By Trudy Simpson, Staff ReporterONE OF Jamaica's most beloved icons of theatre, Eric "Chalk Talk" Coverley, died yesterday at his home in Toronto, Canada.
The 91-year-old actor and comic, husband of renowned folklorist Louise Bennett Coverley, passed away in his sleep after a long illness.
"Maas Eric," as he was affectionately called, stole not only Miss Lou's heart but thousands more as he traversed a career that spanned several decades in Jamaica and overseas.
Born in 1911, Mr. Coverley was a versatile entertainer and impresario best known for his "Chalk Talk" artistry, which would see him, for example, writing the numbers one to ten with chalk and then forming a face from the numbers.
He was also part of a sub-committee appointed by the Chairman of the Independence Celebrations Committee, Theodore Sealy, in 1962 to examine the 355 designs submitted by the public for a National Flag of Independent Jamaica.
Throughout his nine decades, Mr Coverley was hailed for a number of performances with Miss Lou and the 1930s comic series "Ike and Mike," which he performed with the late Sir Florizel Glasspole, who later became Jamaica's Governor-General.
In the years after he and Miss Lou left Gordon Town, St. Andrew for Canada, he accompanied Miss Lou in giving Jamaicans and international audiences a taste of old Jamaica, despite several bouts of illness which led to his hospitalisation many times, the last being in late July.
"As long as he was well, he was out there," remembered Dr. Trevor Mair, a Jamaican-born dentist and a self-styled discographer, music historian and record collector, who resides in Canada. "We'll really miss him. There's no question about that."
His death provoked a spontaneous outpouring of love and support for "Miss Lou" in Canada.
"I was in the bathroom at the time, and the lady who helps us came in and told me that she went in to give him something and realised that he had passed away," Miss Lou told the Gleaner's Toronto office by phone, shortly after her husband's death around 1:00 p.m. Canadian time.
According to the Toronto office, paramedics were still at the Coverley home at about 2:00 p.m., and Miss Lou, who was flanked by her son, Fabian, and his wife, Olive, was busy taking calls and answering the door as word of "Maas Eric's" passing spread.
Later, friends and well-wishers, among them members of the Jamaican diplomatic community, called and visited Miss Lou, who was also surrounded by three women whom correspondent Ewart Walters said she called her 'daughters.'
"I just don't know what to say. I'm still bewildered and a little confused. But Fabian and Olive are here and everybody is calling," Miss Lou said.
Miss Lou met Mr. Coverley while she was a student at Excelsior High School, when he was invited as guest to a prize-giving function at the school.
They were married in 1954.
It took him four visits to Miss Lou's Kingston Gardens home before her mother, whom she called 'Love,' finally convinced her to take up his offer to perform on his show, the Gleaner reported some years ago.
