How I Wrote a Book on Nora Aunor

By Herbert Vego

THIS writer was never as close to the late singer-actress Nora Aunor as others in the entertainment beat in the 1970s. But I had the unique status of having written a series of trivia on her for the defunct Daily Express, daily for four straight months.

I could have stored that work only in my memory bank until one day, three or four years ago, when Nora’s close friend and tax consultant, Marie Cusi, phoned. She asked whether I still had a copy of my 100-page book on Nora Aunor, Getting to Know Nora.

“Not one left,” I lamented.

Anyway, she broke the good news that portions of my book had been reproduced as a 10-minute YouTube presentation entitled “Nang Himayin ng Media ang Detalye ng Buhay ni Nora Aunor,” which could be accessed online via YouTube@Superstarstruck.

Yes, indeed, it’s there. So here I would like to reminisce about how that out-of-stock book materialized.

While in my senior year as a Journalism student at the Manuel L. Quezon University in Quiapo, Manila in 1970, I worked as ghost writer for the late Justo C. Justo, entertainment columnist of two Manila dailies – Philippine Sun and Evening News.

We would start each day discussing showbiz “tsismis” to write about for next day’s columns.

The job opened for me opportunities to connect with the right people in the movie industry, including the producer of Sampaguita Pictures, the late Dr. Jose Perez.

An elderly lady, Charri “Chat” Araullo — who was running the publicity department of Sampaguita – asked me to be her alternate writer for an illustrated series on Nora Aunor for the Daily Express. We would serialize little-known trivia on the decade’s hottest singer-actress. Each boxed piece would be juxtaposed with a sketch of Nora by either Aris Abalos or Danny Franco.

With Justo and Araullo as excellent sources of information, I found the job easy.  And being already a freelance entertainment reporter and a member of the Philippine Movie Press Club (PMPC) myself, I had many friends in the entertainment industry to rely on for interesting bits and pieces on Nora.

There were times when I would personally visit the location sites of her movies for first-hand observation.

Moreover, as press relation officer of Grandeur Records, I occupied an office three floors below that of Alpha Records, for which Nora recorded her songs.

The series was doing well with Noranians until September 1972 when President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. declared martial law and temporarily shut down all newspapers.

But it sparked in me the idea of reproducing the series in book form with the help of my kumpare Eli Balboa, who financed the publication of 5,000 copies of the book Getting to Know Nora in 1973.

To make the long story short, 51 years have come and gone, along with my only termite-infested copy.

From what I read in the video review, if it’s any consolation, there’s one copy kept in the library of the Mabini Memorial University in Iriga City, where Nora Aunor had finished elementary school.

I had gone to that school in 1971 to cover Nora’s open-air concert, proceeds of which would be spent for the construction of a school building.  It was a personal experience, by the way, that is one of the trivia included in the YouTube video.

In the same year, I covered the filming of Sampaguita Pictures’ “Always in My Heart” at Nayong Pilipino, where Nora refused spoon and fork and ate with her bare hands during lunch break. That, too, is one of the trivia included in my book.

And so, in memory of Nora Aunor, who passed away on April 16, 2025, I am quoting below some other items as originally printed in the newspaper series:

“When she was in grade one, Nora Aunor was asked by her teacher what she would like to be. She replied that she would like to be a teacher. Now she tells her former teachers, ‘I m a frustrated teacher.’”

“One of the most important persons and yet the least known in Nora’s life is a certain Mr. Bubay. This man was her talent scout when she participated in ‘Tawag ng Tanghalan’ in 1967.”

“In the mid-60s, Nora applied for a job at Larry Santiago Productions.  Dr. Larry Santiago told her to come back later and forgot all about it until much later when he was surprised to find moviegoers packing in droves in cinema houses to see her.”

“Before she made her first picture, ‘All Over the World,’ Nora had applied to be an actress but was rejected by four independent producers.”

“In 1970, following the seemingly small box-office returns of ‘Tell Nora I Love Her,’ a seeress predicted her downfall.  Yet all the more that Nora Aunor rose to greater heights.”

“Nora Aunor’s regionalism showed in a press conference when asked how she would like to do a movie with Victor Wood. She answered, ‘I would like to. He is a fellow Bicolano.’”

“In going to shooting locations, she prefers to ride with the production crew in a bus rather than in her own car.”

“After a show in Pangasinan, Nora could not go out of the stadium without having to pass through a shrieking, wild crowd. Singer Mar Lopez took off her jacket and wrapped it around another girl her size. This gave the security men a chance to smuggle Nora out into a fire exit. It was too late before the crowd realized they were mobbing the wrong girl.”

But wait! There’s more when you view “Noramania” on YouTube@Superstarstruck.