Kartolo

Last updated
Kartolo
Kartolo and cello.jpg
Kartolo and his double bass, c. 1941
Born
Yogyakarta, Dutch East Indies
Died(1949-01-18)18 January 1949
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Occupation(s)Actor, songwriter
Years active1930s–1948
Notable work Terang Boelan
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1932;died 1945)​
Children5, including Rachmat Kartolo

Raden Mas Kartolo (died 18 January 1949) was an Indonesian actor and songwriter. Born in Yogyakarta to a noble family, he entered the theatre and married the actress Roekiah around 1933. The two, living in Batavia (now Jakarta) acted in numerous movies together, starting with the 1938 hit Terang Boelan . However, Roekiah was always cast with other actors as her romantic interest. After Roekiah died in 1945, Kartolo brought the family to Yogyakarta and worked with Radio Republik Indonesia until his death. One of his sons, Rachmat Kartolo, went on to be an actor in the 1960s and 1970s.

Contents

Early life and career

Kartolo was born in Yogyakarta, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), as the son of Honggodimedjo who was of noble descent. [1] Around 1933, while a member of the Palestina touring troupe, he met his future wife Roekiah, a stage actress and singer of keroncong music (traditional music with Portuguese influences [2] ) in the Batavia (modern-day Jakarta) area. [3] [4] After leaving Palestina, in 1934 they toured in Singapore with the Faroka troupe. [4]

Film career

In 1937 Kartolo made his first film appearance as a supporting character and comedic relief in Albert Balink's Terang Boelan (Full Moon). Roekiah starred alongside Rd. Mochtar; the two played young lovers. Terang Boelan was a commercial success, drawing over 200,000 Straits dollars during its international release in British Malaya. [5] As Algemeen Nederlandsch Indisch Filmsyndicaat, which had produced Terang Boelan, stopped its work on feature films, [6] Kartolo and many other cast and crew members migrated to Tan's Film. [7] In this time, Kartolo and Roekiah established the short-lived Terang Boelan Troupe, which saw another tour to Singapore. [4]

With Tan's, Kartolo and the Terang Boelan migrants were utilised for the 1938 hit Fatima , starring Roekiah and Mochtar; Kartolo once again took a secondary role. This film, which closely followed the formula established by Terang Boelan, was a commercial success, earning 200,000 gulden on a 7,000 gulden budget [8] and establishing Roekiah and Mochtar as the nation's first on-screen celebrity couple; [9] when Mochtar left Tan's in 1940, Rd. Djoemala took over as Roekiah's on-screen love interest. [10] Kartolo continued to act in secondary roles alongside his wife, with her singing songs he wrote: the couple received a monthly holding fee of 200 gulden, twice as much as they had been given for Terang Boelan. They were also given a house in Tanah Rendah. [11] Kartolo and Roekiah appeared in six further films together, although never as lovers. [3] [1]

Film production in the Indies declined after the Japanese occupation beginning in early 1942, in which all but one studio was closed. [12] Kartolo acted in two propaganda films for this occupation government, although not alongside Roekiah: Kartolo was in the 1943 feature-length Berdjoang (Hope of the South) and the 1944 short Djatoeh Berkait (Fall Together), [1] while Roekiah was in the 1944 short Ke Seberang (To the Other Side). [3]

Later life

After Roekiah's death in 1945, Kartolo left Jakarta (renamed during the occupation) with their five children and worked at Radio Republik Indonesia for three years. This period was one of great turmoil, as the Indonesian National Revolution, a fight against the Dutch who had returned to recapture the Indies after the Japanese surrender in 1945, was in full swing. When the Dutch captured Yogyakarta following Operation Kraai in December 1948, Kartolo refused to cooperate with the colonial government. He died soon afterwards, on 18 January 1949. [1]

Of Kartolo and Roekiah's five children, one died while in Yogyakarta while the rest were brought to Jakarta and raised by Kartolo's close friend Adikarso. One of them, Rachmat Kartolo, went on to be an actor, active up through the 1970s. [1]

