Gaga 90th | 2021 Interview

Today is Thursday, September 9th, 2021 and we are interviewing Dr. Harold Raikin. Harold, when and where were you born. Well I was born in Pretoria, Arcadia hospital and that was in 1933 14th of October. What is your earliest memory? The earliest memory is a very interesting one because my father had decided to take us family to Hiberdine- Karodine- for a holiday and we had a wonderful holiday there, and but it was of course time to go home and on the way home the car caught on fire well needless to say this caused a huge uh furar and uproar as to what the hell to do about the car because we were in the middle of nowhere but luckily for us another car did Rock up and um uh using his uh water tank we siphoned off the water and threw it on the car and we were able to save enough to get home and that is my earliest memory what is the name of your parents my father’s name is Sasha my mother’s name is Muriel and when were they born D now no how would you describe each of your parents well at what age that’s the thing okay so your earliest memory when you were young and then later when you were older our earliest memory of my mother was when she had my brother um at the Aradia Hospital earliest memory of my father was getting a whipping because with the rhinoceros wh which I’ve offered to show you and because I’ve done something to the maid that I can’t collect what I did but did I get a clubing do did you ever use that rhinoceros whip on your kids no and what about your mom my mother was a wonderful clever astute amazing woman who lived whose life was cut short by cancer uh I really early Rec recollect periods of my mother when she wasn’t sick and I can recall them because she was so infrequently well that it’s not hard to remember certain episodes uh I loved her watching me play soccer uh which I did for the greenside primary school first 11 and uh she used to come and watch and that gave me much lus um later on at high school she came to watch the Randi was one of the few mothers who in fact pitched up to watch rugby with the under 13s so I was very very proud of my mother I loved my mother dearly and I don’t think I actually even when I was at Dental Hospital studying anatomy and pathology I don’t think I really was aware of how sick she was did you have any relationship with either of your grandparents oh yes a huge relationship uh I’ll start with a brief one that’s my grandfather who had diabetes and sat with his foot raised up on a chair SED and God knows how many bandages and uh he spoke with the Russian accent and he used to say and I ran like hell in the opposite direction I’m so frightened of this guy but God bless your soul I love you for it he left me enough money to see me through University so this was your mom such an important person these were your mom’s parents or your dad’s parents now we go into another thing I was reminded by Emma that I didn’t say much about my granny I didn’t say much about her because she was my life there was no particular incident that I can think of about my grandmother because she was always there she was there when I was sick she was there when I was well she was there when I went to Nursery School she was there when we moved to Johannesburg she was there so she lived with you for a time she lived with us uh but with my grand father died she actually stayed on in the flat in Petoria and we used to go there every Sunday to visit her and I loved her more than words can will the matter and why and why did you love her so much because she was my always there constantly with me always loving me always hugging me always kiss kissing me almost always bathing me always buying me toys almost everything everything you can think of my grand they did for me what were the names of of your grandparents you’re doing great my grandfather’s name was I don’t remember um my grandmother’s name was Mary Mary and this was your mom’s mom now we come to that my mother’s mother died in child and my mother was subsequently um I don’t know if she was adopted or fostered or what she was was but she lived with Mr and Mrs glovs my then grandfather and grandmother and uh all the only grandparents I knew really was Mr Mrs glass whom I called grandpa and nny my grand my father’s father Uncle Sam and we we Dr about Uncle Sam because he used to cough and snort all day long like that she a little bit off putting at the time so Sam and Mary were your father were Sasha’s parents no no no Sam was married to my grandfather’s on that side fourth or fifth wife and um I I knew her as Auntie R and uh we very seld of saw her except excepting before one p we all used to get together which was actually a wonderful uh thing to do and um but I didn’t ever get to know Auntie re she was just an auntie R to me and another woman I didn’t realize she was uh the the the the Foster mother I suppose of my grandfather do you remember any of your grandparents occupations yes my grandmother’s occupation was me my grandfather’s occupation was he was a butcher skner Street Victoria and they were all born in South Africa or they came from somewhere else my grandmother was born in South Africa and she was raised off which I never knew until I turned 21 and she used to put in a lot of ofon expressions like ex which me I give you a hiding um and I never realized of course that which was her her home language my grandfather was always a bit to understand because he came from Russia and he was a V riski and U what else going to know about oh that’s good how would you describe your relationship with your father say when you were young first When We Were Young I was [ __ ] scared of it because of the rhinoceros wh and because of an incident where there was a great upset at home my brother Eric hated Tomatoes he didn’t like a tomato and if there was a tomato on the table you would often get up and run away and one night it was a Sunday night I remember too I father said to Eric you will eat that tomato and Eric said he won’t eat that tomato and I said to my father oh don’t talk nonsense he doesn’t want to have tomato and out came the RH rhosus but don’t you was want to stop this I and show it to you we believe you just a beautiful um so where were we up to we telling me about your relationship with your father so he was never really a father he was firstly when we when I grew up in Petoria which was with my grandmother and grandfather Foster um my father worked in Johannesburg and um came home occasionally so I very very s got to see him and he was not the sort of guy that you flung your arms around and kissed and said hello Daddy I’ve missed you because he just was not like that at all but he thought as he got as he got older while we jumping a whole lifetime uh it was with his second marriage where he mellowed amazingly he became the father that I always wished I had had and it was a super BL really uh the the rhinoceros was put was put away I never saw it again um he actually let me drive his car car which I thought was an amous thing um but he had no luck with with business and money no luck at all and I used to feel so sorry for him because every time I found him he say how you Dad oh I’m busy with this a week later I’d phone him back so i’ say hi there how’s it going oh no gave that up I’m now busy with this and I’m sure you don’t want to know the northern a was his name and S M Affair where we went bankrupt when my father went bankrupt the family split up completely my mother and Eric went to live with Auntie Dory my mother’s sister in Johannesburg and I went to live with Dr Bernstein who over the years of treating my mother so frequently became a personal friend of the family and he he looked after me he nurtured me and he taught me a lot of anatomy because uh I was that that’s what I was doing at the time all this happened and my father was a vastly different person he was a MCH and of course we put it down to uh to Selma Selma was my stepmother and um I haven’t come to my sister yet but she used to call him call her s the monster which which was actually meant s the sea monster she was quite a she had big thick glasses which made her look quite Odd as the best of times and uh she was a very kind lady in her own way but always tended to rub Eric and ey the wrong