CHICAGO!

[Music] good evening ladies and gentlemen this is jack douglas with another armchair vacation in america this believe it or not is the origin of the city of chicago fort dearborn in 1820 less than 50 years later 1868 chicago had grown enormously only to be ravaged in the great of 1871 which destroyed much of the city the old water tower one of the city's treasured landmarks survived the raging inferno and it's one of the few remaining buildings of chicago's victorian era well this is the city today a new and dynamic city on the shores of lake michigan chicago a man-made wonder of the world [Applause] this is not what chicago looked like the last time i was there five or six years ago and if you haven't been a visitor in recent years you're in for a lot of pleasant surprises the skyline from lake michigan is a beauty the chicago river cuts through the heart of the city and you can see the sights from aboard one of these attractive lake and river cruise boats the skyline cruises dock at the corner of state street and walker drive and the price is right two dollars for a two-hour tour a dollar for the youngsters here's the world's largest post office and running underneath it is the eisenhower expressway from street level to the top of its steeple the temple church is the world's tallest church at this close distance the merchandise mart is even bigger than it appears in pictures and on postcards these twin apartment towers soar 60 stories high a complex known as marina city the world's tallest residential apartment buildings marina city also has offices a theater resort facilities and a marina that can shelter 700 boats in dry storage space the wrigley building there in the background has many distinctions and perhaps the most interesting is this it's the only building in chicago scrubbed annually with just plain soap and water and that's quite a job leaving the river the sightseeing boat screws the shoreline of lake michigan and all in all it's a pleasant way to spend part of a morning afternoon or evening we're taxiing now along state street of which the guidebooks say the most convenient and concentrated shopping district in the world maxwell street is also a shoppers paradise an open-air market that rivals in size and variety the flea markets of europe you name it they have it from a lampshade to a new or almost new pair of pants in mid-afternoon when there are lots of potential customers prices are higher than at the close of the day when the merchants are anxious to dispose of their wares incidentally sunday morning is a good time for vacationers to browse the maxwell street market it's a must this attractive building is part of the chicago fire academy at 558 west dakota it's situated near the site of the o'leary house and barn the barn that supposedly ignited the terrible fire of 1871 according to the inscription on the base of this modernistic sculpture tongues of flame generally speaking we would not think of a fire academy as a tourist attraction and yet tens of thousands of visitors pour through the academy each year fascinated by the training procedures of a distinguished fire department and from a tourist point of view this is where the action is and it's free also at the academy you can see a demonstration of quinn's snorkel that massive white atop the wagon the quinn snorkel was conceived by fire commissioner robert j quinn who got the idea after watching a park department tree pruning machine the snorkel is destined to make the hook and ladder obsolete here's how it works as explained to us by lieutenant robert maloney the snorkel is quite an improvement over the old hooking ladder as you can see we can go straight up and down this building just like an elevator i can make a 90 foot range here all these windows in the academy i can reach without moving my apparatus once for rescue work it's ideal go up to a window and you don't have to talk nobody to get into this basket the people just come automatically get right into the basket not too long ago we had a one of our elevated trains here had an accident we removed 300 people with our snorkels make this another must on your chicago vacation the fire academy on west dakota chicago is world renowned as an entertainment mecca and we can start with a pump room of the ambassador hotel then there's the gaslight club on east juran street the first key club in america and here's the original playboy club at 116 east walton it's bunny banner waving a welcome to the young in heart but here in what was formerly the mccarmick mansion on east ontario is my idea of the absolutely perfect family restaurant and theater the kungshong this excellent restaurant is operated by the fred harvey chain and offers a varied menu to please almost any pallet however its smorgasbord is the big deal because after all almost any restaurant serves a steak or a cut of beef but a scandinavian smorgasbord is not that common so most first-time patrons make a beeline for the bulging table well anyway after dinner we're treated to the kung's home miniature grand opera it's ingenious and it's purely delightful payachi is performed by puppets notice here that these are mechanically