Wellington in the 1950s and 1960s - NZ Film Archive

Listing details: Wellington in the 1950s and 1960s film programme

When: 7pm, Wednesday through Saturday, 11 - 14 September

Where: The New Zealand Film Archive, 84 Taranaki St, Wellington

Ticket price: $8 general admission / $6 concession

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wellington in the 1950s and 1960s

Under the directorship of John O’Shea, Pacific Films made a wide range of films - features, news magazines, documentaries and advertising - during the 1950s and 1960s. This programme is a showcase of some of their documentary, newsreel and advertising work featuring Wellington. Part of the Film Show Wellington series of three film programmes that looks back at the vitality of life in Wellington as time goes by.

Set in and around Wellington, the programme includes The Clott who Forgot, made for the New Zealand Post Office in 1952. Among other highlights are newsreel items on the building of Rongotai Airport, the Wellington City Mission, the opening of the first drive-in bank (situated in Taranaki St) and the latest developments in the production of music in 1955.

The longest film is a documentary about Wellington life made in the 1960s. A group of people are asked about their experience of living in the capital city. These include postie and poet James K. Baxter, musician Annea Lockwood and nurse Phillipa Grant. There are scenes of a student protest rally, people sunning themselves in Oriental Bay and Sisters from Island Bay’s Home of Compassion serving meals to the needy.

Programme details: The Clott Who Forgot, 1952 Made for the New Zealand Post Office, the message is to post your letters early.

Pacific Films Advertisement, 1960s From the far flung corners of out of space...

Pacific Magazine 2, 1954 Documents the excavation of Moa Point for the new Rongotai Airport. The work of Wellington City Mission is also shown: looking after the elderly and running a youth hostel for young men. Harry Squires planned the building of the “Darby and Joan” hostel for the elderly when he died. A fundraising campaign was conducted to finance the project. Shows money being collected in pubs, as men drink beer.

Pacific Magazine 9 , 1955 Commerce Drive In Bank: the parking problem in Wellington has prompted the establishment of New Zealand’s first motor bank.

Pacific Magazine 16, 1955 War!! A rugby game between the North Island and the South Island, at Athletic Park. The film reports the weather on the day as “Windy / Gale force winds.

Ground: muddy.” A good muddy game is played.

Music For All, 1955 Promotion for recorded music. Shows examples of the ways recordings have allowed more people access to music: the forestry worker in his hut, the farming family, children listening to the radio, and school children listening to instructional records.

Pacific Magazine 25, 1955 Apples Every Day. In Wellington, a comical character, Bert, is harrassed by his wife to bring home some apples. He goes first to the fruit shop and then to the market, but he has problems in carrying the apples home. Thankfully the New Zealand Apple and Pear Board have solved Bert’s problem with a new packing plant which prepacks small quantities of apples in plastic. Bert has some delivered to his home while he sits in the back yard drinking beer.

Wellington in the ‘60s - The Way it Seemed, 1968 A documentary about several people living in the Wellington area: Amy Griffin, Erwin Winkler, Ken Cooper, Anna (now Annea) Lockwood, James K Baxter, Phillipa Grant. The film includes footage of the Lockwood’s Glass Concert performance at Downstage in late July 1967.

Don’t Let it Get You [Trailer], 1966 New Zealand’s first pop musical starring Howard Morrison, the Quin Tikis, Lew Pryme and more.

The Wellington in the 1950s and 1960s film programme will screen at 7pm, Wednesday through Saturday, 11 - 14 September.

The following Film Show Wellington screening is: Khandallah and Johnsonville on Film, 17 - 19 October Both of these screenings will take place at The Film Archive, 84 Taranaki St, Wellington.

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Image Credit: Wellington in the ‘60s - The Way it Seemed (1968)

ENDS

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