C.V. Becker
(b. 08/02/1881 - d. 21/03/1933) Professionally, Clarence (Clarrie) Vivian Becker was an attorney and a founding partner of Wertheim Becker, a Johannesburg law firm that still exists today. But he was clearly a man of many talents. A C.V. Becker is credited as playing one of two Cape Town detectives in The Vulture’s Prey (1922), the film directed by Dick Cruikshanks and William Bowden. Ralph Trewhela refers to C.V. Becker as being responsible for some of the earliest sound recordings in South Africa (1908), describing him as an attorney who specialised in “humorous monologues”. In fact, his name also comes up on the website of the Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music at the University of London. Finally, a C.V. Becker wrote the book “With the Springboks in England, 1906-1907: a press record of the tour”, a publication which is now considered very rare. He was survived by his widow, Hilda May (nee Silcock) and two sons. The actress Gaenor Becker is his granddaughter. (FO)
Sources
S.A. Pictorial, 29 April 1922
Trewela, Ralph - Song safari: a journey through light music in South Africa
Private correspondence
Return to
Return to ESAT Personalities B
Return to South African Personalities
Return to The ESAT Entries
Return to Main Page