the wealthiest families from the capital city of Manila but eventually accepted entries from different parts of the country. The Queen was voted through a system of money ballots or magazine coupons. Philippine magazines like Liwayway, Telembang, and Lipang Kalabaw had such coupons inserted in their pages.[4]
The Carnival Queens dressed the most beautiful costumes of the parade, ranging from Egyptian inspired to Siamese to that of the Arabian Scheherazade.
The first Manila Carnival in 1908 elected two queens representing the Oriental beauty and the Western beauty (called Occident) – Pura Villanueva from Iloilo City, Iloilo (Queen of the Orient) and Marjorie Radcliffe Colton from Galesburg, Illinois (Queen of the Occident). The only other time this happened was in 1920 Manila Carnival. In 1912, for the first time aside from the carnival queen the contest chose four ladies to represent Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and America. In 1913, three women representing Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao were named as co-winners of the Manila Carnival. The first and only American woman to solely win as Carnival Queen was Mela Kamakee Fairchild (born in Oakland, California in 1898) in the 1917 Manila Carnival.[5] Two queens were also chosen in 1926 to elect the last to be called as the Carnival Queen (Socorro Henson) and the very first Miss Philippines (Anita Agoncillo Noble)[6] [7]
Manila Carnival Queen is the precursor of various national pageants in the Philippines.
| Manila Carnival Queen titleholders[8] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Title | Winner | Hometown | Age | Consort | Notes |
| 1908 | Carnival Queen | Pura Villanueva (Queen of the Orient) | Iloilo City, Iloilo | 21 | Manuel Gomez (King of the Orient), Mauro Prieto, Tomas del Rosario (alternative consorts) | Officially First Manila Carnival Queens. Initially, Ms. Leonarda Limjap, aged 17 was named Manila Carnival Queen by the Philippine Assembly but later resigned the title before she was crowned in late January 1908 in favor of her family vacation in Japan. Villanueva was selected as Limjap's replacement who initially refused to take the title but became the official first Manila carnival queen upon coronation.[9] |
| Marjorie Radcliffe Colton (Queen of the Occident) | Galesburg, Illinois | 23 | Col. George T. Langhorne (King of the Occident) | |||
| 1909 | Carnival Queen | Julia Guerrero Agcaoili | Ilocos Norte | 20 | Francisco Agcaoili | |
| 1912 | Carnival Queen | Paz Jurado Marquez | Tayabas (now Quezon) | 18 | ? | They were the first set of queens to wear national and regional dresses, as opposed to the European-influenced wardrobes of the past Queens. |
| Reina de Luzon | Pacita Bantug de Guzman | San Isidro, Nueva Ecija | 21 | ? | ||
| Reina de Visayas | Amparo Benitez Noel | Carcar, Cebu | ? | Juan Orbeta | ||
| Reina de Mindanao | Remedios Fernandez Reyes | Mambajao, Camiguin | 19 | Sr. Baldomero Pelaez | ||
| Reina del Dia Americana | Mattie May Law | US | ? | ? | ||
| 1913 | Reina de Luzon | Julia Otero Arceo | Batangas | 18 | ||
| Reina de Visayas | Ana Sandoval Palanca | Iloilo / Cuyo, Palawan | 15 | |||
| Reina de Mindanao | Inocencia Cabato | Zamboanga | ? | |||
| 1914 | Carnival Queen | Dolores dela Cerna Perez Rubio | Ermita, Manila | |||
| 1915 | Carnival Queen | Concepcion Medina | Masbate | 15 | Joseph Manning | |
| 1916 | Carnival Queen | Manolita Barretto | Bulacan / Zambales | 16 | Jose Chuidian | |
| 1917 | Carnival Queen | Mela Fairchild | Oakland, California | 19 | Maj. William Vaughn | The first and only American woman to solely win the title. |
| 1918 | Carnival Queen | Enriqueta de Vega Aldanese | Cebu | 18 | Jose Reyes Galvez | |
| 1920 | Carnival Queen | Trinidad Roura de Leon | San Miguel, Bulacan | 16 | – | |
| Virginia Randolph Harrison | New York City, New York | 18 | Ralph Earnshaw | |||
| 1921 | Carnival Queen | Carmen Prieto | Manila | 16 | Dr. Basilio J. Valdes | |
| 1922 | Carnival Queen | Virginia Llamas | Pagsanjan, Laguna | 16 | Carlos P. Romulo | The first carnival queen to marry her king consort. |
