John Martin's sixth Christmas pageant brought nursery rhyme, fairy story and radio characters to life for the tens of thousands of men, women and children who thronged the city...gay floats, clever tumblers, men on stilts, clumsy clowns, pirates carrying three caskets of doubloons and pieces of eight, and an Eastern potentate in a carriage on an elephant's back, passed by in smooth procession, flower bedecked horses drawing the floats along (The Advertiser, 14 November 1938, p. 20).

This footage is from one of more than 200 segments of film held at the State Library taken by Percival Moody. Born at Kent Town in 1890, Moody was a philanthropist, company director and keen motor hobbyist, founding the Harley-Davidson Motor Cycle Club and the Outboard Club of South Australia.
Moody filmed historic South Australian events, occasions and attractions between 1929-1950, and raised funds for charity through public film screenings.

John Martin & Co.

'60th John Martin's State Bank Christmas pageant 1933-1993', Sunday Mail, 31 October 1993, 24 p. supp.

Adelaide's once-a-year day , Adelaide: Commercial Printing House, 1978.

'Street pageant delights crowd', Advertiser, 20 November 1933, p. 16.

A touch of magic [videorecording] : [the story behind the Christmas Pageant], West Lakes?, S. Aust. : Cine News Productions, 1993.

Credit Union Christmas pageant

John Martin's first pageant: 1933 [State Library of South Australia]