A MIDNIGHT IN AMSTERDAM

good evening ladies and gentlemen this is Jack Douglas when we think of the world's most colorful cities after dark chances are that will mention Paris Rome Singapore Tokyo Rio and so on but there are many cities which while only possibly interesting by day suddenly become fascinating and absorbing at sundown after the shadows fall and to prove our point we're going to journey now across the seven seas to spend a midnight in Amsterdam the Jack Douglas true television series in association with Bing Crosby productions across the seven seas combining two different worlds of travel and adventure and presenting tonight sundown a tour of the world's most exciting cities after the shadows fall [Music] this is the Inland Sea part of Amsterdam capital of the Netherlands the dimly silhouetted spires are of the Church of st. Nicholas patron saint of sailors and the city itself and there in the background is Wester Church the last resting place of the immortal Rembrandt now Amsterdam is some old city and by and large the streets in Merrell and therefore the light from the shop windows and neons on either side of the streets almost seems to turn night and today and you know neons have a way of telling us many things wonder how he got into this crowd [Music] and like most of the world's major cities an American Carter the CalPERS drop one of the cities all the streets and best shopping areas the merchandise ranges from smart lamp fixtures to diamonds and the diamond industry as we know in Amsterdam is probably second to none at sundown after the shadows fall there's a sort of carnival atmosphere in the main shopping areas and this atmosphere is further accentuated not only by the strings of light between the buildings but by organ music the famed semi mechanical Street organs of Amsterdam let's listen these feed organs appear only at night and three men tend each organ one turns a large wheel which operates the mechanism while two others circulate among the crowds collecting donations from music lovers and civic minded citizens who want to foster this charming tradition this is the workshop of mr. G perlite who designed and built all of Amsterdam's street organs before World War two there were 33 Street organs now only 13 remained let's see what he's up to yes sir I am making a organ book for one of my state organs and it is you so then the key falls in the hole that comes add in the tube the tube opens a fourth to bring air to the pipes to the other pipes and when the book is finished we take it to the organ come here and you can look at this yes place now the book in the key frame and then we turn the wheel the bellows are bringing air in the organ so it can play and here are the tubes for the air that will be helping out [Music] [Applause] parlez organ takes more than six months to build now of the 33 pre-war organs in Amsterdam about 20 were either destroyed by bombs or used as fire worth that's right firewood during the occupation of Holland and no wonder most of the people in the crowds that we saw did in fact contribute to the collection cut it's a matter of local and even national pride [Music] the street musician is also an Amsterdam institution now these are men who for reasons of health or disability must work outdoors they are licensed to perform on the streets by the police department and to secure license the musician must pass an audition before a panel of three music judges a sour note or two flunked our guitarist friend will be given another chance in 90 days the accordion estoy ever passed the test he'll be licensed to perform on the streets and accept donations but he cannot beg [Music] [Applause] it's indeed most interesting to sort of browse about these colorful streets at night but it also fills up an appetite well the Bali restaurant welcomes the famished gourmet Indonesia was once the Nippon West Indies and the recipes served here at the Bali were brought back over the years by Dutch settlers and visitors here's the owner he had Bali restaurant our speciality is Indonesian festival or translated its rice table we have been serving this for almost 30 years here in the Netherlands all of the recipes of this dishes originally came from Indonesia and still today are cooked and served by Indonesian cooks and waiters the cost of this complete Danae here with Krista consists of about 30 or more different dishes it's about three and a half dollars few of the basic dishes is in the rice then we have the satay which is spit roasted pork in peanut sauce sweet and sour fruit fried coconut chicken in soy sauce then we have some Kapoor or swim bread so there it is the famous indonesian rice Tafel served in the bali restaurant in amsterdam here is a young man who has probably never been to the Bali restaurant his name is case vows and he works with his father in the family greenhouse and I'll smear just a few miles outside Amsterdam father and son grow flowers flowers which will be auctioned in Amsterdam and it sounds like an easy life but listen to this earnest young Dutchman here in a smell be gross get up several hours before dawn there's always a lot of work to be finished even before we eat breakfast that in fact is what my mother is working on inside the house it's a typical Dutch style breakfast with coffee or tea cooked em boiled sausage liverwurst bread and butter she calls my father and I to breakfast by ringing a bell [Music] naturally we wouldn't choose for our work they are really more practical because they are dry and comfortable by the time my father and I come in for breakfast the rest of the family has gotten up my brother Niko his home on a pass from the Army my sister Mary is still in high school in Austria I sit next to my father but that doesn't mean that we talk about business during breakfast usually it's just small talk about the family and sports to move the plans from here to the market we still use a box powered by a gasoline motor some of the other growers in our Smith have changed to trucks but we still like the box because it's smoother it doesn't break the plans early in the morning the trip through the canals can sometimes be very cold our plants will be solved in the Osman cooperative in Dutch it's called central Erasmus Valley which means central Osman auction the canal leads right into the building itself this is very important in winter because the delicate plants are never exposed to the cold weather unloading doesn't take very long I already turned shortly to the greenhouse to bring another four or five barge loads back to the market this is the last we see of the flowers from here they'll pass into the auction rooms to be sold to buyers who will ship them all over the world and so in the wee hours after midnight they come to the auction house these flower growers of Aalsmeer they come by barge truck bicycle driven cart and even hand drawn wagons the auction is fascinating to watch even at this early hour before dawn now each growers flowers are