Harry N. Ebedes

Harry N. Ebedes (b. Johannesburg, 30/11/1910 – d. Japan, 08/11/77) was cinema owner, production manager and film distributor.

Biography

Harry Nathan Ebedes was the son of Noah Ebedes and Mary Blume. In 1927, at the age of 17, his name appeared in the Sunday Times when he wrote to the Motoring Editor to ask for advice on how to patent a gate that could be opened and closed without the driver having to get out of the car. He must have done some serious dabbling, because in 1956 he was a director of a company that would be installing devices in buses for black commuters in order to provide them with musical entertainment while travelling (it was thought that white commuters would prefer to read their newspapers).

His credited involvement in movies was somewhat limited, but he was the production manager on Donald Swanson’s The Magic Garden (1951) and may have had something to do with the production of two of Swanson’s shorts, namely Coon Carnival and Temba, though it is not certain in what capacity. At one stage he was the owner/manager of the independent Park Cinema in Rosettenville and also seems to have become a small-time distributor. After it was unbanned, he handled The Bubbles Schroeder Story (Pierre D. Botha/1961) and eventually donated a print of this and of Truida Pohl’s Huis op Horings (1963) to the National Film, Video & Sound Archives. He died “suddenly” while on a visit to Japan. (FO)

Sources

Rand Daily Mail, 30 August 1957

Rand Daily Mail, 12 November 1977

Sunday Times, 21 May 1963

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