Filmography

Related Research Articles

<i>Alang-Alang</i> (film) 1939 film

Alang-Alang is a 1939 film from the Dutch East Indies. Starring Mohamad Mochtar and Hadidjah, it follows a young man in his quest to rescue his love from a bandit. Inspired by the Tarzan film series and shot in a period of one month with borrowed animals, the film was a commercial success and credited as a factor in the solidification of the Indies' film industry, as well as helping jump start the Malaysian and Singaporean ones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tan's Film</span> Dutch East Indies film production company

Tan's Film was a film production house in the Dutch East Indies. Established by the brothers Tan Khoen Yauw and Tan Khoen Hian on September 1, 1929, its films were mostly targeted at native ethnic groups. Starting with Njai Dasima in 1929, the company released fifteen movies before ultimately being dissolved after the Japanese occupation. The Tans and the Wong brothers established Tan & Wong Bros in 1948 to continue this work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rd Mochtar</span> Indonesian actor

Hajji Raden Mochtar, often credited as Rd Mochtar, was an Indonesian actor. Of noble descent, Mochtar was discovered by Albert Balink and first cast in the commercial failure Pareh (1936). Rising to popularity after the release of Terang Boelan the following year, he spent nearly sixty years in film, while also becoming a businessman and farmer.

<i>Terang Boelan</i> 1937 film from the Dutch East Indies

Terang Boelan is a 1937 film from the Dutch East Indies. Written by Saeroen, directed by Albert Balink, and starring Rd Mochtar, Roekiah and Eddie T. Effendi, Terang Boelan follows two lovers who elope after one is almost forced to marry an opium smuggler. The film was shot in the Indies and Singapore, and was partially inspired by the 1936 Hollywood film The Jungle Princess. It was aimed at native audiences and included keroncong music, which was popular at the time, and several actors from Balink's previous work Pareh (1936).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roekiah</span> Indonesian actress (1917–1945)

Roekiah, often credited as Miss Roekiah, was an Indonesian kroncong singer and actress. The daughter of two stage performers, she began her career at the age of seven; by 1932 she had become well known in Batavia, Dutch East Indies, as a singer and stage actress. Around this time she met Kartolo, whom she married in 1934. The two acted in the 1937 hit film Terang Boelan, in which Roekiah and Rd Mochtar played young lovers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wong brothers</span> Three ethnic Chinese film directors and cameramen

The Wong brothers were three ethnic Chinese film directors and cameramen active in the cinema of the Dutch East Indies. The sons of an Adventist preacher, the brothers – Nelson (1895–1945), Joshua (1906–1981), and Othniel (1908–1986) – received much of their education in the United States before going to Shanghai and establishing The Great Wall Productions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saeroen</span>

Saeroen was an Indonesian journalist and screenwriter. Born in Yogyakarta, he became a journalist after a time working at a railway station. By the mid-1930s he had established the daily Pemandangan with Oene Djunaedi and was writing editorials with the pen name Kampret. When the paper was dissolved, Saeroen drifted into the film industry as a writer, making his debut with Albert Balink's Terang Boelan (1937). Much of his later life was spent working with several minor publications.

<i>Roekihati</i> 1940 film

Roekihati is a 1940 film from the Dutch East Indies. Directed by the brothers Joshua and Othniel Wong and produced by Tan's Film, it follows a young village woman who goes to the city and encounters various difficulties. Targeted at lower-class audiences, it was shot in black-and-white and starred Roekiah and Raden Djoemala.

<i>Siti Akbari</i> 1940 film

Siti Akbari is a 1940 film from the Dutch East Indies directed by Joshua and Othniel Wong and produced by Tan Khoen Yauw. Starring Roekiah and Rd Mochtar, it follows a couple while the husband commits adultery.

