Subject: WONDERFUL - South Africa in our day.
A real blast from the past - brings a tear to one's eye...
Very nostalgic... more memories [with a Jewish touch -ed.]
STATS, INFO AND MEMORY CHECKS
HILLBROW:
The Curzon and Clarendon for 7/6d (later 75c).
And then a Bioscope called the International (owned by Herman and
Maxwell Youngelson) was opened at the top of Pretoria Street, and
there it would cost you between 90c and R1.00, but the seats were so
comfy and the whole bioscope was so plush, that the Yeovillites felt
it was well worth the extra.
Anyone remember The French Hairdressing Salon (a Mrs. Sher was the
manageress), and the OK Bazaars?
FOLKSINGING ERA:
Who remembers the Nite Beat, run by Abe (who ran the tuck shop at the
Yeoville Swimming Pool)?
And the folk-singers Ian & Ritchie ( Ian Lawrence and Ritchie Morris),
Des and Dawn (Lindbergh) ("And the Seagull's name was Nelson" - Dawn
wore her hair in two pigtails then), Dave Marks ("Mountains of Men"),
Cornelia And The Troubador, The College Set (Andy Levy, Hugh Solomon,
Norman Cohen), Keith Blundell and the Baladeers, Aubrey and Beryl
Ellis, Mervyn and Jocelyn Miller (from Potch), Mel, Mel and Julian
(Mel Miller, Mel Green, and Julian Laxton)?
BIKERS and the Hell's Angels, wearing black leather jackets, chains
and the peace sign often around their necks, roaring down Pretoria St
and Kotze St. on Harley Davidsons, making a helluva racket, some of
the Biker girls nervously hanging precariously onto their boyfriend's
back, but "the in-girls" didn't hold on, they held on behind the seat,
looking around, throwing their hair back, with a "don't-sig-with-me"
look, lazer beam eyes and a tattoo here and there. And nobody did
"sig" with them, either.
HILLBROW'S EATERIES AND COFFEE BARS:
Doney's coffee bar for the best cappuccino in town (who remembers
Jeftah and the Duke?), Café Wien (later on, with the most comfortable
seats - it was like sitting in your own lounge), Café Krantzler,
Dunk-a-donut, The Milky Lane, the Florian (where the bus turned to go
down Claim street to Town), Mi Vami, Lucky Luke (Steak House in the
70's), Fontana (open 24 hours a day, famous for their chickens roasted
on a spit), Pikin-a-chicken, Porter House (Frulatto and the best Pink
Sauce in town), not to mention the steaks.
HAIR STYLES:
We dyed our hair black with Palette where you dropped a white tablet
into some black gunky muck and we all had pitch black hair. The
blacker your hair, the more "sharp" you were. We teased it and wore it
in Wings, and the bigger the Wings were, the more "with it" you were.
And remember the stiff petticoats under your flared skirts, and
cat-eye glasses.
Hair was like a Bird's Nest at the back. Boys wore their hair sleeked
back with Brylcream and Vitalis, and all bought their t-shirts from the
Skipper Bar (Arnie, Mervyn, Earl and Barry Sacks). Black t-shirts with a
thin white and red stripes around the neck. And a corresponding white
t-shirt, with black and red stripes.
And then girls started to iron their hair. Moms used to plonk heads
onto the ironing board, and put a brown paper bag on top of it, and
iron away until you had straight hair, but then the minute it rained,
it looked as though someone has plugged you into an electric socket!
Durbs did the same to all those who had out-of-control hair - frizzed
them out in 2 minutes flat, in fact as soon as you got to Van Reenen's
Pass into Natal, you knew you were there because your hair suddenly
was on its own mission!!
GYM:
Bodybuilders, weight-lifters and wannabes came strutting out of Gyms
such as Sam Busa and Monte Osher all fit and glistening with muscles,
and killer smiles - carrying black gym bags. And Reg Park's Gym, not
sure where it was.
MODEL AGENCIES: Stella Grove and Gianna Pizanelli.