way Eric to such an extent that Eric Shivers At The Mention Of her name I take it with a pinch of salt she tried her best didn’t work what was some of the businesses that Grandpa Sasha went the first one he came home with a little men Emerald a little Emerald I I guess the size of a thumbnail and I love this Stone which was that green polished beautiful emerald stone and ever since then I’ve always wanted one could never afford it for various reasons I perhaps you’ll go into um be up S is different businesses oh yes so he came home and proudly presented us with this Emerald he and these two other gentlemen I mentioned morbit early and S M had formed a partnership whereby they bought a mine the mine was an emerald mine and they were going to mine the emerals and get rich rich rich rich which he would have done had he found one Emerald but he didn’t there’s a process called salting and what they did was they salted the mine with the with emeralds three or four different emeralds spotted around and they dug up these emeralds and think thought they were genu but they had been put there by certain people who don’t know and when my father dug it up he realized that it was one of these un unfortunate crook things and one of the things he did other thing he did is he sold leather jackets and he had a elit an array of yellow of these yellow leather jackets and he Eed out a living selling them but it was hardwood uh he then came to Durban and he worked for a firm that sold underwear I don’t know if they still exist um and he sches on his roundabout the T to of selling these underwear things that a remarkable thing happened to me and that is I wanted to get through to him to tell him that his my mom had died and um I got through to the exchange remember in those days you Di zero in the exchange answer I told the lady that what had happened and she said de as Y which means sir The World is Yours anybody you want to find in South Africa is yours and eventually because of that I tracked him down which is quite a business CU I knew he was somewhere between Margate Port ships in that area but there were a lot of old hotels there and I had to pH each one each hospital and each police station and everywhere and when I eventually got him um he came home that’s another one of the various businesses my father got into and then because of Salma he bought Selma bought a business called gold travels and for the first time in his life he started to make a little bit of money and U we had a fantastic and I had a fantastic experience with him he sent us on a dental tour um overseas tour leaders and I yes we were the tour leaders so we got all the perks and didn’t have to pay any extra anyway when when when we came back home eventually my father reimbursed everybody that had spent any money and said it was all on him he was other but needs it all he was quite a generous chat and U unfortunately there was still that sidekick of the leather jackets and it was one day that I was in we were in Petoria in Johannesburg visiting Michelle who we’ll tell you about if you want to know um when the phone rang which was for me I said it the other side your PA’s do it just like that your father is dead just like that so I said don’t talk rabbish what do you mean I was with him at a wedding my son was wedding just two weeks ago and then I should have known at that wedding cuz he was sweating like hell and he was puffing and puffing and anyway should have known then that there was big trouble coming and uh yeah he dropped dead and we went to hwn to bury that was the end of the song of my father I think so before we wrap up speaking about your father can you tell us about the seed business that he had yes very important part of his life life um while we were living in Petoria I did mention that he often came to to Johannesburg and the reason for that is that he he had an interest the guy called Schneider Mr Schneider um who um they they ran a business called sa grain and seed and they sold fertilizer and all that sort of thing to the farmers and I used to love going there with him on a Saturday and playing on on these millions of bags jumping around pretending I was a cowboy and he was a crook we play Pet Cowboys and Crooks and who were you playing with and then my father made an error he offered to buy out Mr Schneider and I think in in jsh Schneider means to cut no T so what Mr and did was that he cut my father off completely bought my father out and kicked him out the business and that was the end of that because it from there they went on to all the other little things that never worked but graen seeds was quite a flourishing business in gree Street and was very well what was your relationship like with each of your siblings when you were a child well there’s a big gap between them um my relationship with get with Gary with Eric was I don’t know all I remember how many years old are you four years exactly exactly almost to the day um and with GL and was 10 I was 14 years different now Eric was 10 years older than him I was 14 years older than him and my relationship with Eric was that I always remember wanting to have bicycle races with him and I always remember winning them and always remember how upset he used to get not realizing that five four years older is more likely to win the rest that a younger person my relationship with uh with Glenda was basically I had to look after her my mother was almost sick at that time and I don’t know she had post post part post depression of some sort and she was always in bed and never could get near her so i b glender dress glender bread to glender everything to glender and me how did your relationship with Eric and glanda change over time oh it did with Eric it changed enormously when uh my mother died my father moved permanently to Duran and lived in this hotel what’s it called you just mention W Wheels live just down the road from here and Eric and I every few weeks used to drive down which was quite a perilous thing in those days to drive to De there was no Highway like now there were twists and turns and ups and downs it was a it was not a nice drive uh but we would come down and we would uh spend two or three days with him he would take us into the office to show us what he’s selling and um and we would get to the beach had a great time on the beach and we we became quite brotherly and and got together our relationship with Glenda never really changed um that changed after she jumping a heck of a lot now and she remarried no when she went to Cape Town to went to boarding school I don’t think I don’t think she changed any way at that time I think the only big change in Glendon you live went to live with L but now you’re jumping all over the place was family important to you growing up not really CU I never knew any and what about extended family well yeah I mean auns did your mom have sisters yeah there’s Auntie NTI who used to Snoop around really never liked her uh but she had two daughters Eugene who used to Snoop after her and Claire who I think I fell in love with I think I loved CLA she was about 10 15 years older than me but I love CLA so CLA was your mom’s sister n so there was NY and there was Dory Dory and my mother were the closest of the family they really were very clo they had their twins they had their own language that nobody understood for example they would talk about getting new kittens I never realized that what they were talking about is that they were going to buy new curtains and uh just at the moment I just can’t think of another one uh so your mom’s sisters were Na and Dory and Dory and there were a number of Brothers there was a jinx his name was shins otherwise known as Dave Davis who lived in Petoria and who had a daughter who I remember because she was a a great tennis player used to play for the school and I think she may have represented Province I think she was a great tenis I remember her there was a boy that I don’t remember at all and who’s daughter was Claire Claire was n’s daughter n’s daughter ni had two daughters CL new and what happened to all of them when did you stop seeing all of them a long time ago and I’m sorry CU I always wanted to keep family together that’s why a certain episode in my life met two of them I met me and