Toerien-Rubin
Toerien-Rubin (1963-1970) is a production company founded by Basil Rubin and Pieter Toerien in 1964-1970(*?).
The company
Cinema owner Basil Rubin had been Pieter Toerien's former boss, and in 1963 they joined forces to form the Toerien-Rubin company. Together they went on to staged many variety shows, among them:
1964: They brought out British artists such as vocalist Alma Cogan and Dickie Valentine (booked by Hugo Keleti) and the English comedians Dora Bryan and Alfred Marks.
1966: They staged James Ambrose-Brown’s The Years of the Locust at the Alexander Theatre, starring Johann Nell, Frank Shelley and Yvonne Bryceland.
1967: At the Johannesburg Civic Theatre they presented two musical shows, one by Russ Conway and the other by Hollywood dancer-actress Cyd Charisse and her husband, Tony Martin. At the Brooke Theatre,they presented Aleksei Arbuzov’s The Promise, directed by Leonard Schach, with Andrew Ray, John Fraser and Olive McFarland[1] and the revue Maggie and Frank, starring Maggie Soboil and Frank Lazarus.
1969: The company now also started importing complete productions from the West End, starting with Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband, starring Richard Todd, Jean Kent, Vanessa Lee, Peter Graves, Derek Bond and Joyce Grant. They also brought out Dames at Sea to the Alexander from America, directed by Don Liberto, and Jimmy Edwards's London hit Big Bad Mouse, starring Cardew Robinson and Bess Finney.
1970: They staged Noël Coward's Fallen Angels at the Alexander circa 1970. It starred Hermione Gingold and Joan Heal. Toerien-Rubin brought director Anthony Sharp and actors Cicely Courtneidge, Jack Hulbert, Roger Livesey, Ursula Jeans, David Kossoff and Robertson Hare from London to star in Oh, Clarence at the Civic circa 1970
Toerien-Rubin-Firth 1969-1970
Together with Shirley Firth, and Basil Rubin he stepped forward as new management of the Intimate in 1969. Their first co-production was The Secretary Bird which was directed by Kerry Jordan and starred Jeremy Hawk, Shelagh Holliday, Ivan Berold and Firth.
Toerien, Rubin and Firth staged Anthony Shaffer’s thriller Sleuth, starring Ralph Michael and Nicholas Amer, and directed by Warren Jenkins at the Intimate circa 1970.