operated puppets no strings or wires are used in controlling them [Music] [Applause] [Music] huh [Music] [Applause] at night time out of towners like ourselves will rush out to rush street the heart of the nightclub district and as our teenagers would say it's a swinging place as these neon signs indicate [Music] at about midnight you may wish a change of pace from the brass and blair of rush street and this is a perfect sanctuary the three hussars restaurant in the carriage house hotel the three hussars features two instruments violin and symbolon a piano-sized percussion instrument manufactured in hungary [Music] the three who sars and sew to bed [Music] [Applause] this magnificent fountain one of the most ornate in all the world was gifted to the city of chicago by miss kate sturgis buckingham the fountain is located at the foot of congress street at lakeshore drive the capacity of the basins is a million and a half gallons and the central jet forces the water skyward 190 feet and isn't it a nice background for some vacation type snapshots [Music] in august of each year the midwest buddhist church of chicago sponsors ginza holiday a three-day out-of-doors festival intended to promote a closer relationship between east and west well from our viewpoint it's a once over lightly trip to japan without leaving chicago the dances the music the costumes all are authentically japanese at the fair you can buy numerous handcrafted souvenirs to take back home japanese dolls floral displays or the highly stylized work of a quick sketch artist this mountain scenic was finished by the way in about seven or eight seconds and heavy brush work of this type is called sumier for more entertainment there are demonstrations of the so-called samurai sports such as aikido which is akin to jiu-jitsu in this sequence a would-be purse snatcher gets his comeuppance well the intended victim gets a big hand mostly i might add from the ladies anyway after watching all that violent exercise we couldn't resist the tantalizing aroma of chicken teriyaki we couldn't resist the price either 1.25 for all we could eat you can't very well miss riverview park sprawling out over 70 acres of the north side you can hear the sounds of thrills and excitement a mile away riverview is the world's largest there's that word again anyway the world's largest amusement park and it dates back to 1904 [Music] after the usual amusement park attractions let's try some of the more unusual ones the water chute the only one of its kind in the country was built in 1908 now two elevators carry the boats to a height of 64 feet but don't be frightened riverview also holds the world's safety record for amusement parks once at the top the boats hurtle down the watered shoot and i mean they hurt [Music] next the flying turns a toboggan type of free-running roller coaster from the chicago world's fair of 1934. this one scares me to death [Music] the parachutes utilizes an observation tower erected in 1910 then in 1936 they decided to use the tower as a parachute drop and here we go 212 feet to the top incidentally the parachutes conform to air force specifications if that's any comfort to us [Music] up and up and what's it feel like when the shoots are released well it's like being in an elevator and having the cable snap watch the roller coaster ride at riverview is a classic and they just don't build them like this anymore three different trains operate on this one mass of wooden steel and the ride has attracted over 35 million people since 1921. like all coaster rides it starts off nice and slow and then you know what [Music] by now your youngsters will probably have had their fill of action but not necessarily excitement and there's a different kind of excitement awaiting us at the zoological park we're looking now at part of the mall with the theodore roosevelt memorial fountain in the foreground and what a selection of wildlife they have in this great zoo the doll sheep of the canadian yukon in alaska the only species of white bighorn the parents of the first black rhinos born in america the majestic african elephant said to be very obedient and amiable i suppose they mean after the elephant has been trained the malayan taper related to the rhino and the horse found only in malaya and central and south america giraffes the tallest creatures in the animal kingdom the dromedary one hump camel baboons unattractive and really bad tempered the common black bear found anywhere from florida to alaska the grizzly bear diminishing in numbers and protected now by the government in the yellowstone national park the arctic polar bear the african lion and lioness not nearly as fearsome as the tiger pound for pound one of the most dangerous creatures on four legs chicago's mammoth zoo also has a children's division and for the small fry this is dreamsville they're allowed to cut and feed the baby elephants and the goats or wear a black indigo snake as a necklace it's a very docile snake and quite harmless the zoo also has the country's only inland porpoise arena and the lovable dolphin put on a fun happy show in a huge tank which is artificially salted now set aside at least the morning