It was a delightful evening of old and new, classic and modern, at the second staging of the PBCJ Watch Party, on March 29, inside Studio National at the Half-Way-Tree base.

Though it was the final night of Champs, the organisers were scrambling to add more seats to accommodate the growing audience.

The first feature, Win Some Lose Some, written by Hall Anthony Ellis and directed by the late Trevor Nairne, starred former leading lady of theatre, the late Leonie Forbes, alongside crooner and actor the late John Jones, and actresses Karen Harriott and Fleurette Harris-Forrest. The cast also included LTM Pantomime stalwarts Recordo Redwood and the late Bobby Clarke.

Seeing these veterans took the audience way back, and in the words of Jean Jones, wife of John Jones, “This brought tears to my eyes and reminded me how talented and how special John was.”

For renowned actress Karen Harriott, who pays the part of Tamara, it was like magic, watching her innocent 20-year-old self on screen, and remembering the camaraderie and the opportunity to work with the greats.

Next on screen was Clafy — The Castaways, a hilarious drama featuring the inimitable Volier Johnson, leading a cast of the late Charles Hyatt, the late Roy Hall, Owen Blakka Ellis, and Grace McGhie. A major highpoint for the audience was seeing pre-eminent musicologist Marjorie Whylie in an acting role, on the beach, in swimwear, as the wife of the late Charles Hyatt, and watching her come alive while watching herself on screen.

The production, which was written by Janet Morrison, directed by Hyatt and Lukkee Chong and produced by Phase 3 Productions, also featured a very young Tony Hendriks.

The contemporary film was Pent Up, a compelling tri-generational drama about the complexities of mother-daughter relationships, written by Dominique Mitchell and starring Rosie Murray, Sherando Ferril, Dennis Tiitus, and Mitchell herself. The film was produced by Yaadbridge Entertainment, whose founder/director Sherando Ferril was elated at the response of the audience to her film and said, “This is a perfect platform to mix old and new film content.”

A wonderful addition to the evening was the ‘commercial breaks’ with vintage ads from Air Jamaica, McKison, Shakey’s Pizza, and the famous Boysie commercial with Michael London and Joan Andrea Hutchinson. Mouths fell open when the voiceover in a commercial for BH Paints, said the selling price for a gallon of paint was $47.

Host for the evening, Fae Ellington kept the audience thoroughly entertained as she moved around, interviewing guests and interspersing nuggets of Jamaican culture.