Our Good Neighbors, Brazil: Rio de Janeiro, ca 1950

[Music] across the very center of North America you find you are looking at the United States of America now if you run your pointer across the very center of you will notice the ocean and the Harbor guanabara Bay Brazilians will assure you that Beyond question their capital and its harbor are the most beautiful in all the world it was first seen by Europeans when Captain Andre galvas a Portuguese explorer sailed here January 1st 15002 almost 10 years after Columbus discovered America in 1492 these early Sailors thought surely the huge Bay must be the mouth of a river so they named it Rio de Janeiro in English the river of January we are looking at R from a top core kado a peak 2300 ft High we can see how the city is grown along the ocean and the harbor and in The Valleys between the hills almost 2 and a half million people live in Rio today making it one of the really great cities of the world Rio is 400 years old many years older than any City in our United States for a city so old Rio is sping new including the Main Avenue VES such as avenita gulio Vargas so Broad and straight to make room for this Avenue the people of Rio tore down 1,400 old buildings and still more coming down to make room for more and more modern structures work such as this is familiar to Us North Americans we feel at home in Rio new skyscrapers going up along the new Avenue be at at least 22 stories high the people of Rio call themselves Karas they are proud of their skyscrapers yes they will tell you we borrowed the idea from your North American cities but we added our own Styles outstanding examples of Brazilian architecture include the Ministry of Education building the karaa like cool fresh air for their city is warm all the year round like our Los Angeles and Miami their skyscrapers have solid awnings that can be set like shutters to keep out the hot sun but still let in the breezes from the harbor the Brazilian press Association has its own outstanding skyscraper freedom of the press means much to all Brazilians the nation has more than 150 radio stations and television now becoming immensely popular is serviced by a gr growing network of stations like ourselves the Brazilians read many magazines books and newspapers for sale at new stands throughout all cities all Brazilian children must go to school they study subjects much the same as those taught in our North American schools students in certain schools dress alike as do these girls who are studying to become teachers in any of the Brazilian kindergartens you might think you were right at home in your own school but not of you listened closely because of course these children are singing in Portuguese but they do play almost exactly the same games and do dancing to music as we do later on many of these boys and girls will learn to speak English it is a compulsory subject in high school the Monroe Palace is so named in honor of our President Monroe who warned European Kings long ago not to attack our South American friends and those sidewalks karaok love them for they are found nowhere else in the world outside Brazil excepting Lisbon Portugal to Brazilians their mother city they're not just painted the sidewalks are made up of millions of little Stones making them true mosaics Rio's beautiful but busy Harbor gives employment to thousands of Karas approximately 4500 vessels enter the harbor every year Brazil sends out to World Markets coffee cotton cocoa beans Pine Lumber leather and hides and wax from other nations Brazil gets Machinery wheat oil and gasoline steel articles coal and paper pulp the greatest part of Brazil's trade is with the United States we take more than half of her goods from us she buys more than from any other Nation Rio has many parks as in our own big cities Brazilians are most proud of their Amazon Gardens and the Lily ponds for all Brazilians dream of the day when the Amazon jungles will be developed like our own West the children of Rio study jungle ways they learn that the traveler's Palm will always yield fresh pure drinking water to anyone lost in the jungle it is a wonderful but strange jungle world Brazilian boys and girls study but for flowers no karaoke has to visit a park Flower stands are on many street corners as they are in many of our cities such as San Francisco or downtown New York in Rio flowers bloom every month and huge birthday bouquet are common to a Brazilian it is not at all strange to see flowers go walking off for he knows that a delivery man accustomed to carrying huge loads never lets any harm come to his burden they are called cacadores and are most useful in narrow streets where a cart or truck could not move the top men in the porter business are the bicycle delivery boys a favorite joke in Rio is that if you wish to move a railroad car call a bicycle boy wonder what happens when he has to stop suddenly coffee is Brazil's greatest crop all other countries come to Brazil to buy Brazilian coffee Brazil also produces much sugar but exports very little they use it up themselves the artist must have his coffee too you will notice that while Brazilians drink frequently the cups are not not too large it is the same with the ladies in the afternoon at any of Rio's many restaurants women who have been shopping or visiting stop in for their afternoon coffee karaoke are gay people they're fond of going out to hotels theaters and restaurants even more so than in most of our cities when the day's work is done the struggle to get home begins at every bus stop there are long lines people wait patiently ly for they know their great city is growing so fast that there are not enough buses and trolleys to take care of the crowds soon there will be for Brazil has ordered many more from us but meanwhile it's especially hard for people who live outside Rio itself and must use the trains since these pictures were made more trains have been put in service and the crowding usually is not so bad the city however is still growing at a very fast rate the Brazilians are a devout people in thankfulness for a century of Independence they built a huge statue the Christ of Rio and put it on the peak of a mountain they call cor kado the statue stands 100 ft high and can be seen from far out at Sea and from the city streets as well weekends are devoted to play and in Rio 10 times years ago all this was a dreary when people began to come here to frolic and to bathe the City built a curving Oceanfront Avenue then came the builders and a half moon of Splendid hotels and modern apartments soon fringed the new Boulevard people live on the beach all year round and each family wanted a porch for sunbathing Builders worked out a way to do this and their brand new ideas interested many North americ American planners and Builders Perhaps it is our turn to copy our Brazilian friends altogether official figures indicate that the cost of living in Brazil is just about the same as in the United States most of the suburban homes are in The Valleys they are as modern as any North American home with electricity for lighting and gas for cooking and heating almost all visitors to Rio ride to the the top of Sugarloaf Mountain on the aerial cable car karaoke say that until you look upon their marvelous City from Sugarloaf you cannot appreciate how beautiful it is the cable line soon will be 50 years old it is in two sections we are on the first which goes to a transfer Landing 700 ft High then it is time for everyone to change cars to the second and really steep cable Sugarloaf Mountain is 12200 ft above the bay about a qu mile high as we go up the car jces a little but no one is frightened people talk as they look our guide tells us about Brazil the country has 52 million people he assures us and every one of them wants to come to Rio if only for once in a lifetime that is true he continues news even for the million Indians in the jungles they have heard of The Magic City and believe that those who see it will live to be old all visitors the guide goes on should be made to visit Brazil's other great coastal cities Jewels he says along Brazil's 3600 mile Coastline on the Atlantic Ocean all North Americans and by that he means us we know should realize that Brazil also is a great democracy where people are free and happy to govern themselves a country he says with a heart as big as its great Harbor with a shoreline 100 Mil long and dotted with 80 Islands large and small remember he concludes remember that in Brazil all Americans have a true friend and that when any American Northern or Southern sees the Brazilian flag he may say there flies the proud flag of my friends the Brazilians who love peace even as do I [Music]