Lee and Taylor: Footnotes in the Shakespearian wind

Oct 03, 2012 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

One of the most quoted reflections of Shakespeare comes from the mouth of Macbeth; “Life’s but a walking shadow
A poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more.”
I was in Austin’s Book Store on Monday and at the cashier’s wicket, there’s the magazine rack, and my eyes glanced on a magazine cover that features the faces of prominent Guyanese Portuguese in Guyana’s history. Among them is Peter D’Aguiar. With over seventy percent of Guyanese being under thirty-five years, and even those over forty-five, few Guyanese would know about the influence Peter D’Aguiar wielded in their country in the sixties
The reason for this erasure is because no one and no organization keeps his memory alive. This is in stark contrast with Cuffy, Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow, Forbes Burnham and Cheddi Jagan. Every year there are events, given wide coverage in the media, highlighting the lives and times of these famous Guyanese. But there is nothing on D’Aguiar. The business firm of D’Aguiar would not dare have a yearly celebration of his historic place because of fear of Government’s retaliation. But the life of this politician needs to be kept alive.
When you think of how the PPP under Mrs. Jagan evolved in the nineties and onwards, it becomes easy to contextualize the historic presence of Peter D’Aguiar. If it wasn’t for D’Aguiar, think of what Guyana would have become under the PPP leadership. People like Forbes Burnham and Peter D’Aguiar understood the dark mind of the PPP in the sixties and their intervention to remove the PPP have its historical place.
My opinion is that it is unfair that people like D”Aguiar are just gone from the nation’s memory. It is like what Shakespeare said. We just appear, do our thing, and we fade forever, never to be heard again. When you think of how colossal was the presence of some Guyanese personalities in the epoch to which they belong then they vanish into thin air, it causes you to reflect on the human condition and what value it has in the lives of human beings.
Take Peter Taylor. Two years ago ( I wrote about this before), I was driving south on Carmichael Street and at Christ Church, I saw this small group leaving the church. Among them was a well known city manager of a very popular Georgetown restaurant whom I recognized. A few days after, while eating at his outfit, I made reference to the church gathering and he told me it was the funeral service of Peter Taylor. I could not believe it. Just a handful of persons were in attendance.
In the sixties, Peter Taylor was a household name, equal to that of Premier Cheddi Jagan and opposition leader, Forbes Burnham. Think of any Guyanese that is extremely known among the population today and Peter Taylor would have fitted that description. As the editor of the vastly influential Evening Post, he became more popular when the Government tried to murder him. No one remembers Taylor today. Few attended his funeral service. He became a cripple a few years back and twice refused my interview. So did his extra-marital partner who currently lives in a private nursing home. There needs to be some publication on Taylor and D’Aguiar.
In the fifties and early sixties, a household name in Guyana was a tall, handsome Chinese man, Vivian Lee. He owned perhaps the tallest business place at that time named ACE, at the corner of Robb and King Streets. Lee was one of the most popular citizens in his time. He made a number of successful local movies with local actors and recorded local singers, making some of them hugely successful in the Caribbean, notably Johnny Braff.
In the late seventies, Lee migrated to Canada, married an Italian woman and reached his nineties before he died last month. His death passed unnoticed in this country. I doubt, given who Lee was, that would happen in any other country, and yes, I mean any other nation. It is expected that the Government would not dare sponsor any event to inform the Guyanese people who D’Aguiar or Taylor were. But Lee never dabbled in politics and was a giant in the arts field in Guyana.
The Ministry of Culture needs to compile a documentary on Lee so the younger generation can know about his contribution. My deep conviction is that given the philistine mentality that dominates the corridors of power, it would be unthinkable to see them spend money on such a project. Rum shop mentality and culture are enemies.

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Lee and Taylor: Footnotes in the Shakespearian wind

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