Wings To Germany, 1950s

[Music] we're 12 and 1/2 hours out of New York 5 minutes out of Frankfurt Germany Pan-American World Airways clipper 100 nears its destination a wonderful Journey will soon be over a wonderful journey is about to begin the time 2:55 p.m. we're due in at 3 we're on schedule 2:55 let's stop the clocks for just this instant and take an all-encompassing look at our destination call it Germany 255 and begin it in Frankfurt the old buildings may remember a more tranquil past but around them flows a bustling modern [Music] city bustle and noise and in the midst of it a place where nothing changes the traditional cup of coffee a moment of relaxation in the afternoon sunlight the past the present and the future wrapped in plexiglass balanced on three wheels these contrasts are the key to Modern Germany West Berlin 255 The Sidewalk Cafe is the same time stands still but the airlift Memorial at tempelhoff airport in the center of Berlin is a reminder that time moves forward too out of the past out of the wreckage and rubble a new and prosperous Berlin is rising there is still another Germany a Germany where you don't have to stop the clocks because they seem to have been halted permanently in the 15th century the Bavarian Village of Rothenberg a medieval World preserved intact [Music] there on his bicycle is hinish eer the schwarzman the black man nothing mysterious he's the local Chimney Sweep according to Legend he frightens children but not heish according to him he'd be a great favorite if only people didn't fill the youngster's head with such nonsense from generation to generation life here in orenberg follows the old Customs leisurely and uncomplicated the town's people have a say the stones talk in orenberg men must be silent [Music] at 2:55 fryberg capital of the Black Forest but it might be any other German Town any other Century on Market [Music] Day the problem of what will please the family is of equal concern to the harried housewife and the youngster with a few figs saved up for a special treat [Music] It's a Wonderful land for children a land where toys and mechanical marbles are a major craft [Music] the finest workmanship the most skillful carving come out of the Black Forest here the old crafts proudly pursued are a way of [Music] life time seems to have passed them by but time is their occupation [Music] their handiwork is turned over to the Black Forest clock salesman who still travels the Old Country Roads at an unhurried pace of another age and on the other side of the Hill stretches the autoban modern Germany traveling side by side with the past at 2:55 byro the city of Richard bner here a tradition is carried on by Wagner's grandsons the world famous Festival dedicated to the genius of the great composer The Immortal music of tan hoer lenen the Meister singer sigfried Das reinold [Music] through much of Wagner's music the river rind Flows at a steady undercurrent the Rind of the old Dark Legends of SE Freed's heroic Journey the slaying of dragons warrior women asleep in circles of Enchanted fire a treasure of gold buried beneath the [Music] water the time is 2:55 but the Rind can never be caught in a single moment the major Waterway of a great industrial nation but also the river where the laurelai sang combing her hair with a golden comb and luring seen to their death today's barge Captain still navigates carefully around that treacherous point the river has many melodies the heroic chords of Vagner an old folk song or the simple tune that Echoes across the water from an Excursion steamer the river has many moods all of them mingle together in a glass of sun tinted Ryan [Music] wine down the slopes that border the rine run great Vineyards of reing in syvan Gra es Vineyards whose wine is light and delicate with a clean fresh bouquet of spring [Applause] [Music] flowers today's amateur wine expert gets a panoramic view of Hills that were planted 1200 years ago by Charlemagne the emperor whose ghost is said to walk The Vineyards annually exalting or grieving over the year's product the time comes when a new vintage is ready to be tried and the connoisseurs the wine tasters have their day very slowly the wine is sipped so that it wets the entire tongue and trickles down the throat it's sniffed it's stared at it sabed and finally the word is pronounced Prima a good new vintage is in and that calls for a celebration the wine festival that brings to a close the months of hard work in The Vineyards [Music] 2:55 time is still suspended for the passengers of panamerican clipper flight [Music] 100 2:55 and time hangs suspended over a medieval University Town time throws a spell over heidleberg and you begin to believe the old stories of romantic duels and student princes in [Music] Disguise idleberg Castle welcomes its day daily visitors in [Music] silence these Stones were laid in the 13th century and the building sleeps in the [Music] past Legend has it that the Castle's great wine cask was emptied once by one man in one cting a story that isn't insired the town's undergraduates ever [Music] since nothing changes here the Old Town seems to live in its history turning its back on the world that speeds by [Music] outside in a corner of the Bavarian Alps lies another town that lives apart from the modern world obamaga renowned for its performance every 10 years of the Passion Play A carefully preserved survival of old medieval Miracle plays along the Main Street houses are decorated with Baroque frescos of biblical [Music] scenes the villagers are Master wood Carvers and statu from this Workshop are found in churches throughout the [Music] world but nearly everyone here has two careers and at