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| Sunday, 4 January 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Noel Crusz: priest, film-maker, teacher, writer, puppeteer by Alan Gill Acquaintances are made in a variety of ways, often through simple coincidence. My friendship with Noel Crusz, who died in a Sydney hospital shortly before Christmas, offers one such example. He was at various periods, sometimes concurrently, priest, film maker, schoolteacher, writer and journalist. Add ventriloquist, puppeteer, broadcaster, catechist, and beloved husband of his wife, Tirzah, and you have the measure of the man. It was a blue air letter which brought us together. The year was 1962 and I was a young journalist on a British hobbies magazine devoted to cinematography. The editor requested a spot of spring cleaning. While thus engaged I found a dusty letter which had fallen, unopened, behind a filing cabinet. The sender identified himself as Noel Crusz, OMI. The contents were, indeed, interesting. They told the story of the formation of a film unit among pupils at a Catholic school in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and the use of a 16 mm movie camera to combat minor disciplinary problems and foster what nowadays would be called "personal development". The editor of "Amateur Cine World" was impressed by the letter and agreed to my suggestion that I contact Noel Crusz and write an article. I did just that, earning a front page story and a by-line. What more could a yong reporter want? Noel Crusz was born in December 1921, into a Burgher (Dutch-Portugese minority) family in the old Dutch colonial city of Galle. He was the second oldest in a family of six boys and two girls. He was educated at St Peter's College, Colombo, which was run by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. At 17, he decided that God was calling him to be a priest in that Order. He was ordained in 1948, having completed theological studies, also a BA degree from London University. He returned to his old school, St Peter's, where he taught English, history, and religious studies. A dramatic change occurred in 1952, when Noel was invited to undertake a year-long Diploma of Education course at Fordham University, USA. The emphasis was on communications. Noel was greatly influenced by the New Yorker, Bishop Fulton Sheen, then considered way ahead of his time. From New York Noel went to Los Angeles, where he met Bing Crosby (with whom he corresponded for many years), Tyrone Power and Loretta Young. In London, he was coached by Father Agnellus Andrew OFM, Head of Catholic religious broadcasting, and was the first Asian to be interviewed on the BBCs "In Town Tonight". In Italy he met Sophia Loren, read the news on Vatican Radio and an encounter he particularly valued met and interviewed Allesandro Serenelli, the contrite murderer of St Maria Goretti. He also met the saints mother, and was touched when she kissed his crucifix. He later produced a documentary film based on these meetings. Back in Ceylon, Noel produced a weekly Catholic Hour for the Government's radio network and also wrote scripts for a cinema newsreel. In 1955 he was sent as a teacher to St Joseph's College, Colombo, where he began more direct involvement behind a camera. It was to be his success and according to another point of view his undoing. There had been minor pilfering at the school, which Noel tackled by making a film with a moral: a remake of Vittorio De Sicas "Bicycle Thieves". Children and teenagers clamoured for roles in the film, also assisting with production, sound recording and editing. The film achieved fame throughout the island. The Prime Minister, Solomon Bandaranaike, his wife and future PM, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, and their children including the present President of Sri Lanka, Chandrika Bandaranaike, attended the opening gala performance. With his precious Bolex 16mm camera as the instrument, Noel made numerous other films, and was invited to film surgical operations. He claimed blood didn't worry him, but the sound of the "sawing of bones" did. His growing fame displeased his superiors, who considered his activities unpriestly. As "punishment" he was sent to remote or unattractive parishes, including a centre for young offenders, some of whom had committed murder. Instead of being angry, Noel enjoyed the challenges, gaining fresh support. The Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Cooray, found his patience sorely tested. He carpeted Noel, suggesting that he leave the Oblates (of which Cooray was himself a member) and seek laicisation which was then becoming available from Pope Paul VI. Noel resisted the request, and for a while things continued as before. He was by this time receiving fan mail, from young admirers. A newspaper with a taste for sensation claimed to be in possession of a letter, couched in affectionate terms, from a beauty queen. The writer said it was merely a "thank you" letter for a pastoral visit. The Archbishop, to his credit, ignored the incident. But on due reflections Noel decided that the advice he had received was right. He quit the Order, obtaining employment with the parent company of the newspaper which had so distressed him a short while earlier. Noel then began a second career as a journalist, becoming lobby correspondent and later deputy editor of two newspapers. In May 1967 having awaited lawful laicisation Noel married a distant relative, Tirzah Crusz. A highly placed cleric prophesied, on their wedding day, that the marriage would not last a year. In fact, the union lasted 36 years. In 1973, having fallen foul of the Government in some way, the newspapers on which he worked were closed down by Government decree, and the building surrounded by troops. Noel and Tirzah Crusz applied successfully to emigrate to Australia. They arrived in Sydney in July 1974. I was their sponsor. After a brief spell as a journalist, including holiday relief on the "Sydney Morning Herald", Noel reverted to his first love of teaching, obtaining