A TEENAGER TAKES A LOOK AT EUROPE

[Music] cager takes a look at Europe [Music] one spring day 13 year old Francie Hoffman sat in her Canton Ohio schoolroom studying a map of Europe wishing wishing that a magic carpet would sweep down and carry her away to this magic land away off to the land of our forefathers to London Paris Rome Venice Madrid and all those other wonderful places on that colorful map suddenly the map came to light and a little airplane began to move out to sea Francie sighs oh that's my plane that's my trip I can see myself of the airport boarding that plane now yes indeed it is your plane Francine step right up here is your magic carpet it's your dream come true and there's many a thrill ahead of you [Music] 18 hours later Francie was skimming over the blue waters of Lisbon Harbour and Portugal [Music] as she snapped this picture of her mother and the interpreter walking along a Lisbon Street she noticed that the Portuguese people looked much like the American [Music] the houses were a beautifully carved stone and brightly colored plaster the men wore dark suits and ties for it was Sunday [Music] francy took an automobile ride through the Portuguese countryside but speak for yourself Francie and tell us what did you see Oh Portugal was a beautiful with the Streamy harbour below and farmers plowing brown terraces on the green hillsides that rolled down to the sea in the distance they lifted white as snow [Music] as we came into lisbon city limits the bumpy cobblestone streets gave us a rough ride but the mosaic patterns in the walks were more beautiful than anything i've ever seen in america the public buildings and advertising signs were much like ours in the big cities of the united states [Music] you can ride anywhere on Lisbon's because for two cents in American money even the little cadre of funicula to climb listen speak ill charge I'll make 2 cents per ride [Music] along Lisbon's waterfront Francie got acquainted with the fish ladies who balance baskets of fish on their heads and sell them to housewives and Lisbon boys who are compelled to go to school only four years [Music] yes when I visited the Institute Oh develop a school for dollars of portuguese army officers many of them spend summer vacations at the beautiful ancient castle perched on the edge of the ocean here they are wearing their sunday suits we climbed high up into the parapet from the old castle to get a better view of the ocean [Music] in this ancient monastery now remodeled and provided with every convenience the girls study and play in the charming close to the courtyard the tree you see here bursting into bloom is an almond tree the Portuguese girls were most kind to me and put on a special folk dance for my benefit in their regular summer costumes out for walk and in the background an ancient olive orchard on the hillside here you see me in a white smock learning to play Portuguese game the girls chat quaint folk tunes as they skip in rhythm [Music] when I left they gave me this little doll which they made with their own hands for one glorious week Francie lived in the fabulously beautiful Hilton Catalina Hotel in Madrid and attended lope de Vega school Spanish school girls walk mild the visitor and have tea at the hotel they laughed and talked mostly in sign language yes and I got my first glimpse of the old world method of doing things the first morning trip I took outside of Madrid these carts pass this chain rubbage from Madrid to the city dump and from these fountains toward the cold water in which all the ladies of the village washed and rinsed their clothes see how expertly they cast the plat upon the ladder [Music] [Music] in the early morning hours the road signs were covered with herds of sheep Francie's Stood Still and the Sheep walked quietly around her [Music] [Music] nearby she made the acquaintance of a Spanish highway policeman he walks and stands all day at his post Spanish men women and children lounged at midday in the ancient Toledo's public square soaking up the spring sunshine and visiting this lady was friendly and happy to have her child photographed everywhere were museums housing world-renowned paintings of Spanish masters Francie and her mother visited the home of El Greco [Music] returning to Madrid at evening we passed the farmer plowing with oxen through our interpreter I asked if I might learn to plow his weather-beaten rosy cheeks for reasoned smiles as he said Cece yes yes a shepherd nearby met me rolled a newly born snow-white lamb and a black sheep only a few hours by TW a magic carpet and Francie was in Rome st. Peter's Cathedral and Vatican City was as big and beautiful as I thought it would be but imagine my surprise when I found an American amusement device down the street operating in the very shadow of this world-famous Church the ruins of Pompeii were silent as the graveyard and the big volcanic stood black and sullen in the background like a pouting bad boy like all the visitors to Venice I fed the pigeons in st. Mark's lair and I saw the famous author Ernest Hemingway standing on a pier waiting for his gondolier he waved at me what a thrill gliding along the Grand Canal before the silent sweep of the gondoliers long blade the mission councilman refused to that American architect Frank Lloyd Wright tear down this house to make way for one of his own design do you suppose this watery City has a fire department indeed it does and here it is [Music] Venice was built on a series of violins in the 12th century as a protection against its enemies the entire city has been slowly sinking on its wooden piles until more than two thirds of it is completely covered and the remainder of its partially flooded during the spring tides engineer say there is no way to save it and believe it will be uninhabited by the end of this century [Music] [Music] this fish lady was selling in fish that left a black stain on her hair she was also selling squirming eel and this is the way they conduct a funeral in Italy with the mourners walking behind the hearse on the way to the graveyard [Music] this