Hilarion (Larry) M Henares Jr

Tough and Tender Hilarion (Larry) M Henares Jr

About the book "Tough and Tender" Larry Henares who is an engineer and economist from the prestigious MIT, is also a highly literate man who read a book a day for a period of seven years, and made Hollywood-type home movies of his children (20 years before Bugsy Malone was filmed) that are both profound and child -- like: a story of Man from the beginning to the end of the world (Original Sin) -- invasion from the stars (The Stargazer) with a surprise ending -- a man with eyes in the country of the blind -- and of a fortune-prone man who became the president of the world (Atom the Great, antedating Forrest Gump by almost 40 years}. And he did all these before the Videocam was invented, and using 8 mm Kodachrome with a magnetic sound stripe. As "the star in the theater of my mind," he speaks of being the leading man in Broadway plays, even as he retold his favorite stories from the masters: Oscar Wilde, O Henry, Garcis Marquez and Franz Kafka. And oh, what fun he has with Jesuit priest (a nomad in the desert of his mind), an American Embassy official (a flatfoot fogey with a floo floo) a beautiful dentist digging into his molar, a Press Secretary playing hardball, a businesswoman who looks like Shirley Temple and Mae West, and our own local Sparkle Plenty. And the usual commentary on the contemporary scene, on frats, on India without God, the life styles of the filthy rich and the infamous, Filipina yayas who rock the cradle and rule the world, of the tango of love betrayed, and a moving essay on Vesuvius, Krakatoa, Pinatubo and God in exile. ----------------------------- FOREWORD by James B. Reuter, S. J., Ateneo University Over the last fifty years, my chief job has been to discover talent in people, to develop the beautiful gifts that God has given to His children, to help the boy or girl to blossom, to bloom, to grow. This is the job of the teacher, of the coach, of the director. It is the most consoling work in the world. For some children, sometimes, I have been a stepping stone to God. Hopefully, I was one of the stepping stones for Larry Henares, and for his family. His beautiful, courageous wife, Cecilia Lichauco, lost her leg during the war, when she was seventeen years old. But I directed her, as an actress, in Cyrano de Bergerac, which starred her own sister, Luisa, as Roxanne. Luisa is now Sister Marissa, of Maryknoll. His daughter Juno was a strong performer in "Woman and God", and went on to star for Repertory Philippines, and to became an executive of 20th Century Fox. I was the priest at the wedding of his son, Ronnie. I was Larry's teacher. I was his friend. I am a family friend. In l938, at the age of 22, I came to the Philippines as a Jesuit scholastic. I studied Philosophy at the Jesuit novitiate in Novaliches, and then in Baguio. My first assignment as a teacher was at the Ateneo de Manila, on Padre Faura, in l941. My first class was Sophomore A. B. At that time A. B. -- Bachelor of Arts -- was the prestige course in the Ateneo. The heart of the faculty was Father Joe Mulry, S. J. Joe had been teaching both Freshmen and Sophomore, A. B. The dean of the college, Father Vincent de Paul O'Bierne, S. J., decided that Joe should give up the Sophomores, and concentrate on the Freshmen. I was scheduled to teach the Freshmen whom he had taught in the school year l940 - l941. So I went to him -- scared to death -- for instructions on how to handle these boys. (more inside)