At tonight's Cacique Awards, Horace James will be honoured by the National Drama Association (NDATT) with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to drama.

James broke new ground in local television in the 1970s and 1980s with productions like The Hibiscus Club, Play of the Month, Let's Laugh, Play Your Cards Right and No Boundaries. He is honoured that NDATT has remembered him, since he felt what he had done might have been forgotten.

"It is good I received this lifetime award during my lifetime", he laughed. "I am thankful and honoured they remembered because sometimes you feel as if nobody remembered you did anything."

James, 70 began acting at the age of seven. Over the years he has been a part of several theatre groups including the Trinidad Theatre Workshop, Light Operatic Society, Three's a Crowd and Company of Players.

He was quick to pay respect to the people who encouraged him to pursue drama seriously.

"There was Sydney hill who worked at the British Council. He has pride of place because he encouraged me to join the drama group at Teachers Training College," James said.

"Then there was Paul Hill, another cultural officer at the British Council, who helped organize a scholarship for me to go to the Oxford Playhouse and also Dr. Eric Williams, Gerald Montano and Dr. Mahabir, who granted me a government scholarship."

His contemporaries include actors like Stanley Marshall and Errol Jones, whom he holds in extremely high regard.

"I encouraged Stanley to come into drama way back when and I admired Errol Jones immensely."

Incidentally, the role James cherishes the most is the role of Afa in the Derek Walcott play The Sea at Dauphin - a role which was also played by Jones.

"It was a part I loved and it was the part that got me into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1960," James said.

"When I did that speech at he audition, it was like me playing Errol."

Some of James's fondest recollections and funniest moments in the theatre were caused by memory lapses. He wasn't embarrassed to speak about this shortcoming which is a nightmare for many performers.

"Once I was doing a play called Equus, and I went completely blank and it was panic stations," he recalled. "When I calmed down, I went to the prompt corner and said, "Yes".

"It's unusual for an actor to call for a prompt, and when they gave me the line, I said thank you and I continued."

Another time he was the narrator for a play in London and went onstage after having a few beers. The play's opening and closing lines were similar and he mixed them up.

"I heard myself closing the play, so I went to the prompt corner but this time I said to the audience; "There are things that happen but let me check and see if this fits in with what you think will happen" and when I got the lines, I said 'Ah, now I can go ahead and tell you what happens'."

James stopped doing productions around 1985 because he was worrying too much about forgetting lines. That doesn't mean he isn't involved in the theatre at all, because he still writes for some comedy productions and has helped schools with their drama productions.

As he looked back at his producing and acting days, James recalled that the budget for a production was merely $6,000. He was pleased that at least one local production, Westwood Park, got adequate funding.

"I'm glad for Danielle (Dieffenthaler), she was my production assistant in No Boundaries, you know."

He praised local theatre companies for their efforts but believes more needs to be done for the arts.

"We are seeing more plays now, more comedies and the audience is coming out for the comedies," he said.

"But actors need technical assistance. An actor has to perform and he can't unless he has the encouragement to perform and the finance."

It is clear, however, that James hasn't been forgotten. As we sat in a bar near to his former workplace, TTT on Maraval Road, he was hailed out by quire a few people who had come to patronize the bar.

One of them was O'Neil Davis, who worked as technical director on the series No Boundaries.

"We call him 'the master'," laughed Davis." "We used to do plenty with very little."

"It was pressure that we producers and directors had to go through to get a programme done, sometimes there weren't enough cameras or they not working, no transport, we were worse than police sometimes," agreed James.

Another indication that James hasn't been forgotten, was the overwhelming response he got when he needed $120,000 for open-heart surgery last year.

One situation that stands out in his mind is the way the Purple Dragon Karate School raised money for him. James's daughter is a member of the club, and he assists in organizing the club's fund-raisers.

"At a tournament last year, Don Jacobs (Purple Dragon director) announced that I had to have heart surgery, he asked for donations from everyone there and within 20 minutes they collected $6,000."

Tonight, James will again experience that outpouring of love, this time from his peers in the drama fraternity. The Central bank Auditorium will sand to applaud when the distinguished career of this man who livened up local television is recalled. Then he'll know for sure that he hasn't been forgotten.

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