a post, similar to his duties in Colombo, at the Patrician Brothers College, Blacktown. He was to stay there 17 years his unique approach to teaching, which included drama and puppetry, gaining great popularity. He also became active in the affairs of St. Mary's parish, Concord, a Sydney suburb. In 1976 he ran a puppet show next door to the church, to help raise money for new buildings for the primary school. Noel continued with these and other interests in a very active retirement. He taught religious education in state schools. In the early days of video cameras he was much in demand filming weddings. He became Australian correspondent for various Sri Lankan newspapers, some of whose editors had been trained by Noel himself. A gifted historian, he spent much of the last decade writing a well-received book "The Cocos Islands Mutiny" (Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 2001), which told the story of the only executions for treason involving British Commonwealth troops in World War II. A few years ago, when the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly the Holy Office) laid charges against an elderly Sri Lankan priest, Tissa Balasuriya, Noel was active in the campaign which resulted in Father Tissa's excommunication being lifted. Noel scripted and personally broadcast several programs for Radio National. Topics included the Cocos mutiny, the Titanic sinking (he was a true "Titanic buff") and the true story of the Bridge on the River Kwai. Almost any topic interested him from great men and women of history to recycling and the problem of plastic bags. A tendency to gabble when aroused by a favoured topic of conversation was miraculously muted whenever a microphone was placed in front of him. On a lighter note stories abound of his delighting, and sometimes upsetting people at street markets when, using his powers as a ventriloquist, teddy bears and other animals started talking. In the past five or six years of his life Noel faced acute stress and discomfort when an allergy to the dye injected into his body during an angiogram affected his kidneys forcing him to spend long hours in a hospital dialysis machine every week. He undertook the the treatment without complaining, writing letters to his friends (using the hand that was not wired up), inspiring other patients and taking part in "Escape Line" holidays, in one of which dialysis machines were placed on a cruise liner. Though no longer in the active priesthood, his personal faith remained strong. He rose at an unearthly hour, and said his Breviary daily. Memory Lane Though we had corresponded for nearly 10 years, I met Noel Crusz for the first time on February 13, 1971 a date engraved in my mind for ever. It was the day I emigrated from England to Australia; also the day the British Government adopted decimal currency. I pride myself on having left the country without using any of the new "funny money". In those days one could break a journey without incurring extra cost. I decided to stop over for a week in Ceylon, in order to meet my friend. There was a postal strike in Britain at the time, and I had no means of knowing if my various messages to him transmitted via antas had arrived. On arrival at Colombo I was much relieved when a charmingly accented female voice asked: "Will Mr Alan Gill please go to the information desk?" My aircraft had been delayed several hours. I discovered that a dinner party had been arranged for me at the house of a senior Air Force officer. It was held, as planned, even though it was now around midnight. On our way to the house we passed what appeared to be an exorcism ceremony. There was chanting in the street and a group of men appeared to be in a trance. Noel told me how lucky I was to see it. It was a hot, steamy night. I was in the back of a small car, still wearing my English winter clothes. I pinched myself to check that it was real. With the party in full swing, I struggled to stay awake. When it was over we returned to Noel's home in Mt Lavinia. I collapsed on the bed to be faced with an unfamiliar object a mosquito net. In films they were shown spread out across all four corners of the bed. This one resembled a coil. I untwisted it but it still hung down in distorted fashion. Perhaps, I thought to myself, you put your face in it, so that your head is protected, but not your body. I tried that, but it was like drinking through a straw. Every time I breathed in I also sucked in part of the mesh. I had decided to give up in disgust when in walked Tirzah, having knocked politely at the door. She saw my fate, burst out laughing, and explained how to position the net properly. I lay down and within seconds was out like a light. Next thing I remember was a hand shaking my shoulder. "Wake up, wake up." It was seven O clock, barely five hours later. Noel had arranged an excursion I think to Kandy. And Noel being Noel, precision timing was necessary. It was the start of an exciting week. When the time was up I reluctantly boarded a jet for the second leg of my journey this time from Colombo to Sydney. I was delighted to find several passengers on the plane who volunteered the information that they were friends of Noel Crusz. Two had starred in "Little Bike Lost". I befriended a young man of about 21 in the seat beside me. He told me he was recently married and was about to undertake a university course, I think in Sydney, Wollongong or Newcastle. When dinner was served he asked for Asian food. I told him, in rather poor taste, that for the next two years he would be eating fish and chips. I'm not sure if he realised I was joking. He looked at me sadly and said: "Life is not a bed of roses". We exchanged names and contact addresses, but I lost the slip of paper. I have often wondered what became of that fellow. Perhaps he is now a leading citizen of Sri Lanka. Maybe he will read this. (Alan Gill retired recently after nearly 30 years as a reporter, feature writer and religious affairs editor of the Sydney Morning Herald.) |
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