Dory you from Jey from any con cousin it was Dave Davis and it was Louie and Louie Davis who used to ride to work on a bicycle which I was much very ashamed of and then there was another one but I never knew them at all they lived in Petoria and and when we ever we went to vioria was to see my grandmother and um I I can’t say I I knew any of them NE but I didn’t know NTI and I didn’t know Dory because they lived in Jer and we were in J at the time so growing up in Victoria besides riding your bicycles what else did you do for fun oh gosh we played Cowboys and Crooks and I was was a cowboy who won Eric was always the truck who lost and we played um Marbles and again I was the one who stacked up the marel Eric had done which was a shame but it was quite good but I was better H what else did you play any sports this was only up till six sport only when I got to we moved to Johannesburg and we got to uh Primary School level and I went to greenside um primary school where I played soccer and Cricket but in those days there was no such thing as inter school things so we played amongst each other and where did you go to high school aha um and are you going to do the war cry well if I’m helped I’ll do the war cry I can’t remember the walk cry too well but u u I went to Parktown boys high which was was a very prestigious school at that time and was U frequented or occupied um by a lot of Jewish guys it was at least 50% of the school was Jewish so one sort of stretched around quite uh brazing brazing because he Wen nervous and that’s where I became very friendly with mouse mouse was a guy whose name was Morris cotton it was the size of FRP depri who one of my offre stream might remember the name FRP depri who was a huge H gigantic man who played for South Africa rug and um what else you talking mouse mouse and your other friends mouse mouse anybody look any of us Jewish M would D them up he would he would give them such a club and we became very friendly and unfortunately the day I left school and I like yes I bumped him once then he was like a stranger to me anyway um were you a good student I was a very average student I certainly didn’t get any a classes or anything like that but uh I wasn’t mad about school at all you got the literature prize got little prize for English literature and could not wait for the day of the presentation I must say that I was on spelers waiting for the day when they were going to announce everybody’s going to gather in the hall tomorrow because there’s going to be a prize for prize presentation and when they called out Harold ra to win who won the literature prize sure that was a day carold tell us about some of your other friends school okay had the most interesting bunch of friends we lived in a suburb called greenside and uh we had a bunch which you could only call a gang of uh guys that were very very friendly there was chuing Chuy whose real name was Charles and I became absolutely inseparable what was Chu’s last name chuie BR um absolutely Inseparable we did everything we went everywhere together we did everything together we did our homework together he helped me with those BL equations which I hated we were absolutely great mates and then there was [ __ ] who was Nam was um watman his watman wife yes that was his full day I can’t think his first name his name we called him [ __ ] [ __ ] was the rough guy you were all a bit scared of [ __ ] because he could lose his temper and give you a clap and to before you knew where you were but [ __ ] was a bit of a verer then there were Saucy Saucy was such a sweet guy he never did anything he asked him to do he’d get it mled up and it’s school he was actually ad my ttoo in cadetes which I don’t know if you want to know sorry what was sau’s proper name Saucy s’s name prop his name was irin irn who irn green and um you said to S turn left you would for sure turn right and uh it was so bad that when it came to the competition they wanted to leave him out I said no he’s my friend you know if you leave him out then I’m out and he came second in that which was trly what I thought and uh that brought us to the war cry between something like this Z that be sing sing it with great gasta great gasta and as say the school passed I would never know he liked it so Harold I know you like eating what were your favorite fuits foods growing up and what are they now okay I’ll work backwards I hated pumpkin I hated pumpkin with as much as educated tomatoes so I hated pumpkin otherwise I think I like everything as a as a growing up person and I like everything today except for pumpkin G squash the pumpkin family pumpkin soup which I’ll have if I don’t know pumpkin suit enjoy it so there’s nothing much more to that question Harold why did you decide to do Dentistry okay there was a a dentist in our family he actually um practiced dentistry in London and that came out here for a visit and uh uh that was the first uh idea um that Dentistry might be a option for me um I had had certain other other relations in the family who uh tried lore Etc I had never made it so when it came down to ship push came down to shove it was my mother who said look at Uncle Jack he’s done so well he buys you a camera for a birthday present he gives you 10 Shillings for birthday present I think you should do Dentistry so I rubbed my hands with Glee thinking of all the money I was going to make and I took up Dentistry was it difficult uh I found the first year very difficult the physics and chemistry part I didn’t like at all but thereafter we came into the medical dental subjects I really did like it although like everybody else we all wanted to do medicine but we weren’t allowed to swoke tell us about some of your friends at that time at that time well we were all friendly there were about 40 of us in the class everybody was friends with who with whatever but there was two two there were there were two guys in particular one was Archie vkin uh who also lived in greenside by the way and uh was part uh of our of our gang but he didn’t quite qualify um because he was should have had Orthodontics his teeth were so big um and the reason why we we were all of us so friendly with Arie Basin is that arasin owned a motor car and dental dental Dentistry was done in two parts the one part was um up the hill uh with the general hospital is which was quite a quite a walk to get up there Josh would have left the water um and uh we used to sort of line up queue up to hit ride with uh with Arie Basin and then there was tomman just his first name everybody called themselves by this their name Arnold Arnold Tom who’s um related to people who ran the tomman towers um which have got a sort of a relation with my sister and uh also the main reason for becoming so friendly with Arnold was he had a very very attractive girlfriend with huge Muses and I don’t mean boobs I mean Muses with Miss and she was fasinated she all wanted to be with what was her name Diane Ruben Ruben who was related to Dennis ruin who ran a milk factory in Duran so it all seems to come back to to deran to deran to deran and um you haven’t mentioned half your friend who else was it Arnold David L well David was a different David was high school never reminding me of all these names there’s Arnold fedan in our year when still doing Dentistry together qualifi together um super guy very generous very wealthy always offered to to lay out the money or whatever it was uh and there was who else was there Mo oh mo mo mo of was way in a way my best friend MO and I used to study together and the reason why we studied together is because we were so friendly I owned a microscope and he and I used to share this microscope which was an essential part of uh second and third and fourth and for the rest of Dentistry uh so we became absolutely Inseparable friends absolutely and um I was he he he just an anecdote besides my my life story there we were in the Great Hall at University at Vitz University which is Tu a great hall it’s enormous probably comparable to the smallest Hall is in in America but it was big and they were heckling somebody and M got up in front of this Hall must have been 2,000 students in this one more and said I challenge each and every one of you to arrest brought the house up he waser he was he