Johannesburg : by Barbara Durlacher

[Mara]

A bit of nostalgia

As I Remember It: Johannesburg : A citizen reporter evokes memories of South Africa in the 1930s and 1940s :

by Barbara Durlacher

Although I have traveled extensively in my life, I was born and grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa in the 1930s and 1940s -- the most impressionable years -- and have returned to England to settle. Sights, scenes and sounds of those days never really leave you, but remain as cherished memories forever. As I grow older, the constant contrast between what was, and now is, in this amazing city, prompted me to write these memories before I lost them altogether.

Upon sending this poem to the Openwriting Web site in England, I was amazed to discover that somehow, expat South Africans all over the world were reading it and emailing me thanking me for the cherished memories it brought back. Subsequently, a friend told me she had heard extracts read on a local late-night radio station, and I phoned in and chatted to the announcer. In between taking phone-ins from listeners laughing and crying at the memories the poem evoked, the presenter suggested I read some lines, and it was my great pleasure to do so. Subsequently, I Have had a number of phone calls asking for a copy of the poem, which really seems to have taken on a life of its own!

As I Remember It: Johannesburg of the 30s and 40s

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

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 enjoyed the tuppeny Lollies?

The Newtown Market for lovely vegetables, poultry and colorful 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 Pretoria

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 7 a.m. "physical jerks,"

And Lourenco Marques radio.

The wonderful "English-radio" serials.

Who can recall "The Man in Black?"

The erudition and Irish charm of Paddy O'Byrne; but this was much later.

The "Three Wise Men," and Sunday afternoon radio plays.

Incredible, roaring hailstorms and stately galleons of cumulus

Drifting down to the Lowveld.

Coir or feather mattresses before innersprings,

Black iron bedsteads, which sagged in the middle.

Wardrobes with long center 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 quiet bucket-brigade REMoving the night-soil.

Chanting gangs of laborers 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 mbira [Jew's harp]

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,"

Stinkwood and Imbuia "ball-and-claw" furniture

Shepherd & Barker, who only sold the best "Sheraton" and "Chippendale" copies

Thelma Brode, who photographed everyone.

Magical Japanese origami which opened under water,

The whiff of incense and the gleam of beautiful

Fabric from an Indian bridal shop.

Fine suits hand-tailored by skilled Europeans, made

Refugee by Hitler's persecution

Cosmopolitan Hillbrow, cosy Cafe Kranzler and their delicious imported coffee.

Newspapers on sticks, and voices from all over Europe.

The daily crush of hatted and gloved workers

Hurrying down Twist Street when the trams were full.

The designs and colors 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 Prymus 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,

It had something to do with raising money.

Knitting socks, balaclavas and scarves for the troops,

The frightening arrival of polio, and children in "iron-lungs"

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 Johannesburg hospital

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 colors.

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. Then "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 signaling 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 Paris" scent worn to your first dance.

C-to-C [Cape-to-Cairo] cigarettes at 1/1d for 30, and 2/6d for 50.

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" who wrote the

"household hints".

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

And the legendary Marlene Dietrich.

Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Bette Davis, and Joan Crawford,

Anne Ziegler, Webster Booth and Ivan Novello,

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 real dream factory

"Annie Get Your Gun," "Oklahoma!" and the High-kicking "Tiller Girls,"

Eloff Street trams; and the elegant shops full of imported clothes, handbags and shoes.

Saturday shopping at John Orrs and their White-gloved lift-girls: "Going Up!"

Wonderful hats at Stuttafords, and their tearoom, Where the northern suburbs ladies took tea, and Nodded acquaintance to friends.

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 Olympia Ice-rink and neighboring greyhound track.

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

And 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,

Mirror-finished grand pianos and gleaming brass.

The wonderland of the twinkling stars and

Moorish castles at the Coliseum cinema

"His Majesty's Cellars" and their Crayfish Newburg

The Phoenix Beer-hall, a stein of draft beer,

Free bread, "thumb soup" and an enormous veal Schnitzel

Unbelievably, the food cost 1/6d.

The "old" Carlton Hotel, focus of every big Occasion;

The "Debutante Spring Ball" with double rows of

Elegant white-gowned young ladies and their escorts

Presentations and deep curtsies to the Governor-General

He was the Queen's representative in tailcoat, white tie and all his decorations.

Elegance and luxury at the Langham Hotel,

Where an eight-course formal dinner cost two guineas A couple.

The Criterion, for years the hangout of newshounds,

And the Midday crush for drinks;

Flower sellers near the City Hall and Saturday mornings

Spent exploring the riches of 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 Lutyens-designed Joubert Park Art Gallery with

Its Superb collection of 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 Zoo Lake "for the War Effort"

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 Avenue, the only road connecting Pretoria and Joeys

Before the construction of the Ben Schoeman motorway.

The 11-hour drive to Durban before the toll-road was built.

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 much as I do.

by Barbara Durlacher

[Enrica]

Thanks you Mara.

This will probably be right over the head of some of out younger forum members.

That brought back some wonderful memories.

I am not as old as that, but amazingly enough I do rember a lot of the things and places she talks about.

My mother gave me a pair of those "first" nylon stockings. I still have them in the original packaging- never been opened.

I thought that one day I would pass them onto to my daughter if ever I had one, so I will have to hope that I have a grand daughter instead.

Thanks once again.

[Mara]

Hi Enrica

Yes, it struck a cord with me as well, although I am not that old either. As you say, there is a lot of it that I remember as well from the sixties and seventies.

Hurrying around the OK Bazaars in Eloff Street for last minute Christmas shopping and the Christmas lights and decorations at Joubert Park.

His Majesty's cellars, where I was taken for my first real date.....imagine my shock when I was presented with this huge menu, reading about things that I had never seen and having to make up my mind what to eat......letting him do the ordering.....and then praying it would be something that would not make me gag!

Yup, it certainly brought back a few memories!