John Mann - The Entertainer
Renowned locally as one of the Wakatipu’s most popular, fun-loving publicans, former Eichardt’s Tavern owner John Mann was destined for a life in entertainment.
Co-starring on the Scots College stage in high school productions with Kiwi actor John Clarke, who would become famous as Fred Dagg, John was raised in Wellington. Born en caul, John says water has always played a big role in his life. “I was born technically drowned in the amniotic sac and all my life I’ve loved water – water-skiing, sailing, boating, diving,” says John, who’s owned more boats than cars.
His father was director of Todd Brothers’ Aircraft Division, based in Wellington, however, while his parents travelled John stayed on the Taieri with his grandparents, attending Outram School. His father was the pre-eminent lobbyist in the corridors of Parliament. “My brother Mike and I spent a lot of time there, for many years. We knew it like the back of our hands.” Former Prime Minister Sir Walter Nash was John’s pre-school neighbour, while Sir Rob Muldoon was his teenage one, John receiving the odd tongue lashing as a boy. “He gave me £5 while other neighbours gave me pennies when collecting for the SPCA.” Todd Motors had agencies for exotic vehicles and John loved cars. At 18, in 1968, his father got him a cadetship with Chrysler in Melbourne. “I knew only one Kiwi there and he was married to Alison Durban.”
In 1970 the Australian Army conscripted him to two years military service, heading for Vietnam. Thankfully the Whitlam Government got elected just as John was set to go. A sharp shooter in artillery, he’d become expert at directing fire from helicopters. “One night I went AWOL after a Kinks’ concert. The last train had left so we jogged 52km back to the barracks. I spent my 21st birthday as a guard at Sydney’s Holsworthy’s Military Prison as punishment.”
After demobbing, John scored himself a job with Dunedin entertainment icon Joe Brown, as a roadie on the Miss New Zealand shows. “The idea of touring the length of New Zealand with 16 women for three months was extremely appealing.” He eventually became stage manager, running sound and lighting in every town hall in the country for Kiwi icons like Sir Howard Morrison, John Hore-Grenell and Eddie Low. He was then assistant tour manager for artists like Kenny Rogers and Johnny Cash, preparing him well for the Mann’s popular shows in Queenstown.
That led to co-ordinating pub entertainment for NZ Breweries, aged 26, followed by trainee management roles in Hamilton and Wellington, before doing Summer School for Western International, training in New York, Detroit, Chicago and Houston. His Kiwi boss called him back to manage a pub in Blenheim in 1979. “I noticed a beautiful waitress with Farrah Fawcett hair so she was quickly promoted.” John and Ann have been together ever since. “She was also good on the water – casting a three-hook line and landing three fish, as well as finger filleting, which was another attraction,” he grins.
They made a great team managing pubs in Whangarei - where they hosted the controversial 1981 Springbok side, and the Poenamo Hotel in Auckland, where John once introduced a 25-foot (7.6m) yacht, complete with life-raft demonstrations from Sir Peter Blake, to the hotel swimming pool. After success in Rotorua and a promotion to Sydney, both John’s parents passed away within a month so they returned to New Zealand, little Catherine now in tow. John was then in his element as general manager of Auckland’s largest waterfront venue, the Hotel Mon Desir, and chuffed to have delivered his second daughter, Elizabeth, (Frankie), in the manager’s flat.
Lion Nathan was soon exiting pubs to invest in international brewing and, as a clever redundancy package, offered the Mann’s the opportunity to take over the lease of Eichardt’s – the perfect location with Ann then running NZ Snow Shows nationally. The après ski headquarters for Queenstown, many pub events the Mann’s dreamt up became annual sell-outs at Queenstown Memorial Hall. The Old Farts Balls, Top Bloke, Outrageous Arts and Fashion and the Family Arts and Variety Show for kids with its recycled theme – all a hit. “We’d put about 3000 people of all ages through the hall every Winter Festival, running seven shows over 10 days.”
Food was vastly improved at Eichardts. “Lemon in the gin was the first thing we fixed.” Ann launched MannMade Catering around then too.
John may have been destined for a life around water, but not quite this deep. He found himself inside Eichardts well above his chest-high waders in 1.5m (5-feet) deep water, which devastated the historic building during the record November 1999 floods. “We lost everything, even the ink off our marriage certificate, which was in the safe. We had to wheelbarrow the contaminated, sodden cash to the bank.”
Three years leasing Arrowtown’s Royal Oak followed during which time John won the South Island Formula Ford Class One Championship and competed in Australia in his Formula 5000.
His foray into local politics began in 2004 serving nine years on the Queenstown Lakes District Council before standing down to seek appointment as a District Licensing Commissioner, a role he still holds. His role as a national judge for Hospitality NZ’s Awards for Excellence led to being invited to co-judge the 2018 Cook Islands Tourism Awards.
Occasionally he still dons his whites to help Ann, and enjoys sharing his considerable knowledge of small-town NZ, in places like the West Coast, as a private tour guide. The Manns travel extensively, particularly to see their Australian grandchildren, and back on that water, just love sailing their coastal yacht.