got his blues for uh for wrestling and he was quite happy to defend the faith arresting everybody in the hall and Harold how did you afford to go to Dentistry School how how did you pay to go for Dentistry School the beginning of this I think so who was my grandfather left Eric and I ,000 ,000 in 19 God knows what 16 16 1950 was worth a lot of money and today would be probably wor a petty so uh yes there was enough money for uh University fees um fees for our books studies for to to study from and uh even enough for my father who for a change at that time um to pay for us to for clothes that always tell the story the shoes I had to hand down to Eric and I always told Eric I gave you my paper shoes and to this day I really think Eric thinks that he wore paper shoes and Harold tell us about the growth of your dental practice and I had a tough time the first few years I was more interested in two other things much more interested in two other things um rather than than I was in dentistry opening the practice in greenside I did for two reasons one I could afford it and two I could go to my mother and reject her with more Fe every time she wanted it um for pain she had had that her second breast removed and uh was about 401 at the time so you’ve told us a lot of about your friends during this time of your life um but there’s one special friend that you haven’t mentioned uh at this time uh tell us a little bit about your very best friend growing up well uh my very very very best friend in separable through you through school was David ler David also had a m car so that he didn’t make it as obvious that he was doing us a favor giving us a lift every time and we went to parties together and we were dancing together with a local girl called M Goodman how did you meet him and we met going to Newberg sharing a what was known as a cou which is a was a compartment for two people and um I cut my thumb and uh it bled quite profusely and again the next compartment was my two cousins Eugene and cl who were actually chaperoning us on our way to the C and we ran next door to show them this bleeding thumb which they proberly wrapped up etc etc and when we went back to our coup we saw the funny side of the thing and from there on and really we never we were never separated for a moment we did everything everything together unfortunately unfortunately after we left Johannesburg to come to Durban his uh Health deteriorated and uh it became obvious every time he went to visit them that there was a problem and uh course two years ago he passed away and the inevitable phone called came that David had passed away and and uh that that that broke a lifetime of a relationship and I could never have another one like it never so over the years you’ve been blessed with many friends and you’ve shared some stories and anecdotes notes about some of them uh let’s move on to your friends in your adult life um and I’m going to name a few couples and maybe you could share a story or a few words about each of them Derek and Jillian smolinsky yeah well I can tell you a story about Jose binski we were four of us were out for dinner I can’t remember what prompted this but I criticized her bra and matched to my alarm she whipped it off and sat Bress at the table so I thought that was very funny der was not for his says yeah derck was uh notorious for his uh contortion of uh person’s name in particular uh for example all right what about Milton and Norman fredman well Milton and Norman fredman were friends of our we met them uh soon after we arrived in der um and the friendship grew and we really were quite Inseparable but the one magic thing that he did do is he b a share called South Rudies South rport and it went up and up and up and up the Dre appointment I said I had to sell because I was going to take my wife and my three children overseas and I needed the money to pay for such a tri so I sold and paid for the trip and he had a wonderful holiday for and U unfortunately for mood he decided to keep the shares to let them grow even further but was then honestly 48 Hours the damn things crashed and he lost everything that he had rested at South Port David and Carol fredman well David and Carol Freedman were equally good friends in fact the three couples used to hardly go out anywhere without us all being together and um what else could I tell you about Wendy was a sick person a sick lady and uh passed away much too soon David then subsequently got married and uh decided to give up his uh his seat on the bench as he was a judge as he was not keen on passing death sentences and so he moved to America it was a great loss really to us all right so now we’re a dentist we’ve had friends we’ve graduated we’re growing up your practi is developing and you eventually meet your future wife and love of your life Irma Joy Kaminsky tell us a little bit about how and when you met Irma okay um after my my mother died my father who was trying to earn a living moved to Durban and I was left to my own devices and I found a hotel in hilb hilb was one of the upper areas of uh Johannesburg and um I moved into this residential hotel and um the I would called the Frankton hotel and um it really was very nice U the owner Jewish guy was very very friendly and very very helpful and I know that I was in room 304 I don’t know why I remember that what nearly 70 years later what I do there at a table not far from me said three young ladies in an upon quiry it appeared that all three were maritzburg girls and I I I think that’s about the first time I’ve heard of the name marage Spirit didn’t know what it was or where it existed anyway after three one young lady caught my eye and she was I’m trying to remember did I ask her for a date or what happened I think we our friendship just became closer because we all lived together in this hotel of course there was nothing else to do there’s no TV or anything like that so it was mostly sitting together and talking and chatting and our chat and and my chat started to develop into something more than a chat and it wasn’t long after that but we acknowledged our engagement and uh we drove to Marburg which I think I mentioned earlier was a very hazardous task to drive to to to the Nel but so we managed I think we left at 1: in the morning and got there at 6:00 or some like that and U announced to my then future in-laws uh I was to find out to be the most amazing wonderful couple thatone could ever wish to meet um and shortly after that just a few months later we got married in marriage so how did you propose to Mom and did you have to ask ducky for permission to marry her well I remember them saying by the way this was in their bedroom and they were in in bed when we approached them so there was nothing hugely romantic about it uh like kneeling on my knee or or uh taking on a honeymoon holiday which marous nothing exciting at all they just simply said are you sure I said yes I was absolutely sure and so they said they pronounce us uh eligible for marriage the wedding in marriage gr was a quiet often in tea where Michael ‘s brother Michael was the best man and and so it it went according to plan and did you go on honeymoon after that we went on honeymoon we came down to uh uher rocker rocks Hotel oyster box oyster box oyster box hotel we had a fantastic time a dime in of pity that’s all we have and anything else about your your wedding day or wedding memory that you would like to share with us that you may have passed over was a lovely day it was a beautiful day it was lovely having all the family there but speeches were nonest uh bags Baris was to make the speech to the parents and he got cold feet and pulled out and because of that David labna who was to make the speech to the bride and groom said well seeing bags is not making a speech I won’t either and your father was neotic because he was so nervous about making a speech and his was the only speech of the afternoon I heard it was the best speech at theed best speech at the wedding for sure good so you’ve now been married for nearly 60 years you got married on January the 28th 1962 is that right okay so you’ve been married to herma Joy for nearly 60 years uh so this is a loaded question what do you you love most about your precious herma Joy oh my God