Dolly Rathebe - Dolly and Her Men! - The World Does Not Suspect That Film...

DM2000030803:SAED:MUSIC:PERSONALITY:JAN1957 - Dolly Rathebe - Dolly and Her Men! - The World Does Not Suspect That Film Star Dolly Rathebe's Real Name Is Josephine Malatsi: Years Ago She 'Borrowed' Name Of A School Mate! - This Dolly Rathebe, the right one is non other than Eileen Dolly Rathebe, the daughter of Mr J.R. Rathebe. The film star Dolly Rathebe took over her friend's name for the fun of it. And at school Dolly was a tomboy. (But she loved boys!). She looked at life from a male point of view and seemed to have quarrel with her Maker for creating her a female. She discovered that she had a fairly good voice, mellow and husky and she toyed with the idea of 'African Jazz', the Street. She started performing in school troupes, but the sedate, well organised music of school choirs did not quite go with her. She wanted the pounding rhythm that interpreted township life so well. Later, she was to thrill mourners at the wakes of dead friends with her singing. So in 1943, with Standard Five uncompleted, Dolly left school to try her chances in the rough and tumble of township life. But from the beginning she was different from the domestic servant, factory working type of girl. She saw herself as an artist and she just wouldn't go to work. Dolly was to be the girl who would bring a new force to the African stage. Of course Sophiatown now gives gives Dolly grudging acclaim. They recognise that she has got in where angels fear to tread. After her first fiery debut in Sophiatown she went in for night clubs of Johannesburg. Dolly has become the entertaining darling. Night after Night she performed for the bleary-eyed patrons of those clubs. (Photograph by Jurgen Schadeberg © Baileys Archive)