Recently, Charles Hyatt Jr was hosting a show with Ity and Fancy Cat at the Courtleigh Auditorium in New Kingston. "I said 'I am Charles Hyatt Jr, I am not here to fill his shoes'. The crowd said 'you can't!'," he told The Sunday Gleaner.

Hyatt has long been aware of his inability to replace his father, even as he looks forward to being onstage and before the camera full-time. "That is one of the reasons I moved home, to carry the torch. Can't fill his shoes, but I can carry the torch," he said.

good company

He is in good company with many of those who crackled and cackled merrily along with his father, including Buddy Pouyatt, Grace McGhie, Louis Marriott and Fae Ellington, whom he describes as "family friends".

Hyatt's first memory of his father's acting wasn't on the stage, but around the dining table when he was about four years old. "He did not like the food he was eating, but knew he could not say it," Hyatt said. But he could show it through his expression and "the antics he had to go through, it was absolutely hilarious".

On the formal stage, an early memory of his father is from The King And I and "then there was one he played a lion". Hyatt Jr last saw his father perform in Basil Dawkins' 'Hot Pot'.

finding humour

Hyatt in 1971. - File

Similar to his father making the dining table a stage and an unpleasant meal for laughter, Hyatt Jr has also found humour in his day-to-day experiences and will be releasing a book about them next year. He has his father's approval and encouragement, as "Daddy always said you have to publish these writings".

Hyatt Jr has created Bunununus Productions, geared towards entertainment, and his newest project is the Charles Hyatt Foundation, aiming to accomplish some of what his father always wanted to do. Among its objectives are community work and getting young people drama training. Also involved in that are his wife Judith, Leonie Forbes, McGhie and Ellington.

"There are standards I look forward to upholding and continue," Hyatt Jr said. "Daddy has affected Jamaicans in such a wonderful way it would be a shame to let that stay in the past. I am here to keep that going," Hyatt Jr said.

- Mel Cooke