DANCING STUDIOS: Mercedes Molina, Jeffrey Nieman and Rhoda Rifkin,
Bernice Hotz and Gitanella (Spanish, Ballet).
Around 1964 came the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, the Mini Skirt era
and Mary Quant and the birth of the Discotheque. Op-Art earings in
gaudy colours and the skirts continued to get shorter. Girls wore
double-breasted pinstripe suits which made a come-back. The Boutiques
were born. The BENATER family had a great boutique at the top of
Rissik Street, or near there. It was, I think, the first shop of its
kind. Very modern, trendy and for the young (20's and 30's).
Remember Twiggy?!!! She was on every magazine cover, often holding her
Teddy Bear, feet pigeon-toed, with beautiful big brown eyes, and a
body so thin she could fit through a crack in the wall. She started a
trend, her and "the Shrimp" (Jean Shrimpton), and Mary Quant.
Op-Art ear-rings in strange shapes and gaudy colours, shorter skirts,
and flattie shoes.
The first DISCO was at the Summit Club, Marrakech (around 1966) with
Go-Go dancers Dixie, Felicity Fouché and Christine, all dancing away
in the micro-est of Mini-Skirts. Johnny Martin (previously known as
Martin Raff) was the owner, and I heard he also owned a club called
007.
Someone called Neville Peacock was the Marrakech DJ and there were
psycadellic and ultra violet lights and if you stood under the latter,
all your klein-goed shone like a beacon for all to see.
And the 505, also in Hillbrow. Eddie Eckstein and Paul Ditchfield -
The Bats - played there on a Sunday, as did the Basemen (Ronnie Cline
on Keyboard, Ralph Simon - Singer, Rodney Caines - Bass Guitar, Leon
Bilewitz - drummer and Irwin Kalis - Lead Guitar). The Basemen also
played at Club-a-go-go and around the countryside at various venues.
And the Diamonds and Gene Rockwell ("Heart"!).
TJ's (town) and The Yellow Submarine (Hillbrow) and the Boat
(Buccleugh) were in the latter part of the Sixties, and the Purple
Marmalade somewhere in Hillbrow. Another Disco was owned by Ray
McCauley, opposite Joubert Park . His Granny worked in the tuckshop
and was always so nice to everyone. And Raffles, a very fancy
disco/restaurant, but that was in the late 70's. Owned by Dave Kerney
(I think).
And who remembers the other BIOSCOPES? The Collosseum with the
twinkling lights. Cliff Richard sang there once, and a few girls from
Barnato Park were expelled for bunking school and going to his
concerts. His Majestys,Monte Carlo (French Movies), The Empire, 20th
Century Fox in Pritchard Street, Cinerama (Claim and Noord). In those
days there was an interval after the News and the Cartoons, and
Usherettes would be standing at each exit with a tray with all the
Munchies and Chocolates, cold-drinks, etc. The Apollo in Doornfontein.
I've already mentioned the Yeoville Bioscopes earlier on. Who
remembers the "Midnight Shows?"
People smoked in the bioscopes ("scopes") then, and when you looked
up, you saw it all swirling around in the projector. Nice and
healthy, but nobody ever noticed it. It was part of life in the
sixties.
Remember when we went to Bioscope on a Saturday night, dressed up in
your A-line dress, or a Box-Pleated skirt, or tiny hound's-tooth
straight skirt in black and your black patent high-heeled shoes, with
a black patent leather bag to match, and your gloves (which you
carried in your hand)? And later you wore your dress with the shorter
hemline, Mini-Skirts, and your "A-line evening coat" (Jackie Kennedy),
just on the knee, and your flattie shoes, the hair teased up to the
high heavens and lacquered so heavily that if it rained, you looked
like glue. (Boys hated teased and lacquered hair.)
And the boys wore jarmins and Elvis Presley hair-styles, with thin
ties made of nylon or similar in a machine-crochet style. Later when
the Beatles came in, boys' hairstyles changed forever, and no boy
would be seen dead with Brylcream or Vitalis plastered on his head.