that’s easier to say what don’t I like it was there’s nothing that I don’t like she’s now had come a whole lot of adjectives she’s the most wonderful thoughtful kind loving protective and all sorts of other adjectives you can think of and uh for us to have stuck together for 60 years must mean something and so it does and very soon we will celebrate our 60th anniversary so in June the 19th 1963 your life change forever you became the father to Michelle Andrea raiken tell us about about how having your first child ofma Joy changed your your life forever well it certainly gave me another girl to love and my word we poured love over Michelle we doubted over Michelle we took her wherever we went be to the zoo or be to the beach he was our inspiration as I was battling in those days to make a living I looked on I looked at Michelle and tried even harder she was just something in our lives which us all lots of Joy she grew up as she grew up she was a typical scholar typical teenage girl and pretty popular I think at school because this was a courage school and most of the guys uh seem to come to the house our house to visit Belle but the sh’s biggest attribute is not really what happened during her school years CU nothing particularly significant actually happened other than she had her tonsils up and set her was Bloody sore she grew into a woman was blessed with love and care for us when didn’t whenever anything happened to us got sick s to hospital on a numerous occasions in in in every way show without asking upon the plane and be here in the trinkling of an eye and would sacrifice their position as a social worker to the Arcadia children’s home to be with us and stayed with us until she felt that we were well enough to carry on and for sure we love you so much because of what you are and who you are a wonderful wonderful person um tell us a story an anecdote that sums up your relationship with Michelle just a fun memory of your time together well that’s a difficult one because we were so many for Memories We were toally devoted to Michelle and uh where we went she went with us in her prb we often went to Mitchell Park which in those days rather a small zoo and uh she was fascinated by the peacock the peacocks used to flare out their tail feathers she was uh always sort of captivated by the sight um she loved playing with the sand at the beach in fact I think she used to eat a lot of sand from the beach and uh you know just generally be in nowhere without taking the sh and how did how did your relationship develop over the years um through to today well the S got married to a guy that we liked we didn’t like him we l I didn’t Alan Gordon Who U turned out to be a great bowler U talking about lawn bowls and um have chosen for for uh transfer it Show’s relationship with us alen always made us feel very welcome so we went to Joe Berg for every child’s birthday every school event everything and that was our relationship with them we were just included in absolutely everything that meant family so December 13th 1965 your middle child Steven Mark raiken was born tell us a little bit about how Steven changed the dynamic of the raikan family you are very question he was your first son you were very very excited to have someone to carry on the raikan name and he was such a smart he was captured everybody’s heart he was always smiling and laughing not so yeah that’s quite so s the thing the thing that the thing that took up more my free time whenever I closed my surgery to go went out to watch Steven playing rby he was a particularly good rugby player and he was a particularly good scholar in the compination of the two gave him the award of a full color Blazer not pro possibly understood in the year 2021 but in those days it was just about the most wonderful thing that could happen to a younger and then he was made head prefect of his school and well Steven was just absolute Delight for us and uh SL so Steven is a a doctor and followed you uh in in the medical profession what did that mean to you to have a son the doctor well I don’t think there’s a more proud thing to happen to the family uh that your son becomes a doctor it reminds me of the Jewish expression m z the doctor uh it was in those days the top of the tree uh a doctor was considered to be the highest level of Education that you could possibly get and this made us unbelievably proud of Steven and what he accomplished but these accomplishments backfired us first when he announced that he Melinda and their newborn baby Daniel was to leave South Africa this was an absolute heart ranging terrible event in our lives but again the old story comes to mind that your head M through your heart Al that we were heartbroken knew he was we knew he was doing the right thing and his his his life life has transpired that is quite true to what happened do you have a a particular memory a rugby game a day out with Steven some some time that you shared together that you would like to tell us about most memorable thing was a rby match against a school who I can’t remember the name which turned into to such a fisty cuffs game that they had to abandon it and I’ve never in my life ever known of a game school boy or otherwise that was abandoned because of their behavior on the 31st of October 1968 Gary Richard Roy raiken came it to your life um how did that change the family dynamic um having your third child who had very few photos taken of him when he was a young boy I was would say say that as the headline um poor Gary uh was always left out because we were too busy photographing and video videoing stepen and Michelle and Gary was always sleeping Gary was always sleeping but G he grew up to be an exceptional man well he grew up as an only child because Michelle and Steven were both away at bity and he was very special to us he was spoed rotten but because of it he was only a joy and the L to us always that he was exceptional he was exceptional in every way and that he cared for people and the type of person who cares for other people is what I would term a that is my son Gary um he also EX s at school um and became a prefect at d d boys high D High School D high school and during this time he followed his career I remember the time vly of how he used to come home cry with headaches we couldn’t work out why he would be having such headaches he had his eyes tested okay he spoke to his uh form Master uh Mr Mr cousins and uh thought that it it was because of an anti-semitic situation and it wasn’t and we went through everything we could possibly think of until one bright day it was decided by Joe bz who was our radiologist to do a MRI scan of his brain to see what could be wrong and causing these headaches and much to my much to my unbelievable amaz amazement it turned out that at the tender age of 13 Going on 14 he had impacted wisdom teeth and this set me back a little because I was the dentist not I ne that dentist I was the dentist of my child and I should have picked it up but in all my life I never found another 13y old who had impacted wiom tee was range for the to be the wiom tee to be removed and with their removal his headaches were removed as well and he went on to Blossom at school and in his private life and that is just justified by the fact that after all these years since Gary matriculated he still has friends that he can relate to uh which is a lot more than me more than I so one of your favorite things to do was to go on holiday vacations with your family tell us about your your favorite family vacation my family my best family occasion was when the five of us went to Europe we went to London Rome uh Israel it’s KV kidsville which was perhaps the highlight of the holiday none of us have really seen or been in snow and this was a hell of a novelty for us to be together traing around in the snow and of course there two things that are etched in my mind one was when Gary and Steven they on top of a little like a hill up a small hill and came down on their skis and then at the end of it turn made a turn and uh I I was petrified that we were going to end up with a broken arm broken leg in the meantime they excelled whereas Michelle who tried on her skis simply sank into the snow and came up the whole thing has a bad job um what we did was