“MUSIC, ART & DRAMA” – by Des Kelly

How can I forget. At St.Peter’s College, Bambalapitiya, in Colombo, Ceylon (at the time), during the late 1940s, this writer was introduced to a very young Rev.Fr.Noel Cruz, who happened to be the founder of the Music, Art & Drama Society, as it was called, where young schoolboys with any singing or acting talent were encouraged by this young, handsome Priest, to further their talents, by organizing concerts and/or musical shows to be proudly presented to the public. Fr.Cruz accepted me into this group.on the recommendation of our Art Master of the era, who was fondly referred to, as Papa deNiese who had heard me sing in the Church Choir and reckoned that I didn’t do too bad a job, with all the Latin Hymns I had taught myself, as an Altar-server who sang anything quite naturally, for the love of doing so.

Under Fr.Noel Cruz, I was also taught to be a “natural” actor.

I loved acting as well, already having experienced a few School plays, from the tender age of five. I still remember having taken the part of Angel Gabriel and later, Santa Claus, and sang my first “solo” song on stage in 1942, at the age of 6, so I was more than happy to continue my ambitions as a general entertainer under this man whose story you about to read. The Rev.Fr. Noel Cruz was a huge asset to my Alma Mater, so on the anniversary of what would have been his 100th birthday, may he now rest in peace with the blessings of the Almighty God.

Desmomd Kelly.
(Editor-in-Chief) e’Lanka.

Remembering an all-round media man on his 100th birthday
Noel Crusz

It was on a sunny morning at the Colombo Airport, Ratmalana in 1956, that crowds gathered to witness some of Hollywood’s biggest stars arrive to shoot a film in Ceylon. Renowned director David Lean, Alec Guinness and a host of other stars were in the island to act for what would be the Oscar-winning Best Picture film, Bridge on the River Kwai. However, the crowds and the stars were quite surprised to see a slender, neatly dressed Catholic priest holding a H16 Bolex camera filming them.

This was Fr. Noel Crusz OMI. The young priest would go on to interview Lean at the Mount Lavinia Hotel and visit the film set in the outskirts of Kitulgala. He had the privilege of witnessing the famous explosion when the train goes off the bridge on the Kelani river which “stood in” for the river Kwai.

Noel Crusz was then the Director of the ‘Catholic Hour’ for Radio Ceylon, and a few years before had gone on a tour to Europe and the US to study religious mass media. In USA, he met and befriended some of Hollywood’s most popular actors and actresses, including Bing Crosby, Tyronne Power and Loretta Young, who would correspond with him for decades after. Many years later, he was invited by Sophia Loren to visit her in her home in Italy. He had the rare privilege to broadcast for the BBC, Vatican Radio, the Voice of America   and some European radio networks. Apart from broadcasting, he had mastered an art not many in Sri Lanka were familiar with at that time….. film making.

Born on December 6, 1921, his siblings also achieved national and international recognition, in  science and zoology, literature and poetry, in puppetry, in singing, and in photography. Receiving a good education from the Oblates of St. Peter’s College, Bambalapitiya, the young Noel was inspired by his teacher Fr. Peter Alcantara Pillai, OMI to join the priesthood. After his ordination just after Independence in 1948, he was appointed to the staff of his alma mater, St. Peter’s. It was during this time that Colombo’s Archbishop Thomas Cardinal Cooray OMI, recognised his potential and backed him to get involved in broadcasting.

Soon he would get involved in writing plays for stage and radio. Some of his notable productions were with J.O. Ebert’s Penguins group, who were the best at that time. These were plays like Pontine Marshes and Thy Kingdom Come, which drew thousands of girls and boys. At the same time, he went on to write for newspapers such as The Times of Ceylon, The Ceylon Daily News and The Messenger. His writing was concise, lucid and very readable.  His magnum opus titled the Cocos Island Mutiny was first serialised in the evening tabloids in Sri Lanka and then published many years later as a book from his Master’s thesis for the University of Sydney.

Since the early 1950s Noel pursued serious film making. It was he who saw the young Familian Maureen Hingert and brought her to the attention of the media, way before she was crowned Miss Ceylon in 1957. After a series of short films, some not successful, Noel was inspired to film a phenomenal documentary in Italy with his Bolex camera gifted by Bing Crosby about St. Maria Goretti, where the saint’s real mother, siblings and murderer appear. The 40-minute colour film came out in 1953.

Noel went on to produce and direct some remarkable films during the ’50s and ’60s. These included Little Bike Lost (1956), Road to Boys’ Town (1958) and Palm Fringed Isle (1960). These films especially Little Bike Lost produced with the boys of St. Joseph’s College were screened all around the country drawing thousands of viewers. Truly, Noel Crusz was an unsung pioneer of Sri Lankan cinema.

His outgoing personality, social acceptance and expertise in mass media were the envy of some of his contemporaries. The 1960s was a rough patch for Noel. Propelled by what Cardinal Cooray would call ‘a scandal’, Noel Crusz opted to leave the priesthood, as he no longer felt that was his calling. After several failed attempts, he was given the dispensation by Pope Paul VI to marry in the church. He married a distant cousin of his, Marie Tirzah.

After much controversy, Noel, now a layman, worked as a journalist for some newspapers including The Sun. After he and Tirzah migrated to Sydney, Australia, he went on to teach in secondary schools for the rest of his life. Despite living thousands of miles away from Sri Lanka, he never lost touch with the country and would constantly write to the papers as an astute observer of contemporary affairs. He passed away after a long illness in 2003.

This year marks the centenary of Noel Crusz’s birth. An all-round media man, his diverse potential made him one of a kind.