Talking Movies: Remembering Barry – Episode 4
Welcome to Talking Movies, I’m Spling. This week we embark on episode four of Remembering Barry, a heartfelt tribute to the beloved entertainment journalist and film critic Barry Ronge. A rare privilege, I stepped into Barry’s tranquil Johannesburg home and conversed with his partner of 47 years, Albertus van Dyk, LightStrider to many. Their starry-eyed story unfolds beautifully, a love that blossomed against their shared passion for the silver screen.
Albertus, so we are talking all about Barry and what a special man, what a special person, what a special personality for South Africa. I want to speak a little bit more about the side of fame.
Yes.
I understand that Barry, you know, I think it’s not even a secret, he was the most prolific film critic South Africa has ever seen and his passion shone through with every interaction. Was it easy to live with someone so easily recognizable and constantly in the limelight?
Yes and no. I think mostly yes, because we, as I said, and I will always say this, that we respected each other and we were always together. Some people might think that we were inseparable, we were just twins. Somebody once for a moment said, God, don’t you have separate lives? In fact, we did. We both led full lives and I had my own career and one day I’d go to work and then come home and then have Barry’s life.
I think, gosh, I’m tired. And one day I sat with Barry and said, you know, darling, we are leading parallel lives. I go to work and I do a full job. I’m not really loving it. And then we’ve got your life and I go back to work. What if I stop doing what I’m doing, earning money? We discussed, let Albertus stop working and I’ll explore stained glass, astrology, yoga, and let us live a full life together.
And that was so amazing. You know, Spling, working together in that way is that you are always there and you support each other and we can giggle together and we strengthen each other. Yes, it can be frustrating if you go shopping. You can’t ever be incognito. So people know what’s in your basket, whether you shop at Woolworths or Checkers or the OK Bazaars or wherever you shop. But we could laugh about it.
It was a bit of a stressful encounter with people, but I would say mostly people were friendly because Barry was so approachable. And I think that set the scene for our whole life together, that we were always there, Barry and Albertus or Albertus and Barry, depending on who they thought was more important or which side of the family we were talking about and from.
Yeah, I was actually wondering about that because being on radio, television, in the newspaper on a weekly basis, getting more coverage than most people in the entertainment industry would love, you know, they would kill for, you’re going to be coming a household name like Barry was.
Being in public spaces, I was quite curious about how people would respond. I know that in the South African culture, we’re quite conservative. I think sports stars are heralded more than movie stars in this country. And I don’t know what your experiences are of this, but I think people are more respectful in a way that they’re not going to be just thinking they own you and thinking that you need to sign whatever they’re putting in front of you.
I think Spling… the arts and we’re talking of the arts of culture, literature. So we have a different kind of arena that we were playing in. And I say playing because it was fun. Barry was passionate about it. So was I, because we were together. And I will say this always, we were always together, supporting each other, even though he was alone most of the time. And we were still different human beings, separate human beings with identities that could be, you know, on their own stage. And I think maybe if we compare to sports, you can’t really, I wish we could compare the money. Sportsmen, yeah, they earn more money. It’s a peculiar thing.
Oh, yes. And I wanted to come back about finance. In the beginning of our relationship, I was working at the bank, Afrikaans bank. I was earning a heck a lot of money because I worked shifts. I didn’t have a big education, but it was the beginning of computers, extraordinary mainframes, filled whole buildings. And the keyboard always stayed the same. The keyboard’s still the same.
I got a house. It’s extraordinary at the bank. All the heterosexual boys were married and they got house loans. So my manager said, Albertus, you haven’t got a house. Why don’t you get a house? So I did. That was quite extraordinary. Barry worked at the university with his degrees. I earned more money than Barry did. So we started our first climb on the housing ladder with me and my bond from the bank.
But you realize that the carrot was being held for you. And soon after that, we actually sold that house and I left the bank when I resigned to say, let’s not lead parallel lives, but let’s work more closely together.
I understand you were integrally and intimately involved in the world of film. How did your relationship play out in this respect? Did Barry use you as a sounding board? And just how much influence did you have on his work?
Honor, respect and support. That’s all I can say. But basically, Barry did what he needed to do. He loved what he wanted to do. And you know, in life and death, Barry Ronge was in total control of what he wanted to do, how he was going to do it. And with a magic, the curiosity of Barry and any journalist for that matter, if you’re not curious, you’re not going to be able to do this. And being curious about life is the best medicine, I think.
