John Newman: Melbourne and Gold Coast entertainment figure and Dracula’s founder dies at age 94

Dracula’s has been a Gold Coast institution for nearly 40 years. This is how the Newman family dramatically changed the city’s dinner theatre scene in the 1980s and beyond.

Dracula’s has been a favourite attraction for both tourists and locals for nearly 40 years.

Founded in 1985, it was a local spin-off of a long-time Melbourne venue which was founded by John Newman and his wife Tikki Taylor in the 1960s.

Mr Newman died on Sunday at age 94.

Flags at Dracula’s Broadbeach venue have flown at half-staff this week in tribute.

Dracula’s opened amid the city’s 1980s boom period which saw it grow dramatically on the back of soaring tourism and development markets.

John Newman loved showbiz until the end.

The Newman family, which had been leading figures in the Melbourne entertainment scene for decades, decided to try their hand at the Gold Coast market.

It was a family affair, with John and Tikki helping to write and develop the shows as well as acting in them, while their son Marc Newman leading the Gold Coast business.

“Dracula’s has stirred up people,’’ Marc Newman said in early 1989.

“It is unique (because) usually at theatre-restaurants people just have a meal and watch the show. We have audience participation here.’

“When we started at the Coast there was a problem with theatre restaurants,’’ he says.

“The shows were old-fashioned and catered for an elderly audience.’

“My own parents were winding down their music hall because the audiences were reaching the retirement stage and didn’t go out any more.’’

Tikki Taylor and John Newman

The Newman story began in 1947 when John and Tikki met while performing in the original Australia production of South Pacific.

“We worked so well together that we decided to start our own act, the Tikki And John Comedy Dance Routine. We worked the nightclub circuit in Sydney,” Mr Newman said in the early 1990s.

“Then, in 1954, we got married and took the act to Singapore, Sri Lanka, India, Rome, France and London.”

The pair founded Newman Entertainment in 1964 and opened a late-night coffee shop in Melbourne’s Exhibition street, called Tikki and John’s Music Hall.

It soon transformed into Australia’s first theatre restaurant and became a sensation.

John Newman was heavily involved in the Dracula’s shows.

At one point the tiny venue had a waiting list of more than 12 months for bookings.

Paul Newman recalled the theatrical environment in a 2021 interview.

“My father used to do drag, so you can imagine what it’s like when your father is in the newspaper dressed up as Margaret Whitlam,” he said.

“We used to go to school and people would ask, but for us it was normal.

“We grew up in a very different world, and it was a lot of fun.”

By the 1980s, had morphed into Dracula’s.

The Newmans retired from performing in Melbourne in 1986 to make way for their children who took over the family business.

“John and I were just waiting for the right time to bow out,” the late Tikki Taylor said in 1992.

“We were in our late 50s when we decided to retire. Our audiences were getting younger and we thought the kids would relate to them better.”

However they continued to appear in Gold Coast productions, with the elder Mr Newman occasionally playing different roles, including Quasimodo.

The Gold Coast venue has now long outlasted the original Melbourne Dracula’s which closed in 2017.

Mr Newman was a fan until the end.

Just a handful of weeks before his death he sat in the audience in Broadbeach and took in its newest production and was “thrilled” by it.

‘Great sadness’: Dracula’s founder John Newman dies

John Newman loved show business until the very end.

Just a handful of weeks ago he sat in the audience of Dracula’s at Broadbeach, the venue he founded decades ago, and took in its newest production.

It was to be his final curtain call.

Mr Newman died on Sunday at age 94, surrounded by his immediate family.

He had been living in Melbourne.

John Newman at Dracula’s

Mr Newman had been an entertainment figure for more than 60 years.

He began his carer running hotels before moving to Melbourne and meeting his late wife, actor Tikki Taylor while performing in South Pacific.

The pair founded Newman Entertainment in 1964 and opened a late-night coffee shop in Melbourne’s Exhibition street, called Tikki and John’s Music Hall.

It soon transformed into Australia’s first theatre restaurant and, by the 1980s, had morphed into Dracula’s.

John Newman as Dracula

The Newman family in 1999.

The Gold Coast venue opened in 1985.

Flags outside the spooky theatre will fly at half-mast this week.

The Newman family paid tribute to their patriarch in a statement.

“It is with great sadness that the Newman Family share the news of John Newman OAMs passing,” it read.

“John’s life goal was simply to entertain (and) his passion for this never ceased.

John Newman with the Dracula’s cast in 2002

“Always the showman, he could captivate a room with his stories and jokes (and) his zest for life was unparalleled.

“In the past month, John travelled to the Gold Coast to see the current Dracula’s production (and) he was thrilled to see audiences laughing, clapping and singing in a venue he conceived.

“Slixie”, as he was known to friends and family, leaves behind a legacy of a lifetime of entertainment that will continue for many years to come.”

A private funeral is now being planned.