uh a thing called L loen which is gliding on skis um and loved it was a super super super idea and because it was safe and um we never fell thank goodness because I don’t know how we would have got up and all together being so close together for some weeks it was just a phenomenal experience that you and Gary went to get tickets you were worried that they were another another event on that holiday that I won’t easily forget was the courage that it took for Gary and I to go and try and buy some tickets Pro probably would be Black Market tickets to watch the Manchester United Arsenal game and U we were actually very lucky because we went by train and we had no sooner arrived at the venue then the guy approached us and said here are five tickets Senter line four or five rows up the best tickets in the house we were petrified if we would take for ride and he said look he needed the money they could go to the bar and we we decided out to Hell we’ll take his word for it and we’ll get these tickets that afternoon there was uh quite an experience watching the game all five of us all five of us there’s a man behind us get same load of rubbish it’s a load of rubbish and uh he amused us the tickets that were sold to us turned out to be exactly what he claimed Senter line four or five R up and what an afternoon we had and what an afternoon we had um including Michelle who loved the atmosphere Gary was a Manchester United supporter and we decided we would then be an Aral supporter and uh I was particularly um drawn to Aral because during the War uh Arsenal was many times mentioned that as a weapon not as a socent Arenal weapons and as we were walking out to go back home a guy approached Michelle and said to her why are you wearing that mug and dog he didn’t he said she was wearing a m doet and he said how come a nice Jewish girl like you can support Ora that’s true so over the years you’ve dabbled in Krueger RS properties all sorts of Investments but for me anyway one stands out as being a very special investment what did San lamir mean to you wow San lir was one of the torest boldest things that I ever did and I remember my accountant Tony bman saying don’t do it there’s no money in it don’t do it and I thought you know what this time is not for money it’s for us family us the family and my word we made so much use out it from Gan G to Steven shot Gary e children uh couldn’t stay away and at that time they were building the highway and I remember G when we came to the to kept saying to the lady so when are they going to finish doing this road and uh it took some while but eventually it was finished and I think we visited sanir even more frequently than when it was a rough road we loved it we loved the swimming we loved the beach we Lov the walks around San lir which were certainly not on a straight B that’s winding the RS and when you arrived at San lamir Harold ra Harold raen wouldn’t let anyone unpack can’t waste time you got to go for a walk is that not so yeah well it was such a waste of time to go and put the shirts out and the pants there the socks there and we could in fact be enjoying walking around because it was a beautiful environment and there was a hotel there where U they they had a bar and U Gary and his friends from school Peter Sparks used to frequent and the guy that he got to know the B that he L met his name was mountain mountain Everest we called him Everest and uh unfortunately he died and it was just Indescribable already without it was a huge estate I think there was 70 odd uh Villas uh until I think it was B out by some firm or another and they decided to double the place up and we left s by that time it was huge there were so many homes across the road from our Villa there was a golf course and above that there was just house or home after home after home wherever you looked wherever you looked Left Right Center up down You’ see a home but wow we really loved Zia while not a religious man I know that Judaism has played an important role in your life um can you elaborate on that for us yeah well growing up my father used to force religion on on us he sort of make a stay in SHO all day got run around outside playing with your friends had to sit in Shore and Ding and what I knew about ding like a lo I knew nothing about that said in sure in the mornings we had to lay to fill it I used to pretend to D was to F to fill in on but I never really believed in it and I think being so forced into religion dur me against it and also having to have Hebrew lessons before school at High School uh after school in Grand school all to Proud me of being able to play with my friends playing with Marvels you still today today you religion where you have been your religious although religion played an irritating part of my life youth no youth I still maintain the Traditions uh by taking the children to Sho uh until they were able old enough to decide for themselves whether they wanted to go or not uh and during this time when I found I was so anti the religious aspects of the Jews of Judaism I realized that I was still Jewish and I was very proud and very proud to be Jewish and I get quite H up when something is said in an anti-semitic way luckily though I haven’t had to encounter much of that while life but I’ve still have to this moment a very proud Jew so over the years you’ve dabbled a little bit with Hobbies none of which really stuck but one of the more interesting um hobbies that we know you delved into a little bit was hypnosis tell us a little bit about that and how you got into that hynosis yes that was the most interesting part of my life most interesting and uh maybe worth elaborating a little more um when I opened my practice which I did in the sub called AA one to be close to my mother who was ill I was battling to go the practice they always sort of thought of me as the little boy who lived in greenside and is now all of a sudden a dentist so I had a tough time ping up the practice took years in fact during this time I tried steps as a hobby but I didn’t enjoy it at all and then I heard of somebody who had done a course in town on hypnotics which is means hypnosis teeth or D and I thought this was a good idea the N side build by practicer and uh but also in interesting which it did and at this time whilst I was doing the course I decided to have a chat to Uncle Martin Uncle Martin was a Jewish Uncle who escaped the conentration camp during World War II and became a baron in Germany which is Advocate they had a scar from a jewel and generally he was a very very um right man unfortunately can’t too much but besides that one day was on his Veranda he decided to have a little chat about hosis hypnosis I maintained is what and how you say it if you can make something enticing and interesting they would do it he his contention was that if you don’t want to do anything you could override anything that the hypnotists actually spoke about now I said let’s take the case of murder I said you can make a person interested in murderer and how much a surge of uh excitement he gets from killing people it would be very easy to hypnotize and say you’ll take the next person you see you’ll stick a off into you and you’ll do it I think still think Martin said no he didn’t think so their inner conscience would have would stop them at the last moment anyway so those were the type of conversations we had on the serious side of hypnosis very interesting side of hypnosis was when my friend David lner his wife had fell pregnant she had had a very difficult pregnancy the first time but now she was going to have twins so David suggested to me that I should hypnotize her which we duly did I went to their home for six sessions of a day or two in between and uh I actually took the trouble to pH the gynecologist a Dr Burger who he himself had done the course of hypnic in leads in London so he knew a lot about it he told me what to say you will feel no pain you will cooperate you will do this you do that you do the other Rona in fact remembers these commands to this day 60 years old and anyway she she I was playing tenis when I got a telephone call to say I must come to the hospital immediately because Mrs Ladner was going to give birth so I used to hypnotize her with a half a crown which to the