FIRST LADY ELEANOR ROOSEVELT’S ARRIVAL IN WELLINGTON; RECEPTION AT GOVERNMENT HOUSE
Colour footage from 16mm film, without sound.
The American First Lady poses for a group photograph with the New Zealand Governor-General, Sir Cyril Newall, seated beside Mrs. Roosevelt. Standing behind them on the lawn of Government House from right to left, Miss Marie Ryan (American Red Cross Supervisor for the Southwest Pacific), Major Christopher Holland-Martin (Aide de Camp to Governor-General), Miss Norah Walton (secretary to Governor-General), Miss Georgiana Newall, (daughter of the Governor-General), Captain Heathcote Helmore (Aide de Camp to Governor-General), and Major George Durno (Special Assistant to Commanding General, Pacific Wing, Air Transport Command) who accompanied Mrs. Roosevelt throughout her South Pacific trip. After posing, the group stand and visibly relax and chat before making their way back to the house.
FIRST LADY ELEANOR ROOSEVELT, SERVICEMEN DANCING
America's First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt publicly addresses US Marines at the Cecil Club in Wellington. She praises the club and the work of the American Red Cross who run it and also shares some humorous anecdotes related to her wartime travels. Mrs. Roosevelt passes on the gratitude of President Franklin Roosevelt for the ‘incredible work they’ve done’ in Guadalcanal and the Pacific. Scene cuts to a US Marines jazz band playing swing-time jazz and US Marines dancing in the Cecil Club with local women on a crowded dance floor.