Betty Misheiker

Betty Misheiker (1919-2015) was a writer and producer of educational material for children.

Biography

She was born in Pretoria (South Africa) on 7th June 1919, the youngest of four children. Her primary years were spent in Brits and Johannesburg (South Africa).

Having moved back to Johannesburg from Brits, she worked at a variety of jobs, including working as a dental nurse, a doctor's receptionist, a secretary for an underwear manufacturing company and - during the war - working part-time as an ambulance driver for the mines.

She was twice married, first to a soldier at the start of World War 2, then met and fell in love with a local journalist. Having obtained a divorce, she and Ronnie were married and remained together for 55 years. The couple raised a family which consisted not only of their own immediate children, but also those of her sister who had passed away (in her 30’s). In this context it was inevitable that she discovered her writing talents (particularly work for children), with which a new, varied and immensely busy life engulfed her.

Over the course of her career as author and composer, her work - written in English and Afrikaans, was published, performed on radio, TV and stage, recorded and became widely known and appreciated.

Betty later created the Playhouse Educational Programmes on South African TV, in which she produced an enormous range of fun educational stories and songs; with additional jokes to entertain children. This was followed by a programme called What D'you Know (about educational curriculum topics).

In 1979 Betty and Ronnie made a dedicated move to Jerusalem, Israel, where Betty continued to produce material for major TV networks and publications. She passed away at the age of 96 in Jerusalem in 2015.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

She contributed material for radio, TV, children's theatre, puppet shows and so on in South Africa over many years. Her stories and songs cover a wide range of topics, all dealing with educational subjects pertaining to children's daily lives.

Her English children's plays include The Old Kabobly Tree, Jack and the Turtle-doves (1975),

Her numerous songs over the years include many English and even some original Afrikaans songs such as the well-known “Ek’s ’n dapper muis”, “Almal dra ’n jas”, “Die lappop”, “Ek is ’n eensame krokodil” en “Sal jy dit glo”