| 1923 | Carnival Queen | Catalina Castillo Apacible | Balayan, Batangas | 19 | ||
| 1924 | Carnival Queen | Trinidad Rodriguez Fernandez | Cuyo, Palawan | 24 | Jose Araneta | |
| 1925 | Carnival Queen | Carmen Papa | San Pedro St., (now "Evangelista") Manila | 19 | Vicente Mendoza | |
| 1926 | Carnival Queen Miss Philippines Miss Pearl of the Orient Seas Miss Luzon Miss Visayas Miss Mindanao | Socorro Henson Anita Noble Carmen Fargas Rosario Genato Aurora Reyes Bala Amai Miring | Angeles, Pampanga Lemery, Batangas Aplaya, Ayala, Zamboanga, Zamboanga del Sur Manila Samar Lanao | 18 20 18 – – – | Vicente Rufino Leopoldo Kahn, Antonio de las Alas (alternate consort) No Consort No Consort No Consort No Consort | First national beauty contest. The last winner to be named carnival queen was Socorro Henson while the very first to be named Miss Philippines was Anita Agoncillo Noble. |
| 1927 | Luisa Fernandez Marasigan Iluminada Laurel Lourdes Rodriguez Nora Maulana | 16 ? ? ? | Guillermo Jose No Consort No Consort No Consort | |||
| 1929 | Miss Philippines | Pacita Ongsiako de los Reyes | Tondo, Manila | 17 | ||
| 1930 | Consuelo "Monina" Acuña Estrella Alvarez Luz Villaluna Rosario Ruiz Zorilla | Iloilo Laoag, Ilocos Norte Cebu? – | 17 – – – | Emilio Osmeña – – Rosendo M. Chanco | ||
| 1931 | Miss Philippines Miss Luzon Miss Visayas Miss Mindanao | Maria Villanueva Kalaw Lina Araullo Luisa Rodriguez Louise Stevens | Batangas / Iloilo – – – | 20 – – – | Teddy Kalaw – – – | First second-generation queen (mother – daughter carnival queens) in Carnival history.Kalaw became a senator and head of the Board of Censors for Motion Pictures[10] |
| 1932 | Miss Philippines Miss Luzon Miss Visayas Miss Mindanao | Emma Gonzales Zamora Rosalina C. Lim Aleli A. Guzman Violeta Lopez | Quiapo, Manila Pangasinan Paco, Manila Iloilo | 19 – – – | Dr. Arturo de Santos Geronimo Santiago Jr. – – | |
| 1933 | Miss Philippines Miss Luzon Miss Visayas Miss Mindanao | Engracia Arcinas Laconico Charity O. Crow Blanquita Opinion Angelina Biunas | Sta. Cruz, Manila Hollister, California / Iloilo – Manila | 21 17 – 17 | Dr. Gregorio Y. Zara – – – | First Miss Philippines and another carnival queen to marry her king consort. |
| 1934 | Miss Philippines Miss Luzon Miss Visayas Miss Mindanao | Clarita Tankiang Luisa Laconico Marcelina Cuenca Consuelo Villamor | Marilao, Bulacan – Manila Bangued, Abra | 15 – – 22 | Arturo Tolentino Hector Gomez Antonio Albert – | |
| 1935 | Miss Philippines Miss Luzon Miss Visayas Miss Mindanao | Conchita Chuidian Sunico Catalina Zabala Julieta Lugod Abad Celia Araullo | Binondo, Manila – – – | 18 – – – | Antonio Bayot Pedro Chanco Jr. Jose Feliciano Jose Zamora | Carmen del Rosario was the original Miss Mindanao. She reigned for a few days before relinquishing her title in favor of her studies. Celia Araullo was chosen in her place as Miss Mindanao. |
| 1936 | Miss Philippines Miss Luzon Miss Visayas Miss Mindanao | Mercedes Montilla Amparo Reyes Karagdag Helen Cutaran Bennett Cleofe Jaime Balingit | Kabankalan, Negros Occidental Malolos, Bulacan Nueva Vizcaya Macabebe, Pampanga | 20 20 24 – | Zafiro Ledesma Ricardo Manotok Francisco Chanco Ricardo Paras | |
| 1937 | Miss Philippines Miss Luzon Miss Visayas Miss Mindanao | Carmen Zaldarriaga Elisa Manalo Sonia Ortaliz Gamboa Adelaida Coscolluela | Manila Pampanga Silay, Negros Occidental Negros Occidental | 17 – – – | Col. Antonio Arnaiz – – – | Manila Carnival is now called as Philippine Exposition. Another Miss Philippines marrying her king consort later. |
| 1938 | Miss Philippines Miss Luzon Miss Visayas Miss Mindanao | Guia Gonzales Balmori Rosario Ferro Belen de Guzman Marina Lopez | Pampanga / Pangasinan – – – | 17 – – – | Ernesto Santos – – – | |
| 1939 | Miss Philippines Miss Luzon Miss Visayas Miss Mindanao | Iluminada Tuason Estrella Santos Fabon Adela Planas Herminia Cajulis | Indang, Cavite – – Binakayan, Cavite | – – – 20 | – – – – | The last Manila Carnival or Philippine Exposition to take place few years before World War II. The last carnival queen to be crowned. |
These are the candidates for the national beauty contests of the Manila Carnival.[11]