Louise 'Miss Lou' Bennett speaks to Prime Minister P. J. Patterson from her home in Canada during her 86th birthday celebrations on September 7, 2005. The celebration was orchestrated by People's Telecom Jamaica Limited as part of plans to launch their new product, Miss Lou's Calling Club.
HAPPY SONGS are sung by the cast in the pantomime "Anancy and Pandora". Do you recognize Miss Lou (Louise Bennett) at left? She plays Mekeke, Pandora's mother. Would you believe that the pretty lady in the pointed hat is the same person who plays the wicked witch? She is Lois Barrow, a school teacher in a real life. In this picture you can also see the dancers and singers who help to make the show lively.
Miss Lou also has several sound recordings. 'Anancy stories', 'Listen to Louise', and 'Miss Lou's views' were produced by Federal Record Manufacturing Company. The programme "Miss Lou's views" was also broadcast by Radio Jamaica. In it Miss Lou used her 'Auntie Roachie' stories to project her views of Jamaicans. The long-playing record 'The Honourable Miss Lou' was produced by Dynamic Sounds in 1981 and the live recording "Yes mi dear" done by Amani in 1982.
Miss Lou's poetry, wit and humour have always appealed to children. The popular JBC-TV
programme for children Ring Ding was created by her and aired between 1970-82. The programme which had children in the
studio audience, encouraged the youngsters to sing, dance and recite poetry. They were rewarded with a round of applause to Miss Lou's enthusiastic command to 'Clap dem!'
She has been awarded the Norman Manley Award for Excellence in the field of the Arts; the Institute of Jamaica's Gold Musgrave Medal and the Honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by the UWI in 1982.
In June 1983 she was invited by the Centre for African and Afro American Studies of Atlanta, USA to tour Senegal and Zambia.
She has appeared in several motion pictures filmed in Jamaica, the most recent being Club Paradise in 1986. In 1986 she was honoured at a special function in Canada. The Jamaica American Caribbean Quarterly Magazine gave her a plaque for Outstanding Creativity in the Performing Arts. That same year the Senior Citizens of Jamaica in Cleveland, Ohio, USA also showed their appreciation with the presentation of a plaque.
In 1986 Louise Bennett celebrated 50 years in Jamaican theatre. At a special anniversary service in August 1987 tributes came from many and Louise Bennett's own appreciation was summed up in two words "Tenk God".
The anniversary celebrations took place between 1986-87 and in 1987 the National Library of Jamaica mounted a special exhibition in honour of the anniversary. In that year she was also selected as one of 10 outstanding persons to be honoured at a special luncheon. The function, which took place at the Florida International University in Miami, paid tribute to Outstanding Black Cultural Spokespersons.
In recognition of her contribution the City of Kingston handed her the Keys of the City at a civic reception at the Ward Theatre in 1987.
The Louise Bennett Garden Theatre was opened in the 1970's and to commemorate the 50th anniversary the theatre was refurbished in 1987 at a cost of $10,000. It has seating for 1,000 and was built for the staging of children's productions, band concerts and family concerts.
In March 1988 Miss Lou was honoured at the Second Annual Caribbean American Awards of Excellence in Miami.
In September 1988 her composition "You're going home now", won a nomination from the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, for the best original song in the movie Milk and Honey.
In 1998 she received the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters from York University, Toronto, Canada. The Jamaica Government also appointed her Cultural Ambassador at Large for Jamaica. On Jamaica's independence day 2001, Bennett-Coverly was appointed as a Member of the Order of Merit for her distinguished contribution to the development of the Arts and Culture.
AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE:
Louise Bennett, winner of the Norman Manley Award for Excellence for 1972, being presented with the award and a copy of the citation by Mrs. Edna Manley at the award ceremony at the Carib Theatre on Tuesday evening. At right is Mr. Douglas Graham, chairman of the Norman Washington Manley Foundation.
