Moorish Spain (1933)

[Music] bein described by the immortal Goethe as land of wine and minstrel see the fertile plains of Andalucia in southern Spain yield a rich harvest of grapes raisins wines figs olives and weak to separate the grain from the ear the wheat is spread upon the ground and a farmer drives a stone boat over it a happy-go-lucky way in which he gaily describes circles is quite characteristic of the Andalusian temperament it is more suggestive of a boy trying out a new toy than it is of a downtrodden farmer trying to make every movement count when a wing is done with equal gunshots the gentle breeze is contributing to this primitive method of separating the wheat from the chaff as I gazed on this peaceful scene of content and agricultural stagnation my thoughts wandered back some 1,200 years to the time when the Moors came over from Africa invaded Spain and confident and it seemed to me that this remarkable race with its strain of Arab blood had left indelible traces of its personality in the appearance character and customs of the Andalusians of today picturesque headgear for man and beast alike and after a day of toil the harvester leisurely wins his homeward way the hill slopes furnished generous pasture for countless goats the goats furnish milk from which countless cheeses are made and their skins I used to make countless wine bags like those used by the ancients for storing and transporting the precious liquid this is the Spanish cousin of our Navy mascot and this a distant relative of our army mule here he thinks we're all Democrats so he advances to salute an important item in the wealth of southern Spain is the great number of oak trees every 10 years these sturdy oak trees are stripped of their bark the bark is known to us as cork the first two things are coarse and are used for floats life preservers and for tanning leather each succeeding stripping grows finer and when the grain is fine enough the bark is used for making cork for bottles these drippings do not injure the trees many of which live for a hundred and fifty years although some of the properties of court were known to the ancient Greeks and Romans it is only about two hundred years ago that it came into use for stopping bottles it is to court that we owe the accidental discovery of sparkling champagne at first champagne was a still wine with no bubbles in it the bottles were loosely Stoppard with hemp that allowed all the gas to escape in 1720 a wily old monk Dom Perignon was the first to use court for stopping his champagne bottles this kept the gas in but he didn't suspect it until one day the cork flew out with a loud noise the old monk took a long drink of the sparkling fluid and exclaimed I have been drinking stars and thus champagne as we know it was born all over Spain and towns and villages young women produced exquisite needlework this pretty senorita so intent on a work graciously consented to pose for us but she kept the cameraman waiting for hours while she had a hair Marcel for the occasion evidently an old Spanish custom which was imported into our own country a long time ago she proudly shows you an exquisite ivory carving of arches in miniature under this very tree back in 1832 Washington Irving sat and mused as he about his famous tales of the Alhambra the Alhambra built more than 650 years ago by the Moorish Kings presents an exterior that is austere and fortress life the interior however is of surpassing beauty and delicacy the door Adela Bella or Watchtower where the Moorish kings kept their wives a sheer drop of 85 beep makes escape impossible yeah not so dumb these Moorish kings they when the Moors had been finally driven out King Charles the fifth of Spain jealous of the fame of the Alhambra tried to outshine it in splendor within the Alhambra walls he built a palace in the style of the Renaissance entirely out of harmony with its surroundings his extravagant efforts however were doomed to failure instead of glory he reached only ridiculed the architectural monstrosity does he built has been aptly called the fool's palace [Music] now how different and how beautiful is this perfect example of Moorish art the famous court of Lyons with its graceful and intricate arches supported by slender columns of pure white marble and its richly colored floor tiles of blue and yellow the basin of the fountain is of alabaster it is supported by 12 white marble ions that symbolize strength and courage gorgeous archways a veritable lacework in marble enriched with brilliant colors leading from one fairy like court to another Arabic inscriptions taken from the Quran adorn the walls prayer arches by with each other in their splendor Moorish variations of geometrical designs delight the eye massive doors of bronze and would protect the inner sanctum the mysterious part of the myrtles dramatic scene of a Sultan's vengeance unable to find out which one of his Timbers ears have betrayed him he had them all beheaded in this Court another more who took those chances himself unseen the sultan gazed through this graceful fretwork when selecting new wives for his harem in the limpid and perfumed waters of the pool in the center of the court of the myrtles the beautiful girls who aspire to the honor of being accepted for the harem exhibited their charms from this gallery we enjoy a colorful vista of the sierra nevada as we look out over the town of granada we observe in the distance the village of the gypsies these picturesque nomads impelled by their inborn love of oriental splendor had at one time pitched the camp within the alhambra from which they were finally driven here we see a fine specimen of a juneau like gypsy displaying a gorgeous Spanish shawl for you to admire another with flowers and leaves in her hair there all ready for their favorite dance to the sound of guitars and castanets [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] as the moon rays filter through the waving palms I reluctantly turn my back on beautiful Spain the land of romance love and chivalry [Music]