Boys would never been seen in pastel colours, but the Beatles changed
all those dark shirts for pink, mauve and lemon, with a pin collar
near the tie.
Boys would buy you a 75c box of Black Magic chocolate at interval. If
you put it into your black patent leather handbag and never offered
him one, then your name was mud, and girls judged boys by whether or
they opened the car door for you or not!
And some of the MOVIE STARS: Natalie Wood, Kathryn Hepburn, Rock
Hudson, Doris Day, Steve McQueen, Sohia Loren, Alain Delon (the
heart-throb of the 60's - who remembers him in "Purple Noon?"), Gina
Lollobridgida, Raquel Welch, Ursula Andress, Warren Beatty, Jack
Nicholson (One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest), Shirley MacLaine, Julie
Christie, Michael Caine, Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Sal Mineo,
Suzanne Pleshette, Richard Burton, Sean Connery, Omar Sharif, Charlton
Heston, Gregory Peck …
Popular MOVIES AND MUSICALS: West Side Story, King Kong, Gone with the
Wind, Exodus, From Russia with Love, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,
Annie Get your Gun.
And the DRIVE IN's: Old Pretoria Road , JHB Drive-in, The 5-Star
(Eloff St. Ext), The Velskoen. If a girl was seen at the drive-in with
a boy, she got a "bad name," and the same for the Café Bio's. It was
just not for a nice Jewish girl!!
Remember when... there was NO Bioscope on Sunday nights?
THEATRES: Alhambra (Doornfontein), Brian Brooke (Braamfontein), Market
Theatre ( Newtown ), Alexander theater, Jacques Brel, Apollo in
Doornfontein.
Remember the Adverts for all the Cigarettes? Players, Craven "A",
Dunhill (remember the maroon Rolls Royce?), Benson & Hedges (Gold),
Lexington ('That's the one!'), Gunston (remember him on a raft, all
manly, unshaven and rough and ready?), Horseshoe Tobacco, Gold Dollar,
Texan (which the boys would hold between their thumb and middle finger),
Lucky Strike, Gauloise and Peter Stuyvesant (for the fun lovers,
remember the wonderful places they went to and the great clothes they
wore, swimming in lagoons, skiing down snow-capped mountains, all the
beautiful people, having wonderful fun?). I never smoked (well, I have
to say that, in case my family read this article, ha ha), but after I
watched the Peter Stuyvesant adverts, I really felt like buying a
packet, so that I, too, could go to all those magical places, HA HA (the
power of advertising!).
The in-folks in Yeoville, Observatory, Cyrildene in the 60's were
Gerald Fox, Jonny Grossmark, Barry Sacks, Vivian Stillerman, Elaine
Margolis, Charmian Clayton, Sharna and Nadja Isaacs (aka Lerman),
Frances Siegenberg, someone we called Shirley Shtub (but it was probably
Sztab), Jeff Landsman, Rayna Cohen. And also another crowd: Ruth
Margolis (Cyrildene), Yvette, Esther and Naomi Sofer, Heather Garrun.
PARTIES in Observatory, Cyrildene and Dewetshof. We rock 'n rolled to
Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock" & "Don't step on my blue suede shoes"
in our flared skirts with stiff petticoats underneath, the more the
better, and huge belts around our waists, and we wore flat shoes (75c
at Maram's chemist, and 95c for the leopard skin ones). And later we
twisted with Chubby Checker ("Let's Twist Again, like we did last
summer"!!!!)
The Bez Valley Ou's, on a Sat night Jol, and the Lebs would sometimes
gatecrash. Usually a scuffle and the girl's father would have to ask
them to leave. Sometimes, in stubborn cases the police would have to
be called in to skop them all out. And then the party continued on,
Little Richard, Cliff Richard - sometimes a few of the kids would have
a bit of "dagga" (a zol) on the stoep or in the back garden when they
thought nobody was looking, and the only way anyone kopped on was
because they would come back to the party with a manic laugh and red
eyes. (And of course the smell, but if you admitted to knowing the
smell, then it meant you were a dagga smoker yourself!)
