He built his comedy out of two traditions that had no business meeting. From the bangsawan stage he took the archetypes and the sharp verbal wit of Malay folk humour; from the cinema he took the physical mime of Chaplin and Keaton. Then he married them.
The stage figure was unforgettable: an oversized coat with frayed cuffs, baggy trousers cinched at the waist, a crooked necktie, battered shoes, and a black patch painted over lip and chin to simulate stubble. He walked with a swagger and carried a cane — not for support, but as punctuation.
By the late 1930s and through the Occupation, Jenaka Tompel was celebrated across the region. He was never merely a clown. He was a satirist of vanity, class pretension and the daily indignities of ordinary people.
Behind the camera, early
When the post-war industry expanded in Singapore, Tompel was among the very few local stage veterans with the ambition to direct. Most local talent was confined to acting or crew work under foreign directors; he wanted control. In the early 1950s he wrote and directed Norma and Sejoli (1951), Juha and Seniwati (1953).
During that period he met and married a young nightclub singer named Salmah Ismail — later Saloma. The marriage ended, but it produced a son, Armali — whom P. Ramlee would later raise as his own after marrying Saloma in 1961. Three of the most consequential figures in Malay entertainment therefore shared one household between them, in sequence. The studio system of the 1950s made independence financially impossible for an artist of his temperament, and he returned periodically to stage revues and radio.
Re
The moment came in the mid-1960s. Ramlee had left Jalan Ampas for Merdeka in Hulu Kelang and needed comic energy that would not simply be measured against the ghost of the Bujang Lapok trio. He turned to Tompel, and with the stage actor Ibrahim Din they made the Do Re Mi trio.
Ramlee played Do, the self-appointed high-minded leader. Ibrahim Din played Mi, the naive and gluttonous muscle. Tompel invented Re — a smooth-talking, perpetually unemployed rogue who believed himself a suave aristocrat, in patched Western suits and oversized sunglasses, always half a step ahead of his creditors and half a step behind disaster.
His clinic scene in Do Re Mi (1966), improvising his way toward a medical certificate to avoid work, is a masterclass in rapid-fire Malay comic delivery. In Laxmana Do Re Mi (1972) — Ramlee's last film — he played Laxmana Re with a flying carpet, leaning happily into children's pantomime.
The partnership went well beyond the trilogy. He was Encik Badar in Keluarga 69 (1967), and Datuk Mahfuz in Anak Bapak (1968) — an authoritarian father trying to discipline a rebellious, Westernised playboy son played by Ramlee, which remains one of the finest generational satires in Malay cinema.
He died on 30 January 1973 in a road collision at Setapak, aged fifty-four. Four months later, and in the same neighbourhood, P. Ramlee died too. They are buried in the same cemetery at Jalan Ampang.
Beliau membina komedinya daripada dua tradisi yang sepatutnya tidak pernah bertemu. Daripada pentas bangsawan beliau mengambil arketaip dan ketajaman lidah jenaka rakyat Melayu; daripada sinema beliau mengambil mimik fizikal Chaplin dan Keaton. Kemudian beliau menyatukan kedua-duanya.
Sosoknya di pentas tidak mungkin dilupakan: kot kebesaran dengan hujung lengan berjurai, seluar longgar yang diikat di pinggang, tali leher yang senget, kasut buruk, serta tompokan hitam yang dilukis pada bibir dan dagu bagi meniru misai. Beliau berjalan dengan lenggok yang megah sambil membawa tongkat — bukan untuk bersandar, tetapi sebagai tanda baca jenakanya.
Menjelang penghujung 1930-an dan sepanjang zaman pendudukan, Jenaka Tompel masyhur di seluruh rantau. Beliau tidak pernah sekadar pelawak. Beliau seorang penyindir keangkuhan, kepura-puraan darjat, dan kehinaan harian yang ditanggung rakyat biasa.
Di sebalik kamera, seawal itu
Apabila industri pascaperang berkembang di Singapura, Tompel antara segelintir veteran pentas tempatan yang mempunyai cita-cita untuk mengarah. Kebanyakan bakat tempatan terkurung pada lakonan atau kerja kru di bawah pengarah asing; beliau mahukan kawalan. Pada awal 1950-an beliau menulis dan mengarah Norma dan Sejoli (1951), Juha dan Seniwati (1953).
Pada tempoh itu beliau bertemu lalu berkahwin dengan seorang penyanyi kelab malam muda bernama Salmah Ismail — kemudiannya Saloma. Perkahwinan itu berakhir, namun ia menghasilkan seorang putera, Armali — yang kemudiannya dibesarkan P. Ramlee seperti anaknya sendiri setelah berkahwin dengan Saloma pada 1961. Maka tiga tokoh paling berpengaruh dalam dunia hiburan Melayu pernah berkongsi satu rumah tangga, secara berturutan. Sistem studio 1950-an menjadikan kebebasan mustahil dari sudut kewangan bagi seniman berjiwa sepertinya, dan beliau kembali secara berkala ke pentas revu dan siaran radio.
Re
Saatnya tiba pada pertengahan 1960-an. Ramlee telah meninggalkan Jalan Ampas ke Merdeka di Hulu Kelang dan memerlukan tenaga komedi yang tidak sekadar dibandingkan dengan bayang trio Bujang Lapok. Beliau berpaling kepada Tompel, dan bersama pelakon pentas Ibrahim Din, terbentuklah trio Do Re Mi.
Ramlee memegang watak Do, ketua yang melantik dirinya sendiri dan berlagak berfikiran tinggi. Ibrahim Din memegang Mi, si kuat yang naif dan gelojoh. Tompel mencipta Re — perayu lidah manis yang tidak pernah berpekerjaan namun menyangka dirinya bangsawan yang bergaya, bersut Barat bertampal dan bercermin mata hitam kebesaran, sentiasa selangkah di hadapan pemiutangnya dan selangkah di belakang malapetaka.
Babaknya di klinik dalam Do Re Mi (1966), berdalih secara spontan demi mendapatkan surat cuti sakit untuk mengelak kerja, ialah pelajaran agung tentang lontaran komedi Melayu yang pantas. Dalam Laxmana Do Re Mi (1972) — filem terakhir Ramlee — beliau melakonkan Laxmana Re bersama tikar terbang, menyelami dunia pantomim kanak-kanak dengan penuh gembira.
Kerjasama mereka jauh melangkaui trilogi itu. Beliau Encik Badar dalam Keluarga 69 (1967), dan Datuk Mahfuz dalam Anak Bapak (1968) — seorang bapa yang tegas cuba mendisiplinkan anak lelakinya yang memberontak dan kebaratan lakonan Ramlee, yang kekal sebagai antara satira jurang generasi terbaik dalam sinema Melayu.
Beliau meninggal dunia pada 30 Januari 1973 dalam kemalangan jalan raya di Setapak, pada usia lima puluh empat tahun. Empat bulan kemudian, di kawasan yang sama, P. Ramlee turut pergi. Kedua-duanya disemadikan di tanah perkuburan yang sama di Jalan Ampang.