She is the original "Mother" in showbiz. In fact, seldom is she simply called Lily Monteverde. Showbiz outsiders and foreigners could think that Mother is her real given name.
She is generally acknowledged as the Mother of Philippine cinema. Her production outfit Regal Films has more or less dictated the trends in movie genres since its inception in the mid ‘70s.
Regal has churned out almost all the genres: drama, comedy, romance, fantasy, action, the family-oriented as well as the titillating films, the critically-acclaimed and the good-for-cheap-thrills, the serious and the slapstick. Even the so-called "pito-pito" flicks shot in only seven days. Name it, she did it.
Because of the company's success and the string of stars that it has made famous, not a few have speculated—seriously or half-heartedly—on Regal's true source of strength. Is there magic involved?
In the same vein, has Mother Lily concocted a brew to make a simple chemise magical? That kamison, or "magic kamison" as it is known now, has catapulted to stardom several actresses.
Young Lily's vision. "I have always been a movie fan," Mother Lily affirmed. Those few words basically explain how Regal Films came about.
Looking back, success did not come easy to the Filipino-Chinese lady.
A self-confessed black sheep of the family, the young Lily would skip classes and visit the Sampaguita and LVN studios. She would not be able to finish college despite excelling in both math and science. Her focus was always elsewhere.
Since age 10, movies have been her passion. One story goes that Lily was shooed out of a movie studio by a security guard. That incident made her vow to return and make a name for herself in the industry.
She belonged to an affluent family, being the daughter of copra magnate Domingo Chu. But for all her father's wealth, the young Lily was not able to see a cent of it after she decided to marry half-Chinese and not-her-father's-choice, Remy Monteverde, then a popular basketball player of San Beda.
After marrying Remy, Lily Chu-Monteverde worked for her father-in-law. Her end goal was to save enough so that she could start her own business. And save she did.
From her salary, she was able to buy two popcorn machines. Her small business eventually earned cash big enough for her to buy the rights to show a foreign film locally. That was in the early ‘60s and the movie was All Mine to Give.
It was the start of big things to come for Lily Monteverde.
Soon enough, from merely getting the film rights and distribution, she moved up to producing her own movies. Regal Films was born.
