Pan Am Clipper (1948)

Two amps. See what you can take within 66 lb. All the clothes you need and then some. No passport required. Just call your travel agent. He'll arrange all details. Your attention please. Pan-American Clipper Flight 2011 is now leaving for San Juan, Port of Spain, Rio, and Buenosiris. Passengers may now go aboard. America Rio. Cliff is right. Beyond this Pan-American gateway lies adventure, romance, and realization of your fondest dreams. Lands rich in lore and legend, of conquest and faith. Islands of tropic beauty dot the Sapphire Sea, where lusty buccaneers once sailed and plundered. Where men of daring quench their thirst for adventure in exploration, struggle, and accomplishment. America's sea of destiny. San Juan aerial crossroads of the Caribbean. Daily passengers from many lands come and go at Pan-American Guest House. The guest house is maintained for the convenience of passengers and has all the comforts of a modern hotel. Your host is proud to show you picturesque sights, even introduce you to a little mystery. Long, dark tunnels, dank sistns, thick brooding walls. Ah, the devil's sentry box. Every sentinel, every stationed here disappeared, leaving only his uniform and a strong odor of brimstone. In the name of Britain, these towering Spanish battlements were besieged several times. Once in their hour of despair, the island people formed a long procession. Carrying lighted tapers, they prayed to St. Ursula and her 11,000 virgins. Seeing so many lights and certain that reinforcements had arrived, the British abandoned their siege. A hundred years before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, cobblestone streets had been laid in San Juan. Today, this is a bustling city with modern buildings, colleges, and luxurious clubs like the Kasa de Espa with its atmosphere of old Spain. San Juan, cosmopolitan and a little provincial, sophisticated and sometimes naive, friendly and always hospitable. [Music] By Clipper, the Virgin Islands are only 30 minutes away. In the air, new beauties unfold. Blue surrounds us. Bright shining blue below the indigo blue of ocean depths and the white lace of breaking surf edging the shores of St. Thomas. Across the bay, Blue Beard's tower still looks down upon the city. Yes, Blue Beard, that bold, ruthless pirate who captured golden treasure and women's hearts. Seven wives he had, each one he killed. Some he buried right beneath this patio. Famous islands, rich islands, so many clustered islands that Columbus himself named them for center and her numerous virgins. For them, Uncle Sam paid all of $25 million. Today, St. Thomas is a duty-free port. And the busy downtown section offers incredible bargains from French perfumes to oriental silks and American cigarettes. Once a pirates paradise, today a shopper's [Music] paradise. Like a precious necklace, the myriad isles of the Antilles dot the pulsing sea. Each stamped with its own lure and vivid history. When Columbus landed, the savage carabs lived here. For them, the sea was named. From them, the conquerors learned to smoke tobacco, eat potatoes, and sleep in hammocks. Spanish fleets soon sailed the seas with fantastic new world wealth. Over the horizon loom pirate ships, and buccaneers with bloodstained hands infested the islands. The Indians died off. The treasure was gone. Men turned to the rich soil and into every port sailed slave traders, their filthy caravls laden with human cargo. Trinidad, also named by Columbus, lies straight ahead. Swept gales he vowed to name the land cited for the Holy Trinity. He called this island a terrestrial paradise. Lakes of pitch, streams of tar, oysters growing on keys, fish that sing, strange stories and far-off lands, lands of new adventure, new found friends. Well, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed your flight, Miss Dale. I know you're going to have a nice visit here in Trinidad. I'm sure of it. Oh, Mr. Reed. Miss Dale, I'd like you to meet one of your fellow passengers, Mr. Reed. How do you do? How do you do? Mr. Reed's one of our Clipper commuters. Flies around these islands quite regularly. say, as a matter of fact, he's going to be on your plane next Thursday. Oh, how nice. Yes, I'm going to Kingston on business. Where are you going? I'm going to Kingston, too. But not on business. You see, this is a trip I've always dreamed of and never thought I could take. I only have a twoe vacation. Then, I take it this is your first visit here. Yes, it is. Well, I know Trinidad like a book, and I'm sure I'd make an excellent guide. May I have the pleasure? I'd love it. Well, suppose I get your car. Fine. Fine. [Music] Music is on