My Friend Holly Thomas Holly Thomas was one of those rare people upon whom I could have called at any time for a favor or a reassuring word and he would never refuse. Most people knew him for his mellow, smooth-as-silk voice which wafted with such calming effect across the airwaves at first in New York and then in our native Trinidad & Tobago. I had the great good fortune of knowing him as a professional person and as a friend. Many are the favors he’d willingly granted to me. Only a few I’ll recall here. In 1979, Holly was the top radio personality at WLIB Radio in New York and the owner of Starburst Records when he decided to distribute the soundtrack album for our movie “Bacchanal Time”. He did a remix of the title track by the Mighty Shadow and then piloted it to the top of the Caribbean Music charts in New York for six weeks. Because of this, “Bacchanal Time” was noticed by a cinema chain, Golden Cinemas, and was booked to open to a continuous run on Broadway. To date this is the only time a Trinidad & Tobago film has accomplished this feat. It ran for 3 weeks at the Cine 2 at 47th Street & Broadway, then moved to the 1500 seat Granada Cinema in Brooklyn for a 4 week run, then to the Rugby also in Brooklyn for an additional 3 weeks. It was Holly who recruited Magic Productions to distribute the “Bacchanal Time” soundtrack in Canada, thus opening an avenue for us to take the movie there. In 1980 I had the privilege of working closely with Holly in his production of the first Miss Trinidad & Tobago-USA Beauty Pageant in New York City. For that event we had performances by Lord Nelson & Lord Brigo. The queen was crowned by our own Miss Universe, Janelle Penny Commissiong. It was a tremendous success. In March 1981 on the death of Dr. Eric Williams, Holly & I with the help of some other friends organized a candlelight procession in Brooklyn from Church Avenue to Restoration Plaza on Fulton Street where an Inter-Faith service was held. Although plans were made and executed in one day, the turnout was tremendous and rather than being a somber affair, it was instead a celebration of the late Prime Minister’s life. The success of this event was possible because of Holly’s reputation and his extensive reach into the community. Years later, in 1991, after he had returned to Trinidad and was working at Radio Trinidad, Holly graciously agreed to be the Master of Ceremonies at my daughter’s wedding at Palms Club in San Fernando. Here he easily won the hearts of the bride, the groom. Our families and all the guests with his charm, his charisma and his suave voice. In 1996 while I was filming “The Panman”, Holly volunteered to do a cameo and then arranged for us to shoot his scene at his workplace at Radio Trinidad. Then in 2010, Holly again did me the great honor of being the Master of Ceremonies for the launch of the Boxed dvd/cd Set of my movies “Bacchanal Time” & “The Panman”. Never once would Holly accept a fee for any of his “professional” services for me. Throughout the years of our friendship Holly had shared many confidences, some joyful, some painful. I know that Holly bore a great love for his Mom and his siblings and they loved and respected him. I also know that during the latter part of his life he had found the happiness and contentment in his personal life for which he had been searching. He told me so on several occasions. Rest in Peace, Holly Thomas…..You were a good man, a great friend and a brother. May the Good Lord Bless and Keep you.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 22:22:09 +0000
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