Swagman Restaurant | |
---|---|
Restaurant information | |
Established | 1972 |
Closed | 1991 |
City | Melbourne |
Country | Australia |
The Swagman Restaurant was a restaurant in Ferntree Gully, Melbourne, Australia, which opened in 1972 and was destroyed by fire in 1991. The restaurant was famous in Melbourne for its long-running television commercials, cabaret shows, and smorgasbord.
The Swagman was located on Burwood Highway, Ferntree Gully. [1] It was owned by Bastiaan (Basil) and Ina De Jong. An unusually large establishment, The Swagman eventually had a capacity of 1,200 seats and covered 20,000 square metres, [2] and was noted for attracting buses of tourists from rural and international locations, especially Japan.
The floor shows, featuring dancers, singers, and other acts, were quite unique in Melbourne at that time. The shows changed every three months. Choreographers included Peggy Rush, Coral Deague, Jan Rogers, and Jodie Greenwood. Greenwood was a dancer and performer at the Swagman for 14 years, and was the choreographer from 1979 until 1991, when the restaurant burnt down. [3] She featured in all the television commercials for the restaurant, which played on late-night commercial television for many years. Performers who played at the venue included Frank Amorosi (father of Vanessa Amorosi), David Gould, Dean Lotherington, Sean Martin Hingston, Debbie Reynolds, Robert Goulet, the Mills Brothers, Dr. Hook, Pilita Corrales, and the Village People. Paul Sheean [4] at age 16 was the youngest singer to perform full-time in the cabaret floorshow.
The Swagman burnt down at around 4:30am on 27 May 1991. [5] The fire was front-page news in Melbourne. The insurance firm Royal Insurance alleged arson and refused to pay the $7 million claim made by the owners of the restaurant, who then sued for the amount. [6] The case was confidentially settled in October 1992. [7] After the settlement, however, the owners were sued by the ANZ Bank, who also alleged arson. [8] The restaurant was not rebuilt after the fire. The owners sold the property, on which the Stylus nightclub was then built. The new owners hired Basil De Jong to manage the nightclub.
"Waltzing Matilda" is a song developed in the Australian style of poetry and folk music called a bush ballad. It has been described as the country's "unofficial national anthem".
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, does not typically dance but usually sits at tables. Performances are usually introduced by a master of ceremonies or MC. The entertainment, as performed by an ensemble of actors and according to its European origins, is often oriented towards adult audiences and of a clearly underground nature. In the United States, striptease, burlesque, drag shows, or a solo vocalist with a pianist, as well as the venues which offer this entertainment, are often advertised as cabarets.
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The Original Ballet Russe was a ballet company established in 1931 by René Blum and Colonel Wassily de Basil as a successor to the Ballets Russes, founded in 1909 by Sergei Diaghilev. The company assumed the new name Original Ballet Russe after a split between de Basil and Blum. De Basil led the renamed company, while Blum and others founded a new company under the name Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo. It was a large scale professional ballet company which toured extensively in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, the United States, and Central and South America. It closed down operations in 1947.
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This is a list of books by Australian author Jackie French.
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Pulse was a gay bar, dance club, and nightclub in Orlando, Florida, founded in 2004 by Barbara Poma and Ron Legler. On June 12, 2016, the club was the scene of the second worst mass shooting by a single gunman in U.S. history, and the second deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil since the September 11 attacks. Forty-nine people were killed and 53 other people were injured.
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