This involved plot
LAST of the Summer Wine was a long-running British TV saga set in the Yorkshire village of Holmfirth. For 38 years its personal intrigue, drama and comedy kept people enthralled, not just in Britain but around the world.
For 25 of those years Juliette Kaplan played the part of Pearl, the battleaxe Yorkshire lady in the beret and glasses.
Ee bah goom! A reet ’arridan that oon. As they say: “Yorkshire born, Yorkshire bred. Strong in arm, thick in ’ead.”
Except that Juliette is anything but a harridan – she’s bouncy, cheeky and full of fun. Not a trace of a Yorkshire brogue – she’s an actress after all and can imitate just about anything – and in fact she was born in Bournemouth, Hampshire, and spent her early years in South Africa, in Port Elizabeth.
How she comes to be at the Oyster Box, in Umhlanga Rocks, at present is a tale as worthy in its intrigue and its twists and turns as anything in Last of the Summer Wine.
Juliette has a half-brother in Durban. Until 20 years ago, she was unaware of the existence of local businessman and former city councillor Laurie Kaplan. He was semi-aware of her existence from the time his dad showed him a newspaper photograph of British actress Juliette Kaplan and said she was probably his daughter.
Juliette’s dad was a South African who married her mother in England. Juliette was born in 1939 and the family moved to Port Elizabeth just as World War II broke out (her dad was in the navy).
But the parents divorced when Juliette was 3. She had her early schooling in Port Elizabeth until her mother took her to New York when she was about 9 – “that was what moulded me” – then back to England where she studied drama and eventually married.
Meanwhile, her dad had remarried without their knowing and raised another family, Laurie among them. A generation on and Laurie’s daughter, Lisa – a successful dancer who now lives in America – found herself in London, where she decided to pursue the legend of her actress aunt. She got Juliette’s telephone number through the actors’ union, Equity,
Laurie Kaplan and his sister, Juliette Kaplan, in Umhlanga. and gave her a call. “One evening I got this call absolutely out of the blue from this girl saying she thought she was my niece. Surprise is hardly the word. So I said: ‘Well, you’d better come round,’ which she did. And half an hour later there she was sitting on the couch chatting to my two daughters, her cousins, as if they’d known each other all their lives.
“Lisa’s a highly intelligent girl – quite unlike her dad, he radiates unintelligence – and I took to her right away.
“Next thing we phoned Laurie in Durban. His first words to me were: ‘Thank God I’m not the eldest any more.’”
Juliette came to visit with one of her daughters and the families clicked. She’s been a regular visitor ever since.
“I’m absolutely in love with KwaZulu-Natal. I love my family here, I love all the people, I love the game parks and the animals. I love the sea (at 76 she’s a keen snorkeller). I try to come out as often as I can.”
This is the last of the summer tshwala.
At last!
GASP! At last they got it together. And in fine style. Most pleasing was the way the Sharks drove them back in the tackles. Also the quality of our rucking and mauling. And those driving mauls from the line-outs. Lovely stuff !