Charles Clews

"I feel that a person who has had outstanding achievement during his life, a man whose stage and radio career covers many decades must be given due honour while he is still alive."

Recently, Malta's leading comic actor and writer Charles Clews turned 80. Charlie (as Charles was known to everybody) had been one of the very first contributors to local radio (then Rediffusion). He was the driving force of the Radju Muskettieri (The Radio Musketeers). Although he worked closely with a number of other well-known personalities, his closest partner was (the late) Johnny Catania. This short article will not dare trace the history of the never-ending series of successes as I am sure that others who are far more qualified than me should do it for posterity.

From the very beginning, when in the late 1940s I had joined the children's programmes, Mr Clews had been of great help, more often than not taking part free of charge. He and Mr Catania never missed one of the Christmas parties for needy children. Later on, during the 1970s, he invented the weekly comic adventures of the mischievous boy Fredu Frendo Sghendo played by the late Johnny Navarro who used to amuse the young (and not so young) listeners.

During the 1950s and 1960s I used to organise a number of variety and entertaining evenings, invariably for charity purposes and Mr Clews always went out of his way to help, not only taking part in but actually organising the comedy acts.

Persons of a certain age can still hum some of his musical limericks and funny songs. I understand that there are a number of recordings with his comical sketches. Perhaps his greatest success was the comic soap opera Karmena Abdilla which had a run of some three years culminating in a sumptuous wedding on the Radio City Theatre stage. Played by the inimitable (late) Nosi Ghirlando, the hilarious play was repeated in nearly every hall in Malta and Gozo.

I must therefore implore those who have better memory and information to add to these short notes as Mr Clews's career should be conserved for generations still to come. I make a plea to Mr Clews to donate all his works and memorabilia to the National Archives to be preserved for posterity. It is said that those who make people happy have a special place in heaven.

I hope that Mr Clews will live for many more years, but in the end, he might even become one of the leading entertainers in heaven.

Ad multos annos Charles.