Americans mean nothing but to us me it was a point a mandatory coin and I used to make her stare at this and she would then go to sleep and I would bound her mind with these sorts of you will feel no pain you will cooperate and various others I think there were 10 commands and he told me what to say so when I ran off the telescope to the hospital I was a short little said is well I was in a tennis kit so when I arrived at the hospital and asked if I could go to the maternity War they wouldn’t let me the way I was just they kept saying you so one of the nurses said he is heing O that he called to Brooker and which means who is this guy with a short pets who thinks he can come into the wall they had to call Dr Burger who gave his permission to this nurses in charge and they let me in and then I would hypnotize her by holding up the half a crown and again the nurse said what what do name half which means one of this guy think he was going to do with this half a crown and what is he doing with this half a crown anyway I hypnotized Rona as was arranged she had her twins painlessly and without any effort um I think it took about 20 minutes to have both children um and then to my amazement she said let’s play clubos clubos is a card game I want to show you just how alert I am I mean I just had TRS and we played clas 20 minutes after she had TRS all because of the hypnosis so over the course of this interview you’ve mentioned several times about how difficult it was to get your practice on off the ground uh and the struggles that you had as a young dentist now we all know that um uh you had a very successful uh career as a dentist in Durban and was one of the more prominent dentists in the area uh can you tell us a little bit more about the Heyday of your Dentistry career my Dentistry career started off a very lacky Str he was a dentist in Duran a name of Doctor Leon lenson who had a monster of a practice and was the dentist of D I came across in a few times hello oh how I met him was she approached him and said that if you wanted persistant I would be available and he said no he didn’t think so there a while after that he decided to immigrate and he left all his patience to me why why you well I think it was because he felt guilty that he refused to give me a simple drop blocking assistant I honestly think you just felt so you left you with this practice and you clearly did something good with it yeah I did I uh my practice doubled trebled itself almost overnight could partly handle all the work L that was thrusted upon me and the partner I was actually with at the time Dr David AR also decided to immigrate and I was now left with big trouble as I had now three practices and me so I took him as no VY friend this and we practiced together for I think 10 years or 20 years we practiced together as partners for many years during this course of partnership time associate ships became the the the thing associate ship meant that you would share uh your receptionist you would share your rental of the rooms you would share share any alterations that had to be done you would share any in everything except the fillings Etc that you did with your two heads and I started to streak along with my uh large practice and my desire to make enough money to send all you guys to the best school available which was problem College time followed by equ by DHS and um nly and I had worked out a formula that I would draw a salary not important and he would put up with that and I would draw the salary because I was earting so much more and he was drawing half of that and eventually um the whole thing blew up because he he could not keep up with me at all his interest was Wild Life what made you what made you a good dentist what were some of the attributes that you had that distinguish your practice from others I think I was the fastest draw in the West I was the fastest dentist well let’s just jump back a little at University we had to do so many types of fillings so many silver fillings so many white fillings so many big ones so many small ones in cats some in crowns so all the the the gamut of of of of facilities available as U we had to do them and I finished my course each each thing you did had to be signed off by a dentist but not like you could just do so it had to be signed off and I was easily the winner uh there were about 40 of us in the class and I ended up spending the rest of the year helping all all of them because I was already finished by horse so now as as a blast from the past I’m going to ask Mommy to join you now and I’m going to ask her to pretend that she’s answering the phone at at uh Dr Ra’s rooms so dinging ding dring Dr raiken rooms can I help you very good Dr aen so you’ve obviously experienced many wonderful moments in your life um if there was one that you could do all over again and experience all over again what would that be one thing that I would definitely like to do again and experience all over again are the actually only a few minutes of my life only a few minutes was the ride from the base to the top to the glassier in uh uh Alaska Alaska on the helicopter on the helicopter I was told to sit in in the front next to the pilot because of my my legs what have you and looking down was actually the most accelerating frightening terrifying exciting few moments of my life kept of course by the time I spent on top of the uh the glacia although I was told I should not do too it was very Rocky and lots of stones so I was told rather to wait at the helicopter and not take any chances of falling which of course would be a terrible experience so when you guys the family were going off to see the the main Schism that there was in the glassia you could look down and see seemly I believe miles down um I used to look at the little ones for me and uh get an idea of what you CHS receive okay so I thought it would be fun to throw a few names or words or anecdotes at you and you can tell us what comes to mind when I when I say the following uh the first one is arade raiken arcade raiken all St from my son Gary reikan who was sitting at an airport I think it was Rome and it happened to notice a Time Magazine with a man on the cover and the title AR K raiken G he brought this uh magazine home and uh the name Arc St for ages all my non plumes all my passwords all my secret messages were signed by k r who was ar ar raikan was a famous satirist in in Moscow London in Moscow in Russia and uh so much so that ch who is the typical Russian dictator who at The Wonder of his hand would have your head chopped off like the old Kings of England all he could make you by enveloping you into his fold he took to Aradia I don’t know whether he liked Aradia sense of humor I don’t know why he liked AR that stood up come too light that um he became known K he became known as Russia’s Top Banana and he really poked a lot of fun at the Russian government and got away with it because kro happened to like him and by the way I’ve heard this but I’m not quite sure it’s a true story that he’s the only Jew buried in the Moscow ceremony and there’s a um what do you call those things M okay the next one is 4213 well there brings us back to Milton and and and dere every Saturday you would get together and try and and find a combination combination of numbers that would uh make us a fortune I’m to you with ja that make us whenn the jackpot jackpot in those days were actually paid out quite a lot of money now here I’m not sure why it was was it was very unusual that I did a jackpot on my own and now and behold the four horses numbers were 4213 and that became my secret password known only to a few my entire family of all my friends and uh where did the number come from what what is that the H numbers 42 no but where did you come up with 4213 in the first B wasn’t that a number plate or something you remember the name of the horse that was there you go that was another word that I was going to throw out all right the next one is babies booties well milon had a saying um baby’s boties which apply to all the occasions that he he won money uh instead of say the or thank goodness or thank God wonderful he would say babies bges and uh you collect the money all right the next one is the powder blue citrum roll down the hill or