Dolly Rathebe: South Africa’s first international film star

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 2 June 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

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Summary

South Africa’s first feature film aimed at black audiences was released in 1949, launching Dolly Rathebe’s career.

The actress and jazz musician was discovered by chance by two British film makers and with no previous acting experience, she was cast in Jim Comes to Jo’burg, also known as African Jim.

She played Judy, a glamourous nightclub singer. Soon she was gracing magazine covers and proclaimed Africa’s first black female movie star.

Reena Stanton-Sharma listens back to an archive interview of Dolly Rathebe speaking to film maker Peter Davies from Villon Films.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: Dolly Rathebe. Credit: Jurgen Schadeberg from The Schadeberg Collection)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Why does some big successful brands go bust?
0:05.7	Toast is back for a new series, taking a look at the decisions that often left investors burnt.
0:11.6	I'm Sean Farrington, a BBC business journalist. I'll be hearing about the hype.
0:15.6	They're going to do the deal that makes them the most money at that point of time.
0:19.7	And I'm picking what went wrong, talking to owners and employees to ask, what can we learn?
0:25.4	It was being undercut by similar rivals.
0:28.4	It just couldn't survive.
0:30.3	Toast. Listen first on BBC Sounds.
0:44.8	Hello and welcome to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service with me, Rina Stanton Sharma.
0:52.1	Today we're going to South Africa in 1949, when the country's first feature film aimed at black audiences,
0:57.0	Jim comes to Joburg, also known as African Jim, was released.
1:06.0	It thrust Dolly Retebe into the limelight, who became known as a South African Billy Holiday.
1:12.4	And we're going to hear Dolly in an interview she did with filmmaker Peter Davis in 1990.
1:15.1	He was talking to her from behind the camera.
1:17.6	It's from the villain films archive.
1:24.0	Now, one time I went to a picnic and I started singing at this picnic.
1:31.9	And I was discovered by a gentleman called Sam Alcock. Oh, and there comes Don Swanson,
1:37.9	looking for talent because they wanted to make a film. And then this chap said, you know,
1:50.5	I'd like you to come to the Bantam Social Center. There's an audition there. I said, but, you know, we were afraid of going to town and so on because of the police and so.
1:52.5	Then he said, come on, man.
1:53.4	I'll come and fetch you.
1:54.5	I'll take you to this place.
	...

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