SOCIALS at the Vrede Hall, Yeoville Recreation Center, Temple Shalom,
and Bands like "Dinkie and the Deans" - Jake (Gerald) Fox (Z"l)
(rhythm Guitar), Barry Sacks (Lead Guitar), Spencer Hodgson (Bass
guitar) and Errol Sacks on the drums, would play, they also played at
the Club 505 in "the Brow." Peter Lotus well known Jhb Disc Jockey, I
think he sang as well. Lots of singers used to go to Margo's on a
Sunday afternoon, and the crowd would all hot-foot it out there after
them to hear music. There was little else to do on a Sunday, so many
places were closed.
NIGHT CLUBS AND BANDS: Bennie Michaels, Archie Silansky, Diamond
Horseshoe, Ciro's (Kruis Street), The Coconut Grove at the Orange
Grove Hotel, Dan Hill (Ichilchik), The Colony at the Hyde Park Hotel,
Sardi's, The Mediteranean (I Cinque di Roma), The Greek Taverna.
STORES: John Orrs, Belfast , Greatermans, ABC Shoes, Ackermans,
Ansteys, Katz & Lourie, Mr. Man, Man about Town, Deans Man's shop,
Skipper Bar, Barnes Shoes, Cuthberts, Markhams, Millews, K. Marks
(curtains), Juta's,Bothner & Polliack (records), Henri Lidji Gallery,
Derbers Furs, FDF (Fruit & Dried Fruits), Vanité (ladies clothes),
Bradlows, Geen & Richards, Shepherd & Barker (furniture), CAN, Jaffs
(fabrics), Dicks (sweets - Rissik Street).
REMEMBER WHEN we would get all dressed up to go to town to have tea at
Ansteys, sitting alongside ladies in beautiful outfits, white gloves,
smart, elegant, men in suits with white shirts and ties.
MUSIC: Soul music was popular in the 60's, Aretha Franklin, Carla
Thomas, Otis Redding ("Sitting on the Dock of the Bay"), Percy Sledge
("Midnight Hour"), and music from Brazil - Sérgio Mendes, Herb Alpert
and the Tijuana brass.
And of course, Johnny Mathis, Charles Aznavour, Simon and Garfunkel.
And REMEMBER WHEN our Mothers would have a little bell at suppertime,
TRING TRING and the "servant" (THE BOY OR THE GIRL) would come running
in with the next course? And when you had your own "garden-boy" and
the "girl" cooked?
BANKS and Building Societies: Barclays, Allied Building Society, The
UBS (United Building Society), SA Perm , NBS ( Natal Building
Society), Trust Bank.
HOTELS: The Carlton (original Carlton), Moulin Rouge, Casa Mia,
Langham, Gresham, the Jeppe Hotel (Norman's Grill), Victoria (Plein
Street near Station), Criterion, Landrost Hotel (Annabelle's
nightclub), Tollman Towers (next to Jeppe Street Post Office), The
President Hotel (Eloff Street), Anlar Hotel (Hillbrow), Courtleigh
Hotel (Berea), Jocelyn Residential Hotel (Claim Street, Joubert Park),
the Quirinal, Waldorf, and Balalaika which was then way out in the
"country" - Sandown, which is today, a hub of activity.
MOTORTOWN: Remember when all the motor dealerships were in Eloff
Street Ext. Motortown? And names like Rillstone Motors (Agents for the
Simca), Lawson Motors (Agents for Volvo), Lucy's Motors (Agents for
Fiat), Grosvenor Motors (Agents for Ford), Sydney Clow (Agents for
Peugeot), and a dealership in Anderson Street called T.A.K. Motors
(Agents for Lancia and Ferrari)?
And then Main Street became the used car center for Jhb. Austin ,
Chevrolet, Mercury, Buick, Dodge, Morris Minor, Mini Minor, Hillman
Minx, Ford Fairlaine, Vauxhall Victor, Ford Cortina, 20 (Ford)
Zeyphyr, Sunbeam.
