T.O. Honiball

T.O. Honiball (1905-1990)[1] was a celebrated and pioneering Afrikaans cartoonist.

Biography

Born in Cradock, on 7 December, 1905, he grew up in Stellenbosch, studied architecture at University of Cape Town for year, before going to Chicago where he did commercial art. Returned to South Africa in 1930, to work for Napier Advertising in Cape Town for a few years. Then became a freelance illustrator and cartoonist for Die Burger and Die Huisgenoot till 1974. Creator of the now famous allegorical series called Oom Kaspaas (1939-1957) and Adoons-hulle (1948-1971), in which the main characters are a community of baboons.

He also did a popular series on Jakkals en Wolf ("Jackal and Wolf"), classic children's stories that appeared regularly in Die Jongspan from 1942 to 1969. (These cartoons were also published in 14 books between 1943 and 1973).

Contribution to South African theratre, film, media and performance

Honiball also designed the programmes for performances by various companies, inter alia for Hendrik Hanekom's company, among them for Die Stille Haard and Die Verliefde Spook.

A number of his creations would later be adapted for stage, film and TV.