Joe Brown

Born in Naseby in 1903, Joe Brown (Andrew Joseph Francis Brown) was a well-known New Zealand entrepreneur who created the Joe Brown dances at the Dunedin Town Hall in 1936. The dances were broadcast throughout New Zealand via the 4ZB radio station, and continued for 30 years, with the last broadcast in 1966. They became known as the ‘Joe Brown’s matrimonial agency’ due to the large number of people who met their future spouses at the dances.

Joe Brown is perhaps most famous for staging the Miss New Zealand competition, which was also presented at Dunedin Town Hall, from 1960 to 1973 and again from 1979 to 1986. Through this he began a long-standing partnership with the Howard Morrison Quartet from 1963.

Joe's father was a goldminer, and Joe's own story is something of a rags to riches tale. He had a talent for identifying a gap in the market and making a profit from his ideas, while pursuing his goal of generating 'good clean fun' for his audience. He saved money from two weeks of rabiting in Naseby in order to stage the first Joe Brown dance, and was then able to book the Dunedin Town Hall - chosen because it was the largest in New Zealand. The dances quickly became both popular and profitable, and laid the foundation of his fortune.

Joe ran three cafés: the Highcliffe, the Caledonian and Brown House. He also opened Brown's Furniture Mart, built a subdivision in Mosgiel,  a pick-your-own potato garden in Wingatui, and even operated a cot an pram hire service. He eventually added his own record label to his collection of businesses: Joe Brown Records.

He expanded his show business enterprise to include the Happy Feet Club entertainment group, and started the New Zealand-wide 'Search for the Stars' in 1959, having noted the popularity of rock and roll. A great many New Zealand entertainers got their big break as a result of the competition, such as John Hore, Dinah Lee and Bunny Walters. Another of Joe's successful ventures, this saw a packed audience for the concerts presented at the Dunedin Town Hall. There were 3000 entries for the first series of 'Search for the Stars'. His growing connections in the entertainment world enabled him to bring a number of international acts to New Zealand, including Charlie Pryde and the Bellamy Brothers.

Despite not being a natural public speaker, Joe Brown served on the Mosgiel Borough Council as well as other local organisations, including the Mosgiel Milk Authority, and was a founder member of the Taieri Athletic Club. 

He married Marjorie Wallis, having met her at one of his Town Hall dances. Marjorie encouraged him to turn his entrepreneurial talents to horse racing, and indeed he was also successful in this endeavour, taking on difficult, broken-down horses and turning them into a string of winners. One of them, Reformed, won the Wellington Cub in 1952.

Joe Brown was awarded the BEM (British Empire Medal) for services to the community as an entertainment promoter in 1970.

I suppose I've made a bit of money along the way, but I've always regarded money not as something to stash away, but just as a means to make what you're doing better. - Joe Brown

References: 
Southern People: A dictionary of Otago Southland Biography, Dunedin City Council, Dunedin, NZ: Longacre

"Top entrepreneur dies" - obituary, Otago Daily Times, 25/8/86

"Joe has found secret" - NZ Women's Weekly, 9/2/81