30/08/2022
A young Dolly Rathebe in 1951 posing for a Drum pin-up on a gold-mine dump. Just heard news of the death of photographer, Jurgen Schadeberg (89). He was a pioneer and institution in the world of photography.
This is how then Drum editor, Anthony Sampson remembered the story behind this classic image: "Jurgen was always having trouble. One day he arranged to take pictures of Dolly Rathebe, a famous African film star.
"He drove off with her in the office car, with a pile of dresses in the back, to the top of a gold-mine dump outside Johannesburg, whose sandy top looked like a beach.
"On the way, Jurgen noticed a car following him. After he had taken a few photographs of Dolly reclining on the mine dump in a bathing costume, a car drew up and two policemen approached him.
"What are you doing here?"
"I'm taking photographs for a magazine."
They looked at Dolly in her scanty costume, and then at the pile of dresses inside the car. They arrested them both and questioned them at the police station for two hours, suspecting them of illicit relations. Jurgen overheard one Afrikaans policeman saying: "These Germans, you see; they come out to South Africa, and we think they are going to be good Nationalists, man. And what do they do? They go around with Kaffir girls...""
Drum: The Making of a Magazine, by Anthony Sampson.
Photo: Jurgen Schadeberg.
