Djoemala


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

Biography

Djoemala was born in Batavia, the capital of the Dutch East Indies. Sources disagree on his year of birth; the catalogue Apa Siapa Film Indonesia gives 19 September 1915, while Indonesian film historian Misbach Yusa Biran gives 1918. Although later billed as "Raden" Djoemala, the actor was not of noble descent. He had some schooling, completing his junior high school in 1934.
A tailor by trade, Djoemala had owned the Broadway Store located on Kramat Raya Street. In 1940 he was approached by Tan's Film and cast for their new production, Sorga Ka Toedjoe. He was cast opposite Tan's mainstay Roekiah, whose regular on-screen partner, Rd Mochtar, had recently left the company owing to wage concerns. Djoemala was chosen for his good looks and tall body. In the film, Djoemala played Hoesin, who reunites the long-separated Hadidjah and Kasimin to win the hand of Roekiah's character Rasmina. The film was a success, and one reviewer opined that Djoemala was as good as, if not better, than Mochtar.
The pair's next film together, Roekihati, cast Djoemala as a city-dweller named Mansoer who falls for a village girl named Roekihati but is nearly forced to marry another woman. In 1941 Djoemala and Roekiah acted in another two films together, Poesaka Terpendam and Koeda Sembrani. Although all of these films were moderate critical successes, ultimately the pairing of Djoemala and Roekiah was unable to draw as many viewers as Mochtar and Roekiah had done. Biran writes that Roekiah's singing and the comedic antics of Kartolo were all that Tan's could depend on during this period.
Following the Japanese occupation of the Indies in February 1942, Tan's was closed. Djoemala is not recorded as having acted in any further films. During the occupation he joined a theatre troupe, Pantjawarna, in West Java, while in the Indonesian National Revolution he fought as a guerrilla. After the revolution he returned to working as an entrepreneur and tailor, dying in Jakarta on 10 June 1992.

Filmography

*