Hazel Friedman
Peter Mancer must have been born with rhinestones in his eyes and wings on his feet. As he drapes himself over his chair with a foppish swirl of his cape part Hollywood mogul, part song’n’dance man I can almost see him cocking an imaginary top hat, twirling his cane and tap-dancing his way around the swimming pool.
I’m not sure whether to shake his hand or give him an ovation.
For those who watched the lavish SABC launch, Mancer was more than merely the man with a laserbeam on his back. His production company was responsible for pulling off a logistical nightmare which included landing a Jumbo jet in a hangar, co-ordinating 1 400 performers onstage, and accommodating the biggest audience ever hosted by the SABC. Widely described as Hollywood-by-the-highveld, the media extravaganza has been criticised for its full form but rather empty content.
It was meant to be lavish, he exclaims, after all, it was a milestone in South African history, taking the SABC into the international arena and proving that both the SABC and South Africa have the talent on a par with worldwide television networks.
He adds: And it was all organised over a period of six weeks.
Mancer is practically airborne with adrenalin. Last year his company was responsible for organising the papal visit to South Africa (As a Catholic, that was undoubtedly the highlight of my life.); the 1995 Miss Universe pageant, the Bankfin Currey Cup Final; and, most recently, the opening ceremony of the African Cup of Nations final at the FNB stadium.
During 21 years involved in sport and entertainment television production, he says he’s done Michael Jackson as well as the movies Staying Alive and Men in Hats. (Madonna, now that’s someone I’d love to bring to South Africa.) He headed a dance company called the Peter Mancer dancers. And he was also the first person, he says , to import laser technology into South Africa, way back in 1979.
A physical combination of Frank Zappa without the attitude and a fin de siecle dandy, Mancer is a professional in every sense of the word. He is co- operative, charming and extremely mercurial. In fact, he sounds very much like his own press release. But on other issues he is less forthcoming. For example, he refuses to go into the irony of being commissioned to do the SABC relaunch after being blacklisted by the institution several years ago because of a payment dispute over the SABC and Absa-sponsored 1990 BOC challenge, which was organised by Mancer.
He also refuses to talk about his David versus Goliath battle with Absa Bank. All he will say about it is that it was the worst period of my life. He also won’t disclose the cost of the relaunch (Those matters don’t concern me), nor the amount he was paid. But he readily admits that the SABC TV relaunch was a practice run for South Africa’s pitch for the 2004 Olympic Games, which Mancer hopes to organise. The Olympics would be the biggest nation-building event in the country. We have the talent to pull it off. But sometimes we lack a willingness to work hard. I had to sweat for everything I have.
The showman’s mask slips. Something about Mancer seems to need, desperately, to please. He talks about a lonely childhood in Germiston a town east of Johannesburg of being an overweight outsider and of having an insatiable driving force to never be brought down, to channel my energy and to make people happy. These days he is reed thin, yet the self-image of the fat, unloved child seems to remain.
His favourite actors are Arnold Schwartzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. His dearest wish, he says, is to fly.
Like Icarus?
He doesn’t seem to follow the question. Right now he’s off to the airport. He has another dream to catch.