something oh you want know about that yeah well the blue citr was bought on second day Russia sh and the good Lord in his wisdom frowned upon this act and took his revenge out poor Irma who was visiting a friend of ours at the time and the car roll down the hill she swear she put the break on to this day I can’t believe that all right the last one is just a little brief few words on Julie frankl’s bachelor party ah Julie frankl’s B party Julie frankl’s in-laws decided to go out and leave the rest of us uh to enjoy ourselves well there were most the Marburg guys we just watched on television and and typically Walkers and uh we certainly rank far too much highlight of the evening was a dumped jully into a prayer stripted naked put a pink tissue over his unmentionables and uh laughed all the L of the bank it was actually quite hilarious and we talk about it to this day 60 years down the I’m sure that no bachelor party has been just Bachelor ET so over the years um you’ve had many goals and Achieve many things in your life what what goals do you still have for your remaining years I think to be healthy wealthy and wise and to live a stressfree life sitting in my wheelchair glaring and staring at the boats in the harbor um which I can name at any moment and uh I have no real Ambitions now I’ve worked very hard for over 50 years and I think I’m entitled now to relax is there is there one goal that you had that you maybe didn’t achieve or would have fell short that you would reflect back on yes I think there was a a time when we spoke about immigrating um I was ready for it m was ready for it Melle was ready for it but Alan wasn’t Alan would not have anything of it about moving will a great to America even though his firm had an office there and he would have had a job uh automatically and uh at the time I’m sure regretted it but the way things turned out I think it was best that we stayed right here only regret was the fact that our children AR with us would you like to leave a a brief message for your three children uh my word I will use a phrase normally reserved for your mother that as you sort of caught me on the Hop I will use it again to ENC to Encompass my whole family I love you all more than words can wield the matter dearer than eyesight space and Liberty a love that makes love poor breath a breath that makes love poor unable Bey are all manner of such things do I love goo Melle Steven and the turkey himself Gary do you have One Last Wish for your children that they will may be successful healthy and that they all Bond and stick together as a family because there’s no there’s no doubt that if the trips are down there’s no one else in the world other than your family which really understands would understand and would help you family is the most important thing it’s been one of my greatest wishes I think that our family will remain as one single entity and do things that should be done together as a unit although they all live so far so you have been blessed with six grandchildren one great grandson and another on the way what is a piece of advice that you have for your grandchildren and great grandchildren I think the only advice one can give them is to be honest to work hard not be lazy to go walking at every opportunity especially after lunch and just generally press on regardless and don’t let the bastards get you down love one another and you should all love one another because when the chps are down they are ear s all right so you’re months away from your 60th wedding anniversary and I’m going to give you a brief opportunity to send a little message to your Bobby well message I will send to her is watch the FR gate the Bell is going to ring and the biggest bunch of flowers you’ve ever seen will be yours and I think she’d appreciate that more than anything else that I I of more so that friends love everything is aand of flowers we’re coming to the end of the interview and um you’ve clearly had a very full life how would you like to be remembered what’s your legacy I’ve often thought about that and I can only think that my legacy is my family my wife my three children my grandchildren who are old enough to understand my great grandchildren who will grow old when pass I pass away and with that said in your children’s had spouses I’m assuming too when I talk about my children I talk automatically talk about the spouses and couldn’t do anything without them and uh maybe that should be as a message to our special cameraman whom I extend my warmest thanks for the effort he’s going to have to put into this speech to uh monitor it and U and uh sort out all the errors to edit it will give you a lot of work to do I’ve also been very with three amazing children in Alan Leora and Belinda God bless them all God bless us all anything more you want to say Gaga anything you weren’t asked about yes I would I would like to ask my wife not to interfere when I make speeches go thank you do okay so today is Thursday September 12th and I’m at the beautiful home of Eric and Denise raiken and um Eric you going to talk a little bit Harold I’ve just listened well 90% of your recording and all it’s done is bring tears to my eyes and I’m sing here like about a 2y old um your memories are absolutely amazing I remember incidents I remember my dear father smacking you um I was quite pleased actually cuz you was such a bully and but I must tell you something which you left out has been on on my mind for about 60 years I I wanted to shoot you one day so we went next door with our pet guns and um this is just to go on with your little stories and uh Bennett youngworth lived opposite Us in trun Road and I took my pet cani because you had a bike and you wouldn’t let me come with you so I was going to shoot you however we went to the verander across the road Bon myself and I did shoot you but I missed you and I shot P Jing Whitman on his backside he got off his bike and the two of us ran because I was so frightened of chiy but that was the greatest day of my life but I’m had to tell you that I’m sorry I missed but it was I’m straight at your backside that’s it something had stuck in my mind for must be about 72 75 years so you I just wanted to say I’m sorry so you also remember [ __ ] and S I remember [ __ ] and his friends Saucy and um and br chy br CH I remember all these friends um and I’m just so sorry that we can’t see each other sorry I’ve always been a bit more emotional than you it’s so sad that all those years between us were wasted such a waste we could have grown up together and known each other so much better that’s enough 1 2 three testing take zero action you haven’t got his legs good you’re not supposed to say these things cuz he’s now do it again that’s this is a test that’s what they’re for you see testing he don’t see his legs that’s the point and be either eaten pork and if not sorry I figure this is the only time we ever going to here why did you stop eating bacon okay so where do you want me to startop with the answer to the question um the answer is yes I did used to eat pork I loved with um at a at a Chinese restaurant called to no no later we got married in marville and naturally uh my best man was David L wasn’t I have also been blessed with three amazing people my wife without whom I don’t think how you are you really are he’s ortal well he’s just done so well it’s not about me you’ve also been blessed by three wonderful people he was listing his three wives you even say their names Ellen I was going come to this but you were talking about me yes then I was going to talk about Leora four of then I was going to talk about Michelle but Michelle’s not in it you’ve seen Michelle this is Ellen Belinda and Leora of I have been blessed with the addition of three wonderful amazing people our wives and our sonter sorry how can you be so no you really are aggravating you’re supposed to add to your you’ve said my children now these are your children in law For Heaven’s Sake you’re acting like like a a an absolute you’re acting like a sugar D never mind right out right I’m embarrassed that you out what you I mean to say we’ve told you I’ve also been blessed I have also been blessed we’re down to one sentence I got get sick no CU how can you be so stupid Gary please don’t wait for 87 to do1