1959, Marabella, Trinidad

Verlia Pouchet
Born in 1943
Marabella, Trinidad
Interviewed on February 15, 2023
By Maya John

The first movie I remember ever seeing was called the Imitation of Life. I honestly didn’t even remember the name and I had to ask my husband what it was called. But that was the first movie I remember. I’m not sure if it’s the first movie I ever saw, but I think it must have been because it was a very big deal that I was going. I was about sixteen at the time [in 1959] when I went to go see it. And oh boy, I felt so special when I saw that movie. And I remember it so clearly because it had a big Black star from back in the day, Mahalia Jackson. I absolutely loved her! That was what made me want to go and see it in the first place. But I ended up loving the experience.

The film really moved me because I was watching about racial inequality for the first time. I didn’t know much about racial inequality before that. In Trinidad, there are Black people and Indian people. So I had only grown up around brown people. This was the first time I was watching racial inequality between Black and white people. Before that, I had no idea this type of racism existed because I had never experienced it before. So this concept was very new to me. Later in life, when I moved to the United States I saw more of this and even experienced it. But growing up, I had no idea that racial inequality between Black and White people existed—we never had any concept of it in Trinidad. So in a way, watching that movie prepared me a bit for what I would have to deal with later on in life. But at the time, it was very moving and impactful for me. I wasn’t expecting to like the movie so much.

Imitation of Life was an interracial movie because the main character was ashamed of her Black mother. She rejects her mother and oh, I was so mad at her! She was very ungrateful in that movie. The girl runs away from her mother and pretends to be White. I remember feeling very angry at that character and upset that she didn’t respect her mother who was so kind to her. Yes, her mother was so kind but she was very ashamed of her mother and I didn’t like that. I also thought that Lana Turner was very good in the movie and she was a great actress! It was very touching to see her character and she loved her maid so much. I thought that relationship was very nice to see.

When I went to this movie I was on a date with a boy named Clarence. We had grown up around each other in the neighborhood, in Gasparillo. It was a very big deal that we were going on a date and that we were going to see a movie together. That was definitely the main thing I remember, was how big of a deal it was. I told my mother I was going on the date and that was that! We didn’t kiss but we did hold hands and I remember we were cozy while watching the movie. Good thing, too, because it later turned out that we were distantly related! After we went out, people started talking and it later came out. It may sound crazy but this is something that happens sometimes in Trinidad. In fact, I just recently heard of this happening to someone in Trinidad. Just four or five years ago a couple I know found out they were distantly related. So it’s something that happens occasionally over there, even today. But I looked up Clarence and it turns out he did very well for himself and became a doctor in England. It was very common that people in Trinidad would go to England to make a name for themselves there.

There weren’t any movie theaters in Gasparillo so we took a take a taxi to Marabella to see the movie. I’m not exactly sure, but I think it was the Empire Theater that we went to. Sadly, I don’t think it’s around anymore. But at the time, it was very nice and newly built. Yes, it was definitely a big deal to go there with a boy. There weren’t any ushers but the theater was very nice inside, I remember that. I don’t remember any food inside the theater, but maybe we had some popcorn or something like that. But outside theaters there would always be vendors trying to sell you food before you went in. Most of the time it was Indian delicacies that they would have. I remember that the channa was my favorite for many years. So the food was less about concessions inside the theater and more about the street food from outside.