Chasing The Sun, 1956

[Music] my name is cour ymar I live in Austria by profession I am an artist on this particular day I was sketching on the snowy slopes of the duin in the Austrian alpes my subject was quite a handsome fellow but a little Restless from the sketch I had hoped to develop an interesting travel poster that's what I do mostly but OD in a way of all the far away places I had pictured my travels had only concerned by native land and neighboring European countries I had spoken about this to Andre a young American painting abroad who shared my studio in Vienna I had explained all these posters have enticed me too a great urge had deset me and urged to see far away places at the time Andre was working on a poster with a Columbus Discovery theme why not go to America he said well sure easily said but such a venture was not so easily undertaken but the further suggestion from Andre sent me off through the streets of Vienna with a portfolio of sketches under my arm I stopped in front of the America house the United States reading and information center this was my hope and I obtained a commission toch a series of travel posters in America well really in a place called Florida which I knew of course was one of the American states and quite wonderful I had heard goodbye Vienna my charming and beautiful old city I was off on my own Voyage of discovery of course I knew we would land first in New York that was our Port of Entry and suddenly she was there the precious lady of liberty I thought of the millions of hopeful Souls who had seen her for the first time and what inspiration her light of Freedom must have given them and then in awesome Wonder like a massive collection of great Cathedrals the spires of New York York row into the sky who could ever Describe the impact of this Colossus of stone and [Music] steel but once there in the Heart of the City Time Square New York was a living pulsating experience well they say tourist must always look up but goly you feel small when you do especially when it's the Empire State tallest building in the world it was a little disappointing that I only had one day before continuing my journey but every moment was well spent for I walked endlessly through the streets but by all comparison my first view of the Florida coast was a thrill too Miami Beach so bright so shining stretching out to the green o those big buildings were hotels the steward has told me a closer view on the ground and they looked equally glamorous and inviting and the palm trees well I knew of course that Florida was a tropical Place surely an artist could find plenty of subjects [Music] here on a wall beside biscane Bay I was soon lost in the beauty of of my first subject but as I sketched even the multicolored crayons seemed inadequate to capture the iridescent tapestry of sky and water this Florida I am afraid it was a little overwhelming at first but just about the time I was growing accustomed to America's lavish use of electricity the stunning impact of a night parade in Sarasota a city on the west coast brought new Wonder to my eyes [Music] yeah [Music] Cypress Gardens near Winter Haven is surely a Tropical Paradise what a challenge to capture the Lush beauty of the foliage and the Reflections in the mirror like water and the other Beauties too would be something to capture with a sketch pad naturally in brilliant profusion aelia's CIA gardinas lined the pathway of the winding Lagoon those queer trees with their Jagged knees sticking up alongside give the gardens its name there you see what happened to me art is a universal language isn't that fortunate and who could ask for more Charming inspiration the lovely young ladies in their picturesque costumes seem to be a part of the gardens actually they are hostesses who answer questions and just generally make the visitors feel welcome as I worked we talked about my trip to America and she was particularly interested in my homeland she said certainly was a Charming girl and now I knew what they meant when they said an American Beauty there are a great many Novelties Ina to interest the visitor like the chimp Brothers they most certainly would never win a beauty contest although the piano player cast a dazzling smile the Rhythm Section was more serious about his uh music well they had a certain rhythm this two chimp Symphony this was all part of a Daily Show put on for visitors kind of like a circus we have them in Europe but not the same of course and here in the bright Florida Sunshine the effect was quite [Music] different with feathers for a bonnet the star performers danced around like American Indians but I must confess it was not just the way I had seen it done in your western movies it was all very [Music] amusing and then the Indians became Cowboys and stopped the Wy villains in a most convincing manner great fun it was really great fun and seemingly with never ending display of Versatility the piano player was transformed into a Highwire Artist as a further demand for skill and dexterity he was blindfolded we couldn't imagine what would happen next [Music] [Applause] [Music] well it has often been suggested and here they do put the people in a cage and let the monkey stay on the outside this intriguing idea was first an experiment at the Monkey Jungle near Miami there a band of simeons imported from Singapore allowed to run wild I suppose they must think the cage humans are very curious creatures again in a setting of tropical Beauty the jungle gardens near Sarasota I resumed my sketching in the Botanical preserve with its numerous indigenous plants lives the pink flamingo one of the rarest and most beautiful of birds I watched them weighed the shallows and roam the shores of the Jungle Lake their movements were in a kind of incredible [Music] rhythm [Music] who could ever capture on sketch pad or canvas their exciting exotic Grace Florida is a land of sports and I had heard of the American sport of dog racing but in all honesty I must say I was unprepared for the astonishing speed of sleek Greyhounds yes greyhound racing was originated in America although as far back as the time of the Pharaoh there was a somewhat similar sport called coursing fast moving dogs that would run down wild animals the dogs are placed in boxes at the starting point each numbered so the crowd can spot their [Applause] [Music] favorites [Music] well the rabbit being electrically operated always wins the very next day and I was on my way to the Everglades National Park for forunate too that the chief Ranger was my companion and [Music] guide it was point pointed out that this is a protected Rookery a breeding place for hundreds of thousands of birds many whose species might now be extinct if it were not for this Sanctuary they were all strange to me and I couldn't identify them except in generalities but the ranger said that herons of many kinds egrets spoon bills and Pelicans are among the many that rendevu in the Everglades Park [Music] we were in the midst of a wood Ibis colony in reality the Ibis is a species of stor they were everywhere the Pure White of their plumage in the bright Sun contrasting with