fabulous clock is located in st. Mark's Square and Venice Italy and is counted out the time by three different methods for over 500 years most charming feature of this clock are the iron men who strike the hour with their iron mallet [Music] one of the biggest thrills of my whole European trip was meeting our American ambassador in Switzerland miss Frances Elizabeth Willa we were her luncheon guests at her lovely home and burned when our magic carpet snow over the tip of the great Matterhorn mountain near Zermatt Switzerland I never dreamed I would climb it but here I am 10,000 feet up in this 15,000 foot mountain watching the skiers glide at net breaking speed down the miles of my seat rails little cog rail ski trains love people up and down the mountain all day long [Music] I this is an international girl school at the Somme Switzerland the girl to left is a Turkish girl the one at right is Dutch there are 26 nationalities represented here and all are required to speak French except on Sundays when they may speak their own language [Music] at our uber gal I visited Anton Risinger the Christus of the Passion Play he took me all about the town and theater and patiently answered my questions about this greatest of all religious plays which depicts the life and death of Christ and is presented every 10 years Nobby D&C - a pledge made hundreds of years ago when a plague was killing the villagers and they were delivered from it in answer to their prayers [Music] at Darmstadt Germany I lived with an East German family they had recently fed from the Communists in the dark of night and left their home and all their possessions behind they had little more than the necessities of life and other refugees in this camp had left some of these children never saw their prisoner fathers and others not until they were 10 years old you heard the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin all right here where he is supposed to have performed his wonderful miracle the German people have built their first consolidated school it is modeled after American school and over two hundred thousand dollars of the American money went into this school it's known as the shoulder [Music] and here is heidelberg castle in the famous town of Heidelberg in Germany overlooking the netkar River [Music] [Applause] [Music] this is the German Autobahn similar to the Pennsylvania Turnpike here in America it is perhaps not quite the smooth or wide what is more scenic and is landscaped more artistically [Music] these plump little fellas are German war orphans from an orphanage in Heidelberg I wanted to bring one home with me but of course I wasn't permitted to do so [Music] here's a restored village in Oslo Norway Scandinavian towns look like this hundreds of years ago but now they'd look much like American towns and cities [Music] [Music] all through Europe there's much military ritual here you see the changing of the guard at the king's palace in Stockholm Sweden [Music] and here is the greatest floral shop in the world Keukenhof 50 acres of tulips hyacinth and daffodils the great outdoor show window for the bulb growers of Holland whose business in America is so great that they have 10,000 Dutch salesmen in the United States selling us balls [Music] and here's the great annual flower parade at helicam Holland where all the floats are made of complete flowers but each year from the flowering bulbs [Music] at Amsterdam Francie was privileged to see the Queen of Denmark visit Queen Juliana of Holland at the Dutch Palace in Amsterdam [Music] here you see them on the balcony at Queen Juliana's palace in the land of the windmills Francie visited with a little dutch girl on the markand island in the seiner sea watched her polish her first pair of leather shoes their most prized possession they cost her daddy who makes only $18 per week $7 the wooden shoes she wears on a weekdays cost only $1 lonesome quarter Cocker Spaniel Tootsie Francie borrowed a Street beggars dog at Amsterdam and took it for a walk or perhaps we better say the dog took Francie for a walk in Paris I visited college vignette the girls there told me that no French teenage girl would think of wearing lipstick or fingernail polish I enjoyed seeing the Eiffel Tower at a distance but was a bit frightened when I rode up into its dizzy heights on elevator [Music] how's this for hitchhiking people in European countries don't have much television or many other luxuries come into America but they have wonderful booths and everybody goes to the loo on a bright Sunday this is Benson zoo in Paris [Music] we we that French bread is good and to browse around the great moto target was fun [Music] this vegetable vendor laughingly said you mustn't talk to me too long you'll make my wife jealous French young men and women can attend their world-famous Sorbonne University for little or nothing many have nothing and sleep on park benches this French hot rodder and his girlfriend picked up in an occasional franc trading advertising signs [Music] and then fella does sketches sketchy made of me [Music] at the Tower of London this English guard never blinked an eye when Francie marched alongside and tried to keep step with him [Music] the most unusual celebrity Francie met was this fierce bird Charles the Raven one of six such birds kept at the Tower of London to prevent a curse from coming upon the British Empire he's part of one of the many delightful traditions that surround this historic spot three long months of shuttling back and forth across Europe and France he was at last among english-speaking schoolmates at bishops halt school near London from class to class he went engaging in a delightful exchange of conversation with the English boys and girls he saw Queen Elizabeth and her royal family returned triumphantly from their empire tour but most important of all she was back among school mates who knew how to play and they thought friends see a brand new game cricket [Music] yes just three months later Francie found herself back where she started tired but happy and much much wiser [Music]