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| Sunday, 11 April 2004 |
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Recollecting old times... Padma Edirisinghe travels some lesser known pathways down memory lane with Lester James Peries, to his journalist days at the Times of Ceylon. The doyen of Sinhala Cinema celebrated his 85th birthday on April 5 at the Galle Face Hotel. The launch of his biography titled Sri Lankawe Agraganya Cinemawediya by Prof. Sunil Ariyaratne, also took place on this occasion.
On the deck of a French Liner, sailed the youth, through Marseilles and Calais into the dockyards of London. Here for six and half years, he scribbled feverishly reporting to Times of Ceylon. Lester James Peries, the crowned or uncrowned monarch of Lankan cinema opted to go down with me to the tender green years of his life in the media world, rather than dish out the amazingly long list of his cinematic creations, a task he had been often indulging in these past few weeks. Of course in the aftermath of his 85th birthday he was touching on relevant ground since as far as I could gauge it was his obsession with writing that had later immensely contributed to the brilliant career in the celluloid world that he strode like the very colossus despite his small size.
"Even in my school days I was obsessed with writing and the Blue Page of the Daily News provided a platform for my early attempts". Strangely not only he, but many famous names in the English writing field seem to have cut their teeth on this page. He mentioned quite a few such names including those of Harison Peiris, JB De Alwis and Alfreda De Silva. A long long distance you have soared up from the DN Blue page, I said. Was family affluence a contributory factor other than your innate talent? He gave serious thought to that and had much to say that included digging into a complicated tale of family antecedents. Southward migration from Grand Street, Negombo about two or three generations back when the boy was not even born, trekking far down to Moratuwa, family finally settling down in a four acre land in Dehiwala. "Twice parts of our land were sold at the niggardly rates prevalent then to meet family needs. Two and half acres were sold to Holy Family Convent of Dehiwala. At one time mother ran a dairy farm too. Do you call that affluence?" But there were especial family traditions (that an average middle class family could ill-afford), as that of boys going abroad to further their studies. Perhaps the famous Marcus Fernando (who enriched himself by marring into the famed CH Soysa family), a cousin of his was the initiator of this tradition and many other male cousins followed and went abroad. His father himself had ended up in Scotland as a medical student and came back one of the rare Western doctors then.
Dr. Peries would have loved to see his two sons tread his path. But it was not to be. Both the sons began adventuring in the artistic fields, Lester himself perpetually now scribbling as a freelancer to Times of Ceylon that earned him the patronage of Frank Moraes, then Times editor who later moved on to India. Strangely again it was his brother, Ivan's prowess in painting that paved the mighty path of Lester's success. It was the years circa the Second World War years and the brother (later of the famous 43 Group) and won a scholarship in painting to an institution in London. The brother was not much in good health. And the mother (Winifred Jayasuriya, the first girl to have passed the Cambridge Senior from St. Bridget's) was worried about him all alone so far way. "My mother was very business-minded while father was easy going, she found money for me to follow my brother to England. And she had a good intuition too. May be you can try your hand at your own writing there and do something for yourself, she said. She proved correct. I stayed there as Times correspondent for six and half years' (1945-1952)". Loaded on to the deck of a ship, a French Liner, he travelled through Marseilles and Calais to London and found his brother and stayed on for six and half years earning money through his pen. Maybe money is important for talents to blossom but luck goes a very long way. Lester was certainly lucky. He met Frank Moraes again in London come for professional work or on a holiday. This great doyen of journalism gave him some very good news. At this time both the Daily News and Times of Ceylon had their permanent offices in London. Both these offices, said Mr. Peries are now no more and were probably closed down in the '60s due to foreign exchange problems. The Times of Ceylon office was very well organized and had three permanent officers, an editor, a secretary and a reporter. At this time the reporter's post had fallen vacant and this was the vital info Moraes had given. Of course both offices were manned by the Whites and only three Asians were actually working in the two citadels of journalism, a rep from IPS, Indian Press Service (still going strong) and a rep from Dawn, an English newspaper in Pakistan and our own Lester. Did the post continue to be filled by a Sri Lankan? No. Only he had the luck. He wrote and wrote sending his pieces to the Times of Ceylon under various column headings as "Through my Eastern, eyes'. He waxed eloquent on the English theatre, English drama, new books just come out, authors, men and women, from the film industry. Whenever a celebrity especially in the field of arts arrived from his mother country our Lester was there to interview her or him. Minette De Silva... Malinee Jayasinghe... the famous de Sarams.... Not only they but many other topics fascinated him and drew the ink from his pen... tea...cricket...arrival of our Navy boys at Dartmouth for training and army boys at Sandhurst. The last article he had contributed to was on "The death of George 6th" which he showed me with almost childish pride appearing on the first page of Times of Ceylon year 1952. Incidentally he still has with him all cuttings of all these articles neatly filed that he in his admirable humility despite the Himalayan heights he has reached laboured to show me. Lester did not limit himself to writing alone. His journalistic forays brought him into contact with the film world of the West that much intrigue him and inspired him to try his hand at his own creations. Of these "Soliloquy" and "Farewell to childhood" both set against English backgrounds were selected to be presented at a contest. Luck surfaced again in Lester's life. Ralph Keene, who later came to head the Govt. Film Unit was one of the judges. He was impressed with Lester's creations and from Sri Lanka he kept writing, almost pleading with him to come back, to his own country as Film Unit assistant senior. So he came back in 1952 after six and half years giving up a glitzy and rewarding life in this major city of the world a life he loved much and so rich in experience. It was the Mecca for adventurers of the world, literary and otherwise. "I realized that I had opted for something much less", says Lester. A paltry sum of 400 plus rupees was paid to him and he had to do documentaries on Malaria, on road safety! But he drained his maximum creativity into what could have been the ultimate in the dismal and uninspiring. "Be safe or be sorry" on traffic safety proved a big hit both due to his talents and the main actress Iranganie Serasinghe's performance. Luck again raced behind Lester. Year was 1954, Christopher Peiris was a cousin of his, a businessman he never suspected of having any film interests. But on accidentally meeting him one day Christopher suggested to give up his work at the Film Unit and invited him to produce Sinhala films. A company he said was envisaged by him for this venture. Big names he mentioned as being involved. Famous men with loads of money as H. W. Jayawardena, cousin of J. R. Jayewardene and uncle of Upali Jayawardena, Sarath Wijesinghe, George Chitty. "Chitralekha" was the name of the company and Lester was invited to handle the productions. So Lester quit the Film Unit. The first baby of Chitralekha was the award winning Rekhawa. The Chitralekha office Lester added was sited at Bloemendhal Road exactly where The Island office is being run today. As destiny would have it, the screening of Rekhava in France made Lester meet his soulmate there, Sumitra come on her own adventurous forays into the Western film world. The subsequent story that followed the screening of Rekhava has been narrated in many a journal and newspapers these past few weeks and repetition almost seems superfluous. This great but humble man who has emblazoned his name not only in the annals of our cinema world but in world cinema still finds time to muse on his past and ramify into its nooks and corners that shaped his life. The writer wishes him long life and good health and congratulates him on a life profitably spent and truly remarkable. He has certainly done his little country proud, beginning his massive gamut of work with the pen he wielded as a school boy writer. |
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