the jet black of their wing tips now when I left Vienna my friends jokingly said bring me back an alligator because most everyone knows Florida is famous for that frightening looking oversized lizard but I soon found out there are alligators and crocodiles and very difficult to tell apart but one should crocodiles are extremely bad temper have enormous appetites and don't seem to mind in which direction they snap their powerful jaws but it was still hard to believe that this fellow's profession was wrestling alligators well every man to his own [Music] trade one thing certain those jaws can snapshot like a steel [Music] trap [Music] and what now why he's pitting the Beast it was most extraordinary he put the alligator to sleep and at natural position that's one to tell my friends at home and the winner wow that's enough to scare you half to death this king-sized replica of a reptile identifies the serpentarium or snake Park as it is more familiarly known here I saw a demonstration of how to hand capture a king cobra one of the most deadly snakes in the world Mr Cobra was far from cooperative now don't think this was just a stunt and that the poison bleeding fangs had been removed from the reptile no this was everyday business here at the serpentarium dangerous of cause but in the cause of Mercy the big snakes are force fed then milked of their venom and the Venom pharmaceutically prepared becomes a harmless medical painkiller I was invited on a fishing trip which pleased me very much for I knew that people came from many far away places to fish in the Florida waters we arrived at what I was told was a good fishing ground which seemed odd but it was good all right for in a matter of moments we began to pull in the first fat bass it just proved G you can find most anything in Florida if you know where to look before long we had our limit that means you want to leave some for the next fellow to catch a very polite custom but in all my imaginings I never believed I would see a big sawfish close up and swimming lazily by and other denisons of the deep too we were at the famous theater of the sea a great natural Aquarium of deep pools where one could watch the anti of creatures usually found in the wild vastness of the ocean a giant sea [Music] turtle a stingray dangerous in its normal habitat for that Bob tail is like a sharp poisoned spear but at the theater of the sea dosil a friendly hand-fed [Music] pet ah but the star performers were the porpose these are the large fish that often follow a ship at sea for many days they seem to have a a friendliness about them certainly they like to play almost like children and there is a bounding Grace to their movements when it comes to playing ball well a porpus makes a pretty good outfielder so I was told just watch [Music] ah they don't mind coming right out of the water and they do it easily almost standing on their [Music] tails yes they seem to float in the air just incredible by this time I was a little dizzy from the variety of Wonders and that's when we visited the Parrot Jungle they were every everywhere parrots M catus full of chatter and curiosity they seem to know their own brilliant Beauty and would pose with any visitor for a [Music] picture a pretty darkhaired girl and a white coatu are a striking combination and the friendly Birds especially like children even if they carry them upside down well here too they have a show and first on the bill was Suzie whose bill was very [Music] active all that for one little seed and who's this why it's Joo and he was not going to be left out of the show or in Simeon language no bird was going to make a monkey out of [Music] him and in the Parrot Jungle there's more than one way to get your dinner your own private elevator for [Music] example of course the parrot performers are smart and really enjoy showing off but credit must be given to the instructor who has spent long patient hours in the training of these tropical [Music] birds and now a daring feet on the high flying trapes yes sir he flies through the air with the greatest of [Music] ease I'm most certainly had never seen a parrot stand on his head but that was the next acrobatic Marvel to [Music] behold and there was still another way toate a bite to eat here in the Parrot Jungle but the trip back was more [Music] difficult the resplendant subjects would surely exhaust the colors of my crayons but I was eager to try a bit of sketching uh two art critics watched me closely and they talked it over [Music] politely I stepped aside while the jury debated I'm not sure what the verdict was an underwater ballet of spectacular beauty or perhaps I should say of breathtaking Beauty because the young ladies remain submerged at depths of 25 to 100 ft from 30 to 40 minutes with only an occasional draft from an air hose anyway they are the mermaids of wiii spring and I watch like seeing a living dream [Music] picture [Music] remember Cypress Gardens well I promised to return there as a matter of fact had been looking forward to it the same lovely girls in the colorful oldfashioned costumes and by contrast there were other girls who scrambled out of the car wearing bathing suits and ran down the walk each carrying a pair of skis along with a few hundred other people I was about to see a daring exhibition the girls held a Confederate flag remindful of the old s this kind of skiing was Far different from what I had known in the Frozen elves ballet girls charming and Aren't They [Music] pretty [Music] Don Nicholas was his name I wondered what he was going to do with that small [Music] pedal [Music] skiing on a canoe pedal was enough but a fellow named Scott Had A variation of his own he went skimming swiftly over the water on two small shoe [Music] schemes then came the great Alfredo you had to see this to believe even then you blink your eyes in [Music] Wonder skiing on his bare feet [Music] Bravo then came the ski acrobats [Music] oh [Music] ever ski on a flying sourer a marvelous clown delighted the crowd when he performed intricate Feats of dexterity with a skimming sorer and a common [Music] chair [Music] another funny fellow made us laugh as he ran through the water to join his comrades in buffoonery [Music] but I quickly realized these men were Champion acrobats the greatest I had ever [Music] seen and again the girls of the wat shell a beautiful display of precision and [Music] Grace this was the grand finale to the dazzling aquacade of the Florida lagoons [Music] even as I stood talking with the girls there at the Cypress Gardens I was thinking of all the varied and fascinating experiences I had had in so short a time everyone had made me welcome and helped me to see the color and splendors of this tropical land so many memories and pictures were carved indelibly in my mind I was sure they would find expression on canvas when I returned to my painting and as a final farewell a last and memorable ride through the blossom Lin Lagoon of the tropical gardens how could I ever explain all this to my friends at home for that matter how could I ever leave so Charming a place and such enticing company ah that was my [Music] delight