rehearsal time everything comes to a halt this is a town of actors over 700 roles to be filled and only the town's people may participate to be chosen for a part by The Village Elders is a great honor and nothing takes precedence over [Music] rehearsals long hours of preparation go into the production which lasts a full 8 hours when it's finally performed the actor son learns from the actor father and the great dramatic tradition continues dedicated through the centuries to a sing single [Music] play side by side with Germany's cultural heritage is a great heritage of nature preserved with equal care this is garish paron kit in the Bavarian Alps perfect in the summer for trout fishing swimming and sailing perfect in the winter for skiing and skating perfect at any time of year for its untouched Scenic Grandeur and the quiet unchanging ways of its people [Music] the visitor to garish is welcomed with a time honored Hospitality of this part of the world [Music] clean Mountain Air sweeps across the water and a white sail fills out in the [Music] breeze perhaps this is the moment for something you've always meant to try [Music] you'll find there are only two things to be said about this sport either you can or you can't in which case you'd better stick with the spectators or perhaps a picnic beside a mountain lake sparkling sunlight the smell of pine in the air and a plentiful supply of that most delightful of all German inventions the Frankfurter [Music] it is summer in garnish at this suspended Moment In Time the seasons pass slowly here and the old Customs are strong if your grandfather was a mountain here you will be a mountainer too at the summit of the Zug spitza Germany's highest mountain there is early snow soon winter Sportsmen from all over the world will arrive here to begin the slow Journey up to the top and then the rapid Journey Down following the tracks of Winter Olympics and FIS champions [Music] from the crest of the Zug pitzza a sweeping view of four countries down below the warm Alpine Sun might almost deceive you into thinking it was summer but make no mistake about it for winter sports these slopes are Utopia in [Music] white now the journey to down begins every skier dreaming hopefully of the Olympic records that have been set on these Hills [Music] the ski jumpers take over and this is one event for which man is singularly ill equipped he lacks Wings well you might doubt it as you watch these experts perform [Music] [Applause] [Music] form of course not only the expert ski this fellow has heard that even the the rankest amateur can well maybe not as if the mountain sides weren't challenge enough the bob sled teams compete on a run that's guaranteed to scare off 10 lb cure your sacroiliac and possibly even put a curl in your hair [Music] practice they say makes perfect but just what is it that this fellow's trying to perfect the more surefooted skiers are off now on the slom Run cutting a serpentine Trail down the slope through a flag marked course the flags are obviously set by someone with a diabolical Turn of Mind for whom disaster has become a career [Music] and once again our friend for whom disaster seems to have become a hobby this is Downhill Racing which is exactly what it sounds like you get on top of a mountain and start down straight down fast if you're faster than anyone else you win and this is not just any downhill race this is the alberg Kandahar the big open race of the year in Europe where the world world's top skiers hurtling down at speeds that are bound to break either a record or someone's neck [Music] this is a country of Sportsmen whether or water your true Sportsman will always figure out a way to end head down feet in the air still it's a wonderful country for sailing and a favorite among the water enthusiasts here is the Fault booat a folding boat or collapsible Cano which can negotiate any Waterway from stream to Sea [Music] the time is 2:55 in The Gardens of bavaria's Castle linderhof the centuries are [Music] asleep 255 and the mountains Echo to the sound of Germany's most famous dance the shoe [Music] plet the sound of it echoes through Munich's famous Hoff brow house the former Court Brewery of the Duke of Bavaria for 365 years a landmark of German hospitality and that particular kind of good Fellowship known here as gut Lish [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] kite this reaches its peak at Munich's October Fest a Rowdy boisterous salute to King beer the breweries turn out their finess and the entire town joins the parade out to the [Music] fairgrounds every year they March out with a single thought of setting new statistical records in the consumption of BR ver and fried chicken knock ver and stuckle fish met ver and vice ver and [Music] beer every year and roast Pig and B burst blood burst and Liber bushed and be at the fairgrounds the word is baseny harit the answer beer [Music] everyone follows the man who rolls out the barel all of Munich all of thear all of Germany it seems and probably a few visiting firemen from Milwaukee [Music] [Applause] [Music] outside the tents the noise of a great Carnival Roars on through the day all the rides and shoots twists and turns of a giant Midway [Music] it is 255 the historic Villages of Germany are silent the rine flows endlessly through time we start the clocks again Frankfurt time now 2:57 we're almost [Music] there panamerican World Airways Clipper flight 100 is on its Final Approach easing in smoothly for a landing [Music] 3:00 they've span an ocean in half a day and everything still lies ahead of them a wonderful journey is over a wonderful journey is about to begin as they arrive on wings to Germany [Music]