Incomplete film showing twelve (Nos. 3 – 14) of the forty-two “theatre stage” winning babies from the towns making up the Southern South Island District in the St. John Ambulance Baby Contest. In each of the seven towns six winners qualified for the district stage. The names of twenty-four of the qualifying babies are known. From Invercargill, where the contest was held at the Majestic Theatre, the winners were James Joseph O’Neill, Coral Molloy Bulling, Errol James Flynn, Jacklyn Edna Muir, John Mervyn Francis Finkle, and Veronica McGrath.
From Timaru, where the contest was held at the Regent Theatre, the winners were Athol Stuart Munro, Barry Hume Cunningham, Ivan Eric Wood, Helen Antoinette Cunningham, Maurice Ian Solomon, and Malcolm George Millar.
From Oamaru, where the contest was held at the Opera House, the winners were Bryan Kearns, James Tayles, Dorothy Dick (Budd), Jill Turvey, Russell Lawrence, and John Symon.
From Dunedin, where the contest was held at the St. James’ Theatre, the winners were Baby Johnstone, Llewellyn Gwynne, Baby Frost, Baby Cockburn, Baby Attwood, and Baby Rumble. The names of the eighteen other qualifying babies, who came from Gore, where the contest was held at the St. James’ Theatre, Waimate, where the contest was held at the Arcadia Cinema, and Ashburton, where the contest was held at the St. James’ Theatre, are not known.
Babies numbers 10 and 13 in this district stage film are known to have been filmed in Invercargill, the distinctive panel in the background being a recognizable feature of the tearooms at H. & J. Smith’s department store where local filming took place.
Copies of this district stage film were screened for two weeks from June 19 (in Timaru), from June 20 (in Oamaru), and from June 21 (in Invercargill and Dunedin), and also in Gore, Waimate, and Ashburton. The district winner, selected by public vote, was Llewellyn Gwynne of Dunedin. The first prize for the district contest was 50 pounds, presented by Mr Arthur Barnett.
Baby Gwynne went on to compete (successfully) in the South Island stage against winning babies from the North Canterbury and Northern South Island districts. As “Baby South Island” Llewellyn Gwynne then went on to the final, competing against “Baby North Island”, Chris Harrison of Devonport.