Talent manager Shirley Kuan was in the news last week after letting the public know that she had already parted ways — bitterly — with former ward Bea Alonzo. The cause of the rift had something to do with the controversial Bea Alonzo-Vincent Co wedding that was supposed to have been held in Spain, but eventually took place in Makati.

Bea still has to air her side. But this much everyone knows: Shirley is angry — and has reason to get upset. She took take care of Bea’s career for six years and took on her battles. When the late Lolit Solis started a series of attacks against Bea about three years ago, Shirley fought back.

Now, fighting with the ferocious Lolit was like a death wish Shirley put on herself. But Shirley valiantly defended her talent. That was how devoted she was to Bea. Defending Bea against Lolit was actually Shirley’s job as a talent manager.

Talent managers are all over show business. But did you know that the business of managing talents started in local entertainment only in the late 1970s? In the beginning, showbiz reporters began acting as publicists. Gradually, those public relations agents branched out to managing talents.

In the mid-1990s, the talent managers decided to form their own organization: Philippine Association of Managers Inc. or PAMI. Their aim was to unite, but showbiz, being a nest of intrigues, they eventually had their own tiffs from within the group.

What exactly is the role of a talent manager? First of all, a talent manager has to look for work for his or her ward. The talent manager gets a commission, of course, that straddles between 20 to 30 percent. When the artist is under attack, it is the duty of the talent manager to iron out the issue — take the bullet if necessary.

Shirley Kuan did all those for Bea Alonzo. Shirley, however, is relatively new in the business. She claims to have been around 30 years, but I hardly know details about her, except for the fact that she came from the United States prior to managing local talents. I met her in person once and spoke to her on the phone only twice regarding her talents Albert Martinez and Claudine Barretto. One of those phone calls was to complain about the unprofessional behavior of one of them. Just guess which one.

Most colorful of them all

In my view, Shirley is a newbie when it comes to managing talents. There were so many others before her and they were among the most controversial characters in show business.

For today’s column, I want to share with you my list of the most colorful talent managers in Philippine entertainment. Some are still very much around, while the others are already resting in peace. Or are they really resting in peace?

One of the more recent issues in entertainment was about the so-called “honey trap,” which targeted government officials. It is blackmail usually done in collaboration with talent managers who also double as pimps. I am not going into that because that is a very sensitive matter. But there really were talent managers who did pimp their wards. Some apparently still do.

My list below is only about the most colorful talent managers who always made headlines in the past few decades.

Annabelle Rama — It is best to be on her side. As a talent manager, she will fight to the finish to defend her artists. But once a disagreement occurs between her and her talents, she can bring it to court — the way she did with Nadia Montenegro.

Annabelle may be one of the most combative women in showbiz, but her most admirable trait as a talent manager is teaching her artists politeness. I am serious. Her talents never fail to acknowledge members of the press — or anyone senior in the entertainment industry. Annabelle’s children are the most courteous in the world of show business.

Lolit Solis — She displayed her loyalty to Gabby Concepcion when she switched the envelopes during the 1994 Manila Film Festival. Unfortunately for her, it backfired and ruined Gabby’s career. But that’s loyalty for you.

Lolit’s biggest strength is finding work for her talents. One time, she and Rosanna Roces went to Cebu to do a remote coverage for Startalk for GMA. This was before I joined the show. Before returning to Manila, Lolit went to Rosanna’s hotel room and handed her P80,000. She told Rosanna: “I got you a product endorsement. It’s for P100,000 and I already subtracted my P20,000 commission.”

Lolit then instructed Rosanna to go down to the pool area where the commercial was going to be filmed. As soon as Rosanna reached the set that only had a single camera, a production crew handed her a piglet. It was going to be her co-star. To Rosanna’s disgust, Lolit got her a contract to endorse Pigrolac. It could have been for another brand, I am no longer sure, but it was definitely food for hogs. Rosanna had top leading men in the movies, including Christopher de Leon, but most unforgettable — or does she want to forget? — was the piglet in that TV ad.

Alfie Lorenzo — He was a former Mr. Luzon, then got into showbiz writing. Eventually, he went into publicity and then, talent managing. As a talent manager, he was very protective of his artists. At the Bistro Lorenzo in Greenhills one time, he saw a movie reporter who wrote something nasty about one of his wards. He picked up a teaspoon from his table and flung it toward the direction of the movie reporter. Bullseye! The teaspoon really did hit the movie reporter, who went home with a bump on his forehead.

Cornelia “Angge” Lee — She started as a movie fan and her screen idol was Amalia Fuentes. But Angge found her suplada (snooty) and shifted allegiance to rival Susan Roces. A hanger-on in film sets, she was drafted into the movies as a comic relief — at a time when there was still no political correctness.

She was called “Baluga,” a negative term for a member of the indigenous group, the Aetas. People were so wicked back then.

In the 1980s, she became a floor director for the shows of Inday Badiday. Shortly after, she turned into talent managing. Oh, she was brutally frank with her wards. Smokey Manaloto was among her talents. She once pulled him aside and told the then teenage actor not to put his hopes up and dream of becoming a matinee idol. Fortunately, Smokey is a gifted artist. He had comic flair and made a name for himself as a comedian.

Boy Abunda — He is the nicest talent manager ever. Boy never fought with anyone, well, except for Vicki Belo. But I don’t remember him making a big issue of that controversy that started as part of the Vicki Belo-Manny Calayan rivalry.

I was only 17 when I met Boy. I was doing practicum work and he was the PR for the Manila Metropolitan Theater. He was among the first people to show me kindness in the entertainment profession and I will forever be grateful to him for that.

When we both hosted our respective showbiz-oriented programs, we were pitted against each other. But that never affected our friendship. We were having dinner one time at Gene’s Bistro in Tomas Morato when he started giving me pieces of advice.

I remember him telling me this: “Never let comments about our supposed rivalry affect you. What people don’t realize is that I have a huge advantage over you because I am a talent manager and I know what to do with my career.”

He was right. As a talent manager, Boy knew how to navigate his path in show business, while I simply relied on what was thrown my way.

After all these decades, the public still has this misconception that I handle talents. They merely assume that since I am a showbiz talk show host, I am automatically a talent manager. When I am asked why I don’t handle talents, this is my standard answer: “I can’t even manage my own life! How do they expect me to handle the careers of other people?”

I am aware that managing talents is a good opportunity to improve one’s finances. But this is the harsh reality: In an industry of ingrates, a talent manager — like Shirley Kuan — is always bound to get hurt in the end.