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In the beginning...

Henry Gore ran the first dances at the Town Hall starting as early as 1930. In addition to being a cinematographer and photographer, he was an entrepreneur in show business and entertainment in Dunedin. He managed cabarets and opened several cinema houses.

Joe Brown's matrimonial bureau

Joe Brown, a mechanic, rabbiter and fruit and vegetable salesman from Naseby took over the dances in 1936. He managed to raise enough money (borrowing five pounds to cover the rental of the Town Hall) to promote the dance that was to become a Dunedin institution for the next 30 years.

The Saturday Night dance came to be referred to as "Joe Browns Matrimonial Bureau". Joe Brown met his future spouse there, as did many of the patrons. The atmosphere of the dance has been described as "slightly predatory, but elegant" and many young single people returned to the dance each Saturday for the thrill of the chase and being caught.

A very well behaved crowd

Alcohol was not socially acceptable and significant measures were taken to prevent it from being smuggled in. Joe Brown employed doorkeepers and constantly surveyed the cloakroom and halls for any suspect behavior. There is little doubt that some intoxicated people still managed to get in or hide alcohol in the bushes outside, but the dance crowd was very well behaved and there were never any fights.

The dance would generally start off with the men on one side and the ladies on the other side of the Town Hall. The etiquette of the time also required the men to ask the ladies to dance. This could only be reversed if the dance partners already knew each other quite well. It was also considered bad manners to refuse a dance. The men escorted the ladies off the dance floor when their dance was over. Supper could be taken at any time in the Supper Room. If you were not able to make it to the dance you could listen to the live broadcast on National Radio.

Women continued to attend the Dances during the war years. The parts of the absent men were taken over by females and later American soldiers swept many off their feet. The dances had become so well known that the Japanese sent a short-wave propaganda broadcast, stating that they would "shortly be taking over Joe Brown's Dance".

The bands: Tales for the curious

The turnover of musicians that played at the dances was high. This was largely due to the bad sound quality of the gear, which resulted in harsh critiques in the local papers. Sound checks were not allowed and more attention was focused on the quizzes, competitions and dance demonstrations than the actual bands.

Payment of musicians was also often slow. The fact that many musicians walked out did not harm the dance however because there were a pool of musicians who enjoyed the kudos that went with playing at a Town Hall dance. On one occasion, the youngsters in the crowd were invited onto the stage to perform, and by the end of the night there was a 20-piece band!

When singers were introduced the entry price rose from 4 shillings to 6 shillings. Theoretically the 2 shillings of every ticket bought was supposed to go towards paying the singer.

Dick Colvin played there regularly until 1947 when Harry Strang and his band took over. Mr. Strang ran the Dance in the mid sixties, but the Town Hall dances were only to survive for another three years, until 1968, because liqueur licensing laws (i.e. 6.00pm closings) were relaxed and people went to public bars instead.