Alma Quon and her Joy Belles

Summary: Alma Quon played the drums/piano in the band and was its major instigator and leader. It is believed that the band played contemporary western popular music, possibly a jazz/swing style. It was basically a dance band and they played at many Young Chinese League functions. The band's clothes were made by Judith Wong Hee if not always then at one point in time.

Details

Alma Quon & her Joybelles was an all-woman professional jazz band founded by Alma Quon with her sister, Lorna, during the Second World War. The band played their music in returned soldiers’ repatriation hospitals, retirement homes and at public functions. With Alma on drums, the Joybelles played for several years at dances and functions in and around Melbourne and were still playing up until the 1990s.

Members of the band included Dawn Smith (bass), Mary Worral (saxophone), Gladys Torrens (saxophone), Alma Quon (drums), Valma Frecker (saxophone), Moya Brown (accordion), Lotte Rehn (piano), Grace Funston (trumpet) and Lorna Quon (violin). The band would also play at monthly dances, including the annual debutante ball organised by the Young Chinese League.

Alma Quon and her Joybelles were part of the all-female band boom that began in the 1920s and 1930s. Originally, Alma and Lorna were in a ‘ladies’ orchestra together called the Merry Makers. The Quon sisters played with the Merry Makers up until the Second World War. In 1995, an exhibition at the Performing Arts Museum titled ‘Sweethearts of Melbourne’ paid homage to bands such as the Merry Makers and Alma Quon and her Joybelles.

The members of the Joybelles came from mixed ethnic backgrounds. They played mainstream jazz music on western instruments and wore western dress. Alma and Lorna's Chinese ancestry was referenced with Chinese-style lettering on the drum kit and their musical set occasionally included a popular Chinese song played on western instruments.

While growing up in Rutherglen, Alma learnt to play the piano. Her father had bought her elder sister, Aimee, the piano. Alma and Lorna were the daughters of Charles Quon senior, Chinese-born restaurateur and businessman and Bendigo-born Violet Geechoun. Alma and Lorna were also the sisters of Charlie Quon, a lifelong member of the Young Chinese League.

When Alma moved to Melbourne in the 1930s, she played piano at the Golden Dragon Restaurant in Little Collins Street. She also played at the clubs - Toby’s and Raffles. As part of a fundraiser to support the war against Japan, she trained a group of Chinese-Australian girls in a Hawaiian-themed performance at Hoyt’s. She later taught dancing in many Melbourne schools.

Alma Quon and her Joybelles were perhaps best known amongst Chinese Australians in Melbourne for their performances at the annual debutante balls organised by the Young Chinese League. As musical tastes changed and numbers attending the balls and dances declined, however, the club's committee opted for three-piece bands instead.

As well as playing at the debutante balls, Alma also trained the Young Chinese League debutante set how to dance and gave them lessons in etiquette. Alma choreographed every debutante set until the final Young Chinese League ball in 1988. For the League’s 60th reunion in 1992, she officiated over the evening dances and music. It was fitting that Alma played a few bars on the piano for old time’s sake. In attendance were ladies from every debutante set. Alma had trained every single one of them.

Sources used to compile this entry: 'Sweethearts of rhythm', Herald Sun, 23 February 1995; Dreyfus, Kay, Sweethearts of Rhythm: The Story of Australia's all-girls bands and orchestra to the end of the seconf world war, Currency Press, 1993; Ryan, Jan, Chinese Women and the Global Village: An Australian Site, University of Queensland Press, Brisbane, 2003; See the oral history held by the Museum of Chinese Australian History and also their collection of formal garments made by Judith which dates from 1940s and 1950s donated to the Museum by Thelma’s grand neice, Nicole Ma. Additional information from Ray Quon, personal communication, 28/4/2006. Alma Quon, Daisy Quon and Quon family Archives at the Museum of Chinese Australian History. Young Chinese League newsletters (1992).

Prepared by: Brendan O'Donnell, Monash University

Associated with

Related Concepts

Young Chinese League debutante balls

Related Corporate Bodies

Related People

Quon, Lorna Elsie (1909 - 1983)

Published Resources

Books

Dreyfus, Kay, Sweethearts of Rhythm: The Story of Australia's all-girls bands and orchestra to the end of the seconf world war, Currency Press, 1993. Details
Ryan, Jan, Chinese Women and the Global Village: An Australian Site, University of Queensland Press, Brisbane, 2003. Details

Newspaper Articles

'Sweethearts of rhythm', Herald Sun, 23 February 1995. Details

Images

Title: Alma Quon and her Joy Belles
Type: Photograph
Date: c. 1955
Place: Australia - Victoria - Melbourne?; Details

Title: Young Chinese League debutantes, 1961
Type: Photograph
Date: 1961
Place: Australia - Victoria - Melbourne; Details

Chinese-Australian Historical Images in Australia

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