Thelma Gutsche

Thelma Gutsche

Thelma Gutsche
Born (1915-01-07)7 January 1915
Somerset West, Cape Province
Died 5 November 1984(1984-11-05) (aged 69)
Montagu, Western Cape
Alma mater University of Cape Town
Occupation
  • Filmmaker
  • film historian
  • writer
  • arts patron

Thelma Gutsche (7 January 1915 — 5 November 1984) was a South African filmmaker, film historian, writer, and arts patron, referred to as "South Africa's most accomplished early cinema historian" by a later film scholar.[1]

Early life and education

Thelma Gutsche was born at Somerset West, Cape Province, the daughter of Jesse Gutsche and Agnes Patricia Anne Mackintosh Gutsche. Her father was a factory manager.[2] She earned degrees at the University of Cape Town in the Ethics, Logic, and Philosophy program.[3] In 1946 she completed her doctoral studies in social history, with a dissertation titled The History and Social Significance of Motion Pictures in South Africa 1895 - 1940. Her dissertation was later published as a book, about which one scholar said, "As a detailed historical account of cinema up to 1940, there is nothing to rival it."[4]

Career

Before and during her doctoral program Gutsche wrote film reviews for The Forum and the Cape Times newspapers.[5] During World War II and afterward, she wrote and directed documentaries and instructional films for the South African government. From 1947 to 1959 she was head of Educational and Information Service of African Consolidated Films Ltd. She was also joint director of Silver Leaf Books, which published the first book of short stories by Nadine Gordimer during her tenure.[2]

Gutsche was a founding member and life president of the Association of Friends of the Johannesburg Art Gallery, and in 1959 a founding member of the Simon van der Stel Foundation (a historic preservation foundation). She was a member of the Africana Museum Advisory Committee beginning in 1956, and a member of the Consultative Committee of the Bensusan Museum of Photography. She served a term as president of the National Council of Women in South Africa.[3]

Gutsche wrote several books, including No Ordinary Woman: The Life and Times of Florence Phillips (1966);[6] Old Gold: The History of the Wanderers Club (1966, about a rugby club in Johannesburg);[7] The Changing Social Pattern of Johannesburg (1967); The Microcosm (1968);[8] The Bishop's Lady (1970, a biography of church architect Sophy Gray); A Very Smart Medal: The History of the Witwatersrand Agricultural Society (1970);[9] The History and Social Significance of Motion Pictures in South Africa, 1895-1940 (1972);[10] There Was a Man: The Life and Times of Sir Arnold Theiler (1979).[11] In 1966 she won the Central News Agency Literary Award for No Ordinary Woman.[3] She was also co-author of Do You Know Johannesburg (1947), with Patricia Knox.[12]

Personal life

Gutsche died in 1984, from emphysema, aged 69 years, in Montagu, Western Cape. Her papers are archived at the University of Cape Town.[13]

References

  1. ↑ Keyan G. Tomaselli, "Encountering Modernity: Twentieth Century South African Cinemas (Rozenberg Publishers 2006): 6. ISBN 9789051708868
  2. 1 2 E. J. Verwey, ed., New Dictionary of South African Biography (HSRC Press 1995): 88-89. ISBN 9781868281343
  3. 1 2 3 "Thelma Gutsche" South African History Online (2011).
  4. ↑ Jacqueline Maingard, South African National Cinema (Routledge 2013): 13. ISBN 9781135123963
  5. ↑ Michael Eckardt, Film Criticism in Cape Town 1928-1930: An Explorative Investigation into the Cape Times and Die Burger (African Sun Media 2005): 19. ISBN 9781919980614
  6. ↑ Thelma Gutsche, No Ordinary Woman: The Life and Times of Florence Phillips (H. Timmins 1966).
  7. ↑ Thelma Gutsche, Old Gold: The History of the Wanderers Club (Timmins 1966).
  8. ↑ Thelma Gutsche, The Microcosm (Timmins 1968).
  9. ↑ Thelma Gutsche, A Very Smart Medal: The History of the Witwatersrand Agricultural Society (Timmins 1970).
  10. ↑ Thelma Gutsche, The History and Social Significance of Motion Pictures in South Africa, 1895-1940 (Timmins 1972).
  11. ↑ Thelma Gutsche, There Was a Man: The Life and Times of Sir Arnold Theiler (Timmins 1979). ISBN 9780869781647
  12. ↑ Patricia Knox and Thelma Gutsche, Do You Know Johannesburg? (Unie-Volkspers, 1947).
  13. ↑ Thelma Gutsche Papers, University of Cape Town Archives.
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