THE MAN, THE WORDS, THE LOVE
an
interview by Bruce Kilgour,
Webmaster
EVERLEY PEIRCE is the most
prolific scriptwriter for radio, film and television in the history of
South Africa.
He is also a playwright, actor,
short story writer, song lyricist and, more importantly today, a poet.
His work is now included in the permanent archives of the National
English Literary Museum in Grahamstown.
In one press interview an
enterprising reporter (who was obviously an android with a computer for
a brain) calculated that as a scriptwriter Peirce had produced more than
twenty million words. About that, Peirce is sceptical. "You know
reporters; they always tend to exaggerate. It probably wasn’t more
than ten million.’
Peirce should know. He started his
writing career as a cadet reporter on The Natal Mercury in
Durban.
"But I wasn’t
thick.-skinned enough," he says. "One night, two friends of
mine were killed in a car smash. I saw their bodies. The Night News
Editor read my a story and demanded that I go to their homes to get
photographs. I just couldn’t do it; intruding in the family grief
would have been simply wrong."
"So he got their addresses
from me and was back within a half hour with the pics. 'Write poetry' he
snarled at me; You'll never be a reporter!"