the soft tropic air. Calypso, that rhythmic singing ballad. Uniquely Trinidad's own. Spontaneous and unwritten, its witty lyrics carry important messages or give Barb comment on people and events. Aner, where you going? and American clipper. The world's your home. Day in Alaska where rivers run cold with eskimosation and torul and midway and you landed in China before so long [Music] an you'd ra you choose Australia or France or drop you to an African dance. Your home is in Europe when they still got [Music] King. I'll say your home is in paradise. One half on the earth and half in the sky. Although under the British flag, Port of Spain presents the picture of an East Indian city. Bizaars line the streets filled with the riches of the Far East. ivory, jade, and brass. Turban fakers conjure prophecies and mumble fortunes. In the streets, men of many races and religions. Side by side stand Muhammad and mosque and Hindu temple. To minimize slave uprisings, African drums were prohibited. But ingenuity outwitted municipal decrees. New instruments were contrived from anything at hand. A weird collection of discarded oil drums, gasoline cans, brake shoes, hammered, twisted, and shaped. And the steel band was born. [Music] The Northshore is mountainous, dense with luxurian jungle growth, sweet with the fragrance of spice trees. Long winding roads twist and turn under branches dripping with scarlet blossoms past streams nearly lost in magnificent arches of bamboo. Beyond these palms, along the same rugged shore, many a pirate crew has sailed and in battle lost his chests of gold to the depths of the silent [Music] sea. On the vast rich central plane, sugar cane grows high and gives the island one of its chief industries. During the cane cutting season, men, women, and children swing their huge machetes to the steady drone of their work songs. Then at night, the downbeat echoes, beckoning all from hills and plantations to join in Africa's ancient dance. The old European custom of fencing becomes the famous stick dance. A good stick dancer can knock out a predetermined tooth or even stop the falling raindrops. To the delight of wideeyed youngsters, the spectacle proceeds from one captivating dance to another. I got my [Music] There is tarid African tempo in the Shangol and ballet. Age-old ritual dances of mass hypnotism. These dervish worlds of far eastern religious ceremony are executed to an African syncopation by musicians uniquely squatting on the ground in Hindu fashion. I don't know. [Music] An American clip. Where you going? An American cliff of the [Music] world. An American clip of where you're going. An American Clipper. 1400 miles away as the Clipper flies lies Jamaica. Jamaica, where that most notorious of pirates, Henry Morgan, became governor of the island and was kned. Kingston, the capital, typically British colonial, has all the flavor of the old world. White helmeted police direct traffic with stoic calm. In the beautiful gardens of the Myrtle Bank Hotel, Jamaica's Regiment Band gives its Sunday concerts. [Music] In Hope Gardens, the display of blooms, plants, and ornamental foliage is extraordinary. Gigantic trees with drooping branches and enormous trunks cover huge areas. Trim lawns are dotted with bubbling fountains. Exotic flowers, flamboyant in color, stand out in exquisite contrast against the bright blue skies. In common with all the island peoples, Jamaicans express their feelings in rhythmic song. Warm, gay, and carefree. [Music] Come [Music] on. Rafting down the Rio Grand is good fun. If there isn't a native raft handy, the river boys will make one for you on the spot. Recipe. Good sturdy bamboo poles whipped together with strong senuey vines and presto. There's your river conveyance downstream is easy. But tell us, captain, how do you get your raft back? You see, in going up back the river, they let the little boys take it up back. You see, when you get to the dead water, they pull it along to the rapids. They tie it with a string and drive it behind them until they are over. You see, if you go fast, you may get up by 4 hours. See? Too slow, it's quicker by clipper. From quiet lagoons to cool mountaintops, there is wide scenic variety on the Northshore. Rambling hotels offer golf, tennis, bathing, yaching, riding, and even mountain climbing through emerald forests where the remote silence is broken only by bird calls. Montego Bay Winter Haven for the pleasure-loving international smart set boasts the finest crystal clearar water in the world. An average of 80° the year round. [Music] tonight. [Music] [Music] Terraces are alive with gay entertainment. For a shilling or two, Jamaican