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Clip description
Jack (Tony Ward) is bored when Gillian (Judy Leech) takes him to an art gallery. Gillian is repelled by the violence when Jack takes her to the wrestling.
Curator’s notes
This sequence shows the stark contrast between Jack and Gillian. Jack is a working-class man with unsophisticated tastes in food and entertainment. His leering reaction to nude portraits shows him to be uncouth and preoccupied with titillation. The narrator’s recital of ‘Humpty Dumpty’ serves as a metaphor for the couple’s crumbling relationship. Pro wrestling was enormously popular in Melbourne in the ‘60s and ‘70s. This footage was almost certainly shot at Festival Hall, Melbourne’s wrestling hub. The prices in display windows at the start of this clip are in pounds and pence, indicating this part of the sequence was filmed prior to 14 February 1966 when Australia switched to decimal currency.