PETROL: Shell, BP, Mobil (Engen), Sasol, Trek, Caltex, Total.
Remember when Milk was delivered to the house in proper Milk-bottles
with red tinfoil caps, and the cream would be all at the top of the
bottle?
DOORNFONTEIN: ¬Apollo Cinema near Crystals, Crystals, Beit Street (who
later moved to Yeoville), Wachenheimers and Nussbaums, both in Beit
Street, and Dairy Alahmbra (Zama Levine - opposite the Alhambra
Theatre in Beit Street). Zama Levine had the shop for about 40 years
(according to his daughter Gloria Levine Asch). Gloria's mom was from
the ICHILCHIK family (Dan Hill and Gloria's Mom, Emma Ichilchik
(cellist) Levine were siblings). Cohen's Café. The famous sculptor,
Anton Von Wouw, lived next door to Mr. Ichilchik in Doornfontein.
American Café for ice-cream, Sour Kraut, Hot Dogs, Millers Antiques on
Simert Road .
Doornfontein Streets: Beit Street , Siemert Road , Siveright Avenue .
ROADHOUSES: Dolls House (Highlands North), Casablanca (near the Water
Tower in Yeoville on the way to Berea/Hillbrow), Dakota (Crown Mines),
and Ice CREAM - Papagallo.
And how many South Africans, when they first arrived in
America, England, Australia, Israel, etc. talked about taking their
"costume" or "cozzie" to the beach?
RADIO: LM Radio. Who remembers the signature, "Aqui Portugal
Moçambique, fala-voz do Radio club em Lourenço Marques, transmitindo
ondas curtas e médias"? with Evelyn Martin (Martins). Bob Courtney,
Eric Egen (Springbok Radio), Paddy O'Byrne.
BUILDINGS such as Palace Buildings, Rand Club, Old Arcade, Markhams
Technical College, Manners Mansions, Broadcast House, Essanby House,
Ponte - Harrow Road, Rissik Street Post Office, Union Grounds ¬Twist
and Claim, Joubert Park, the City Hall - Rissik Street. And in Jeppe
Street , the Medical buildings... Jenner Chambers, Lister
Buildings, Drs. Jacobson, Broer and Smith, later "and Barnard," and
later still, "and Kaplan," Pasteur Chambers, Medical Centre.. (Archie
Jacobson, Ivor Broer, ? Smith, Michael Barnard and Neville Kaplan.)
HOSPITALS: the Lady Dudley, Florence Nightingale, Princess, Marymount,
Franklin, Queen Victoria, Garden City Clinic, Parklane Clinic, Fever
Hospital, Jhb Gen. (General Hospital), The Childrens' Hospital,
Baragwanath.
And polio, two major epidemics in 1947 and 1955, when schools were
closed, and public swimming pools, too. Children in iron lungs and leg
braces. Infantile Paralysis, they called it.
Around the late fifties, a movie came out with Danny KAYE and Barbara
Bel GEDDES (Miss Ellie in Dallas), called the "FIVE PENNIES." Story of
Red Nichols and his young daughter who contracted polio Terrible
epidemic, wiped out today, as far as I know. And "Interrupted Melody."
Another polio movie about the opera singer, Eleanor PARKER. And then
they found an immunization against polio.
WHO REMEMBERS Gilooly's farm, Boksburg Lake, Zoo Lake, Florida Lake,
Wemmer Pan, Wembly Stadium ice rink, The Wilds, The Snake Park,
Melville swimming Pool, Hillbrow Indoor Pool (at the Summit Club),
Brixton Swimming Pool, Rand Show/Skou, Milner Park, Tower of Light?
And who REMEMBERS the photographers Maurice and Karklin, when it was
fashionable to stand your wedding photo on a small easel on the floor?
… either carpet or parquet flooring?
ADVERTS: MacPhails - Mac won't phail you.
NEWSPAPERS: Rand Daily Mail, Die Vaderland, Die Beeld, The Star (still
going strong), Sunday Express.
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