The late Trevor Pengelly wrote extensively about Killarney, Greenside and other Johannesburg suburbs over the years. In the article below he describes his memories of the once famous Killarney Film Studios (The Killarney Mall occupies the site today).
Let’s see now, I turned professional in 1949. It was an interesting year. After my triumph on stage at the end of ’48 as Archangel Gabriel when I announced that “unto us in the City of David, is born a king and he shall be called ‘Emanuel’” earning money seemed logical.
I was quite a star too, for the film studio would call me out of school and drive me off in a limousine to do my pictures, much to the astonishment of my pals. The reason for the limo was because the tram did not go across town. Not many families had cars let alone a chauffer driven limo.
My sister and I arrived at Killarney, after a drive down a beautiful avenue called Riviera Road stretching from the magnificent war museum at the Zoo and sweeping through to Houghton. Most of the flats were still to be built and it was a very pleasant tree lined street, compared to now. The building itself was in undressed stone and the detail of the façade made it really attractive.
Old photo of the Killarney Film Studios (source unknown)
Filming began down...
