Originally Published 18 July 2019
Did you know that the PMI has a DVD collection? It’s nonfiction (so no Australian movies) but there is an interesting array of Australian stories. In particular, there is a lot of railway material so if that is something that you’re interested in the DVD collection is worth exploring. The collection covers a very wide range of topics from ballrooms, to gold mining, to street and town histories and both the wars. These resources can give real insight into the history of any area you are researching and video footage of a place or people is always undeniably valuable.
They do pose a problem as DVD moves in the direction of becoming an obsolete format, but we’re working on ensuring that they remain accessible.
One of the more interesting social history DVDs in the collection is about Leggetts Ballroom. The PMI is just round the corner from where the ballroom stood, and it can be hard to get your head around just how big the ballroom was and how important a social institution it was.
The DVD begins with life in Melbourne in the early 1900s and the background of Harry and Emily Leggett who founded Leggetts Ballroom. They were vaudevillians, originally, who became dance teachers, first holding dances in Collingwood Town Hall, but by 1917 they’d moved to Prahran Town Hall. If a gentleman attended a dance without gloves he’d be refused entry or he was able to hire a pair. This lasted until the 1920s when Prince Edward attended a dance and refused to wear gloves and everyone copied him.
In March 1920 the Leggetts opened their ballroom right next to Prahran Station. When Harry and Emily retired the ballroom was taken over by their son Phil and his wife Beryl. It was ordinary people who attended the balls, learning dances and hopefully meeting romantic partners. In its heyday Leggetts was teaching and entertaining 60 000 people a year and could accommodate 6000 people at once. They had 30 teachers and four bands.
The ballroom always kept up with the latest trends, for example introducing the Charleston to Melbourne. They were right at the forefront when microphones were introduced in the 1930s and huge theme nights took off. They had everything from camels and lion tamers (with real lions) to pirates. In fact, during a pirate night, a magician who was playing the lead pirate accidentally put a steel spike through the leg of an audience member.
By World War II they were broadcasting the dances on the radio and holding dance competitions with cars as prizes. Phil and Beryl studied the latest dances from the movies and taught them in the ballroom.
With changes to music and as time moved on the ballroom became less popular and it was put up for auction twice but didn’t sell. It was arson that finally ended the Leggetts era. On the 16th of April 1976 the building was set alight, sadly the ballroom was mostly destroyed and ultimately pulled down for development, but it has left a lasting legacy.
The DVD takes you through the story of Leggetts and the PMI also holds a book on the ballroom. The DVD has some spectacular footage of dances in the ballroom and some home movies of the Leggett family, including footage of Graham Kennedy who spent a lot of time with them at their Sorrento beach house.
The Leggetts Ballroom is only one example of the many fascinating resources that the PMI holds in our DVD collection.