W Herbert L Allsopp: Mobilizing entertainment for social change in the early 1950s
Celebrating our creative personalities
By Dr. Vibert C. Cambridge
Stabroek News
October 10, 2004
A recent conversation with W Herbert Allsopp revealed that in 1950, he worked with Arthur Seymour and other creative minds in the Bureau of Public Information (later the GIS) to use vaudeville to promote the use of skinfish. This was an early example of entertainment-education, using entertainment to promote social change in a community.
British Guianese vaudevillians enjoyed wide popularity at home and across the West Indies. For example, Phil Madison was a vaudeville performer who settled in Trinidad in the early 20th century and is recognized for his contributions to the development of calypso.
Other influential vaudevillians include Elder James (aka The Right Rev Crab Oil), Critch Ivan, Bill Rogers and Madame O'Lindy, who is credited with opening the door for Dr Ellie Manette, the celebrated Trinidadian steel band innovator.
By the 1940s, vaudeville was an important element in the entertainment enjoyed by working people in BG. Among the popular shows were Prince Taylor's She Wanted a Yankee Man, Mrs What Ya Call 'Um' Double Trouble, My Fairmaid Man and My Husband, and Madam O'Lindy's Caracas Nights. These shows were popular in part because they were topical.
By 1950, the undisputed 'King of Vaudeville' in British Guiana was Sam Chase. Through his skits, songs and dances, he commented on what was transpiring in the society.
The young Bert Allsopp, who had returned to British Guiana at the age of 23 with an MSc in Fisheries Science, decided to use Sam Chase and vaudeville as a strategy in promoting the use of skinfish.
The campaign faced several challenges, including harvesting, cultural and religious beliefs, and nutritional practices.
Because of Guyana's geographic location, our coastal fishing regions have a high population of skinfish - gilbacker, blinker, catfish, menari, cuirass, etc.
In 1950, the Department of Agriculture's Division of Fisheries stated, "On the average, of every ten fish found in our coastal waters, six are skinfish."
Because of the anatomy of these fish - the sharp spines on the fins, cultural practices and belief systems such as kinna and fairmaid, and Old Testament injunctions such as those found in Deuteronomy and Leviticus, these fish were not harvested effectively.
According to Allsopp, fishermen would "destroy" the fish and not land them. This was destroying the fishing industry because the scaled fish were over-fished. These species also attracted higher prices and, as a result, one source of cheap protein was being eliminated for poor urban folk.
Allsopp made contact with Sam Chase, and the skit 'Skinfish and the Jordanites' was born.
Clearly, the question was: Why Sam Chase? Sam Chase had credibility. He gave the working man a voice in the public sphere.
Another question that could be asked is: Why the Jordanites? One reason was that this religious group used street corner meetings to explore the Old Testament. Although the dialogue that was evident during the street corner meetings was primarily among the brothers and the sisters, there were always opportunities for the 'audience.'
Hecklers enjoyed challenging the Jordanites' interpretation of the Old Testament, which included injunctions against using skinfish. According to Guyanese lore, it was this group that argued that the name of the dog that licked Lazarus's sores was 'Moreover.' This was their interpretation of the sentence in Luke 16:21, which reads "moreover the dogs came and licked his sores."
Skinfish and the Jordanites was presented at the Metropole Cinema in Georgetown and the Capitol in New Amsterdam, as well as in Wismar. But it was only one element.
According to a 1951 publication of the Department of Agriculture, "There were a dozen newspaper articles, eight radio broadcasts and considerable support from the press, cinemas, the churches and the schools - and some 15,000 leaflets, explaining the purpose of the [skinfish] campaign were distributed."
The poster competition for high school students was won by Miss Princess Jerrick of St Joseph High School. Lloyd Sattaur of Queen's College was the second prize winner and Victor Ho-a-Shoo, also of Queen's College was the third prize winner. The competition was judged by Mr R G Sharples, president of the Guianese Art Group.
On Friday, June 23, 1950, St Peter's Day, the Skinfish campaign was launched with a 'Skinfish Feast' at the Carnegie Trade Centre (now the Carnegie School for Home Economics).
Attending the launch were several government officials, including Governor Charles Wooley, members of the Legislative Council, and other prominent citizens. No doubt this signalled the importance of this campaign.
To reinforce the messages of the campaign, Norman Cameron (with technical guidance from Allsopp) wrote the calypso Eat Skin Fish. The lyrics refer to "mouth-watering curry Gilbacker, Catfish stew, and Cuirass cutlet and callaloo." Cameron, who had taught Allsopp at Queen's College, recognized Allsopp's role in conceptualizing and executing the campaign in the third verse of the calypso:
De Science man say an' de Governor obey
Eat Skin Fish
Archbishop preach an' Mr Allsopp he teach
Eat Skin Fish
In 1950, the 23-year-old Allsopp was beginning his career, armed with a Masters degree in fisheries science from the University of Wisconsin. He recognized the importance of the marriage of science and the arts in the quest to improve the human condition. His article 'Sam Chase an Educationalist' was published in a very early edition of Kyk-Over-Al.
The Department of Agriculture considered the campaign to be a success, reporting in 1951, "According to the daily checking for six months after the campaign 866,000 lbs of skinfish were landed in City markets and 863,000 lbs of scale fish. This compares with 766,000 lbs of skinfish and 797,000 lbs of scale fish for the same period in 1949."
Allsopp's work in fisheries science attracted international attention and earned him very high honours. His research reports in Nature on the effectiveness of using manatees to control weeds in the drainage and irrigation canals in British Guiana attracted international acclaim.
Herbert Allsopp received his PhD from the University of Washington (Seattle) in 1959.
Dr Allsopp developed fisheries projects in more than 110 countries and was the Food and Agriculture Organization's first Regional Fisheries Officer for the entire continent of Africa. As a result of his work there, Ghana appointed him as its Honorary Consul-General in Vancouver, British Columbia. He retired from that appointment earlier this year. In the tributes that were paid to him at his retirement, he was congratulated for "distinguished leadership, authentic vision, and wisdom."
Allsopp's contributions to the world of fisheries science were also recognized by the America Fisheries Society. In 2003, this organization awarded him the Golden Membership Award "in recognition and appreciation of a half-century of membership." He was the first Elected Lifetime Member to receive this award, a testament to excellence and originality. (Allsopp had been elevated to this rank when he was a very young man.)
Today, Allsopp lives in Vancouver with his wife Megan (nee Shaw). They have a son, Matthew. He has wonderful memories from the 'Skinfish' campaign.
As he said, "When a memba ole time story wata come to me yeye."
Allsopp was a pioneer in using entertainment to support social change. In doing so, he cleared a path for others. One can say that the work of Frank Pilgrim (The Jessamies), Francis Farrier, Phil and Cheryl Winter, and Desiree Edghill (Artistes in Direct Support) are direct descendants of Allsopp's bold interventions in 1950.
W Herbert Allsopp has done Guyana proud and is a scientific and cultural hero. He plans to write his memoirs.
Sources
E-mails:
Bert Allsopp to Clyde Duncan, September 15, 2004
The Daily Argosy, Saturday, June 24, 1950. Governor Opens 'Fish Feast' at Carnegie: Campaign aimed at removing prejudice against skinfish, p 1 and 4.
The Daily Argosy, Sunday, June 25, 1950. Photograph caption 'Student Artists in Poster Competition.'
Department of Agriculture, Division of Fisheries, n.d. (definitely 1950). The Skinfish Campaign.
Telephone interviews: Vibert Cambridge (Athens, OH) and W Herbert L Allsopp (Vancouver, Canada), September 19 & 30, 2004