Do you remember the '30's
and '40's?
Houses with corrugated iron roofs,
Alternately boiling and freezing as the seasons changed.
Coal stoves and donkey boilers to heat the water
Icy winters hunched in front of tiny Victorian fires.
Kitchen dressers with cup hooks, metal 'zincs' with porcelain
washbowls
Linoleum floor coverings; dusty carpet runners in passages.
Coal sacks dumped in grimy backyard sheds
Stables; there were very few cars
Fresh eggs, laid by hens in your own hok [hen-coop]
Fruit-trees in the back garden,
And veggies fresh from the soil.
The butcher and the grocer calling for orders
NelsRust Dairies and the daily delivery.
Rinsing off the cardboard caps for the milk bottles
Can you hear the tinkle of the ice-cream cart slowly
riding the suburbs
And remember how the kids loved the tuppeny iced lollies?
The Newtown Market for fresh vegetables, poultry and colourful flowers
Noisy auctions and horse-drawn delivery carts waiting for loads.
The long distances between Reef towns before the motorways.
The silences and huge emptiness of the countryside;
Miles of golden grasslands between Jo'burg and
And Sandown's gentle country life with its stables and horses;
It was the original 'mink and manure' suburb.
Quiet walks in Illovo along sandy tree-lined roads,
'George's' riding stables where an international hotel stands today.
Radiograms and wind-up gramophones; crystal sets with
earphones.
Terrible radio reception before FM and shortwave, especially
during a Highveld thunderstorm.
Eric Egan and jumping to 7am 'physical jerks', and Lourenço Marques radio
The wonderful 'English-radio' serials; who can recall "The Man in
Black?"
Incredible, roaring hailstorms and stately galleons of cumulus
Coir or feather mattresses before innersprings,
Black iron bedsteads, which sagged in the middle.
Wardrobes with long centre panel mirrors
Bentwood chairs - fly-screens on windows.
Washstands with porcelain bowls and jugs;
'Judge'-brand saucepans and enamel coffee pots.
Long-drop toilets, cut-up newspapers on a nail on the wall
Mule-drawn carts and the silent bucket-brigade removing the night-soil.
Chanting gangs of labourers digging trenches to lay pipes and
cables
'PUTCO' buses and black cyclists riding to work each day.
A distant train's lonely whistle on a freezing winter's night
Homesick migrant worker seeking comfort in soft music
on a Jew's harp
The 'Three Wise Men,' and Sunday afternoon radio plays.
Hand-cranked phones and the farm 'party-line' and
A three-hour wait for a trunk-call
Plug-in switchboards and the operator's irritated "Nommer
asseblief,"
The charm of Paddy O'Byrne; but this was much later.
Stinkwood and Imbuia 'ball-and-claw' furniture
Shepherd & Barker, who only sold the best copies
Thelma Brodé, who photographed everyone.
Magical Japanese origami which opened under water,
The whiff of incense and the gleam of beautiful fabrics from an Indian bridal
shop.
Fine suits hand-tailored by skilled Europeans, made
Refugee by Hitler's persecution
Cosmopolitan Hillbrow, cosy Café Kranzler and their
delicious imported coffee.
Newspapers on sticks and voices from all over
The daily crush of hatted and gloved workers
Hurrying down
The designs and colours of Basuto blankets worn by
Homebound mineworkers walking to Park Station.
Led by an Induna, they marched with heads high
singing a song of home.
Sewing machines, paraffin lamps and Primus stoves
All found their way to the rural kraals together with other, more secret,
gifts.
The Italianate beauty of the central court at Park Station and the 'Blue Room'
The excitement of the long steam train journeys to the coast.
The appeal for aluminium saucepans 'for the War Effort'
Digging "Anderson Shelters" in the back garden
General and Isie Smuts and the "Little Man"
lapel pin.
Knitting socks, balaclavas and scarves for the troops,
The frightening arrival of polio, and children in "iron-lungs"
The majestic white 'Institute' on Hospital Hill where they
Discovered the viruses and made serum for snakebite which was used all over
Africa.
The original Wanderers Club near Park Station,
The redbrick Victorian buildings of the old
The
where the horse-drawn delivery wagons waited patiently at the
Shoulder-high loading bays to carry the loads to the suburbs.
An American-model petrol pump at the side of the road,
Hand-cranked, two vertical glass one-gallon tanks in the metal casing
Filling and emptying alternately as the petrol siphons off.
War shortages, and cars converted to run on paraffin.
No white flour, and making butter from
'top-of-the-milk'.
Trams and double-decker buses with overhead electric connections
Cream and red were the city's municipal colours.
Agile conductor in navy uniform and cap,
With his silver coin holder, tight bundle of tickets and hand-punch;
Pull the cord once to stop. "Ting, ting" and we're off again!
Delays while he hooked the electric unit onto the lines with a
Long bamboo pole hidden underneath the bus.
The noise of reversing seats as he slapped them into position
When the end of the line was reached.
Springbok-head logo on SAR train windows;
Shiny green leather bolsters bumping varnished mahogany woodwork,
Smeared black and white photos of Old Cape-Dutch manor houses.
"Alle
kaartjies, asseblief,"
as we click-clack over the points
and the music of the gong signalling lunch and dinner.
Dreary mine towns, coal dust and smuts in your eye.
Lisle stockings, crepe de chine; the first nylons.
