First it was the Golden Globe Awards and now the Oscars for Don Shirley. As the principal protagonist in the movie The Green Book, Donald Shirley emerged the true winner in the 2019 Oscar award for ‘Best Picture’. Shirley’s phenomenal talent and virtuosity which never achieved due recognition and acclaim in real life has been memorialized, perhaps controversially in this movie and now goes down into recorded or should we say ‘filmed’ history. In all the movie won three awards:
- Best Picture
- Best Supporting Actor
- Best Original Screen play
Amidst all the controversy and angst about who and what movie should have won, the one true winner on Oscar night was Don Shirley. Whatever the film’s critics have to say, Don’s life story is a story that needed to be told and his fans and descendants here in Jamaica and the US are happy for the Oscars!
A Family Member Sheds New Light On the Shirleys Jamaican Roots.
I have no idea when and where Stella met Edwin Shirley, but I do know they emigrated to the USA about the same time as many other family members. They settled in Tallahasse, Florida, where Stella died in childbirth in 1929.
In the early years, my grandmother corresponded with Revd Shirley and on his many visits to Jamaica she would visit with him in Montego Bay. Donald also visited Jamaica over several summers and would come to our house. One of my recollections is that on one of these visits he slipped and broke his hand at a hotel in Montego Bay. On that occasion my father accompanied him back to New York and spent a week with him. My dad also tells the story of an incident while Don was playing at a Montego Bay hotel during which an American guest at the hotel attempted to throw a tip at him causing a fracas. The story goes that the guest was declared a “persona non grata” by then Premier, Sir Alexander Bustamante for causing an affront to a distinguished pianist. I am not able to verify this.
Over time, we gradually lost touch with Don although my father connected with his brothers who were renowned physicians in Broward County, Florida.
