Jonathan Ball Publishers and The Book Lounge invite you to the launch of Hollywood on the Veld: When Movie Mayhem Gripped the City of Gold by Ted Botha.

Botha will be in conversation with Lisba Vosloo at the event.

In 1913, a secretive American millionaire, who lived on the top floor of the famous Carlton Hotel, had a crazy idea: to make movies in Johannesburg. And not just any movies but the biggest in the world, huge spectacles with elaborate sets, thousands of extras and epic story lines.

Isidore Schlesinger – better known as ‘IW’ – built a studio on a farm called Killarney, where he set out to challenge a place in America that was in its infancy: Hollywood.

The glamour, gossip and high drama of IW’s studio fit perfectly into a city experiencing an intoxicating golden age. There was as much action on the movie sets as there was on screen: from political intrigue and the clashing of massive egos to public outbursts, fiery judicial inquiries, disaster and death.

Behind this mad enterprise was a maverick, a tycoon, a recluse, a friend of the famed and the connected. IW could have held his own in California but he chose as his base the City of Gold, and his indomitable ambition saw his ‘Hollywood on the Veld’ soar. This is the never-been-told-before story of the rise and fall of the strangest and most unique movie empire ever.

Event details

Date: Thursday 17 April 2025
Time: 17:30 for 18:00
Venue: The Book Lounge, 71 Roeland Street, Cape Town
RSVP: booklounge@gmail.com or 021 462 2425

Categories Lifestyle Non-fiction South Africa

Tags Book events Book launches Cape Town Hollywood on the Veld Jonathan Ball Publishers Lisba Vosloo Ted Botha The Book Lounge