<i>Fatima</i> (1938 film) 1938 film

Fatima is a 1938 film from the Dutch East Indies directed by Othniel and Joshua Wong. Written by Saeroen, it starred Roekiah, Rd Mochtar, and ET Effendi and followed two lovers who are disturbed by a rich youth. The film followed the same formula as the earlier hit Terang Boelan, and saw commercial success domestically. It is one of three films which Misbach Yusa Biran credits with reviving the domestic film industry, which had been faltering.

<i>Gagak Item</i> 1939 film from the Dutch East Indies directed by Wong brothers

Gagak Item is a 1939 bandit film from the Dutch East Indies directed by Joshua and Othniel Wong for Tan's Film. Starring Rd Mochtar, Roekiah, and Eddy T. Effendi, it follows a masked man known only as "Gagak Item". The black-and-white film, which featured the cast and crew from the 1937 hit Terang Boelan, was a commercial success and received positive reviews upon release. It is likely lost.

<i>Matjan Berbisik</i> 1940 film

Matjan Berbisik is a 1940 film from the Dutch East Indies which was directed by Tan Tjoei Hock and produced by The Teng Chun. Starring Hadidjah and Mohamad Mochtar, the film follows two men who are raised as brothers and compete for the love of the same woman. A copy of the black-and-white film, which featured keroncong music, is stored at Sinematek Indonesia.

<i>Srigala Item</i> 1941 film

Srigala Item is a 1941 film from the Dutch East Indies that was directed by Tan Tjoei Hock and produced by The Teng Chun for Action Film. Starring Hadidjah, Mohamad Mochtar, and Tan Tjeng Bok, the film's plot – inspired by Zorro – follows a young man who became a masked vigilante to take revenge against his conniving uncle. Srigala Item was a commercial success, which Misbach Yusa Biran credits to the plot's use for escapism. A copy of the black-and-white film, which featured kroncong music, is stored at Sinematek Indonesia.

<i>Sorga Ka Toedjoe</i> 1940 film

Sorga Ka Toedjoe is a 1940 film from the Dutch East Indies directed by Joshua and Othniel Wong for Tan's Film. It follows an older couple who are reunited by another, younger couple after years of separation. The black-and-white film, the first production by Tan's Film after the departure of Rd Mochtar, featured kroncong music and was targeted at lower-class native audiences. It was a commercial and critical success. Roekiah and Djoemala took leading roles in three more films before Tan's closed in 1942. Sorga Ka Toedjoe is now thought lost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Djoemala</span> Indonesian actor

Ismail Djoemala was an Indonesian actor active in the 1940s. He was often cast alongside Roekiah as her romantic interest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rachmat Kartolo</span>

Rachmat Kartolo was an Indonesian actor and singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lief Java</span>

Lief Java was an orchestra in the Dutch East Indies. It was one of the first keroncong groups in the colony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohamad Mochtar</span> Indonesian film actor

Mohamad Mochtar, usually credited as Moh Mochtar, was an Indonesian film actor active from 1939 until his death in 1981.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sardi (musician)</span> Indonesian composer and musician

Mas Sardi was an Indonesian composer and musician notable for being the country's first professional music supervisor. He and his wife Hadidjah were the parents of Citra Award-winning musician Idris Sardi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">S. Waldy</span>

Waldemar Caerel Hunter, best known by his stage name S. Waldy, was an Indonesian stage and film actor.

References

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Filmindonesia.or.id, Kartolo.
  2. ↑ van der Heide 2002, p. 128.
  3. 1 2 3 Filmindonesia.or.id, Roekiah.
  4. 1 2 3 Biran 2009, p. 204.
  5. ↑ Biran 2009, p. 171.
  6. ↑ Biran 2009, p. 172.
  7. ↑ Biran 2009, p. 174.
  8. ↑ Biran 2009, p. 175.
  9. ↑ Imanjaya 2006, p. 109.
  10. ↑ Biran 2009, p. 224.
  11. ↑ Biran 2009, p. 223.
  12. ↑ Biran 2009, pp. 319, 332.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.