South of Africa's most famous sonny, right pensiveToday, being the end of the month, it is the 60th birthday of one 'Braisers'.
Many of us know this ageing legend for his starring role as Zulu Dawn in the film of the same name, or what is also eponymous in the journo trade.
However, what is often forgotten is the fortune-amassing years in the 1940's and 1950's when he started playing the role of Biltong Boy, an Afrikaans version of Jungle Boy, which he was to make his own over the next 45 years. He was widely admired for strutting through the veldt clad only in a loincloth, or 'chafer' in the local lingo, wielding an outsize sjambok on the flora.
He was of course accompanied by Bliksem, his trusty springbok - played by Erik van Der Merwe (front) and Dusty Parts (rear) - who never tired of playing a Lassie-type role, calling on Biltong Boy to follow him into all sorts of mildly perilous scrapes.
Braisers carried off this role in what was virtually a national institution well into the late 1980's, when he made a vast amount of money from endorsements and advertising as Biltong Boy, including White & White whisky, and White pudding.
However, he finally fell victim to the march of time in 1990 as the world became ever-more internationalised, and it was proving difficult to sell the series abroad. More and more of the commercial operations withdrew their sponsorship of the show.
And so it was on 11th February 1990 that, as the great statesman Nelson was released from prison, Braisers wiped away a tear and swore never to black up again, thus ending his screen life as Biltong Boy forever.
Braisers, we salute you, and wish you another 70 glorious years.
Many of us know this ageing legend for his starring role as Zulu Dawn in the film of the same name, or what is also eponymous in the journo trade.
However, what is often forgotten is the fortune-amassing years in the 1940's and 1950's when he started playing the role of Biltong Boy, an Afrikaans version of Jungle Boy, which he was to make his own over the next 45 years. He was widely admired for strutting through the veldt clad only in a loincloth, or 'chafer' in the local lingo, wielding an outsize sjambok on the flora.
He was of course accompanied by Bliksem, his trusty springbok - played by Erik van Der Merwe (front) and Dusty Parts (rear) - who never tired of playing a Lassie-type role, calling on Biltong Boy to follow him into all sorts of mildly perilous scrapes.
Braisers carried off this role in what was virtually a national institution well into the late 1980's, when he made a vast amount of money from endorsements and advertising as Biltong Boy, including White & White whisky, and White pudding.
However, he finally fell victim to the march of time in 1990 as the world became ever-more internationalised, and it was proving difficult to sell the series abroad. More and more of the commercial operations withdrew their sponsorship of the show.
And so it was on 11th February 1990 that, as the great statesman Nelson was released from prison, Braisers wiped away a tear and swore never to black up again, thus ending his screen life as Biltong Boy forever.
Braisers, we salute you, and wish you another 70 glorious years.