jitterbugs give their all. Perhaps not as hot as Harlem, but just give them a few years and the youngsters may yet make the big time. [Music] [Music] Oh, what a wonderful place. I wish I could stay here longer. I have news for you. What? I've just gotten a cable from my friend Mauricio Cvantes in AA. Inviting both of us to come and spend the weekend in his place there. Oh, how nice. You like his wife Mary very much, too. Mary's mother is Cuban, but her father was born in the States. She has all the charm of both nationalities. When do they expect her? Well, I've made arrangements to leave for a tomorrow. [Music] And now, Cuba, Pearl of the Antilles, the world's sugar bowl and cigar box. Opening its arms wide and welcome, Havana, playground of the Caribbean. A city riotist with color, tile groups, green plazas, and perpetual summer. Its charm is bold, its splendor stridident, its tempo vigorous. There is a fullness of life. Pavements crowded with smartly dressed people. Country cousins and high peak straw hats. Youngsters with trays of orchids. Turban mammies doefully hawking newspapers. Lottery sellers calling lucky numbers. Their cries mingling with the rockish shouts of fruit vendors, auto blasts, clanging trolley bells, a medleyong playing a lively counterpoint to the wisful melodies of the always present street singer. [Music] for the hands [Music] of God. Aana bears the earmarks of time. Yet much of it is ultramodern. Sleek motor cars in a steady screen speed along wide boulevards past buildings of other centuries. In the heart of the city, El Prao double planted boulevard. The president's palace. The marble hall capital famed for the 24 karat Kimberly diamond embedded in its floor beneath the dome. Throughout the downtown section, the buildings are traditionally Spanish. Wide high ceiling sidewalk arcades give shade from the hot sun and shelter from sudden showers. The coffee colored buildings of the old city crowd closely upon its maze of narrow streets, iron grills, musty shops, and genius gadgets for peeling fruit. Flower vendors, alley cafes, and shadowy bazaars are all bits of local color to talk about back home. Beautifully colored tile on pillars, window casings, doorways, floors, walls give a moorish accent to many an old building. A love of artistry fast being destroyed by mass production. [Music] No language problem in Havana. That insignia identifies an English-speaking officer. Polite, courteous, and well-informed. Towering against the blue skies, partly huneed from the rock itself, El Marorrow crowns its jutting promontory. Rigid, forceful as a male fist. To the tread of visitors footsteps, a unique street singer gives voice to the famed La Paloma. [Music] [Music] [Music] across the harbor of the Malachan. on famous Seaw Drive, the historic monument to the battleship Maine, the fashionable hotel [Music] Nashional. Along spacious parkways and Palmline Boulevards in Aana's residential section, palaces of American millionaires vy with those of wealthy Cubans. Seted luxurious gardens are built around quiet patios are homes of modern [Music] architecture. On the outskirts of the city are numerous resorts where one may dine privately and stroll beneath tropic skies through tropic gardens. The spirit of Aana greets you in the smoldering song of a darkeyed senorita. Sing whether your love goes away. Sing [Music] [Music] Launch and other white sand beaches dockt the shore. Thousands relax to the tune of laughter, music, and clinking [Music] glasses. Famous Varadero, one of Cuba's finest resorts, looks out over glistening sands to the wide open sea. It is the restful custom of most visitors to bask long hours in the warmth of Cuba's sun and then indulge in prolonged late morning bathing. From tea time to the wee small hours, life stirs in you. Clubs, terraces, sidewalk cafes, patios open to the sky beckon to leisurely companionship and the enjoyment of Havana's special attractions. During the season, special roundtrip evening Clipper flights from Miami accommodate those who yearn for the bright lights in this Paris of the Caribbean. A gay Havana. There are things to sip mixed with brilliance and imagination. Things to hear, wild terrifying rhythms, things to do called rumba and conga. and things to see. Danced with fury and beauty and a violent urge to movement. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Fore! Foreign! Foreign! [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Get happy. They love me. forest. [Music] [Music] Look [Music] at a baby. [Laughter] [Music] I can say my name. [Music] [Laughter] [Music] What a wonderful to think I've done all this in just a week. Clipper. [Music]