Talking Movies: Remembering Barry – Episode 10
Welcome to Talking Movies, I’m Spling. This week we embark on episode 10 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. Their starry-eyed story unfolds beautifully, a love that blossomed against their shared passion for the silver screen.
He’s led such a splendid career as an entertainment journalist and movie critic. Do you think he ever suffered from imposter syndrome in that time?
Yes, we can thank Barry’s mom for that. Good upbringing, but don’t be too proud, my boy. Don’t do this, don’t be this, don’t be that. So I guess in most of us, there’s a kind of feeling of insecurity, that you’re not worthy enough, that you’re not good enough.
Gosh, he was good enough. He was excellent. But I love him, but I’m also real. That is, yeah, imposter syndrome. Somebody’s going to find you out that maybe you’re not real. Maybe it’s part of all of us.
We’re not good enough, and we’re all wounded. How do we heal that wound? How do we heal shyness? By being on the stage, by putting your head out there and saying things, and traveling the world to interview the most beautiful people, and the ugliest people, and the most horrible people, and the kindest people, to live a magical, enchanted life.
It was very clear that Barry was a lifelong lover of film. As some of you might know, he grew up in a cinema, after school, watching films… and just never stopped.
Never stopped. The films of Barry after school, as a young boy, maybe five or six, maybe Aggie, his mom, thought that instead of Barry being naughty, give him something to do. And she paid the manager to allow Barry to go in after school. I guess that’s where the love affair with movies began. Of course, his love of languages, and love of books.
Instead of going to cadets, and well, what are cadets? People used to have exercises on the sports field, and they had to march. It was very part of the colonial system. Barry escaped it all to go and work in the library. So of course, his love of books. We all know literature can uplift you, it informs you, it educates you, it inspires you. Of course, a love affair with the movies, and a love affair for us. And we’d work from home, so it was always in our home, our books, our movies.
Let me tell you a little story. 16mm projectors. We used to screen a movie, like in the olden days… olden days! 70s into 80s. Barry and I would, like a traveling circus, would get a movie on 16mm with our projector and a sheet. We’d go to homes, our friends, our family, and we would have Friday nights screening movies. So movies are always part of our life. It wasn’t an intrusion, it was an education. He was a teacher, to inform and to educate and to entertain.
He wasn’t a fool, he knew what he was doing, but he wasn’t appeasing the masses, he was writing for the masses, to uplift, to entertain, to inform. And mostly, if you didn’t like what he said, you still read it because you learned some words, and you liked the way that he was writing, even if you didn’t agree with him.
Yeah, I found him to be quite refreshing in his approach because he was very sure of what he liked and what he didn’t like. And that subjectivity made every review fresh in the way that it hits your ear or that you’d be getting a very fixed, educated point of view, but one that was not trying to appease someone else. It wasn’t trying to pander. It was telling it like it is.
Exactly, and Spling is so right. The panda didn’t pander. [Laughs]
It’s just an example of how complex the English language is.
Exactly. So Barry would speak beautiful language, educate people. Barry’s motto was always, this is my opinion. And how blessed that he was that his opinion was read, and he could deliver his opinion without being snooty or haughty, by just being real to say, this is my opinion. And by the way, this is what I thought. There’s also maybe a perception that he was a softy.
Well, if you go back to those early women’s page days and see the issues that Barry tackled, and still in his columns tackled, there were some politicians, I know, they said to Barry, we’re scared of you because what you write in that Spit & Polish. Even Madiba, he told Barry, he said, I’m so scared of you because what you write in that column. We met Madiba after he came out of prison, there was a movie preview, and there was security all over.
We couldn’t be too close to him. But then everybody came to see Madiba, and we just met him. But we met all the presidents and yeah, you know, that’s the power of culture, of being honest, of having a good opinion, and also criticizing when you think they were wrong, and mocking them a little bit. With a really sharp tongue. Good word.
I think that when you are just a yes man, you don’t get respect. When you actually think for yourself and are able to articulate that very well, like Barry did, then people are willing to listen.
Absolutely.
Barry Ronge’s legacy shines through our collective memories. In this spirit, we seek a library or museum for his 1,700 film book collection, where his passion for movies can endure. Together, we can ensure Barry’s love for art, film, and culture continues to light our way. Share your ideas and join us on this mission at splingmovies.com