Max Factor Pancake make-up and Tangee
lipstick
"Evening in
C-to-C [Cape-to-Cairo] cigarettes at 1/1d for 30
A penny, a tickey, a shilling, a half-crown, a florin
and a guinea
Parity between Sterling and the South African pound
The "Rand Daily Mail" and 'Angela Day'
Pink penny stamps with the picture of Brittania;
Ha-penny if the envelope was open; telegrams at a penny a word!
Tea-room bios with their continuous performances
American Milk Bars, all chromium and fizz;
The Dolls House at midnight, and double-thick chocolate malteds.
Banana-splits, Coke-specials and hotdogs with yellow mustard.
Deanna Durban, Judy Garland, Nelson Eddy, Jeannette Macdonald
Vivienne Leigh and Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind,
The Wizard of Oz, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
The Chocolate Soldier, Mrs Miniver, Blossoms in the
Dust and Casablanca,
Swashbuckling Erroll Flynn, darkly handsome Tyrone
Power,
The delicate blond beauty of Leslie Howard; Mario Lanza's
fine tenor voice
The legendary Marlene Dietrich
Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Bette Davis, and Joan
Crawford,
The singing due of Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth and
Ivan Novello, the ladies' matinee idol.
Wednesday and Saturday matinees, 6d for kids, adults 1/1d.
The Lone Ranger, his trusty horse Tonto and exotic
Zorro,
That was when cinema was new - a true dream factory
Annie Get Your Gun,
Saturday shopping at John Orrs and their white-gloved
lift-girls: "Going Up!"
Wonderful hats at Stuttafords, and their tearoom.
OK Bazaars' Christmas windows, and "Switching on the
lights"
Important enough to be announced in the newspaper.
The yellow haze of mine dust which hung over everything.
A winter evening's coal smoke turning the sunsets purple.
The old
The Drive-In cinema on top of a mine dump, and MacPhails filthy coal yard
Where carts pulled by emaciated horses waited for their loads.
Ansteys Art-Deco building, Markhams
corner with the clock,
Escom House on Marshall and New Street,
Once the tallest building in the southern hemisphere [it's Gandhi Square today]
Charles Manning and his theatrical sweep of white hair
"Ag, pleeze Deddy,"
and Jeremy Taylor's musical "Wait a Minim"
Leon Gluckman's "King Kong" and "Ipi Tombi" by Bertha Egnos
"Back o' the Moon, Boys," and "Mama Temba's
Wedding" . do you recall?
'Second-show' at the Metro and being shown to your seat
By a uniformed usherette with a torch.
John Massey playing the cinema organ and singing along to the 'bouncing-ball'
Rustling chocolate papers, lacquered hair, tight shoes,
Corsets and fur coats in the Grand Circle
A thick curtain of cigarette smoke by interval.
When the usherette wore a tray to sell ice-creams and lollies.
The East African Pavilion and their wondrous curries
Street-corner night-watchman huddled over a brazier.
Sounds of a "Penny-Whistle Boogie" on a frosty night
Remember how the city was always 'under construction'?
Bothner's and Gallo's music shops, the grand pianos
and brass instruments.
The wonderland of the twinkling stars and the Moorish castles
at the Coliseum
'His Majesty's Cellars' and their Crayfish Newburg.
The
Free bread, 'thumb soup' and schnitzel.
The 'old' Carlton Hotel, focus of every big occasion;
The "Spring Ball" with double rows of elegantly white-gowned young
ladies and their escorts
Presented to the Governor-General at the 'Ball of the Season',
Elegance and luxury at the Langham Hotel,
The Criterion, for years the hangout of newshounds, and the
Midday crush for drinks;
Flower sellers near the City Hall and Saturday mornings in the Johannesburg
Central Library
The original Thrupps in Eloff
Street, and their range of fine imported foods.
Half-day closing on Wednesdays and three o'clock on Saturday.
The
Collection of famous paintings and sculpture;
The Edwardian fountain and splendid hothouse, and the spring flower beds.
Picnics at the Zoo; excited children crowding the mounting blocks
For rides on elephants and camels,
Charity fairs at the
Soggots
Corner, Publix and Stuttafords
in Rosebank.
Gallagher's in Orange Grove full of delicious baked goods.
Narrow roads choked with peak hour traffic
As the city emptied when the shops and offices closed
Louis Botha, the only road connecting
Before the construction of the Ben Schoeman motorway
The eleven-hour drive to
Aaaah .
those really were the days.
If you
remember all of these
You are probably as old as I am, and cherish our
city's heritage as I do.
With thanks to Olive Jew and Mike Edwards whose evocative phrase "thumb soup"
immediately recalled the tastes and sounds of the old Phoenix Beerhall.
Thanks also to all the wonderful citizens of 'Joeys' who have made this great
city what it is.
Barbara Durlacher
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|
Name |
Comment |
Date |
|
Erna |
I love this kind of thing – at my
age I am concerned with keeping memories alive and passing them on to the
next generation. Hope to see more: I’m challenging all who have read the
above evocative piece to paint a memory to share on Writescapes! |
2007-10-20 |
|
Mandy |
Yes I remember! And what fun, the
farm party line, the white gloved girls at John Orr’s (I always thought that
is what I wanted to be 'when I was big' and oh goodness Eric Eagan - who
could forget?
|
2007-10-24 |
|
Pascale J. Petit |
In a time where South Africans are
seeking identity, in a country that is pure chaos (like the rest of It has become important to capture
the times, lifestyles, events, arts and cultures of the era between the World
Wars. It is special that a personal perspective is documented, and it is
hoped that this will inspire people who remember this era to put pen to paper
and record their experiences then. As a 30-something, it is enlightening to
learn about history in this manner.
Points 3 - Very promising piece of writing |
2008-02-18 |