CULTURE WITH A SMILE F P VERSTER

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2 T O HONIBALL CULTURE WITH A SMILE F P VERSTER

3 T O Honiball: Culture with a smile Published by SUN epress, a division of AFRICAN SUN MeDIA, Stellenbosch All rights reserved. Copyright 2004 F.P. Verster All images reproduced with the kind permission of Theo Honiball No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic, photographic or mechanical means, including photocopying and recording on record, tape or laser disk, on microfilm, via the Internet, by , or by any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission by the publisher. First edition 2004 ISBN Set in 10/12pt Trebuchet MS Cover design by Soretha Botha Typesetting by Wikus van Zyl SUN epress is a division of AFRICAN SUN MeDIA, Stellenbosch University s publishing division. SUN epress publishes academic, professional and reference works in electronic format. This publication may be ordered directly from

4 With many thanks, To everyone who contributed to the creation of this book: Especially to Charlene Verster, Tannie Essie Honiball, Estelle Kruger, Theo Honiball and Johan Erasmus, Ann Walton, Tanja & Etienne Joubert, as well as the personnel at AFRICAN SUN MeDIA: thanks so much.

5 SUMMARY This e-book is based on the research for a doctorate in Cultural History titled n Kultuurhistoriese ontleding van pikturale humor met besondere verwysing na die werk van T O Honiball ( A cultural-historical analysis of pictorial humour with special reference to the work of T O Honiball ), completed in March Because of the academic nature of the study, as well as the fact that the original was written in Afrikaans and meant to be read by people from that particular cultural background, the text had to be reworked. It is therefore necessary to explain certain cultural and historical facts that are common knowledge to most South Africans, but perhaps quite new to readers of other nationalities. Francois Verster Cape Town, South Africa 23 April 2004

6 CONTENTS FOREWORD... 1 THOMAS OSCHE HONIBALL: THE MAN... 3 BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS... 3 Childhood... 3 Preparing for a career in journalism... 5 Nasionale Pers... 7 Retirement HONIBALL THE ARTIST CARTOONS AND COMIC STRIPS BY HONIBALL THE CARTOONS Cartoon and Caricature Political cartoons Social cartoons THE COMIC STRIPS Explaining comic strips Kalie Skietebok Caltex-kaskenades Faan Brand Oom Kaspaas Jakkals en Wolf ( Jackal and Wolf ) Adoons-hulle MARKETING AND PRESERVATION OF HONIBALL S OEUVRE PROMOTING HIS PRODUCTS T O Honiball Promotions Exhibitions PRESERVATION OF HONIBALLIANA The J S Gericke Document Centre (JSGDS), Stellenbosch University The Nasionale Letterkundige Museum en Navorsingsentrum (NALN), Bloemfontein Other collections ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF HONIBALL S CONTRIBUTION TO AFRIKAANS CULTURE CONCLUSION GALLERY... 57

7 FOREWORD T O Honiball: Culture with a Smile is a component of the Honiball 100 CD-ROM, which also includes F P Verster s complete doctoral thesis in Afrikaans and a PowerPoint presentation of a lecture that F P Verster presented in France. An Afrikaans version of this title will be launched in March Thomas Osche Honiball ( ) would have celebrated his 100th birthday on 7 December This e-book is a tribute to him and his work, as well as a way to introduce Afrikaans culture to non-afrikaans speakers in a colourful and humorous way. T O HONIBALL ( )

8 BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS THOMAS OSCHE HONIBALL: THE MAN Childhood Thomas Ochse Honiball was the oldest of the four children of James Honiball and Johanna Botha (born Swanevelder). T O Honiball, as he was commonly known, was born on 7 December 1905 at Cradock, where his father was a schoolteacher. Shortly afterwards the family moved to Stellenbosch, a picturesque university town in the wine country known as the Boland, and so it was there where he grew up and went to school. Honiball started drawing pictures in early childhood. This was a natural talent and he felt driven to express himself visually. Like most comic strip artists and cartoonists (pictorial humorists), Honiball did not receive any formal training in fine arts. It was clear from very early on that he was to make his mark as a caricaturist or cartoonist. His first caricatures were of his teachers, including his headmaster, Paul Roos (see Figures 1 & 2), who would become one of the most famous sportsmen in the country, having captained the national rugby football side, the Springboks, in 1906 and 1907 in Britain. Figure 1: A Caricature of a teacher

9 4 T O Honiball: Culture with a Smile Figure 2: Paul Roos One of the anecdotes Honiball loved to tell was his habit of drawing figures in the dirt, because he could not afford drawing paper. Passers-by would criticise his work and so he learned to take other people s advice to heart. In later years he continued to communicate with readers, mostly by mail. Unfortunately Honiball did not place much value on his drawings this resulted in the loss of hundreds of cartoons, etc. throughout his career. The few caricatures published in the Paul Roos Gymnasium school paper and one drawing of the family home he did for a competition (December 1920) are just about all that remain of his earliest attempts (see Fig. 3). Honiball told some stories about his childhood to the Afrikaans writer, Esje du Toit, who wrote them down verbatim and published these anecdotes with a number of drawings Honiball made for the book Pen, penseel en n glimlag (published in 1998). The title means pen, paint brush and a smile. All these stories were true and of a humorous nature. He obviously enjoyed playing pranks on people and took great pleasure in recounting these adventures. His aptitude for situational comedy and slapstick clearly originated from his childlike playfulness.