rolled out on carts and identified as to the name of grower the quantity and a type of flowers now the auctioneer calls off the asking prices and these are also recorded on a huge clock like device for all the buyers to see now when the pointer reaches a price that interests a buyer the buyer simply presses a button and the sale is made an assistant to the auctioneer inspects the flowers from the floor and shouts out his opinions good or bad this of course is intended to help the buyers there's a place at the boughs family can visit without feeling out of place are worrying about a big bill the cafe Moscati and the big attraction here has been the robot ban now these robots don't actually play the music their movements however are cleverly synchronized to the jukebox music making it appear but the robots are play [Music] [Applause] [Music] for Amsterdam the city that gives thanks to the sea and well it should for the harbour and port activities alone account for one-third of the city's economic lifeblood but even that statistic doesn't tell the full story for Amsterdam is rated fifth and importance among the sea parts of Europe a considerable achievement for the Seaport of so small a nation the harbour came before the city back in the 12th century so it's not too far-fetched to suggest that without its outlet to the sea Amsterdam today might be just another picturesque little Dutch village well sundown means very little among the harbour people because more than 8,000 sea vessels dock here each year and work goes on regardless of the time of day at midnight the captain of the freighter Achilles prepares to sail hello I'm captain the race of the motors ship oculus from Corona a steamship company in Amsterdam we are about to leave tonight from here to Aruba in the Caribbean navigating in the amsterdam harbour is not so difficult there are no currents whatsoever and the channel is almost steak they take us about two hours from here to see this map shows how Amsterdam connects with the North Sea at I mountain ten miles away by means of the North Sea canal this beacon that I mountain welcomes the ships of all nations to the largest flock and a deepest canal on the face of the earth a lock so big it can accommodate anything afloat including an aircraft carrier from his control tower the harbor master operates the enormous gates of the lock simply by pressing a button each of the two gates weighs 1,200 tonnes and it takes two and a half minutes to open or close the lock gates [Music] it takes about 50 minutes to pass a ship through the lock and once through it's the North Sea and the parts of the world [Music] [Applause] the harbour separates the Maine and north end sections of Amsterdam and three ferry routes service the heavy traffic [Music] within a few years these day and night ferries will be replaced by underground tunnels that will connect the two main sections of the city [Music] another look at the map shows us that Amsterdam connects with the Rhine River by means of the Rhine canal this is the canal barge forced wake which sails the Rhine from Amsterdam to Switzerland and back the captain of the barge Chris Essendon lives aboard the barge with his wife and their young son Jacob what's it like living aboard a Rhine River canal barge well Mrs S and I'm compared it to living in a trailer her kitchen or galley is small much smaller than it appears in these pictures but it does have most of the modern conveniences and appliances that we would find in the average amsterdam home in addition to the kitchen and the living room there are two small bedrooms and even a porch some 7,000 families of amsterdam live in houseboats renting space on the water from the city for about $3 per month we ask this typical couple the punts why they live in the houseboat in Amsterdam is very difficult to find a private home there are about 30,000 people on a waiting list but here we have our private home and we are just in the middle of a city there are many boats passing by our houseboat and from time to time our houseboat rocks just a little bit but it doesn't disturb us because there's an old saying in Holland that said what a gift West and we think it's true yes water gives rest and for the puns it provides low-cost yet comfortable housing Tony Hart Rhaegar's circle stupa is a piece of vienna in amsterdam and the natives love it most of the performers are austrian including this scissor player and the yodeler who will follow him [Music] [Music] then I video with the two dog Pieri is Dutch for his mastered the old-style German beer hall music and song neva dog a spinning Oh I wish of me me me dine help super sensor each partner hottest experience a fatherless be Bobby tell me need need ID help assess each partner high steel end at midnight when the performers are through the customers take over it's one for all all for one and let tomorrow take care of itself [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] max tires cafe doof bought features Amsterdam's most famous comic comedian max tire the do part is jam packed to the rafters every night of the week fire claims to know some 10,000 jokes by memory and his avid fans insists that he goes weeks at a time without knowingly repeating the same joke now this particular joke which he told linguish had to do with a husband who was supposed to be at work but sort of bumped into his wife at the golf course it's not a new joke but when tiger tells it the audience rocks you make a note of it if you're planning to visit Amsterdam the Cabaret DuPont the city whose people love to laugh also remembers when fear and tears were the order of the day this is the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and here and rooms connecting to a warehouse lived the Frank family especially Anne Frank the young girl whose poignant diary painted word pictures that may live for generations to come these empty attic rooms stripped clean by the arresting Nazis who sent the francs to the concentration camps and death are a sacred memorial not to just one family the Franks but to all of the oppressed peoples and nations of Europe who challenged the swastika the warehouse itself has been renovated it is quite often used as a conference room by students who by meeting and discussing the problems of their time are attempting to reach a better understanding of each other in this one group are students from America Germany Holland and South Africa then dance great profits as it would seem when there is a great moment for United Bureau well midnight has ended in Amsterdam has grown a day older but in this 30-minute midnight tour we have seen and heard many of the interesting people of this fascinating city they have taken us into their homes their places of work their delightful mecca's of entertainment yes they have been gracious hosts and now it's time for you and me to thank them and say we have indeed enjoyed this midnight in Amsterdam [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music]