Johannesburg Theatre & Music History | Taubie Kushlik | #3
- Mike Roy
- Jan 30, 2024
- 3 min read
December 10, 2023
In amongst the White River programs (again, see my post of 23 November 2023) are five Taubie Kushlik productions of the 1960s and early 1970s.
Taubie Braun was born in 1910 in Luckoff in the Free State, daughter of Jewish immigrants from Lithuania. I haven’t yet had the pleasure of cycling or driving through Luckoff but I’m going to have to go there now. My guess is that her family were traders, like so many Jewish immigrants in those days, but she makes reference in one of the programs to ”growing up on a farm in the Free State”. Her family moved to Port Elizabeth while she was at school so it might be tricky to trace any evidence of their stay in Luckoff.
She has a son, Richard Kushlik, I’ll ask him if I can track him down. He is the guy who updated the Jewish Heritage website with numerous images of his illustrious mother’s career (see link below). A magnificent resource, fits my eye perfectly in terms of what I am trying to achieve with my meandering collection. At least digitally, physical curatorship is another thing entirely.
A recurring theme in my micro-stories are Jews emigrating from Lithuania to South Africa. Aunt Mollie, who some of you may recall, has Lithuanian origins. The majority of South Africa’s Jewish population can trace their roots to Lithuania. 40000 Jews arrived from that country between 1890 and 1910. Why? Because the Russian Empire in the late 19th century wasn’t a great time and place to be Jewish. A recurring story, part of the background to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. And here we sit in 2023, Armageddon in Gaza.
Remember Gordon Mulholland from the Villagers TV series? He stars in one of the plays. During WWII he was part of the Entertainment Corp that entertained the troops in Africa. That reminds me of ephemera I have from a friend of mine, Craig Mackrory (Freedom Rider), who gave me his father’s war records. His Dad was a jazz musician and was part of the same corp during WWII. Perhaps the subject of a separate story or post. I’m still trying to find a copy of the one record that his Dad’s band produced.
I’ve never really listened to Jacques Brel’s music. No better time than right now. Give me a sec. Man it’s beautiful, I remember now. I have attached a link below, Taubie’s show must have been terrific.
I have at least four versions of the Fiddler on the Roof on records. “If I was a rich man” - the perfect shower song for those of us who are well advised to restrict our singing to the confines of a shower cubicle. Although that sparks a memory of the Woody Allen film where the hero is an opera singer that can only perform if he is in a shower. No problem, he sings the great opera roles on stage, under a shower. There is hope for all of us.
A percentage of the royalties from “Who is afraid of Virginia Woolf” had to go the Actor’s Union. This was a stipulation by the writer of the play. Ahead of its time, as was the play itself (1963 in South Africa). It’s run ended early because of controversy over blasphemous language. I will try to identify what exactly the offending words were and whether they were included or excluded in Pieter Toerin’s 2022 production of the same play.
The various advertisements in these programs speak to beautifully scented, bejeweled and stockinged women, the advent of international travel and the allure of a slow pull on a cigarette. I have attached a few of these, some of the design work is stunning. It’s all about desire isn’t it? Nothing has changed. It is after all what makes the world go around. A spoon full of sugar. Or was it money? Yeah, money, sugar made the medicine go down, an entirely different conversation but one not without its connections to the world of theatre and music.
Enjoy. You’re humming the shower song aren’t you. Or perhaps the sugar song. It’s ok.
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