Christmas in Guyana: 1941 to 1945
William Walker
Stabroek News
December 25, 2003
Christmas 1941 was one of the darkest times of the Second World War. Weeks before on December 7 the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbour drawing The United States into a truly global battle that by the end would see an estimated 48 million civilian and military deaths.
South America was unscathed by war including the quiet colony of British Guiana where the December 18, 1941 edition of the Daily Chronicle reported, "British Navy bags another Fascist Submarine" but right next to it, "Cart runs over aged man's foot" or "Lady bank clerk assaulted by unknown man". >From the global to the small town of Mr CP de Freitas who was to deliver a lecture on the western front of Guyana (not the Western front of Europe). Life seemed to go on quite normally, the sounds of guns too far away to be heard, the way the World Trade centre bombings or the War in Iraq happened to other people, and "Boy how much safer it is to be here". There were some indirect nuisances. Mr AA Thorne was calling for a buyer's strike to combat profiteering. There was rationing of galvanised sheets on account of the need for metal for the war effort. The '5,10,15 25 cent store' regretted to announce the discontinuance of Father Xmas on Xmas Eve due to a shortage of suitable toys as a result of import restrictions and war conditions." Instead of donations heading here to feed the hungry, there was a drive for money to be sent to the Great Ormond St Hospital in London for those children damaged by bombs. To date 44 pounds 24 pence had been raised. On the BBC World Service you could tune in at 7.12 am(and you bet it would be at exactly 7.12) to "London Calling" and "War Commentary" at 7.30 am; 10 am was "War time life in a small town in Britain" and after that "Inside Nazi Europe".
Naturally the war coverage was uncritical of the allies' tactics. Headlines exalted their successes: "American bombers destroy 20 enemy machines 200 miles from Manila..." The Axis (later to become Evil) "in full retreat on two fronts", "Rommel's Africa Corps smashed in fight in Libya." But the fine print sees phrases such as "long road ahead" and "heavy going". If you did not know 60 years later, you get the impression that the war might be over by next Christmas, when in fact there were four more years to go.
The editorial for December 18 looked to put a brave face on it: "The attack on Pearl Harbour is having a tremendous effect not only in unifying America but in gearing up the whole of American production."
While the recent defeats in the South Pacific must have been worrying, there was always "Carolina Moon" playing at the Rialto to take your mind off it. "Murder in the Air" starred that eventual Cold War 'hero', Ronald Reagan. The British Guiana philharmonic had been playing at Town Hall. "Best in West Indies" was the verdict.
And then there was the minutiae. A letter complained about this new fish hassar and how the bones got stuck in the throat of a clergyman. The writer suggests it should be banned.
The fare on the steamer from Wismar was being reduced to 24 Cents for the holidays, 300 out of towners expected, many of whom probably went to the Demerara Turf Club's New Year's Sweep Stake, First prize of $800. One letter to the editor reads, "Sir, within recent months there have been several violent attacks on peaceful persons on the public highway on certain parts of the East Coast Demerara including Buxton, Bachelor's Paradise Enterprise Paradise and Enmore Front. Some of these assaults have escaped the attention of the police..." Not much changes except for bicycle licences.
The advertisements also brought light relief, mostly claiming successes against various disorders. Says one: "Skinny women will never be popular. Skinny women are as a rule irritable, nervous and often quarrelsome. That's why they need Ferrozone." Even a British air raid victim praised the effects of Irving YeastVite.
Two days before Christmas the Japanese invasion of the Philippines began with "100,000 Japs Coming Ashore... Women Bombed in the Streets." Meanwhile one Guyanese woman had the courage to place an advertisement in the paper saying, "I hereby beg to inform that I was reluctantly compelled to leave the home of my husband Albert Fresco of Canje Creek on account of his treatment to me, Catharine Fresco, Bonne La Fleur." Let's bring that back. The main gossip going around was the case of Mr Vernon Lawrence shot dead in the kitchen of his Portuguese Quarter home in the Corentyne apparently by accident while cleaning his shotgun. His last words were appropriately, "Oh God!"
Boxing Day 1941 announced the fall of Hong Kong but the next day British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, in a speech that must have been referred to by Tony Blair in 2002, stated that "Britain and the US would work together in majesty and peace". A picture shows him giving his famous V for victory sign while saying "democracies must work more closely in future to prevent such wars."
The band played on at the Hotel Belair gearing up for a Christmas Eve dance, Admission 48 cents to hear the Washboard Orchestra.
