Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This black-and-white clip from a newsreel shows people at a party in about 1934 in the South Yarra garden of the Connollys, a wealthy couple who were part of Melbourne’s high society set. In the opening shot, party host Lou Connolly shoots an arrow from a bow before handing the bow to another guest. The narrator identifies some of the well-dressed guests, describing them and indicating their status, family connections and accomplishments. Lou Connolly appears again with a horse, and his wife Jenny Connolly is shown with two puppies.

Educational value points

• These images of a society party in South Yarra in 1934 show that newsreels were designed to entertain as well as to inform the audience. Each newsreel contained sequences of serious news as well as the kind of lighter magazine content that is illustrated by this clip. The studio-added vocal commentaries were usually delivered by an actor or comedian, ensuring that commentary was first and foremost entertaining and amusing.

• The clip gives some indication of the huge disparity between the wealthy and the majority of Australians in the 1930s by showing a wealthy couple entertaining at home. Although the peak of the Great Depression had passed, some 300,000 Australians were still out of work in 1935. Thousands had lost their jobs and homes as a result of the economic collapse. However, those with assets in gold, land and cash at the outset of the Depression were able to get even richer.

• The clip is narrated in the style of a celebrity gossip column, drawing attention to the status of those attending the social function and at the same time subtly ridiculing them. This tension between the gossip column’s need to entertain and engage with the public by suggesting that the rich and famous have feet of clay while at the same time keeping celebrities on side to ensure continuing access to their world still exists today.

• Newsreels concerning celebrity gossip provided a glamorous escape in the Great Depression. During this time the role of the media was redefined – journalism became entertainment and celebrity gossip became news. Influential US gossip columnists such as Hedda Hopper (1890–1966) and Louella Parsons (1881–1972) rose to eminence in the 1930s, as did US columnist and radio broadcaster Walter Winchell (1897–1972).

• This newsreel belongs to one of the genres of talking film produced by film entrepreneur and promoter of the Australian film industry FW Thring (1883–1936) through his film company, Efftee Studios, founded in 1931. Efftee Studios produced seven feature films including Diggers (1931), a remake of The Sentimental Bloke (1932) and 80 short films including newsreels to be shown at Thring’s Tatler newsreel theatrette in Melbourne.