Miss Lou Brochure - Jamaica Cultural Development Commission

ACHIEVEMENTS,
HONOURS AND
AWARDS
Miss Lou’s list of
achievements and awards is
an impressive one.
They include:
1960
1964
1972
1974
1979
1983
1986
1987
1989
1998
2001
2003
Title of Member of
the British Empire
(M.B.E.) for her
work in Jamaican
literature and
theatre
Institute of Jamaica Musgrave Silver Medal for her research and
contribution to Jamaica’s cultural studies and folklore
Norman Manley Foundation Award for Excellence in the field of the
Performing Arts
Order of Jamaica (OJ) for her contribution to the development of the
Arts in Jamaica and the Caribbean
Institute of Jamaica Musgrave Gold Medal and the Institute of
Jamaica Centenary Medal.
Honorary Doctors of Letters (D. Litt.) from the University of the West
Indies. Her composition ‘You’re Going Home’ won a nomination from
the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, for the best original
song in the movie, Milk and Honey.
Jamaican American Caribbean Magazine Award in the field of the
Performing Arts.
April 28, Miss Lou was given the Keys to the City of Kingston at a Civic
Ceremony held in her honour at the Ward Theatre in appreciation for
50 years in the theatre. The KSAC also named the day, Miss Lou’s
Day.
Jamaica’s Ambassador-at-Large for Culture
Honorary Doctors of letter from York University, Toronto Canada in
recognition of ‘her achievement as a poet, dramatist and storyteller
and for reminding everyone of Jamaica’s great contribution to
Canadian and world culture’.
Member of the Order of Merit (OM) for her invaluable and
distinguished contribution to the development of the Arts and Culture.
The Actor Boy Award Lifetime Achievement Award
The Jamaican Theatre Personality of the Millennium
Miss Lou was inducted as Fellow of the Institute of Jamaica, the only
female for that year.
The Louise Bennett Exchange Fellowship for post-graduate research
in Jamaica/West Indian folk language culture at the University of the
West Indies and the University of Toronto were instituted in her
honour.
Also named in her honour is the Louise Bennett Garden Theatre in
Kingston
BOONOONOONOOS
WELCOME 2003
On July 29, 2003, Miss Lou who has
been living in Canada for the past 14
years was brought home by the
Government of Jamaica as a special
guest for the
Emancipation/Independence
celebrations. An elated Miss Lou
declared, ‘Of all the places I’ve ever
been to, this is the most
boonoonoonoos welcome I’ve ever
had!’ She received among other
things a citation from the Government
and people of Jamaica saluting her
unique contribution to the cultural
development of the country. She also received an invitation to return to
Jamaica to live permanently
On July 26, 2006 the Hon. Louise Bennett-Coverley died in Canada. She was
86 years old. She was accorded an official funeral by the Government of
Jamaica which was held at the Coke Methodist Church in downtown Kingston
on August 9, 2006 and interred at the National Heroes Park.
Walk Good Miss Lou
Source:
The national Library of Jamaica
The Research Department, Jamaica Information Service
The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission
INFORMATION UNIT
3-5 Phoenix Avenue, Kingston 10.
Tel: 926-5726-9 Fax: 926-2362
Website: www.jcdc.gov.jm
Email: library@jcdc.gov.jm
THE EARLY YEARS
Louise Simone Bennett popularly known as
‘Miss Lou’ was born at 40 North Street,
Kingston on September 7, 1919, the
daughter of Augustus Bennett and Kerene
Robinson-Bennett, dressmaker, both
deceased.
Miss Lou was educated at Ebenezer and
Calabar Primary Schools, St. Simon’s
College (1933-36), Excelsior High
School (1936-38) and Friends College,
Highgate. During her school days she
started writing poems. As a teenager
she wrote her first dialect poem, On a
Tram Car.
In 1945, Miss Lou applied for and won
a British Council Scholarship to the
Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in
London. Within months of her arrival she
had a BBC programme of her own, Caribbean
Carnival, a live radio show specially designed for West Indians in London. She
also wrote and broadcast many poems from London
After graduation Miss Lou returned to Jamaica and taught at Excelsior High
school and was co-author of the 1949 Little Theater Movement pantomime. She
returned to England in 1950 to work for the BBC as presenter of West Indian
Guest Night which helped to further develop her stage repertoire. She also
toured with theatre companies based in Amersham, Coventry and Huddersfield.