Christmas 1943
"Berlin's heart battered by RAF raids.. Rusians Smashing White Russian Bastion.. Nazis Tighten Grip on Rome... Fifth Army Drive to Cassino gathers momentum..."
Meanwhile in Whim Magistrate's Court, a 64-year-old woman was fined $15 for being in possession of Bush rum; Bissessar was fined $3 for riding a bicycle with a defective brake and Rahaman, Salick and Sumput were each fined $15 or one month hard labour for fighting.
There were still shortages of luxury goods. "Altho' there's a war on Xmas is still Xmas at Bookers Drug store where necessary restrictions have limited a large variety of Xmas gifts but you could still pick up wrist watches for $40 to $60, a laundry bag for $3.50, wooden handkerchief boxes for $3.50-$8.50.
The war had hit home for one family with the announcement that Flying officer Griffith Stanley Jones, son of WS Jones managing director of Messrs Booker Bros had been reported missing.
The Christmas Day editorial in the Chronicle noted, "This is the fifth war time Christmas and we are all deeply conscious of the difference between war and peace. Gone are the symbols but the spirit remains the same and British Guianese will not let the absence of toothsome delicacies, decorations and imported toys interfere with the celebrations of this joyous occasion." The Great Ormond St Hospital drive was still on. This year they were raffling off an antique French clock which was on display in the window of T Geddes Grant. "Do your bit to the bombed children of London."
Profiteering was also still an issue. The Full Court of Appeal upheld the conviction of one Jacob Chee You Long of Albion Courantyne, charged in March for selling 1 lb of potatoes for 16 cents exceeding the maximum retail price of 14 cents. He was fined $75. Potatoes are now $50 per lb and that would make the fine $26000.
A bicycle stealing conviction was set aside by the court and the alleged theft of greenheart logs was also reversed. In the Demerara river two men drowned when their punt, the Churchill, encountered a squall off Herstelling.
Guess who was selling Pepsi Cola? D'Aguiar Bros while Cold Storage and Ice Depot had the patriotic message, "The Democratic People are United. The United Nations will win." And by the way buy Coca Cola "Pause... go refreshed".
"Housewives what about Cassava for Xmas? You haven't thought of everything for your Xmas table if you don't have good wholesome cassava." (Try that one now)
The headline "Terrible Eczema Goes Quickly" might have been misconstrued as a news story, so too a report of a woman who had lost her middle aged spread with Kruschen. "Wake up your liver bile with Carter's Little Liver Pills... harmless, gentle yet amazing in making bile flow freely." "Attention! Russian Bear Black Label rum sold out...so buy Red Label instead, (Phone C.530)."
The Park Hotel was having a Xmas Eve Ball 9-2 with Bert Rogers and his Aristocrats, Dinner and Band $3.00. Movies in 1943 were One foot in Heaven at the Metropole, "the story of a man who had one foot in heaven and the other in hot water."
On ZFY Voice of Guyana (49 metre band) at 8.30 am you could hear the "Lone Ranger" and later the "Hotel Tower Dance Programme". In the classifieds, J West of 15 D'Urban St was selling two donkeys How strange the horoscopes for December 24. For all you Capricorns: "Complete tasks and solve problems prior to 8.15 pm after which use dietary health discretion and disturbances.." The War on Bad Manners was even going on back then. One hundred elementary and well-behaved schoolchildren were given Christmas parcels at a ceremony at the Astor cinema from the scary sounding 'Society for the Promotion of Refinement'.
The children were reminded to refrain from the bad habit of running sticks in the wheels of motorcars as they pass. There was an account of a man being shocked by an electric eel and Midnight Mass would be celebrated at St Barnabas and at St Philip's Anglican Church. City rainfall was 118 inches for the year with 2" in the city just in the past weekend. This had brought a fresh outbreak of malaria exacerbated by the shortage of quinine and atebrin. There were calls to reduce the price of mosquito nets.
Christmas 1945
The war might have been over in August with Japan's surrender but its aftermath lingered well into Christmas 1945. December 22: "Blood n Guts Patton dies" after a peacetime accident where he had broken his neck. "Believed he was the greatest general who ever lived." December 23: Big three Ministers settling differences in Russia" while the Pope was more worried about totalitarianism. "Men merely pawn in game of politics."
But there was a new expansiveness, a busyness about the newspapers which perhaps reflected the greater society. Steamship movements were being faithfully reported (the SS Maaskern is expected here early January from London, SS Indore arrived on Wednesday). Charter planes were flying to Trinidad and Suriname and their passenger lists published. The Mackenzie runway was being lengthened from 3400 ft to 3878 ft.
