Paul Kruger – many firsts for this entrepreneur

Love birds flock to French Toast in Hartbeespoort to proclaim everlasting love to each other when they tie locks around the fence before throwing the keys ceremoniously into the fountain. Their love will last for ever, they swear, before sitting down to coffee at the romantic Café Alexandre. But, alas, this is not always the case. And then it becomes a case of hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Paul Kruger, well known film producer and owner of Pretville and French Toast, says the locks are extremely popular at French Toast which resemble Paris, the city of love. But, alas, what happens if the relationship does not last?

He smiles and tells me about the woman from Witbank who broke up with her fiancé. After a heated argument the night before, she and her brother left Witbank at 4:30 the next morning and drove all the way to French Toast to arrive there just before seven. Her brother brought a grinder and an extension along to get rid of the lock.

“We even have a bolt cutter on standby for such events”, he laughs.

We enjoy a cup of tea at the colourful venue. In the background is a wall painted with street names in Paris and another wall on which the words “I love you” appear in many languages.

 After Paul had completed matric, he started to work as an apprentice cameraman at the SABC where after he was appointed in a permanent post.

“I did outside-productions which was the ideal job for a young unmarried man. I filmed every million dollar golf tournament, the 1995 rugby world cup, the Pakistan cricket world cup, the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, the world strongman competition in Germany and so obtained a lot of experience. But the cricket was not my favourite, standing in the sun for five days on end waiting for someone to hit a ball.

“In 1996 I got married and decided to freelance for the SABC, M-Net and kykNET.  In 2009 we got the concept for the Afrikaans musical Liefling which was an enormous success. Up till today it holds the record for the largest attendance number (470 000) at an Afrikaans movie.”

Liefling as well as Pretville and French Toast can be seen on Netflix.

After Liefling the movie, we decided to take Jy is my liefling to the theatre where Lisa Bronner then replaced Lika Berning in the lead against Bobby van Jaarsveld.

With this production we were the third most popular after Phantom of the Opera and Cats which were both international productions. It was performed at both the state theatre and at the Teatro at Montecassino, Fourways where it was the first South-African production.

There were many firsts for Paul. Liefling was the first Afrikaans musical in 30 years after Sonja Herholdt’s Sing vir die Harlekyn.

He then met Machiel Roets, who at the time lived in London and who sent him music.

“It was Afrikaans fifties rock and roll and it immediately struck a chord with me. We then discussed the possibility of producing an Afrikaans rock and roll musical. The first song Machiel wrote was titled Anderkant Rietfontein. That, to me was a sign as we lived on a plot on the farm Rietfontein at the time. Machiel came back to South-Africa and we started to work on the production with Linda Korsten.

As we could not find a suitable set after considering the towns Carltonville, Cullinan and Pilgrims Rest which were all rather run-down someone suggested that we build our own movie town. We found sponsors, filmed Pretville and then realised that this was to be a ghost town.  So a year after it was built we decided to open Pretville to the public in November 2012. We had no idea how many people were going to turn up. We hired a few kids to make hot dogs and milk shakes in the diner, not knowing anything about the hospitality industry. We even had to learn how to make milk shakes.

“I will never forget our first visitors. Two mothers and their daughters who have just written their matric exams who came all the way from Pongola, stayed overnight in Harties and wanted to be the first visitors to Pretville.”

He recalls how the diner was packed to capacity by 10 am that morning. A second milk shake machine had to be bought in a hurry but the stream of visitors was unending. By the end of the day they had purchased four milkshake machines.  A week later there were 12.

The movie Pretville was then screened in Pretville. When people walked out of the theatre they could see the car which was involved in the accident and many more familiar background scenes from the movie. Up to date 300 000 people have already visited Pretville.  During weekends eight to ten school learners are employed and so earn some pocket money. This job creation has helped many to study or buy their first car.

“One day while on holiday, my wife asked me to make French toast for breakfast.  Immediately I knew this would be the title for our next movie. He appreciatingly adds that his wife is the backbone of his business, looking after the administration and seeing that everything goes smoothly.

This time we built French Toast first after which the movie followed. Part of the movie had to be filmed in Paris. It cost a fortune to accommodate ten members of the team there for ten days, so the rest were shot at French Toast in Harties and even in Pretville.

We transformed the Out of Town Café here into the Café Alexandre in the movie. By this time we had more experience of the industry and the place was run six months before the movie was launched.

“We built our own Eiffel Tower and bridge where visitors love to pose – hence the name “selfie tower.”

And what is the reaction of French visitors?

“They love it but are quick to point out spelling mistakes”, he laughs. Then they start speaking French to us and we only know about five sentences.

Paul is indeed a man of many firsts. First Afrikaans rock and roll movie, first a film set and then the movie and first the movie and then the film set.

And Harties stands to gain as a tourist attraction.