and an afternoon when you visit here the chicago zoological park [Applause] people who think of chicago in terms of al capone crime stories are in for quite a surprise the new chicago is one of america's great cultural centers the art institute of chicago is just one example it extends for two blocks along michigan avenue and inside we find the expected variety of masterpieces a sunday afternoon by the frenchman syrah vincent van gaal painted his bedroom when he lived in the city of aurel in southern france now to loose la trek in the circus fernando the ringmaster picasso's the red armchair and also from picasso circa 1921 a strong virile work mother and child there are more than paintings at the art institute african fertility headdress masks wooden indian chief a classic example of american art carved about 1880 reclining figure by henry moore sculpted in 1957 and this massive stonework shanmuka on a peacock dates back to the india of the 12th century but this we thought was a real treasure the ayala altarpiece commissioned by one don pedro lopez de ayala of spain in 1396. well you can't see it all in a few minutes plan on at least four hours at the art institute of chicago then perhaps after lunch make a beeline for the natural history museum it's an enormous place but if you're not in a hurry there's something worth saying every foot of the way we don't have the time to describe even the few exhibits we photographed but you should know that the natural history museum has the largest collection of primitive art in the entire hemisphere and shades of halloween what have we here more masks than we'd see at the mardi gras masks from every corner of the earth here now is early man man who lived in caves and rock shelters of western europe about fifty thousand years ago in a maori council house the figures are adorned with feather capes and the faces are tattooed far less civilized are the bushmen of the kalahari desert of africa depicted in this bronze sculpture and you'll be awed by this reproduction of an aztec market in what is now mexico city a market that flourished shortly before cortes came and conquered another highlight is this moon model which though constructed in 1888 is still a fairly accurate picture of the surface of the moon in size the chicago historical society is smaller than the museum or the art institute but don't bypass it listen this despite other claims is the anchor from the santa maria one of the three vessels used as we know by christopher columbus in his discovery of the new world the society by the way has ample proof as to the authenticity of the anchor and the proof is irrefutable the santa maria anchor was discovered in 1891 the society also has one of america's finest lincoln and pioneer collections these cane chairs were brought over from ford's theater to the house across the street where lincoln died and this not the bed in washington is the actual lincoln death bed well now as we conclude this program our chicago viewers may ask why did we leave out the museum of science and industry which attracts three million visitors annually a museum so big it maintains a captured german u-boat on open exhibit chicagoans may also wonder why we have bypassed old town that magical magnificent restoration which is now the number one entertainment attraction in the entire city well in a future program we're going to concentrate exclusively on old town and the museum of science and industry the most fascinating museum of its kind on earth for example let's quickly board that german u-boat and here's part of its story by dick freitag i'm standing in the control of the u-505 right here where i have my hand is the helmsman station for steering the submarine when running submerged here is a repeater compass from the gyrocompass behind me for navigation over in the corner of the control room is a sea strainer that the germans used at the time of the capture for scuttling the submarine at the time of the capture the skipper had brought the submarine to periscope depth and noticed five destroyer escorts converging on him and decided he didn't have much of a chance and wanted to save his crew so he gave the order to scuttle and the chief engineer opened the sea strainer but did not take the time to open it all the way where the water would have gushed in and nobody would have saved the submarine instead he only took a couple of turns and the water was just flooding in to the after part of the submarine at the time our boarding party came aboard the first man down fortunately uh found the sea strainer and the cover lane right there and replaced it and saved the submarine with about two or three minutes to go otherwise it would have gone down and at the time or up to the time of the capture of this submarine uh the u-505 had sunk eight allied ships totaling forty six thousand tons yes we'll come this way again in the near future to chicago a man-made wonder of the world i sincerely hope that you enjoyed tonight's armchair vacation and that will meet again next week somewhere in america until then jack douglas saying thank you so much and good night ladies and gentlemen boys and girls so [Applause] you