And sex was also in the air. Even the girls in the comics, Little Annie Rooney, Mopsy and Cuties and the Phantom were decidedly buxom. The Metropole Theatre was playing "Thrill of Romance" starring Van Johnson and Esther Williams. At Astor 'Salome' was dancing in technicolor with a photo that suggested licentious dances of the seven veils. However, a reviewer assured readers, "I can in all conscience recommend this film to parents wishing to take their children over the holidays to the theatres."
Nevertheless, a writer to Sister Agatha was worried about all the sex: " What could these youths know about such as dangerous and complicated thing as love?" How could they recognise the real sheep and not the wolf in sheep's clothing, she asked, blaming it all on "the corrupting influence of film, where most of the love ideas originate from the cinema."
Sister Agatha responded with equal alarm: "Whither is our youth drifting? Seemingly they are incapable of thinking about the real things in life, religion music and literature, philosophy. Sex, sordid base and low seems to be the only thing that is making a hold on their fancy. Sex the greatest shaft which is being driven into the heart of national life." So to speak. There were other things to keep the mind off sex. A long feature on English Cottage gardens reflected the post-war sentiment instead of 1941's "Wartime life in a small town in Britain." More relevant was an article on a weekend trip to Bartica.
Perhaps the nation's moral health was not helped by the column "Whisper in the Dark" which a few days before Christmas noted how quiet the scene was, "everyone holding in for the grand gallop in the Xmas and Old Year's Stakes and this faithful owl is no exception, like all thoroughbreds remaining in his stall." He must have peeked his head out to see 'Ball of Fire' Clem Gonsalves leave for Trinidad. The crime blotter reported a $1000 theft of the Milk Board's payroll, Jewel thieves had robbed CI Dow of 14 Norton St losing of $97.50 worth and O Grant of 72 Leopold St, $29.60.
An epidemic of stealing had hit the Georgetown hospital, 60 bed sheets disappear along with cutlery. The reporter said it was not unusual to hear of persons getting drugs from a friend in the hospital "for a small piece".
The British Guiana Cricket Club, Pavilion Thomas was holding a Xmas Nite party Gents $1.50 ladies 72c. Al Seales and his Full Washboard Orchestra. Evening dress essential. The Management of Bel Air proudly presented the golden voice of Mrs Vasco de Freitas the colony's outstanding coloratura soprano assisted by Mr Compton Pooran in a recital of Christmas Carols.
Advertisements tended to focus on respiratory ailments: Canadian Healing Oil Robert's Syrup, Vicks Inhaler and Cattarhzone with a sort of X-ray of a man's lungs. Then there was Scott's Emulsion- "Are your children as frail as flowers?"; Reckitts Crown Blue... Lighthouse Cigarettes and Nido powdered milk, "a dairy farm in your kitchen".
In the classifieds: "Lost hub cap for Plymouth car on Wednesday 12 between Mahaicony and Rosignol. Call Dr C Ramdeholl; Buttons and Buckles covered at 51 Camp St: Juke box Jive and Jazz for Parties; Bouquets and Wreaths...; Tyres and tubes vulcanised by City Services, High St; Mrs J Tyon-A Yong PCT, teaches shorthand and typewriting."
The Government Produce Depot was selling plantains at 3c per lb, yams 6 cents, sweet cassava 1c, vita peas 6c and grapefruits were 4 cents. December 24: Earthquake hits BG. Early morning shocks alarm citizens at 4.24 am and 4.28 am lasting 18 seconds. A fire started by a lighted cigarette-end on a mattress was doused by residents of the Cummingsburg slums at 8 New Market St. Apparently Dolly Daniels, tired of smoking had run into the kitchen to make tea.
Drug smuggling was also an aspect although in a different direction. After stepping off a ship, probably from China, Hu Jee's left breast pocket looked bulky and an inspection uncovered 7.5 oz of opium. He was fined $95.
There was a shopper's rush after the SS Brush and Cable arrived at midnight on December 22 with a general cargo of dried fruit. Yesterday morning the Water St stores were crowded with queues 2 to 3 deep and 100 yards long. And in his Christmas Day message Governor Gordon Lethem noted "this is the first Xmas since 1938 when we may be home without the shadow of war upon us." He assured readers that "British Guiana shall triumph over all difficulties."
Not so for Rachael Archer who ten minutes after her doctor arrived passed away at her 34 D'Urban St homes from heart troubles on Christmas Eve. And Oscar Charles Walker would be spending the New Year in prison after stealing a dark brown cow from a Canal No 1 Polder farmer.