With his wind-up gramophone on the windowsill behind him, George was willing to dance with anyone. This impromptu display took place outside the Lido dance hall on the northern end of the promenade. According to Australian Music Maker and Dance Band News (15 January 1940), Bondi used to draw a thousand dancers on a Saturday night, when ex-Trocadero band leader Frank Coughlan played at Roy Stanfield’s Bondi Esplanade Cabaret. Known as the ‘Father of Australian Jazz’, trombonist Coughlan had played in 1924 with the Californians, the first jazz band to visit Australia.

25 August 1940