In 1953 Miss Lou moved to New York where she continued to tour and perform.
She co-directed with Eric Coverley a folk musical called ‘Day in Jamaica’ which
was particularly successful in Harlem. She also did some radio work and sang
folksongs at the Village Vanguard in Greenwich Village.
In 1955 Miss Lou returned to Jamaica and worked as Drama Officer, later
Director, with the Jamaica Social Welfare Commission until 1959. This job
allowed her to travel all over the island and she was able to continue her study
of Jamaican folklore and oral history: collecting songs proverbs, riddles and folk
material, which she had begun in the 1940s. Miss Lou also lectured on drama
and folklore at the Extra Mural Department of the University College of the West
Indies
SOCIAL
COMMENTATOR
Miss Lou influenced many
aspects of Jamaican life
including poetry and music. She
can be considered the original
dub poet, the pioneer social
commentator.
Her poems
reflected all aspects of Jamaican
life past and present. She
pioneered the use of the
Jamaican patois in live
appearances on stage, radio,
television and films as well as in
printed literature. She wrote on
such topics as: city life,
transportation, hard times,
migration, romance, class and colour prejudice, colonial influences, gender
matters, war time and much more. She is also the author of several songs
including the famous “Evening Time”.
THEATRE
Miss Lou helped to Jamaicanize the
Little Theatre Movement (LTM)
pantomime and was synonymous
with LTM. She performed in the
first Jamaican-pantomime, Soliday
and the Wicked Bird in 1943 and
along with her able partner Ranford
‘Ranny’ Williams (Mass Ran)
performed in many pantomime
productions including Bredda
Duck. She was writer, co-writer,
lyric writer and director of several of
the best known and loved
productions. Her writing credits
include Bluebeard and Br’er
Anancy which initiated a series of
Anancy theme pantomimes such as
Anancy and Pandora in 1955 and Anancy and Beeny Bud the following year.
Miss Lou had an unbroken association with the LTM until 1971 when she
announced her retirement. She however went back in 1973 for the third revival
of the production Queenie’s Daughter, which was first performed in 1963 and
revived in 1966, the only production to accomplish this. Her last appearance
was in The Witch. She voluntarily retired from the LTM in 1975 after giving 32
years of love and devotion. She is also the patron of the National Dance
Theatre Company.
TELEVISION & RADIO
During the 1960s Miss Lou teamed up with Maas Ran for the Lou and Ranny
Show and in a short time the pair became the island’s favourite comedy team
and living legends. Miss Lou’s Views aired on JBC radio 1965 to 1982 was a
programme which brought out her sharp political humour.
She was also the presenter of “Ring Ding” a popular children’s programme
which portrayed their talents in poems (many written by Miss Lou), songs, skits
and dance. Many children and adults would tune in on Saturday mornings to
hear Miss Lou’s resonant voice cry out, ‘Ring Ding, concert time’, signally the
beginning of the programme. Every performance was rewarded with a loud,
‘Clap dem’ as she led the audience in applause.
AUTHOR/SINGER/SONGWRITER
Miss Lou has also written a number of books including, Humorous Verses in
Jamaican Dialect (1942), Laugh with Miss Lou (1962), Jamaica Labrish
(1966), Anancy and Miss Lou (1979), Jamaican Verses and Folk Stories
and Selected Poems (1982). The book Auntie Roachy Seh was culled from
the Miss Lou’s View programme. Auntie Roachy had a lot to say to those who
said that the dialect was corrupt. She often admonished that it was unfair to say
that the Jamaican dialect was bad as it consisted of English, Latin, Portuguese
and Ashanti just as English consisted of French, German and Latin.
ANANCY
STORIES
For many years Miss Lou
has been telling Anancy
stories. She said ‘All the
stories that were in the
pretty foreign books with
the pretty coloured
pictures didn’t sweet me
like the Anancy stories
which my grandmother
and my great uncle and my friend at school told me.”