WITS REVIEW LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ARE WELCOME AND CAN BE SENT TO PETER.MAHER@WITS.AC.ZA.
A fine teacher
Letters Gems of Joburg
Dear Editor, Robert Arridge writes (Letters, WR, Vol 36) about “entertainment in Old Joburg” and asks a few questions which I hope I can answer. What happened to the Metro? It had the most spectacular Art Deco architecture and interior decoration in the entire city. It was a veritable Art Deco cathedral. It was demolished and is now the site of Damelin College. Mr Arridge also asks about the 20th Century cinema. It was in Rissik Street, corner Jeppe, and had a magnificent Modernist interior. Also in Jeppe Street, but of a much earlier vintage, was the Bijou Theatre, which was truly bijou, and beautiful. He also asks about His Majesty’s Theatre in Commissioner Street, corner Joubert Street. This gem, too, has gone – as great a loss to the city as was the Colosseum, which he well remembers. Its beautiful Beaux-Arts Edwardian interior, sadly lost, has however been replicated in the Globe Theatre at Gold Reef City (thanks to the efforts of the late great Anthony Farmer). Other theatres lost to Johannesburg are the once revered Standard Theatre and the intimate Library Theatre in Pixley Ka Seme Street, now sadly used only for “stacks” for the Johannesburg Public Library. But should Mr Arridge again visit Johannesburg, he’d be interested to see the new(er) theatres like the Johannesburg Civic Theatre, renamed The Joburg Theatre, the Wits Theatre on main campus, as well as the splendid Linder Auditorium on Wits’ Education Campus (old JCE), which is regarded as the symphony hall of the city.
Dear Editor, “Teacher” might have been one of the accomplishments added to the all-too-brief obituary of Michael Coulson (WR, Vol 36, page 60). He lectured to part-time Economic History students for several years in the early 1970s. At the time, Economic History was a brilliant department with many fine lecturers, but many full-time students – myself included – opted for the late-afternoon sessions with Coulson. Interesting and illuminating, his classes were always spiced with his sardonic wit. Peter Vale (BA 1971, BA Hons 1973) Director, Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study
Inherited addiction Dear Editor, The article “The power of addiction” by Heather Dugmore (WITSReview, Volume 36, December 2016) makes a brief mention of inheritability. Years ago, Dr H Begleiter showed that alcoholic men had abnormal visual evoked potentials (VEPs). But what was interesting was that young sons of these alcoholics showed the same VEP abnormalities. Thus there was evidence of a genetic trait in men developing alcohol addiction. Joseph C Marcus (MBBCh 1953) Associated professor of Clinical Neurology, emeritus SUNY-Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, USA
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Michael Hobson, PR and publicity officer and archivist for the Performing Arts Administration at Wits, 1981-2001
