Fifty-Plus News - Beryl Leggett

Some scientists are presently saying that keeping the mind active enables our brain to re-activate certain dormant cells, and thereby assist longevity. Malcolm Riddle talks to dance legend Beryl Leggett.

Chatting with Mrs Beryl Leggett, 88, newly installed in her fully serviced apartment at Mont Clair, Brighton, seems to endorse the above theory.
I must say that for many of us, an encounter like this can make one feel a mere idler on life's journey!
She represents the last remaining senior member of the Leggett family of Leggett's Ballroom Prahran fame established in 1920 by the late Harry and Emily Leggett. There are many senior citizens and military service personnel around the world who would remember visiting this renowned icon of the dancing world, which at its height could accommodate the staggering figure of 6,000 dancers, to the sound of a 20-piece band.
Following the loss of her husband, Phil Leggett, son of Harry and Emily, and now surrounded by all the Mont Clair opulence, Beryl, a tiny slim figure, is nevertheless not overpowered by the grandeur, which for all the world looks not unlike an expensive movie set with its swirling staircase, deep cushioned lounges, panelled rooms and parquet floors.
Her credentials for show business, which she proudly claims as constituting her entire life, embraced acrobatic skills, dancing and singing, teaching, and contortionist work. Somehow her new setting at Mont Clair seems entirely appropriate because her career might aptly be described as both highly decorative and impressive.
As the press photographer approaches her, she protests "I am just an old lady," yet this ‘old’ lady can still demonstrate steps of the Charleston, and at her eightieth birthday party obliged the guests by doing the splits.
Again demonstrating the value of keeping body and mind active, as we proceed to eat lunch together, her sight and hearing are evidently as fit as her body. She wears no hearing aids or glasses.
Her introduction to the dancing and performance world was the result of early childhood classes, which enjoyed boom times after the first World War. As a result, the young Phil Leggett, already well indoctrinated into the world of his parents, fell in love with the talented Beryl, and they soon married.
So began for the young Beryl a lifetime of learning and teaching any new dance (often from a movie), performing in a team of eight acrobats, touring Victoria and Queensland, and generally surviving with the family through disastrous building fires and coping with the pressures of raising her children. Her son, Harry, living nearby, keeps an eye on his remarkable Mum, but has opted to run a business not allied to the world of dancing.
Together, however, they have compiled a huge library of press cuttings and photos which could warrant an exhibition bound to invoke many memories for former patrons of Leggett’s, and intrigue the younger generation as well, who, incidentally, are currently showing an interest in some of the rock and roll, jitterbug and swing dancing eras in days of yore.