Big screen, little screen review: Oliver Samuels

In this week’s episode we will be looking at Oliver Samuels – Jamaica’s first small-screen celebrity!

Career

Samuels found fame on the popular television series Oliver At Large, created by producer Calvin Butler and playwright Aston Cooke. Several episodes of the series were written by Patrick Brown. In this series, Samuels played an alter ego, ‘Olivia Adams’, also known as Oliver. The run marked sketches from Oliver’s exploits. 

Born on 4 November 1948, in St Mary, Jamaica, the climb of Oliver Samuels from a banana plantation to the stage of the theatre, television and as a stand-up comic is one of willpower, amazing ability, and philosophy learnt from his mother: “With hard work, you can make it.” Samuels is a popular brand among the best comic performers throughout the Jamaican diaspora stand-up or sitcoms and is a trading name that is as good as Jamaica, No Problem. Samuels is widely regarded as one of the funniest talents to emerge from the Caribbean.

The character of Oliver Samuels in Jamaican theatre and his influence on Caribbean theatre are exceptional and noteworthy.“Oliver” is highly praised over the Caribbean as a humorist, stage persona, and for his very funny theatre, TV shows and even a record “Oliver Yu Large”. His work has been very significant in key trends and developments over what went before for 30 years. His growth advanced along with the most vibrant period in the progress of present-day Caribbean theatre. Subsequent to1970, several important factors were responsible for the rise of drama. One such is the establishment of the Jamaica School of Drama, which was a vehicle for making bigger the fortunes of the art and providing advanced training for the whole Caribbean region. As a reasonable record was the escalation of drama as popular entertainment, commercial prospects a sudden increase of comedy, low mockery, and comic performance. Local plays and Patois accompanied societal pragmatism. However one of the dominant factors was the rise of roots theatre.

The idea for ‘Oliver At Large’, was the brainchild of Calvin Butler that, at first, looked unlikely. Like most small, emerging economies, Jamaica did not appear to have the capital to fund its own locally produced situation comedy. Some television professionals are of the view that it is several times more costly to produce a series in Jamaica than it is to buy a canned television programme of its equal from the United States. The convenor of the programme idea wanted to put together the sitcom around Mr Samuels, the producers did not want a ‘standard’ situation comedy with Oliver confined to a house – with a family.

‘Oliver At Large’ was taped on Sundays in the then Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) studio in Kingston that no longer exists.  Don Bucknor, who coordinated the show’s production each week, said the sets were assembled late Saturday nights and early Sunday morning that more often than not furniture for the set was found around the JBC studio or otherwise borrowed from workers’ homes. The Chinese restaurant was very complex and an airport wafting room scene was taped only once. Costumes were the actors own clothing or what they could borrow from friends. The cast consisted of almost all professional performers that had to rehearse in the evenings because they were gainfully employed in other professions. Samuels was the only actor on the sitcom who had been doing well enough to make an around the clock living in his chosen profession. Starting early Sunday morning, Butler had the cast conduct their first rehearsal on the finished sets. There was a second rehearsal with the cameras timed on, but not recorded to tape. From the control room, the directors and their associates determined the best camera position and the best places on the set from where the actors should perform. When all was ready the cameras rolled. When an actor tripped up on his lines, the tape was rewound and the scene recorded again. I believe readers not only of my age group (I pray) that are familiar with the ‘Oliver Large Sitcom’ will all agree that such a sitcom on an island of approximately two point three million people in the 70s was in countless was amazing. I do believe that it will run for the foreseeable future even if it’s from other viewing spaces brought about by technology.

No Time to Die

Persons 14-15 years are allowed, accompanied by an adult. NO COMPLIMENTARY PASSES. (T-16)

Carib 5                New Kingston Drive-in               Multiplex                Sunshine

4:30 & 4:35                      6:30                                  4:40                       4:20

Halloween Kills (A-18, 106 min)

Carib 5                New Kingston Drive-in               Multiplex                Sunshine

5:10                                  –                                        5:05                       5:00

The Addams Family 2 (PG-13)

Carib 5                New Kingston Drive-in               Multiplex                Sunshine

5:20                                  –                                        5:10                          –

Venom: Let There Be Carnage

Persons 14-15 years are allowed, accompanied by an adult. NO COMPLIMENTARY PASSES. (T-16)

Carib 5                New Kingston Drive-in               Multiplex                Sunshine

5:15                                    –                                      5:15                        5:10

David R. Muhammad is a former morning host on Visions Television and a former member of the Palace Amusement Media Movie Review Committee. He is currently the Student Protocol Officer of the Nation of Islam’ study group – Jamaica.