{"id":312,"date":"2009-09-09T04:29:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-08T18:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/?p=312"},"modified":"2009-09-09T04:29:00","modified_gmt":"2009-09-08T18:29:00","slug":"manila-bar-employs-dwarfs-by-john-m-glionna-of-los-angeles-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/?p=312","title":{"rendered":"Manila bar employs dwarfs  by John M. Glionna  of Los Angeles Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" \/><meta name=\"ProgId\" content=\"Word.Document\" \/><meta name=\"Generator\" content=\"Microsoft Word 11\" \/><meta name=\"Originator\" content=\"Microsoft Word 11\" \/>\n<link href=\"file:\/\/\/C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cdino%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml\" rel=\"File-List\" \/><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags\" name=\"country-region\" downloadurl=\"http:\/\/www.5iantlavalamp.com\/\"><\/o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags\" name=\"place\" downloadurl=\"http:\/\/www.5iantlavalamp.com\/\"><\/o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags\" name=\"City\" downloadurl=\"http:\/\/www.5iamas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags\"><\/o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>  <w:WordDocument>   <w:View>Normal<\/w:View>   <w:Zoom>0<\/w:Zoom>   <w:PunctuationKerning\/>   <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas\/>   <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false<\/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>   <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false<\/w:IgnoreMixedContent>   <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false<\/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>   <w:Compatibility>    <w:BreakWrappedTables\/>    <w:SnapToGridInCell\/>    <w:WrapTextWithPunct\/>    <w:UseAsianBreakRules\/>    <w:DontGrowAutofit\/>   <\/w:Compatibility>   <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4<\/w:BrowserLevel>  <\/w:WordDocument> <\/xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>  <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState=\"false\" LatentStyleCount=\"156\">  <\/w:LatentStyles> <\/xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object  classid=\"clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D\" id=ieooui><\/object> \n\n<style> st1\\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } <\/style>\n\n <![endif]--><\/p>\n<style> <!--  \/* Font Definitions *\/  @font-face \t{font-family:\"Arial Narrow\"; \tpanose-1:2 11 5 6 2 2 2 3 2 4; \tmso-font-charset:0; \tmso-generic-font-family:swiss; \tmso-font-pitch:variable; \tmso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;}  \/* Style Definitions *\/  p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal \t{mso-style-parent:\"\"; \tmargin:0cm; \tmargin-bottom:.0001pt; \tmso-pagination:widow-orphan; \tfont-size:12.0pt; \tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\"; \tmso-fareast-font-family:\"Times New Roman\";} p.date, li.date, div.date \t{mso-style-name:date; \tmso-margin-top-alt:auto; \tmargin-right:0cm; \tmso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; \tmargin-left:0cm; \tmso-pagination:widow-orphan; \tfont-size:12.0pt; \tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\"; \tmso-fareast-font-family:\"Times New Roman\";} @page Section1 \t{size:612.0pt 792.0pt; \tmargin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; \tmso-header-margin:36.0pt; \tmso-footer-margin:36.0pt; \tmso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 \t{page:Section1;} --> <\/style>\n<p><!--[if gte mso 10]> \n\n<style>  \/* Style Definitions *\/  table.MsoNormalTable \t{mso-style-name:\"Table Normal\"; \tmso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; \tmso-tstyle-colband-size:0; \tmso-style-noshow:yes; \tmso-style-parent:\"\"; \tmso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; \tmso-para-margin:0cm; \tmso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; \tmso-pagination:widow-orphan; \tfont-size:10.0pt; \tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\"; \tmso-ansi-language:#0400; \tmso-fareast-language:#0400; \tmso-bidi-language:#0400;} <\/style>\n\n <![endif]--><\/p>\n<p class=\"date\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">Every night without fail, Jim Turner is there at the far corner of the bar, chain-smoking his Marlboros and sipping ice-cold San Miguel from the bottle, watching over the Little Ones.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">He considers them family, but they&#8217;re not his children. They&#8217;re the dwarfs and other little people the 70-year-old Iowa native has rescued from the heartless streets of this capital city to offer them friendship and honest work.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">For 35 years, the former Peace Corps volunteer has operated the Hobbit House, a bar themed on J.R.R. Tolkien&#8217;s fantasy novels, a realm marked by all things miniature.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">Under his care, hundreds of dwarfs have adopted new cultural identities. They&#8217;re no longer shunned or even feared as supposed evil spirits, but have become popular characters called hobbits &#8212; merry figures who serve drinks, crack ribald jokes and even entertain onstage.<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">At Turner&#8217;s bar, on a dingy block of strip clubs and speak-easies in central <st1:place w:st=\"on\"><st1:city w:st=\"on\">Manila<\/st1:city><\/st1:place>, the dwarfs draw a loyal crowd. They&#8217;re entertainers who get the joke, always ready to use their small size for a few good-natured laughs.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">The Hobbit House features what may be the world&#8217;s smallest Elvis impersonator. There have been hobbit jugglers, comics, dancers, flame-eaters and a singer who sounded eerily like Frank Sinatra.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">Many of the waiters and bartenders are the grandchildren of the dwarfs who helped Turner launch the bar. There&#8217;s now even a second location, at a tourist resort in the central <st1:place w:st=\"on\"><st1:country-region w:st=\"on\">Philippines<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place>.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">Yet critics have accused Turner of exploiting his workers. Stubbing out a Marlboro, he frowns.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">&#8220;We took many from the worst slums in <st1:place w:st=\"on\"><st1:city w:st=\"on\">Manila<\/st1:city><\/st1:place>, where they were mocked and ridiculed,&#8221; he says. &#8220;Now they&#8217;re no longer carnival freaks. They&#8217;re respected entertainers and businesspeople.&#8221;<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">And Turner is their godfather. Workers tell of the night when two drunken Australians began playing catch with terrified little people; Turner stepped between two ruffians nearly twice his size and threw them out of the bar.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">He has provided many of his workers with loans and housing and has paid tuitions. Several years ago, he gave them something perhaps even more precious: the Hobbit House itself.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">He founded a corporation, naming seven of his employees the main stockholders. Now they make the decisions and call the shots. From his perch at the bar, Turner watches over the business as a consultant and takes only enough salary to pay his bills.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">The dwarfs call him<em> tito <\/em>and <em>kuya<\/em>, &#8220;uncle&#8221; and &#8220;older brother.&#8221;<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">Pidoy Fetalino, a 35-year veteran of the bar, likes to stroll into business meetings, raise his hand to greet average-sized clients and proudly announce that he&#8217;s the establishment&#8217;s general manager.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">Over drinks after the bar closes, he gets emotional about Turner, who has helped him put two children through college and discover self-respect.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">&#8220;He&#8217;s our protector, a big man with a big heart,&#8221; Fetalino says. &#8220;One day he said to us: &#8216;This Hobbit House belongs to all of you. You earned it.&#8217; A lot of us cried that day.&#8221;<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">One afternoon, Turner sits on the street-side patio as colourful jeepneys race past, their horns blaring, seats filled with passengers.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">An elderly dwarf limps in with two small men. Naida Morehon retired from the Hobbit House two years ago when her knees gave out. Her husband died last year and she needed money.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">As always, Turner took care of things.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">&#8220;Hi, Naida,&#8221; he says, lighting a cigarette. &#8220;Did you get the check?&#8221; \u2013 ?<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every night without fail, Jim Turner is there at the far corner of the bar, chain-smoking his Marlboros and sipping ice-cold San Miguel from the bottle, watching over the Little Ones. \u00a0 He considers them family, but they&#8217;re not his children. They&#8217;re the dwarfs and other little people the 70-year-old Iowa native has rescued from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}